Hazret Süleyman Hilmi Tunahan (1888, Silistre, Bulgaria - 16 September 1959; Kısıklı, Üsküdar, Istanbul ); is the founder of the Süleymancılar community, a Turkish great Ulama, Islamic scholar and mystic.
Biography
Suleiman Hilmi Tunahan was a distinguished figure in Islam, known for his guidance and courage. He dedicated his entire life, which spanned seventy-one years from 1888 to 1959, to the service of Islam. His grandfather was Hafiz Qaymaq, and his family traced its lineage back to his great-grandfather Idris Bey, who was a descendant of the Messenger of God. During his caliphate, Sultan Al-Fatih sought someone related to the Messenger who was still alive. Upon finding Idris Bey, he married him to his sister and appointed him as a khan, or prince, over the Tuna (Danube) region. Thus, Idris Bey’s title became Tunahan, and he was tasked with collecting taxes. Idris held this position, passing it down to his grandchildren until Osman Bey, the father of Suleiman Efendi, came. All of them were scholars. Abu Suleiman Efendi was Osman Efendi, who studied in Istanbul and was appointed a teacher at the Satarli School. Osman Efendi married and had four sons: Fahmi, Ibrahim, Khalil, and our Sheikh Suleiman.
Suleiman was born in the village of Ferhatler in Silistra, Bulgaria, in 1888. He attended Satarli School with his brothers, where his father was a teacher. Distinguished by his brilliance from a young age, Suleiman completed his primary and secondary education at Silistra School before being sent to Istanbul by his father to continue his studies. His father gave him three pieces of advice:
To be economical and not waste money
To strive to master the science of principles
He joined the Fatih School and lived in a basement with no light or windows. He studied under Sheikh Ahmed Effendi Al-Bafrawi, who greatly admired him. Suleiman Hilmi’s extreme intelligence and love of study were so evident that the Sheikh wanted to marry him to his daughter, but she tragically died in an accident. Subsequently, Suleiman married a righteous woman named Khadija. After graduating, he joined the Dar Al-Khilafah Aliya School in 1913. He excelled among the top students, passed the judicial exam, and ranked first. He was appointed as a judge in Kastamuni, but his father sent him a letter saying, “O Suleiman, know that I did not send you to Istanbul to be in Hell.” Here, his father reminded him of the hadith of the Prophet, “Two judges in Hell and one judge in Paradise” - narrated by Abu Dawood, Al-Tirmidhi, and Ibn Majah. His father was pleased to learn that Suleiman did not want to continue in the position of judge. Suleiman was so dedicated to knowledge that he would resist sleep until his eyes bled and would drink coffee to stay awake. In winter, he would place ice between his shirt and his back to keep himself alert.
He graduated from the Suleymaniye School in Istanbul, with a focus on Interpretation and Hadith, in 1919. He also obtained a judge’s certificate and became a public teacher. Additionally, he studied Roman law, maritime law, commercial law, and comparative international law alongside Islamic law at Suleymaniye College. He began teaching in 1921, but his teaching career was cut short by the closure of religious schools under the law issued during Ataturk’s reign in 1924. His generosity was such that he fed the policemen who came to arrest him, and some of them became his students. He was also very kind to his students, often taking them to the doctor if they fell ill, and he enjoyed telling dignified jokes to his students and family.
Breaking events
The Ottoman coup occurred in 1909 while he was still a student. He opposed the coup and supported the Caliphate, rejecting Westernization. In just five years, significant events unfolded, including the formation of the Grand National Assembly, the abolition of the Sultanate, the end of the Ottoman Empire, the exile of Sultan Mehmed Vahideddin, the declaration of the Republic, and the implementation of the Schools Unification Law.
The closure of 520 religious schools necessitated finding alternative jobs such as imams or preachers or referring teachers to retirement. Suleiman continued his Islamic and educational services, preaching in numerous mosques in Istanbul, including Sultan Ahmed, Süleymaniye, the New Mosque, Şehrazadebaşı, and Kasim Pasha. He taught his students secretly to avoid government persecution following the unification law, enduring many hardships to provide education. He once remarked to his students, “I taught you and moved you from place to place like a cat moving her kittens.” He rented the Kapakça farm, hiding his students in workers’ clothes to cultivate land by day and study by night. When the police discovered their secret, they would flee to a new location. The students, in turn, opened Quranic schools wherever they went, spreading Islamic education throughout the country.
During the Republican era, Turkey saw several measures by Ataturk to eradicate Islamic influences and Ottoman heritage in an attempt to separate religion from the state. Recep Bakar, the Prime Minister at that time, considered teaching Islamic religious sciences a deadly poison. On March 3, 1924, a law was enacted to transfer all educational institutions affiliated with various ministries to the Ministry of National Education, known as the Schools Unification Law, which centralized scientific control. Imam Suleiman opposed this law, as it led to the closure of 465 religious schools and 29 imam and preacher schools, with severe penalties for religious education.
Imam Suleiman was first arrested in 1939 when the police took him from his home, detained him for three days, tortured him, and dismissed him from preaching. In prison, he endured various forms of torture, including being prevented from sleeping and having his cell sprayed with water, which caused him rheumatism. In 1936, the police learned he had rented the Khalid Pasha farm for teaching, so he fled to the top of Kush Kaya Mountain in the Strangah Mountains, but was caught and arrested.
Minimalist events
On a Friday, some men went to the Grand Mosque, and one of them took the sword from the preacher’s hand and declared, “I am the Mahdi.” Others began chanting, “Our Mahdi has come.” Chaos ensued, and a policeman began shooting into the air. The crowd dispersed, and Friday prayers were disrupted. The next day, newspapers reported the “appearance of reactionism.” Suleiman Hilmi and his son-in-law were arrested and taken to Kütahya Prison for 59 days before being released.
Suleymaniye schools
In 1949, the government reopened religious schools due to pressure from Muslims. Suleiman Hilmi’s dream came true, and official education resumed in these schools. The first Quran memorization school affiliated with Imam Suleiman opened in 1951 unofficially, with the official opening in 1952. Imam Suleiman was eager to open schools in Anatolia and would prostrate in thanks to God upon learning of new school openings. During this time, the Presidency of Religious Affairs held preaching and fatwa competitions, where Suleiman’s students consistently excelled, prompting the President of Religious Affairs and senior officials to visit him. Suleiman’s students attained prominent religious positions in the country, including Hosni Yilmaz, who became the Mufti of Balikesir at eighteen. The teaching method in Suleiman Hilmi’s schools was notably effective, allowing students to master Quranic sciences in a short time. Suleiman’s approach involved active student participation, where students read the lesson themselves, and the teacher completed the missing parts, fostering confidence and reinforcing the subject. His teaching was so consuming that he wrote only one book titled “A New Arrangement and Modern Method for Teaching Reading the Letters and Vowels of the Holy Quran.”
Later life and death
Despite suffering from diabetes, Sheikh Suleiman continued to serve his students, traveling daily using four different means of transportation to teach them while constantly evading the police. His life was marked by a relentless commitment to preserving the Islamic identity in Turkey, and he continued his work until he passed away on September 16, 1959, during the sunset prayer.
At that time, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Ibrahim Kiraz Oglu, requested that he be buried near the tomb of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, his blood relative. The Prime Minister agreed, and the following day, crowds gathered from all over for the funeral. However, when thousands of his supporters carried his coffin, the police prevented his burial there, and he was interred in a grave dug by the police in Karaca Ahmed. This decision was made by Namık Kedik, the Minister of the Interior. Suleyman Hilmi’s words, “They will fear our death as they fear our life,” proved true. Even today, thousands visit his grave in Karaca Ahmed, and Muslims in Turkey benefit from his efforts to revive Islam and its sciences in a country that, by human will, was destined to eliminate the Book of Allah, the Arabic language, and Islamic sciences. Suleyman Hilmi’s teaching methods continue through his students, who loved him and followed his approach. [1]
