Fiqh thoughts of Zahid al-Kawthari

Muhammed Zahid al-Kawthari was deputy of the last sheikh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire. He was a scholar who wrote and contributed to the publication of many works in the first half of the 20th century which was a very active period for the Islamic world in terms of politics, social, economic and religion. The works he wrote or contributed to in publishing cover islamic sciences such as tafsir, hadith, history and fiqh. Being one of the scholars of the period in which he lived, Kawthari's fiqh thought is very important in terms of researching and examining it because of his defense of the tradition and the method rising from tradition in the discussions of the period. The fact that Kawthari's fiqh thoughts are scattered in his works is one of the reasons for such a study. Researching the subjects which are criticised by Kawthari like claims of non-sectarianism, taqlid criticism, and tajdid studies discussed over the concepts of maslaha and ijtihad, within the framework of the claims of the parties and the ideas of Kawthari will help us to understand his fiqh thoughts. The bigotry (taassup) allegations that arise in the axis of Kawthari's devotion to the Hanafi sect are among the issues that need to be investigated. This study, which we have done with these motives, will also be a guide in terms of showing what the fiqh issues of the period and the agenda of fiqh scholars were.