Witness to Two Eras: The Story of a Bookseller-Mullah

In the 19th century, when the Kurdish principalities (emirates) collapsed, the Kurds lost their authority in the cities. This loss of authority in the cities had a great impact on modern Kurdish culture. A “new” foreign authority was established in the Kurdish cities. For this reason, Kurdish modernity began either in foreign cities, in exile or in villages, in deserts and unplanted areas, on mountain tops where the rule of colonial authority had not yet fully arrived, or in cities ruled by colonial institutions.

When the principalities collapsed, the majority of the madrasas sponsored by these principalities in many cities were left without financial and administrative support. In place of the madrasas of the principalities, modern schools were established by the government in the cities, naturally in Turkish and with a Turkish curriculum.

When the patronage of these madrasas in the cities was lifted, they gradually fell into disrepair and became ruins. Mullahs like Mullah Mihemed Zivingî, whose patronage was withdrawn, either retreated to the mountain tops or sought refuge in the villages. This process not only fundamentally changed the function and content of the madrasas, but also the sociology of knowledge production and transmission among the Kurds, which we have not yet been able to fully analyze.

The culture of Kurdish literacy also changed at this time. On the one hand, there was the Latin alphabet with Turkish script in modern schools and, on the other, the Arabic alphabet with the languages Arabic, Kurdish and Persian. In the modern schools, not only was the language of the books, but also the teaching was in Turkish. In the madrasas, the language of instruction was Kurdish, even though many teaching materials were in Arabic. In the modern schools, teaching in Turkish was of course free, and the other language was forbidden.

When I wrote my doctoral thesis on Kurdish madrasas, I wanted to collect all the documents and articles on madrasas. At that time, there were only a few works and books on madrasas. The most important question I asked myself was the following: How did the scholars and students find their textbooks? How many bookstores were there in Diyarbakir? Because the bookstores in Diyarbakir sold books in Latin script.

The mullahs I spoke to told me that there are some bookstores in Diyarbakir that sell “madrasa books”. One of them is in Sur, in one of the passages. The owner is a mullah. He is originally from Lice and is therefore known as Mele Mihemedê Licî (Mullah Mihemed from Lice).

One day I went into this bookshop. It was small and cramped. The room was dimly lit. Most of the books were old. They had been passed from hand to hand and had found their way here, read by who knows how many people. They were piled up on the shelves of the store, on the table and on the chest in front of the door. I remembered that there was a book on the chest, it was Pendname by Ferîduddînê Attar. The cover of the book was missing, the pages were yellowed, and some pages were torn.

I waited outside the door for a while, searched for the books in the light of the lamp and thought about how I could start the conversation. Then I went to the door, entered and greeted him.

Mullah Mihemed, who wore round glasses and a gray hat on his head, put on his blue jacket and gray vest. Like Stefan Zweig’s Jacob Mendel, he slowly lifted his head out of the book, looked at me and said “Merheba”, which means “hello”. Then he showed me a chair with his fingers.

I sat down on the chair, introduced myself and mentioned my work. He closed his eyes and said with a smile, “May God bless you,” after listening to me carefully.

After that day, I visited the bookstore many more times and had several interviews with him. One day, after a long interview about madrasas, we both took a break, rested and had tea. I looked at him and asked him the question that was on my mind: “Dear Master, why are you selling books instead of becoming a madrasa mullah who deals with education?” He smiled. He took a sip of his tea and placed his cup on the table. He folded his hands, looked at the floor for a while and remained silent. When he slowly lifted his head, a light appeared on his face. He said, “You know… I really loved books.” And then he continued:

“When I was a student of the madrasa, it was very difficult to find books. There were many books that were either impossible to find or very expensive. So we copied the books by hand. I always finished my books very quickly and went to another teacher to read more books. I exchanged the books I read for books by students of other teachers. Even when I was young, I used to chase after books”

“After I completed my education, I received the certificate to become an imam in the mosques. But I could not become an imam because the diploma was not official, because the madrasa training was not legally under the control of the state authorities. The villagers were also very poor, they could not pay the salary of the mullahs with their zekat. I never joined the sheikhs to become a mullah in their villages. My family did not own any land. So I decided to do what I love and started selling books.”

Mullah Mihemed bought a small suitcase for this job and filled it with madrasa books. He traveled from village to village selling books. He describes his experiences during these years as follows:

“After filling my suitcase with books, I set out on a journey. I walked to the nearby villages. For the more distant villages, I took the bus. When the students saw me, they were happy. Some of them gave me money, others exchanged the books for other books. I mainly sold Arabic books, most of them were Arabic grammar and Kurdish books like Nûbihara Biçûkan by Sheikh of Ehmedê Khani, Mewlûd by Melayê Bateyî, Nehcu’l Enam by Mele Xelilê Sêrtî. These Kurdish books are almost impossible to find. Their reading and sale have been banned. Both the students and their teachers, who made the students read these books, knew that they were forbidden.

As Mullah Mihemed finished his speech, clouds of sadness slowly began to overshadow his face. As if he wanted to dispel these dark clouds. He took a deep breath and let it out. Then he spoke again with a hopeful smile:

“Of course, I was not the first to take on this task. Before me, there were people like Mullah Yusiv and Mullah Hilmi. They either put their books in bags and carried them on their shoulders or loaded them on the backs of donkeys and went from village to village to sell books”.

I asked him: “And then you opened this store, what is the situation today? Who buys them? He paused and said:

“There is no demand for madrasa books anymore. In the early 2000s, a new trend emerged. Many people want to change the style of madrasa teaching. They have brought modern books from Arab countries to teach Arabic and the place of Kurdish books in the curriculum is getting smaller. Many scholars are resisting this, but the language of instruction is changing. In many places, the language of instruction in the madrasas is now Turkish… Ironically, people who do not come from madrasa circles are now interested in these Kurdish books.”

Mullah Mihemed still sells books in a small store in Sur. If you are ever in Sur, you can visit him and talk about books over a cup of hot tea.

A few years later, I met a mullah in the garden of a mosque in Diyarbakir, where I was for an interview. Mullah Seyfedîn was one of the scholars who copied their books with their own hands. His face brightened when he talked about books:

“In those days, it was very difficult to get books. Peddlers came to our village, but we had no money. We exchanged the books we had copied with our own hands for other books. Dîwan of Melayê Cizîrî was the most valuable book, and it was very difficult to get a copy as it was rare and too expensive. I copied Dîwan many times and exchanged it for other books.

“Some scholars like Ebdulwehabî Derizbini not only loved the Dîwan of Mela but also made it compulsory in order to obtain a certificate. Students who were unable to read or comment on the Divan of Mela could not receive a certificate and could not become a mullah. That is, all the knowledge they read in Arabic corresponded to the verses of a Mela. Dîwan therefore has a market.”

In the phase of modernization, the change in the form of the state, the relationship between the country and the city, the language of education, the culture of literacy are fundamental questions and topics that intellectuals and scholars of all nationalities have dealt with intensively, worked seriously and produced studies.

We can also analyze the tragedy of our modernity and the unfinished revolution from different perspectives through social historiography. Perhaps the stories of people like Mullah Mihemed, who carried books on their shoulders and sold books from village to village, can become part of our history.

Read in Kurdish

This articles was translated by Betül Demir

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