Taha Kılınç All daily Yeni Şafak Columns

Taha Kılınç

193 columns listing

A Lost Treasure...

29 Haziran 2025, Pazar

One of the most tragic events to occur in Türkiye after the proclamation of the Republic happened in 1931, when around 30 to 50 tons of valuable documents written in Ottoman Turkish, Arabic, and Persian were sold to Bulgaria to be used as “paper pulp.” The details of this incident are filled with absurdities and almost unbelievable negligence: The archive, containing military, financial, political, legal, and literary documents from various far-flung regions once under the Ottoman Empire’s rule,

The other Cyprus...

31 Mayıs 2025, Cumartesi

I will never forget that evening: During our trip in the fall of 2008, wandering every corner of Cyprus with my dear brother Burak Bahadır Bilgin, we found ourselves in Lefke. At that time, finding an open—and suitably clean—mosque for prayer in Cyprus was no small matter. As we searched for a place to perform the evening prayer, we spotted a minaret in the distance and immediately turned the steering wheel in that direction. When we reached the mosque, a man in the son cemaat area was about to

Kashmir: Asia's Palestine

03 Mayıs 2025, Cumartesi

On March 16, 1846, the British government sold Kashmir—a region with a Muslim-majority population—to the Hindu Maharaja Gulab Singh (1792–1857) through the Treaty of Amritsar. In doing so, Britain transferred control of a land it did not rightfully own to a minority group that held no demographic or political weight there, disregarding the will of Kashmir’s native inhabitants. This same approach would later be repeated in Palestine with the infamous Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917. In this

Jordan and the Muslim Brotherhood...

30 Nisan 2025, Çarşamba

One of the most significant developments in the Middle East last week was the decision by the Kingdom of Jordan to officially declare the Muslim Brotherhood organization (commonly known as the Ikhwan) illegal and seize all of its assets. This move is particularly striking given that the Brotherhood had, until recently, been able to operate with relative freedom in Jordan. To understand the full context, it's worth revisiting some history. Founded in 1928 by Hasan al-Banna and his associates in the

The legacy of Khurshid Ahmad…

16 Nisan 2025, Çarşamba

Renowned Islamic economist, politician, and thinker Prof. Dr. Khurshid Ahmad (93) passed away in Leicester, United Kingdom. Several of his works were translated into Turkish, and his life story reads like a panorama of the dramatic transformations the Indian Subcontinent experienced over the last century. Born in 1932 in Delhi, Khurshid Ahmad came from a distinguished family tracing its lineage to Abu Bakr, the first caliph of Islam. His father, Nazir Ahmad, was a businessman deeply involved in

The Mufti of Barrel Bombs...

29 Mart 2025, Cumartesi

Sheikh Ahmed Badreddin Hassoun, the former Grand Mufti of Syria under Bashar al-Assad’s regime, was arrested at Damascus International Airport on Tuesday, March 25, while attempting to leave for Jordan with his family. Hassoun, who held the position of Grand Mufti from 2005 to 2021, had largely disappeared from public view after the fall of the Ba’ath regime in late 2024. After spending some time in hiding in Damascus, he relocated to his hometown of Aleppo, only to resurface in controversy when

The View from Damascus…

11 Mart 2025, Salı

Last Thursday evening (March 6), I went to Halbouni Mosque, near the historic center of Damascus, for Tarawih prayers. The streets were pitch dark, as the city experiences frequent power cuts at night. When I arrived, I found the mosque packed to capacity, with a congregation mostly made up of young people. There was not even a small space left to pray. Feeling both heartened by the large turnout and disappointed that I couldn’t find a spot, I walked to the Mevlevi Mosque across from the Hejaz Railway

On the Pulpit of the Umayyad Mosque...

23 Şubat 2025, Pazar

Last Friday (February 14, 2025), the Umayyad Mosque, one of Damascus’ most iconic landmarks, witnessed yet another historic moment. One of Syria’s most esteemed scholars, Sheikh Muhammad Mujir al-Khatib al-Hasani, delivered a sermon in his homeland for the first time in years, addressing the people from the pulpit. The reason I describe Sheikh Mujir’s Friday sermon as “historic” is deeply tied to the legacy of the Khatib family, whose name has become almost synonymous with the pulpit of the Umayyad

What's the reason behind Saudi Arabia's warm welcome of Syria's Ahmed Shara?

14 Şubat 2025, Cuma

As expected, Syrian President Ahmed Shara made his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia. In Riyadh, he met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, after which he and his delegation traveled to Mecca to perform the Umrah pilgrimage. In line with its tradition of extending special courtesies to distinguished foreign guests, the Saudi leadership made a notable gesture to Shara: the doors of the Kaaba were opened, allowing him and his delegation to pray inside. Observers of recent Middle Eastern history

First Flight to Damascus...

25 Ocak 2025, Cumartesi

There have been very few journeys in my life that have filled me with such excitement. I am certain that on Thursday morning, as the Turkish Airlines plane named "Akdeniz" took off from Istanbul, glided over Cyprus and Lebanon, and finally landed in Damascus—13 years later—there were many who shared this same feeling. The heartfelt joy of the Syrian passengers on board, the songs they sang together, the tears they shed, and the prayers of gratitude they offered as soon as they stepped onto the tarmac