Financing Mosques from Ottoman Time to Republican Era
Öz
This paper is assessed financing expenditures related to construction
of mosques and maintenance costs and salaries of imams and other religious
practitioners who work for mosques. Considering historical background, religious
and practical foundations of financing of mosque expenditures are investigated.
Role of the Presidency of Religious Affairs (the Diyanet), the General
Directorate of Foundations, mosque societies and the Turkish Diyanet Foundation
in financing these expenditures are also examined. In doing so, practices for
financing mosques and also legal framework which is developed in Republican
era are scrutinized and some comments are pointed out accordingly.
Some important figures related to construction of mosques, their ownership
and also their expenditures are: a) approximately 67% of mosques are constructed
directly by local people without using a formal or a civil organisation, or an
association, 13% of them by mosque associations, 11% of them by individuals
or civil initiatives and 1% of them by formal and civil foundations; b)maintenance
costs of about 78% of mosques are met directly by locals around them;
c) although 13 of mosques are constructed by mosque associations, 15% of
mosques’ maintenance costs are met by them; d) however both formal and civil
foundations are legal owners of 12% of mosques, only about 1% of mosques’
maintenance costs are met by these foundations; e) ownership of nearly 7% of
mosques is belonged to municipal authorities, whereas proportion of mosques
that maintenance costs are met by municipal authorities is zero.
Findings of this study also revealed that foundations for mosques had an important
place in meeting expenditures of mosques. According to Islam, in one
hand every mosque is accounted as a foundation, on the other hand incomes of
all real estate properties which devoted for mosques are obviously foundations.
This very idea, which was generated from Islamic understanding and its applications
throughout Islamic history, is regarded as legal and mostly followed
by Turkish Republic as well. However, within the last century, it is understood
that mosque foundations decreased their importance in meeting these expenses,
and mosque societies gained an important position in this matter. Moreover,
when salaries of imams and other religious practitioners are started to pay by
the State budget in 1950, the General Directorate of Foundations is released
from the duty of paying salary of imams and other religious practitioners. At
the same time, although in accordance with law of the Presidency of Religious
Affairs (Number 633 and Article 30), and law of the General Directorate of
Foundations (Number 5737 and Article 31) is obliged to meet expenditures of
mosques related to heating, lighting and other maintenance issues of mosques,
nothing has paid up to date in terms of to compensate these expenses by the
General Directorate of Foundations. In terms of financing mosque expenses,
one of the most important improvements is that imams are started to appoint by
the Diyanet as a department of the central government to villages and satellite
towns, and therefore, for the first time, their salaries are also started to pay by
the State budget in 1965.
Anahtar Kelimeler
Osmanlı'dan Cumhuriyet'e Camilerin Finansmanı
Öz
Bu makalede camilerin yapımı, bakımı ve görevli ücretlerinin ödenmesi konuları araştırılmıştır. Makalede tarihî arka plân göz önünde bulundurularak, söz konusu cami giderlerinin finansmanının dinî ve pratik temelleri incelenmiştir. Ayrıca Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü, cami dernekleri ve Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı'nın cami giderlerinin finansmanındaki rolleri ele alınmıştır. Bu yapılırken, Cumhuriyet döneminde camilerin finansmanına ilişkin uygulamalar ve gelişen hukukî çerçeve ortaya konularak yapılması gereken bazı hususlara dikkat çekilmiştir.Bu araştırmanın sonuçlarına bakıldığında; a) camilerin yaklaşık %67'sinin doğrudan yöre halkı, %13'ünün dernekler, %11'inin şahıslar ve %1'inin de vakıflar tarafından yaptırıldığı; b) camilerden %78'inin giderlerinin doğrudan yöre halkı tarafından karşılandığı; c) camilerin %7'sinin mülkiyeti derneklere ait olmasına rağmen, %15'inin giderlerinin cami derneklerince üslenildiği; d) mülkiyeti vakıflara ait olan camilerin oranı yaklaşık %12 olduğu halde, giderleri vakıflar tarafından karşılanan camilerin oranının yaklaşık %1 düzeyinde olduğu; e) camilerin %7'sinin mülkiyeti belediyelere ait olduğu halde, giderleri tamamen belediyeler tarafından karşılanan cami bulunmadığı görülmektedir.
Anahtar Kelimeler
