An Attempt to Integrate a Hejaz Practice into the Ottoman Qur’anic Recitation Tradition During the Reign of Ahmed III: The Controversy over the Sound of the Letter “Dad” Or “Vala Al-dallin”
This article examines the controversy over the correct pronouncition of the letter dad. It started in 1718 when Süleyman Efendi (d.1722), the preacher of the Grand Hagia Sophia Mosque, claimed that the sound dad was pronounced wrong in Istanbul and thus needed to be corrected. Having multiple aspects such as scientific, intelectual, religious, and social, this controversy led to a serious social chaos in Istanbul and ended only with the intervention of the Ottoman central government. This controversy is especially important as it sheds light on the influence of the communities of scholars in Haremeyn and Cairo over the Ottoman scientific tradition and religious life. Therefore, this article primarily focuses on the factors that caused controversy and the networks of relationship of the leading actors of the controversy. Secondly, the controversy is depicted and analyzed based on primary historical and biographical sources such as the Târîh-i Râşid, Vekayiü’l-fudalâ and Sadraddinzade’s Ceride as well as many risale (treatises) on the sound of dâd. Since the controversy is approached as a topic of social history, the aspect concerning the discipline of recitation (qıra’at) is not included in these descriptions and analyses. This article presents several findings, explanations and comments regarding reasons, actors as well as the scientific, intelectual, religious, social and political dynamics of the controversy, and its reflections on the Ottoman scholarly circles.
Mehmet Gel
