Emin Saraç

Muhammed Emin Saraç was born in 1929 in Tanoba, a village of Erbaa in Tokat, and grew up in a family environment known for learning and service to the Qur’an. He completed his memorization of the Qur’an at an early age and came to Istanbul in 1943 with his elder brother Bahaeddin Saraç for religious study.

During his first years of study in Istanbul, he received Qur’anic training from Ömer Efendi, chief imam of Fatih Mosque, and studied at the Üçbaş Madrasa with teachers such as Gümülcineli Mustafa Efendi, Hüsrev Efendi and Muhaddis İbrahim Efendi. His reading of the Sahih al-Bukhari with Süleyman Efendi, chief qayyim of Fatih Mosque, and receiving ijazah from him formed one of the early links in his strong connection with hadith.

Emin Saraç studied fiqh and the Islamic sciences with Ahıskalı Ali Haydar Efendi. In 1950, with his teacher’s encouragement, he went to Egypt. He studied at al-Azhar University and took lessons from Mustafa Sabri Efendi, the last Ottoman Şeyhülislam, and the great scholar Zâhidü’l-Kevserî. These years in Egypt brought him into direct contact with the last great representatives of the Ottoman scholarly tradition.

After returning to Turkey in 1958, he taught at Istanbul Imam-Hatip School and, in 1976, served at the Haseki Higher Religious Specialization Centre. His most lasting influence, however, was seen in the lesson circles formed at Fatih Mosque. Through his lessons in tafsir, hadith and fiqh, he trained many students from Turkey and abroad.

Emin Saraç became one of the best-known teachers who continued the classical lesson tradition of Fatih Mosque in the Republican period. For him, Fatih Mosque was not merely a place where he taught, but a centre of learning where he spent most of his life.

He died in Istanbul on 19 February 2021. After the funeral prayer at Fatih Mosque, he was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.