The views of Turkish jurists on Islamic law during the transition to the Civil Code

In 21st-century Turkey, fiqh has become a domain largely confined to acts of worship, with its remaining components surviving only in theoretical texts and losing their practical influence. The transformation of fiqh, which today is often encompassed by the broader term "Islamic law," represents a significant rupture for a discipline whose nature is fundamentally oriented toward practical life. Criticisms of fiqh for being rigid and incompatible with contemporary needs were voiced in various forms across the Islamic world during the 19th and 20th centuries. While some sought solutions through the reform and development of fiqh, others argued that it should be entirely separated from law and confined to the realm of personal conscience. During these debates, the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic in Turkey also entailed preparations for a legal reform, as a transformation in the political regime necessitated a radical change in the legal system. In this context, early Republican jurists, while constructing the new legal order, frequently portrayed fiqh as outdated, inadequate for meeting the needs of modern society, and an obstacle to legal reforms. The central aim of this study is to examine whether these critiques stemmed from actual structural shortcomings within fiqh, or whether they were strategically constructed to legitimize the impending legal revolution. Accordingly, the first part of the thesis analyzes the intellectual and historical background that shaped perceptions of fiqh during the founding period of the Republic. The second part examines the approaches to fiqh of prominent jurists from the transition period to the Civil Code, namely Mahmut Esat Bozkurt, Ebü'lulâ Mardin, and Mustafa Reşit Belgesay, and evaluates their views within the framework of the aforementioned intellectual and historical context. Keywords: Fiqh, Law, Civil Code, Transitional Period, Turkish Jurists