'The Notion of Japan as an Example of Non-Western Modernization' in Mehmet Akif Ersoy through the Impact of Abdurresit Ibrahim

Abstract

In Ottoman-Turkish society, the debates around the concepts of modernization and civilization have an important place in the thought of the 20th century. Within these discussions, it is noteworthy that Turkish national poet Mehmet Akif Ersoy presents Japan, which is an example of non-Western modernization, as an ideal model for Ottoman-Turkish modernization. Abdurresit Ibrahim (1857-1944), who was influential in Turkish and Islamic geography with his activist identity and thoughts in the 19th and 20th centuries, had a great share in Akif's adoption of Japanese modernization as an ideal example of non-Western modernization.

Abdurresit Ibrahim is one of the important names that Turkish society raised as an intellectual, traveller, political leader and highbrow in the 19th and 20th centuries. Abdurresit Ibrahim, who is one of the Idil-Ural Turks and struggles for the independence and unity of the Russian Turks and the entire Islamic world, is known for his thoughts on Turkish and Islamic geography and his activities in Japan. It is also known as the name that introduced Islam to Japan. Abdurresit Ibrahim visited Japan in the first half of 1909 and wanted to establish close relations between Japanese and Asian Muslims. Abdurresit Ibrahim made a long journey starting in September 1908, covering Turkestan, Siberia, Mongolia, Manchuria, China, Japan, Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Hejaz and Syria, and ending in Istanbul in 1910. Abdurresit Ibrahim published this journey in two volumes in 1910-1913, under the name of Alem-i Islam ve Japonya'da Intisar-i Islamiyet. The work is mostly about Japan. Abdurresit Ibrahim idealizes the Japanese modernization in his work titled Alem-i Islam ve Japonya'da Intisar-i Islamiyet (1910-1913), and his thoughts influence some Ottoman-Turkish intellectuals, Mehmet Akif, in particular. Having arrived in the Ottoman capital in 1910, Ibrahim who was already a well-known Muslim traveller and activist, established close relations with Islamist intellectuals in Istanbul. The close relationship he built with Sirat-i Mustakim journal and its staff, especially with Mehmet Akif, is an important example of this. The journal, Sirat-i Mustakim, was one of the most important channels in which Abdurresit Ibrahim sent his articles containing his impressions and experiences during his long journey (1908-1910). We can say that both the writings in Sirat-i Mustakim and the Alem-i Islam ve Japonya'da Intisar-i Islamiyet had a profound effect on Turkish intellectuals regarding Japanese modernization. Abdurresit Ibrahim tried to explain his travel observations and thoughts on the Islamic world through sermons and conferences organized by Sirat-i Mustakim. Therefore, Abdurresit Ibrahim is an important person in terms of his place in the development of Turkish-Japanese relations. He has a great influence on the formation of sympathy for Japan among the Turkish/Muslim peoples.

The friendship that Akif developed with Abdurresit Ibrahim brought along an intellectual influence as well. As a result of this influence, Akif presented the Japanese model as an example of non-Western modernity for Ottoman-Turkish modernization at a time (at the beginning of 20th century) when Ottoman-Turkish modernization, along with Westernization, occupied the agenda as an issue and was discussed. He noted that Japanese modernization was a good alternative that could be a source of inspiration within the framework of non-Western modernity. Akif's thoughts inspired by Abdurresit Ibrahim appear concretely in his poem named Suleymaniye Kursusunde (1912). While discussing the salvation remedies of the Islamic world in the poem, Japanese modernization was idealized as an example of non-Western modernization in relation to concepts such as civilization, Westernization, development and progress in the Ottoman-Turkish public opinion. It was stated that Turkish modernization can be realized by staying away from a completely imitative structure which is Western-centred, singular, and stuck in Western patterns and by preserving national identity and culture on the dynamics of Islamic civilization.In this regard, it was argued as a thesis that Japanese modernization can be taken as an example. Therefore, in discussions about Ottoman-Turkish modernization and civilization among Ottoman-Turkish intellectuals, and particularly in Mehmet Akif's world of thought, it is necessary to take into account that the Japanese modernization is debated as an important role model.

In this study, Japanese modernization as an example of non-Western modernization and the impact of Abdurresit Ibrahim on Mehmet Akif are handled within the framework of Suleymaniye Kursusunde. The notion of 'Japanese modernization' in Akif is evaluated in relation to the concepts of 'multiple modernities' and 'non-Western modernization'. The reflections of the concept of 'multiple modernities' in Akif's world of thought are discussed and it is revealed that he presented Japanese modernization as an ideal example of 'non-Western modernization' for Ottoman-Turkish modernization.