De spite pressure from secular governments, for much of its early years, to develop a highly modernist reading of Islam that strives to make its laws and ethics conform to the Western liberal tradition, Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı (Presidency of Religious Affairs) has pursued a moderate course in interpreting Islamic fiqh. This chapter provides evidence to this effect by presenting an analysis of Diyanet's approach to fiqh with a close study of İlmihal (Catechism of Islam)—a major two-volume publication on Islamic fiqh produced by Diyanet under a committee consisting of senior Turkish Islamic theologians and chaired by former President of Diyanet Ali Bardakoğlu (May 2003–November 2010). Further to the contention of Chapter 10—that especially since 2010 Diyanet has increased its engagement with traditional Islamic platforms banned during the Kemalist period, as well as with those members of the Turkish theology departments who are trying to develop a reformist discourse but with due respect for the traditional Islamic fiqh, as opposed to the more rationalist approaches to the study of theology traditionally encouraged in these departments—this chapter will examine the work of two influential contemporary Islamic thinkers in Turkey associated with Turkish theology departments: Hayrettin Karaman, an influential Islamic-studies scholar and public figure, who until 2001 was a professor of Islamic law at Marmara University's Divinity School, and has many books to his credit; and Recep Şentürk, a prominent emerging Turkish scholar who is trying to revive traditional Islamic methods and ideas by considering them in the light of modern ideas and is gaining a growing audience.

In these three examples, we see that the Turkish Islamic scholarly sphere was never so secularized as to lose its Islamic identity; yet we also see how influential scholars such as Karaman, due to their close advisory relationship with the governing AK Party (AKP), cannot be accused of promoting Salafi Islam, despite the accusations to the contrary made by the critics of AKP. It is particularly useful to consider Karaman's positions and his methods of Islamic reform, because he is an example of one of the influential Islamic scholars upon whom Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan draws when in need of fatwās, instead of pressuring Diyanet to issue them (unlike the arrangement observed between the Egyptian state and al-Azhar, see Chapter 1).