His Eminence Prof. Murteza Bedir

6 March، 2022

His Eminence Professor Dr. Murtaza Bedir was born in the Republic of Türkiye in 1968. He obtained his Bachelor’s Degree from the Faculty of Theology at Marmara University in 1992. He also earned a Master’s Degree in Law from the University of London, United Kingdom, in 1995, and received his Ph.D. from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, in 1999. The title of his doctoral dissertation was: “The Formation of Hanafi Legal Theory (Legal Issues).”

His Eminence was appointed as a Designated Member of the Council of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (IIFA) representing the Republic of Türkiye in 2015.

His Eminence has held numerous positions, including serving as Dean of the Faculty of Theology at Istanbul University, Professor of Islamic Jurisprudence (Fiqh) at Istanbul University, Professor at Sakarya University, and Visiting Research Fellow at Harvard Law School, United States of America. He currently serves as Professor in the Faculty of Theology at Istanbul University, Member of the High Council of the Presidency of Religious Affairs of Türkiye, and President of the Centre for Islamic Studies (ISAM) affiliated with the Turkish Religious Foundation (TDV). He has also supervised numerous master’s and doctoral theses and has served on committees organizing both international and national conferences.

Books

Abu Hanifa: An Intellectual Biography, Ankara: Qalam Publishing House, March 2018; 2nd edition, May 2018.
The School of Law in Bukhara: A Study of Waqf in Central Asia from the 10th to the 13th Centuries, ISAM Publications, Istanbul, 2014.
Critical edition of Volume 13 of Ta’wilat al-Qur’an by Al-Maturidi, Istanbul, 2009.
The Book of Sacrificial Animals (Kitab al-Adahi), Ansar Publications, Istanbul, 2007.
The Universal Message of the Prophet: The Sunnah, ISAM Publications, Turkish Foundation for Islamic Studies, Istanbul, 2006.
Fiqh, Madhhab, and Sunnah: Prophetic Authority in Hanafi Legal Theory, Ansar Publications, Istanbul, 2004; 2nd edition, 2017.

Edited Volumes

Ihsan Karaman, Hakan Artin, and Murtaza Bedir (eds.), Fiqh and Medical Ethics: Decision-Making in Medical Issues from the Perspective of Islamic Shariah – II, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, 2021.
Murtaza Bedir, Najmuddin Kizilkaya, and Merve Ozaykal (eds.), Modernization, Protestantism, and Salafism, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, October 2019.
Murtaza Bedir et al., The Science of Fiqh in the Ottoman State, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, 2017.
With Ali Erbas et al., The International Iznik Symposium (5–7 September), Istanbul, 2006.
With Muharrem Kilic, Special Issue on European Scholars of Islamic Law, Journal of Islamic Legal Studies, Konya, Vol. 4 (2004).

Articles and Book Chapters

“A Comparative Essay on Fiqh and Ethics,” in Fiqh and Medical Ethics: Decision-Making in Medical Issues from the Perspective of Islamic Shariah – II, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, 2021, pp. 39–66.
“Usul and Furu‘: Abu Hanifa and the Methodology of Fiqh,” Religious Affairs Scientific Journal, Vol. 56 (2020), pp. 1303–1348.
“The Discourse of the Qur’an and Sunnah, Usul al-Fiqh, and Ijtihad: An Attempt to Explain the Emergence of Contemporary Textualism,” in Modernization, Protestantism, and Salafism, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, 2019, pp. 19–60.
“Books of Islamic Legal Theory (Usul al-Fiqh),” in Treasures of Knowledge: An Inventory of the Ottoman Palace Library (1502/3–1503/4), Leiden: Brill, 2019, pp. 423–438.
“When Does Human Life Begin? A Study of the Concept of Ensoulment,” in When Does Life Begin? When Does It End?, Istanbul: Ithar Publications, 2019, pp. 77–126.
“The Final Circle of Taqlid: Khadimi’s Majami‘ al-Haqa’iq and the Question of Modern Knowledge in Usul al-Fiqh,” in From Sahn-i Seman to Dar al-Funun: Scholarship and Intellectual Life in the Ottoman World, Istanbul, 2018, Vol. I, pp. 135–161.
“Usul al-Fiqh in the Past and Present: Major Shifts in the Conception of Legal Theory,” in Kalam and Intellectual Problems in Islamic Jurisprudence, Istanbul, 2017, pp. 305–337.
“Abu al-Su‘ud as Scholar and Jurist,” in The Science of Fiqh in the Ottoman State, Istanbul, 2017, pp. 3–32.
“Al-Jassas,” in Islamic Legal Thought: An Encyclopedia of Muslim Jurists, Leiden: Brill, 2013, pp. 147–166.
“Some Critical Observations Concerning the Traditions of the Mutakallimun and the Fuqaha’ in Usul al-Fiqh,” Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 29, Istanbul, 2013, pp. 65–97.
“The Concept of Transmitted Knowledge in Islamic Intellectual Tradition and Ibn Khaldun,” Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 15, Istanbul, 2008, pp. 5–31.
“The Story of Classical Hanafi Legal Theory,” in Islam and Classicism, Istanbul, 2008, pp. 79–93.
“The Bukharan Hanafis and the Shaykhs: An Analysis Through Waqf Law as Presented by Burhan al-Shari‘ah al-Bukhari,” Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 1–21.
“A Study of Early Ottoman Scholars (up to 1389): The First Jurists,” Journal of Turkish Legal History Studies, Vol. 1, 2006, pp. 23–39.
“The Interaction of Sufism, Law, Theology, and Philosophy,” in Sufism and the Laws of Islam, Murcia, 2006.
“Writing the History of Turkish Law Before the Ottomans,” Journal of Turkish Studies Research, Vol. 3, No. 5, 2005, pp. 27–84.
“Abd al-Razzaq al-Sanhuri,” Journal of Islamic Legal Studies, Vol. 6, 2005, pp. 439–448.
“From Fiqh to Law: The Embodiment of Secularism Through Educational Curricula,” Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 11, No. 3, 2004, pp. 378–401.
“Reason and Revelation: Abu Zayd al-Dabusi on Rational Proofs,” Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 43, No. 2, 2004, pp. 227–245.
“Orientalism and Islamic Law,” Journal of Islamic Legal Studies, Vol. 4, 2004, pp. 11–42.
“The Problem of Usul al-Shashi,” Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 42, No. 3, 2003, pp. 415–436.
“The Power of Interpretation: Is Istihsan a Form of Qiyas?” Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 42, No. 1, 2003, pp. 7–20.
“An Early Response to Al-Shafi‘i: ‘Isa ibn Aban on Prophetic Reports (Khabar),” Islamic Law and Society, Vol. 9, No. 3, 2002, pp. 285–311.
“Is There a Hanafi Usul al-Fiqh?” Journal of the Faculty of Shariah, Sakarya University, Vol. 4, 2002, pp. 163–172.