The Discussions of Reading the Quran for a Fee in the 16th Century Ottoman: The Example of Birgivi Zayrakzada

Abstract

One type of the pious foundations which subsisted from the fifteenth century until the collapse of the empire in the Ottoman Empire, which is described as a civilisation of foundation, is the money foundations. Among these money foundations, there are foundations established for the recitation of Qur'an. These foundations, like the others, had subsisted till the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, but discussions about them continued. One of the works which discusses the recitation of Qur an for a fee is the epistle named as "In a u'l-halikin" written by Birgivi Me med Efendi (d. 1573). He alleges in this epistle, which is well known among the modern researchers and about which there are some studies, that the recitation of Qur'an for a fee is not licit. This epistle is not only discussed today, but at the time it was written it had been discussed among the scholars. For example, Zeyrekzada Emrullah al- usayni had written a refutation titled as "Risala fi cavazi akhzi'l-ucrati li-qiraati'l-Qur'an" against the epistle of Birgivi. Also, this is very rare work that discussed widely with the proofs that the recitation of Qur an is licit. In this article, the views of two authors will be treated comparatively only in terms of common points. The aim of this study is to discuss the juridical issue which has a social aspect from the view of two authors that have different approaches.