Embedded Files
Shaikh Yusuf Ziya Kavakci was born in 1938 in Hendek, Sakarya Province, Turkey. As a young child, his mother set him on the path to scholarship. By the age of 15 he passed the rigorous National Exams in Turkey for Waiz, or Preacher, and by age 18, that of Mufti, a scholar authorized to derive legal rulings in Islamic Jurisprudence. The last scholars versed in traditional Ottoman scholarship became his teachers in the period after the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
The Shaikh obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Islamic Studies from the Institute of Higher Islamic Studies and a Law degree from the College of Law, Istanbul University. A board-certified attorney in Turkey, he also practiced law in Libya, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia.
In 1967, he received his PhD in Islamic History and Culture from Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters. Thereafter, he worked as Assistant and Associate Professor at the Institute of Islamic Research, Istanbul University.
In 1974, he moved to Erzurum to help establish the first college of Islamic Studies in modern Turkey, the College of Theology, which is now a part of Ataturk University. As senior faculty, he chaired several Islamic Sciences departments, including those of Tafseer, Hadith, and Fiqh, and moved on to serve as Dean of the college. In 1980 he attained the rank of full professor in Islamic Law, one of the first such positions in modern Turkey. Dr. Kavakci served as Guest professor at the University of Cambridge, UK, from 1973-74 and at Temple University in Pennsylvania from 1978-79.
Dr. Kavakci and his family moved to the United States in April 1988 in order to obtain an education for his three daughters since his eldest was denied entry to her university building due to the ban on the hijab in Turkey. As the Imam, Resident Islamic Scholar and Spiritual Leader at the Islamic Association of North Texas (IANT) in Dallas, TX, he served the Muslim community of North Texas for 25 continuous years with full dedication, loyalty, commitment, and vision.
Shaikh Yusuf taught a host of programs at IANT including Fiqh, Aquida, Hadith, and Grammatical Analysis of the Quran. He founded two unique Islamic institutions in Dallas. The first, IANT Quranic Academy, or IQA, is a private Islamic school serving elementary through high school students with the intent of producing American scholars of Islam. The second, Suffa Islamic Seminary, offers college-level instruction in Islamic Education.
In 2007 the Yusuf Ziya Kavakci Institute was founded in honor of him. It is a religious media organization committed to disseminating Islamic education. In 2009 the Institute established Good Tree Academy, a k-12 Islamic school dedicated to cultivating pious and successful Muslim citizens.
As president of the Islamic Tribunal, a Shura member of the Islamic Society of North America, a member of the Fiqh Council of North America, and a designated speaker listed on behalf of the U.S. State Department, Shaikh Yusuf has worked tirelessly for the benefit of his local and national communities. He was one of the 138 international signatories of the open letter, A Common Word Between Us and You, addressed to global leaders of the Christian faith in October 13, 2007. He was listed among the 100 Most Influential Muslims of 2009.
In October 2013, at the age of 75, Dr. Kavakci stepped down from his position as Imam and Resident Scholar at IANT to return to Turkey. His stellar career continues in lectures he gives as a part of the Theology Faculties of Istanbul and Marmara Universities.
We were truly honored and deeply humbled to have Dr. Kavakci as our leader for a quarter century. We sincerely appreciate his service to us as well as those of his family: his wife, Sister Gulhan, who served the IQA community; his daughter, Merve, who championed wearing the hijab as a member of the Turkish Parliament; and his daughters, Ravza and Elif Mina, who all grew up amongst us in the IANT community. We greatly cherish their memories and love and respect them as our own. We pray that Allah SWT bless them with the very best in this world and the next, and unite us all in Jannah. Ameen.
Shaikh Yusuf has published numerous books in Turkish. The following is a list of his works originally written and published in English:
Islam (Briefly), Istanbul: 1991
Travelogue of my journey to the Cape of Good Hope by Omer Lutfi Efendi, Transl. from Ottoman Turkish, Cape Town: 1991
Islamic Law of Inheritance, Dallas: 1994
Fiqh, Islamic Law & Usul Al-Fiqh, Dallas: 2010
Methodology of Islamic Research, Dallas: 2008
His works in progress which are yet to be published include:
Al-Furuq by Al-Karabisi (textual Criticism in Arabic)
America I Saw and My Impressions
Bibliography of Islamic Law.
Multaqa 'l-Abhur by Ibrahim al-Halabi (transl from Arabic to English)
Islamic Issues of Muslims in America (an analytical study and suggestions for solutions)
Google Sites
Report abuse