Traces of Materialist Approach in The Studies on Kutadgu Bilig in The Soviet Period and Evaluation in Terms of Religious Education (Example of Kyrgyzstan)

Abstract

Many studies have been done on the work of Yusuf Has Hajib called Kutadgu Bilig until today. However, each study was inevitably affected by the perspective and conjuncture of the period in which it was performed. Of course, Kutadgu Bilig is the most important element of the world cultural heritage and has reached this level thanks to its universal doctrines. From this point of view, different approaches in Kutadgu Bilig's comments should be considered normal. However, regarding the studies on Kutadgu Bilig performed in the Soviet period, it
is possible to observe that ideological impetuses have gone as far as to falsify. For example, in the article titled “From Kiyetism to Humanism” of Askar ABDULKADİR BEKBO, translated into Kyrgyz Turkish as “Kuttuu Bilim” and included in the book published by Frunze in1992, Kutadgu Bilig has been interpreted from the materialist point of view, although it was considered closer to idealism especially in terms of content, it could not escape from the ideological clamp of the period. In addition, the author of the article considered Yusuf Has Hajib as a rational philosopher and argued that he is close to dissenter about fate. We can see that this thought was felt in the translation and footnotes of the book as well. Again, he interestingly described Hz. Osman and Hz. Ali as prophet. Of course, such a work that belongs to the world culture could not be ignored even if a materialist approach was adopted during the Soviet period. Therefore, the didactic dimension of the work was also taken into consideration and religious elements were tried to be sheltered by making extreme comments on the work. Considering this approach in terms of religious education, presenting
the work as a product of Turkish Islamic culture would be “unfavorable” in a system that adopted the atheist approach in religious education. Therefore, in order to eliminate the “drawbacks” that may arise, excessive interpretations that have been made to present Yusuf Has Hajib as a materialist were observed.