İctihad

İctihad

Categories	Cultural magazine Political magazine
Frequency	Monthly Biweekly Weekly
Founder	Abdullah Cevdet
Founded	1904
First issue	September 1904
Final issue	December 1932
Country	Switzerland Khedivate of Egypt Ottoman Empire
Based in	Geneva Cairo Istanbul
Language	Ottoman Turkish

İctihad was a cultural and political magazine which was started and published by Abdullah Cevdet, an Ottoman intellectual. It was established in Geneva, Switzeland, in 1904 and then appeared in Cairo. The magazine was headquartered in Istanbul between 1911 and 1932.

History and profile

İctihad was first published in Geneva in September 1904 featuring both Turkish and French articles. Its founder and editor was Abdullah Cevdet who founded it with the financial support of Ahmed Celâleddin Pasha. Cevdet was a member of the Committee of Union and Progress and was in exile in Geneva. He was expelled from Switzerland after the publication of the İctihad' second issue and then, the magazine was managed by Hüseyin Tosun for a while. The magazine moved to Cairo in 1906 where it was published until 1908. It was restarted in Istanbul in 1911.

The frequency of İctihad was monthly until 1906. It appeared on a biweekly basis in Cairo. It was redesigned as a weekly magazine from the issue 50 in Istanbul. However, it also came out biweekly from time to time.

İctihad was temporarily banned after 1911. The longest closure of the magazine was between 13 February 1915 and 1 November 1918. The magazine was not also published from 1919 to 1921. The reason for its closures was its use of the derogatory language in regard to religious feelings of the people. During the national struggle period it did not support the Turkish forces led by Mustafa Kemal. However, it began to support the Turkish forces after November 1922.

İctihad folded in December 1932 one month after the death of Abdullah Cevdet and produced a total of 358 issues during its run.

Ideology and content

The goal of İctihad was to inform people about cultural topics and to raise their awareness. It adopted a pro-Western ideology and frequently criticized veiling and traditional upbringing of women. The magazine was one of the fierce critics of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamit between 1904 and 1908. The magazine declared its guiding principles in the issue dated 15 April 1932 as follows: freedom, independence, peace, arts, equality, religion and conscience.

Contributors

Various writers contributed to İctihad who did share the same ideology. Rıza Tevfik was a traditionalist, but Jean-Marie Guyau and Gustave Le Bon were positivists. Later the following notable figures contributed to the magazine: Süleyman Nazif, Tevfik Fikret, Faik Ali Ozansoy, Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan, Ali Canip Yöntem, Ahmet Haşim, Cenâb Şehâbeddîn, Faruk Nafiz Çamlıbel, Enis Behiç Koryürek, Halide Edib Adıvar, Gaspıralı İsmâil, Halide Nusret Zorlutuna, Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, Ömer Seyfettin, Peyami Safa, Suut Kemal Yetkin, Reşat Nuri Güntekin, Selim Sırrı Tarcan, Celal Nuri İleri and Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu.