Mufti Trampa pays visit to Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu, one of Xanthi's gentries

Western Thrace
Sat, 18 Mar 2023 10:01 GMT
Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa Trampa visited Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu as part of his “Loyalty to the Gentries” visits.
Mufti Trampa pays visit to Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu, one of Xanthi's gentries

Mufti Trampa and his companions, who visited Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu, who served the Muslim Turkish Turkish Community in Xanthi for many years, at his home on Friday, March 10, 2023, had the opportunity to listen to his life story and memories.

Despite his age, Hafız Mehmet Emin Tvefikoğlu, who was born in Demircik village in 1935, conveying many events and experiences, said that he received his first Qur'an education from Hafız Salih and his father, Hafız Hasan Tevfik Efendi, who taught for 56 years. Tevfikoğlu reported that his great-grandfather, Hacı Asım Efendi, was Subaşı (commander) on the island of Thassos during the Ottoman period.

Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu stated that he started to recite Quran in Ramadan in his own village Demircik when he was 10 years old, and that they had to migrate to Şahin when their house was burned down by Bulgarian gangs in 1947 when he was 12 years old. He then stated that they settled in Xanthi.

Tevfikoğlu, who gave important information about his education life, stated that he continued his education at the Komotini madrasah and went to Istanbul in 1955. He stated that he took training lessons from the famous Kurra Hafız Ahmet Hızal Hodja, who came from Heybeliada and known as Adalı Hafız, at the Yeni Mosque in Istanbul. He also stated that he took training lessons for a short time from the famous Kurra Hafiz Abdurrahman Gürses Hodja in the following years.

Stating that he worked as a teacher in the village of Fıçıllı for a year, worked as a Ramadan teacher in the village of Okçular, then started teaching in Yassıören and started to work as an imam at the Selvili Mosque in Xanthi after three years of teaching, Mehmet Emin Hodja said, Yenice stated that he was a teacher in the village of Hacı Mustafa in Komotini. He also stated that he opened a fabric shop together with the imamate and worked as a tradesman for 35 years besides his duty as an imam.

Tevfikoğlu said a memoir in which they recited the response by heart in Ramadan: “We used to recite the Quran in Ramadan. I will never forget, in 1983, Tayyar Altı Kulaç, the Head of Religious Affairs, suddenly entered the mosque together with the Mufti of that time, M. Emin Aga. I was just getting started. I recited the Quran by heart. Altikulac then asked me, 'Who is your teacher,' and I replied that it was Adalı Hafız Ahmet. He replied, 'It's obvious, I understand'." expressed in words.

Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu had to leave his job as an imam in the Selvili mosque with the police force as a result of the Mufti events that broke out in 1991 when the Greek state appointed Mehmet Emin Şinikoğlu as Mufti regardless of the will of the people. Later, until his retirement, he taught the Qur'an to students in Xanthi Asagi Mahallesi (Çınar) Mosque.

Hafız Mehmet Emin Tevfikoğlu, who has served the Western Thrace Muslim Turkish Minority for more than 50 years, spends his retirement years in his house in the Xanthi Cinar Mosque square, where he resided for many years.

At the end of the visit, Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa Trampa presented him the book "Mosques and Masjids in Xanthi" in memory of the visit.

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