A Quest for Reconciliation Between Religion and Science: An Evaluation of Some Views of Milaslı Ismail Hakki on the Relationship Between Religion and Science

Authors : Ercan Şen

Pages : 774-793

Doi:10.18317/kaderdergi.1810259

View : 74 | Download : 136

Publication Date : 2025-12-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Doctor Milaslı Ismail Hakki (1869-1948), who lived during the late Ottoman and early republican periods, was primarily a medical doctor, but he put forward noteworthy views on various scientific, social, and religious issues of his time. He shared his opinions on these matters through various books he authored and in important journals of the period. Like many intellectuals of his era, Ismail Hakki was a multifaceted scholar and a productive man of science. Indeed, an examination of his works, in which he wrote on numerous topics from medical issues to religious subjects, from linguistic matters to modern science, from moral problems to social issues, makes this clear. In this study, among the topics Milaslı focused on, we will attempt to evaluate Milaslı’s views on the relationship between religion and science. Because he is one of the figures who reflected the intellectual concerns of the late Ottoman and early Republican modernization period, he directly participated in the debates on religion–science and Islam–science relations. His primary motivation in engaging with these discussions was the widespread perception, that modernization was an unavoidable necessity, and his conviction that religious thought should take part in this process not by opposing it, but by supporting it. In this context, he emerged as a figure who remained committed to the Islamic tradition while also acknowledging the universality of science. In his writings, he consistently pursued a line of thought marked by rationalist and modernist tendencies, seeking to harmonize religious texts with reason and scientific knowledge. It is possible to state that Milaslı addressed numerous topics within the broader framework of the religion–science relationship. Covering all the issues he engaged with within the scope of a single article is not feasible. Therefore, this study will focus specifically on his approaches to such subjects as creation in the Qur’ān, evolution and development, the relationship between the Qur’ān and modern science, miracles and saintly wonders, the mutashabihāt of the Qur’ān, the medical dimensions of religious practices, and the question of pork and the ritual purification of meat. This article aims to provide a descriptive evaluation of Milaslı’s acceptance of the relationship between religion and science and to discuss his thoughts on this subject. In our study, using the document and content analysis method, Milaslı’s some views on the relationship between religion and science will be examined based on his own works. Thus, this study provides a basis for a closer understanding of the views on religion and science held by a physician—an intellectual of a transitional period—who lived during the late Ottoman and early Republican era but whose ideas have remained largely unknown. In doing so, it also sheds some light on the intellectual and scholarly debates on religion and science that characterized that period.
Keywords : Tefsir, Milaslı İsmail Hakkı, Din, Bilim, Kur’ân, Uzlaşı

ORIGINAL ARTICLE URL