Osmanlıca Matbu Fıkh ve Usûl-ı Fıkh Kitapları

Osmanlı'da hukuk çalışmalarına dair tafsilatlı bir bibliyografi neşrine ihtiyaç olduğu kanaatindeyim. Ahmet Mumcu'nun Türk Hukuk Bibliyografyası dikkate değer olmakla beraber, eksiklikleri var. Mesela Ebussuud Efendi'nin dua mecmuası, sadece ismine bakıldığından muhakeme usulune dair bir kitap olarak fişlenmiş. Ayrıca birçok fıkh kitabı derlemeye dahil edilmemiş; dahil edilen kitapların hususiyetlerine dair izah da verilmemiştir. Jale Baysal'ın Osmanlı Türklerinin Bastıkları Kitaplar 1729-1875 adlı kitabı da bir diğer dikkate değer kitaptır. Ancak hem kitap isimlerinde hem de tasnifinde hatalar mevcuttur.

Günümüzde meseleleri fıkh kitaplarına müracaat ederek halletme şuuru maalesef azaldı. Halbuki Kuran-ı Kerim, hadis-i şerifler ve icmaya binaen meseleleri sistematik olarak ele alan fıkh/usul-ı fıkh bir müslümanın hayatının pusulasıdır. Onsuz yolunu şaşırır. 

Burada sadece Osmanlıca matbu fıkh ile alakalı kitaplar, fıkh, usul-ı fıkh ve fıkh tarihi olmak üzere üç başlık altında toplanacaktır. Bu kitaplar, telif, terceme ve terceme-şerh mahiyetindedir. Osmanlıca'ya yapılan tercemelerin hususiyetlerinden biri de, metin sadece terceme edilmeyip şerhinin de yapılmasıdır.

Aşağıdaki liste bir başlangıçtır. Zamanla genişleyip, kitapların hususiyetlerine dair malumat da eklenecektir.

Fıkh

1. Kuduri Şerif Tercemesi (Aziziyye), Ebü'l-Hüseyin Ahmed b. Muhammed Emin el-Kudurî, mütercim Mehmed Emin Fehim Paşa (Kars Sancağı Mutasarrıfı), Dersaadet : Şirket-i Sahafiye-i Osmaniye Matbaası, 21 Zilkade 1315, def’a-i rabia (4. tab), 339 sahife. 1320, def’a-i hamse (5. tab)
2. Şerhu'l-Mevkufâti, Mevkufâti Mehmed Efendi, 1302, 2 cild. cild1 ve cild2 {İbrahim Halebi'nin Mülteka'l-Ebhur kitabının Türkçeye terceme ve şerhidir}
3. Halebi Tercümesi Babadaği, İbrahim b.M.b.İbrahim el-Hanefi el-Halebi, mütercim İbrahim b. Abdillah el-Babadaği, Dersaadet : Matbaa-i Yusuf Ziya, 1341, 316 s. {İbrahim Halebi'nin namaza dair bahisleri ihtiva eden Halebi-i Sağir kitabının Türkçeye tercemesi}
4. Tercemetü't-Tahtavî, Alaeddin Muhammed b. Ali b. Muhammed ed-Dımaşkî el-Haskefî, mütercim Abdülhamid en-Nakşibendi el-Halidi el-Ayıntabî, 8 cild. {Tahtavî'nin Dürrü'l-Muhtar üzerine yazdığı kıymetli haşiyenin Türkçeye tercemesidir. Türkçedeki en hacimli fıkıh kitabıdır.} ekitap
5. Terceme-i Düreri'l-hükkâm fî Şerhi Gureri'l-ahkâm, Molla Hüsrev Mehmed b. Feramürz b. Ali, 2 cild, İstanbul : Tabhane-i Amire, 1258 (1. tab). İstanbul : Matbaa-i Âmire, 1292 (2. tab) ekitap
6. Terceme-i Şerhu'l-Siyeri'l-Kebir, İmam Muhammed Şeybanî, şârih Şemsüleimme Serahsi, mütercim Mehmed Münib el-Ayintabî, Kostantiniyye: Tabhane-i Mamure, 1241, 2 cild, 357+373 s.
7. Tercüme-i Siyerü'l-Halebî, İbrahim el-Halebî, mütercim Ahmed Asım, Kahire, 1832
8. Tesîsü'n-Nazar ve Ruhu'l-Fıkh, Debbusî, mütercim İbnü'l-Hazm Ferid, Mizanü'l-Hukuk Matbaası, 1328, 108 s. {Hanefi fakihi Debbusî'nin (v. 430/1039) hilaf ilmine dair Tesîsü’n-Nazar fi İhtilâfi’l-Eimme kitabının tercemesidir.}
9. Mecelle şerhleri
• Dürerü’l-Hükkâm Şerhu Mecelleti’l-Ahkâm, Ali Haydar (Küçük Haydar) Efendi, İstanbul, 1330, 4 cild. {Mecelle'nin tam ve en meşhur şerhidir.} ekitap
• Mirkatü'l-Mecelle, Ali Haydar Efendi. {Mecelle'nin 11. Kitabından sonuna kadar.}
• Ruhü'l-Mecelle, Hacı Reşîd Paşa (Musul vâlisi), 1326-1328, 8 cild.  cild 1-4 ve cild 5-8
• Mecelle-i Ahkâm-ı Adliyye Şerhi, Türkzâde Ziyaeddîn Efendi, 1312. 
• Mecelle-i Ahkâm-ı Adliyye Şerhi, Kuyucaklızade Mehmed Atıf Bey (Evkâf-ı Hümâyûn İdare Meclisi reisi). {Mecelle'nin ilk dokuz kitabının şerhidir. Müellefin vefatı üzerine tamamlanamamıştır.}
• Eserü's-Said fi Asrı'l-Hamid. {Mecelle'nin ilk kitabının, yani Kitâbül-Büyu'nun şerhidir.}
10. Fetâvâ
• Behcetü’l-Fetâvâ ma'an-Nükûl, Ebü’l-Fadl Abdullah b. M. el-Hanefi el-Yenişehri, Abdullah Efendi, Derleyen: M.Fıkhi el-Ayni. İstanbul: Muhammed Recai, 1266, 5+643 s. ekitap
• Fetâvâ-ı Ali Efendi ma'an-Nükûl, Şeyhülislâm Çatalcalı Ali, Toplayan ve Düzenleyen: Salih b. Ahmed el-Kefevî, İstanbul, 1856. ekitap
• Neticetü'l-Fetâvâ ma'an-Nükûl, Dürrizâde Mehmed Arif, Nükulleri İlave Eden: Mehmed Hafız
• Fetâvâ-ı Feyziyye ma'an-Nükûl, Şeyhülislam Feyzullah  Efendi, İstanbul: Darü't-Tıbaatü'l-Amire, 1266. 572 s. ekitap
• Fetâvâ-ı Abdürrahim, Menteşizâde Abdurrahim, Tashih: İbrahim Saib, Beldetü't-Tayyibeti'l-Kostantiniyye: Darü't-Tıbaati'l-Mamureti's-Sultaniye, 1243, 2 cild, 578+584 s.
• Fetâvâ-ı Ankaravî, Mehmed Emin el-Ankaravî, Tashih: Muhammed es-Sabbağ, Bulak:Dârü't-Tıbaati'l-Mısriyye, 1281, 2 cild, 443+435 s.
• Fetâvâ-ı İbn Nüceym ve Tercümesi, İbn-i Nüceym Zeynel Âbidin b. İbrahim, Terceme: es-Seyyid Hasan Refet, İstanbul: Şeyh Yahya Efendi Matbaası, 1289, 2+363 s. ekitap
• Fetâvâ-ı Camiü'l-İcareteyn, Meşrebzâde Mehmed Ârif, İstanbul: Darüttıbaatü'l-Âmire, 1252, 427 s. ekitap
• Hülasatü'l-Ecvibe, Çeşmîzâde Mehmed Halis, İstanbul: Matbaa-ı el-Hac Muharrem Efendi, 1286, 264 s. {Netîcetü'l-Fetâvâ, Fetâvâ-ı Ali Efendi, Behcetü’l-Fetâvâ, Fetâvâ-ı Abdürrahîm, Fetâvâ-ı Feyziyye ve Fetâvâ-ı İbn Nüceym’deki fetvalardan derleme} ekitap
11. İlmihaller
• el-Mecmuatü'z-Zühdiyye fi'l-Ahkami'd-Diniyye, Seyyid Ahmed Zühdü Paşa, İstanbul: Matba’a-ı Osmaniyye, 318+4 s.
• Nimet-i İslam, Mehmed Zihni Efendi. ekitap
• İslam Yolu, İskilibli Mehmed Âtıf Efendi, İstanbul: Evkâf-ı İslâmiye Matbaası, 1338
• Envarü'l-Hamid fi Fıkhı Ehli't-Tevhid, Sabrizâde Ali Nureddin Abdullah, Dersaadet: 1317, 3 cild, 159+134+150 s.
• Tercümeli İman ve İbâdet Dersleri, Mehmed Demir Hâfız, İstanbul: Ahmed Kamil Matbaası, 1926 (4. tab), 32 s.
• İlm-i Hâl-i Sagîr, Süleyman Hüsnü Paşa, Konstantiniyye: Matbaa-i Ebu'l-Ziyâ, 1317 (13. tab), 48 s.
• İlm-i Hâl-i Kebir, Süleyman Hüsnü Paşa, İstanbul: Mihrân Matbaası, 1300 (3. tab), 112 s.
• Dürr-i Yekta Şerhi, İmamzâde Mehmed Esad, Derse'âdet: Matbaa-i Osmaniye, 1309, 211 s.
12. Din-i İslam’da Men-i Müskirat, İskilipli Mehmed Âtıf Efendi, 1345, 32 s.
13. Teshilü'l-Feraiz, Hoca Emin Efendizâde Ali Haydar, İstanbul, 1322, 234 s.
14. Medhal-i Fıkh, Abdüssettar Kırımî, İstanbul: Mahmud Bey Matbaası, 1299, 31 s.
15. Hamza Efendi’nin Bey’ ve Şira Risalesinin Şerhi, İsmail b. Osman b. Ebi Bekr b.Yusuf (Osmanpazari Müftüsü) eş-Şumnuvi, İstanbul: Matbaa-i Amire, 1260, 2+91 s.
16. Elğâz-ı Fıkhıyye, Mehmed Zihni Efendi, İstanbul: Kasabar Matbaası, 1309, 232 s. {Fıkh kitaplarına göre tasnif edilmiş fıkhi bilmecelere dair} ekitap
17. Vezaifü'l-Kudat Tercemesi, Hasan Sıdkı Efendi, Derse‘âdet, 1307.
18. İltimasü'l-âlem alâ Mezhebi'l-İmami'l-Âzam, Kangırılı Hüseyn Reşad, Kostantiniyye: Matbaa-i Âmire, 1306, 86 s. {Hayvan kesimine dair fıkhi hükümler. Sonunda istidafe edilen kitapların listesi var.}
19. Hulâsatu’l-Muhtâreyn, Süleyman Sırrı, Derse‘âdet: Mahmud Bey Matbaası, 1324, 126 s. {Reddü'l-Muhtar esas alınarak nikah ve talak bahislerini havidir}
20. Muhtasar Dimâü’n-Nisâ, Abdullah Edib Ayntâbî, Derse‘âdet: Sada-ı Millet Matbaası, 1327, 40 s. {Hanefi mezhebine göre hayz ve nifas}
21. Medhal-i Fıkh, Süleyman Sırrı, Konstantiniyye: Matbaa-i Ebu'z-Ziya, 1329, 120 s.
22. Tesettür-i Şer'i, İskilibli Mehmed Atıf, İstanbul: Matbaa-i Âmire, 1339, 16 s.
23. Tenvirü'l-Ahkâm fî Tebyin-i Müşkilâti'l-Hükkâm, Arabzâde Mehmed Emin, İstanbul: İbrahim Efendi Matbaası, 1290,  45 s. {Kudatın fazileti, âdâb-ı murafa'a ve muhakemeye dair}
24. Miyar-ı Adâlet, Ömer Hilmi, İstanbul: Hacı Muharrem Efendi Matbaası, 1301, 86 s. {Cinayet ve diyete dair} ekitap

Usûl-ı Fıkh

1. Teshil-i Mirkatü'l-Vusul ilâ İlmi'l-Usûl, Mehmed b. Feramuz Molla Hüsrev, mütercim: Gelibolulu Osman b. Mustafa Efendi ekitap
2. Levâmiü'd-Dekâik fi Tercemeti Mecamii'l-Hakâik, Ebu Said Hadimi, terceme (Meclis-i Mearif azası) Ahmed Hamdi Şirvani, 1293, 312+24+18+42+8 s.
3. Usûl-ı Fıkh Dersleri, Büyük Haydar Efendi, not tutan Hacı Adil Arda, İstanbul : Matbaa-i Amire, 1326, 558 s.
4. Usûl-ı Fıkh, Mehmed Zihni Efendi
5. Usûl-ı Fıkh, Mahmud Esad b. Emin Seydişehrî, İstanbul: Mekteb-i Sanayi Matbaası, 1302, 384 sahife (1. cild)
6. Telhis-i Usûl-ı Fıkh, Mahmud Esad b. Emin Seydişehrî
7. Türkçe Muhtasar Usûl-ı Fıkh, Ahmed Hamdi Şirvanî, İstanbul : Mihran Matbaası, 1301, 133+3 s. ekitap
8. Usûl-ı Fıkh Sualleri, Dersaadet : Matbaa-i Hukukiyye, 1330, 8 s.
9. ez-Zeriatü ilâ İlmi’ş-Şeria, Abdulkadir Saduddin, Dersaadet : Mahmud Bey Matbaası, 1311, 146 s.

Fıkh Tarihi

1. Tarih-i İlm-i Fıkh (Darulfünun Ulum-i Şeriye Şubesi Ders Takriri), Kamil Miras, İstanbul,1331, 112 s.
2. Mevâhibü'r-Rahman fi Menâkıbi'l-İmam Ebi Hanifeti'n-Numân, İbn Hacer Heytemii, terceme ve şerh Manastırlı İsmail Hakkı, Derseadet: Mahmud Bey Matbaası, 1310, 214 s.
3. Tabakât-ı Fukaha, Mahmud Tevfik, İstanbul: İkbal Millet Matbaası, 1325, 20 s.
4. Terceme-i Vasıyetnâme-i İmam Azam, terceme Şeyh İbrahim Nureddin, İstanbul : Darü't-Tıbaati'l-Âmire, 1264, 19 s.
5. Meşâhir-i Ashâb-i Güzin ve Terâcim-i Ahval-i Fukâha, Hilmizâde İbrahim Rıfat, Darü'l-Hilafeti'l-Aliyye: Kütübhane-i Cihan, 1319, 176 s.
6. el-Fevâyihü'l-Münife fi Tercümeti'n-Nasayıhi li Ebi Hanife, Müftizâde Mehmed Kamil, İstanbul: Nişan Berberyan Matbaası, 1312, 97 s. {İbn Nüceym hazretlerinin el-Eşbah ve'n-Nezâir kitabının bir kısmının tercümesi}

Golden City: Timbuktu

For some reason, the history of Africa is not interesting to Turkish academia. Some part of this continent was, however, inside the territory of the Ottoman State until recently. The topic of this article covers the history of Timbuktu, which was once one of the most important centers in Africa, and Europe's desire to Timbuktu.

“Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only to be found in Timbuctoo” says an old African (Tamasheq) proverb[1].

The life of Timbuktu, which today is inside the territory of Mali, began as a trading center of Tuareg people by the end of 11th century. Timbuktu, which became an important city by constant growth, has gained an international reputation as the center of trade and knowledge despite its different perception in the eyes of the Europeans [2]. Even though the exact location of Timbuktu was not known in Europe for many centuries, the city was believed to have houses which were made of gold [3]. The name of this city is variably called Tombuto, Tambucto, Tombuctoo or Timbuctoo in European languages.

Timbuktu was one of the important centers where Islamic sciences were taught. Although the region was ruled by different people, such as Mali, Songay and Mor, scholars uninterruptedly continued doing research and teaching students. Scholars in Timbuktu have been interested not only in tafsir (Quranic exegesis), hadith (Prophetic tradition), fiqh (Islamic law) and kalam (theology), but also linguistics, history, mathematics, logic and astronomy. A bibliographic dictionary, which was written by Ahmad Baba (1556-1627) and contains the biographies and works of scholars between the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 17th century, demonstrates Timbuktu's high level in Islamic sciences and its close contact with Makka and Madina [5].

Sankore Madrasah in which scientific activity has lasted for centuries

Leos Africanus (Hasan bin Muhammad al-Wazzan al-Zayyati), who traveled around Africa upon the request of Pope in the 16th century, gives clues in his travel book regarding the intellectual life in Timbuktu [6]: “Here are great store of doctors, judges, priests, and other learned men, that are bountifully maintained at the kings cost and charges. And hither are brought diuers manuscripts or written bookes out of Barbarie, which are sold for more money than any other merchandize”.

Hunwick, an African historian, presents notable information about Timbuktu [7]. Timbuktu's being center of knowledge was the impetus for the increase in writing and trading of books from there. Timbuktu did not import manuscripts only from north Africa and Egypt. Scholars got education in Makka where they went to for religious pilgrimage and also in Cairo which was on their way back, bringing the books they copied in those places to their own libraries. There was an active copying tradition in Timbuktu, too. It can be realized from the colophons on the books written in Timbuktu that the writing process was a professional business. Hunwick mentions al-Quran al-Karim with 1420 date in the library of Mahmud Kati he encountered on August, 1999. The last page was written in Ottoman Turkish and al-Quran was recorded in the name of Sharifa Hadija Hanim foundation.

Thousands of manuscripts are waiting to be read

UNESCO added Timbuktu to the World Heritage List in 1988. By the support of the Ford Foundation, Timbuktu manuscripts project was initiated in order to protect these manuscripts by digitization in 2000. This project also is included in Memory of the World projects of UNESCO [8].

Few cities in the world are surrounded by legends as Timbuktu. The city is located at the intersection of the caravan trades in the Sahara. The fundamental commodity of the Saharan trade was gold. Throughout the Middle Ages, almost two-thirds of the gold need in the world were provided by the West Africa. Later on, since gold came from Guinea in the 17 and 18th centuries, gold currency was called “guinea”. A tremendous amount of gold was sent to the north and sold in the Timbuktu market. Gold was carried from here to Fez and Tripoli passing through the Sahara by camels. Most of this gold used to be sold to Europe. As time went on, the knowledge that the gold came from Timbuktu spread out over Europe. This played an important role in shaping the image of Timbuktu in Europe. Even though the gold trade passing through Timbuktu ended a long time ago, the myth of Timbuktu became bigger and more pervasive in Europe [4].

The European explorers who set out for new markets, new trade routes and new sources spread out all corners of the world in order to accomplish their purpose. Besides being an interesting place, Africa had significant natural resources. Some of these explorers had a desire to become the first European to reach Timbuktu. Few of them achieved their aim. This cultivated the image of Timbuktu as an unreachable city in addition to its image of golden city. The phrases, such as “To Timbuktu and back”, “It is a long way to Timbuktu”, “I will knock you clear to Timbuktu” and “Go to Timbuktu”, are the reflection of Timbuktu's image of unreachability on the language.

We can see the clues about how Europe imagines Africa in the article “Africa” in the 1778 edition of Encyclopedia Britannica [9]: “abounds with gold and silver in a greater degree . . . and it is surprising that neither the ancient or modern Europeans, notwithstanding their extraordinary and insatiable thirst after gold and silver, should have endeavoured to establish themselves effectively in a country much nearer to them than either America or the East Indies and where the objects of their desires are to be found in equal, if not greater, plenty”.

An African map published in 1790 by the African Association

The European adventure in Africa dates back to very early times. After 18th century, this adventure, however, turned into a systematic exploration movement. In 1788, the African Association (with the full name, The Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa) was founded, whose purposes were to determine and map the route of the Niger River and more importantly to find the famous city Timbuktu. William Sinclair, grandchild of the association co-founder Sir John Sinclair, says the following in his article about the association [10]: “In 1788 he took a leading part in forming an association to promote discoveries in Africa. At that date the map of Africa, beyond the coast-line and Egypt, was almost a blank. Hitherto Europeans had visited that continent to plunder, oppress, and enslave: the share of this country in the slave-trade is the most astounding and disgraceful chapter in its history. The object of this society was to promote the cause of science and humanity, to explore the mysterious geography, to ascertain the resources, and to improve the condition of that ill-fated continent. In furtherance of their designs they employed able and experienced travellers to penetrate as far as they could into the interior, and collect information on all subjects interesting to the philosopher or the philanthropist. Towards the expenses of these missions each member paid an annual subscription. ... The result of their labours has thrown new lustre on the British name, and widely extended the boundaries of human knowledge. They have caused a solid and permanent glory, and have acquired higher claims to the admiration of mankind than many of those whose achievements fill the first place in the page of history”. At the end of his article, William Sinclair wishes this: “Had the Association continued its existence, it might have done much for the peaceful solution of many African problems, and for the general improvement of commerce and knowledge”. Later on, the areas under the investigation were colonized by France. Taking into account France's lack of administrative skill, Sinclair's wishes are convincing. These wishes, however, can unfortunately not be fulfilled as long as the West has the exploitative attitude towards the non-Western countries.

Europe's desire for Timbuktu also was reflected through poems. Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892), a poet laureate, won the “Chancellor's Gold Medal” from Cambridge University by his poem “Timbuctoo” at the age of 18. William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863), an English novelist, penned another poem titled “Timbuctoo” in order to satirize Alfred's poem [11].

West Africa was a French colony between 1893 and 1960. The traditional education keeps on in Timbuktu where an intense scientific activity continued until 18th century. Timbuktu now is far from the good old days and has become a place where thousands of manuscripts are in the storerooms of houses and the poverty prevails.

When the host in the documentary “The Lost Libraries of Timbuktu” of BBC saw the manuscripts about astronomy and mathematics in Timbuktu, she was very surprised at these books. Of course a person, coming from a wealthy country that has enslaved black people and exploited (with the West's innocent word 'colonize') their countries, will be surprised.

References and Notes

[1] Dubio Felix, Timbuctoo-The Mysterious, Translation from French by Diana White, London, 1896, p. 276.

[2] Y. G.-M. Lulat, A history of African higher education from antiquity to the present: a critical synthesis, London, 2005, p. 72.

[3] Brian Gardner, The Quest for Timbuctoo, London, 1968, p. 9.

[5] Ira Marvin Lapidus, A history of Islamic societies, Cambridge University Press, 2002 , p. 409. For the contributions of Islam to intellectual life in Africa, please refer to: Scott Steven Reese, The transmission of learning in Islamic Africa, Brill, 2004.

[6] Leo Africanus, The history and description of Africa: and of the notable things, Translated by John Pory, Prepared by Robert Brown, Hakluyt Society, London, 1896, vol. 3, p. 825. All the volumes can be downloaded here (vol. 1, vol. 2 and vol. 3).

[7] John O. Hunwick, West Africa, Islam, and the Arab world: studies in honor of Basil Davidson, Princton, 2006, pp. 41-42. Hunwick presents a comprehensive bibliography regarding Timbuktu: John O. Hunwick, “Timbuktu: a bibliography”, Sudanic Africa, vol.12, pp. 115-129 , 2001. This paper can be downloaded here.

[8] You can reach the Timbuktu website of UNESCO the World Heritage List here. You can also reach the detailed information about the Timbuktu Manuscripts Project here. The website of The Library of Congress provides some part of thousands digitized manuscripts. West African Arabic Manuscript Database Project has classified approximately 23,000 manuscripts based on their subjects. One of the catalogs published by Al-Furqan Islamic Heritage Foundation presents 9000 manuscripts in the Ahmad Baba library, Timbuktu. The book titled Arabic Literature of Africa The Writings of Western Sudanic Africa edited by John O. Hunwick was published in 2003. Another valuable book about the intellectual life in Africa was published under the title The Trans-Saharan Book Trade : Manuscript Culture, Arabic Literacy and Intellectual History in Muslim Africa in 2010. The Meanings of Timbuktu (Editors  Shamil Jeppie and Souleymane Bachir Diagne) published in 2008 can be downloaded here.

[9] Robin Hallett, “The European approach to the interior of Africa in the eighteenth century”, The Journal of African History, vol. 4, no.2, pp. 191-206, 1963.

[10] William Sinclair, “The African Association of 1788”, Journal of the Royal African Society, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 145-149, 1901. The association used to publish the information they gathered under the title of Proceedings of the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa. You can reach the pdf version of  the 1798  report. Robin Hallett published the association's records under the title of Records of the African Association in 1963,  London.

[11] William Makepeace Thacke, The works of William Makepeace Thacke, Kensington Edition, Volume XXX, New York, 1904, p. 457-460 or William Makepeace Thackeray, Essays, Reviews, Hesperides Press, 2008, p. 410-412. The 1904 edition of the book can be downloaded here.

Fiqh/Law and Handasa/Geometry

While reading Sadri Maksudi's Hukuk Tarihi Dersleri (Lectures of Legal History) in Ottoman-Turkish, the section titled “Leibniz'in Hukuk Tarihine Hizmeti (Leibniz's service to legal history)” drew attention to me [1]. I checked whether there was any recent study dealing with the same topic. I encountered the paper titled “Law & Geometry: Legal Science from Leibniz to Langdell” [2], which reminded me of an old Turkish couplet [3]:

Hendese ilm-i fıkhın mizanıdır 

Kim anı kem eyleye, nasın çinganıdır. 

Handasa (geometry) is the balance/measure of the science of fiqh (Islamic law)

Whoever looks down to it or neglects it is the most inferior of people.

Geometry is deemed a balance for fiqh in this couplet. Those who ignore geometry are criticized. “Islamic law” terminology is commonly used instead of fiqh, but does not wholly cover the meaning of fiqh. This couplet establishes a relationship between law and geometry. In geometry, definite knowledge is obtained through proving theorems, which is mentioned in Tahafut al-Falasifa by Imam Ghazali. Because of this importance, geometry kept its position in the curriculum until the Ottoman madrasas were abolished. Toderini, an Italian Jesuit, could not fail to mention the importance of geometry in the madrasas [4].

References and Notes

[1] Sadri Maksudi, İkinci Sene Hukuk Tarihi Dersleri, 1926-1927 sene-i tedrisiyesinde takrir edilen ders notları, Ankara Hukuk Mektebi, p. 9.  The book can be downloaded here.

[2] M. H. Hoeflich, "Law & Geometry: Legal Science from Leibniz to Langdell", The American Journal of Legal History, vol. 30, no. 2 (Apr., 1986), pp. 95-121.

[3] Prof. Ekrem Bugra Ekinci said on a radio program that this couplet was hung on the wall in Darü'ş-Şafaka High School in the Ottoman era.

[4] Giambatista Toderini, Türklerin Yazılı Kültürü [Turkish Literature], Translation from French into Turkish by Ali Berktay, İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2012, p.65-67. 

Copernicus and Ottoman

Copernicus introduced the general outline of his new theory in his treatise titled Commentariolus. He stated in this treatise that the Earth is only the center of the orbit of the Moon, not the center of the solar system, and that all the planets revolve around the Sun. He, however, left many deficits in his theory. He died after a few hours when he saw the first edition of his book, De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium, on May 24, 1543 [1].

To the best of my knowledge, the Islamic world had first contact with Copernicus astronomy through Tazkiraji Kosa Ibrahim Effendi of Zigatwar's Arabic translation of Noel Duret's Latin text Novae Motuum Caelestium Ephemerides Rischelianae with corrections and additions under the title of Sajanja al-Aflaq fi Gayrat al-Idraq. He later translated into Ottoman Turkish. The heliocentric model, which led to the conflict between science and religion in Europe, was considered merely a scientific issue among the Ottoman scholars, who then preferred this model over the geocentric model, a.k.a. the Ptolemaic model [2].

The transition from the geocentric model to the heliocentric model resulted in the coordinate change, which did not have an effect in terms of the astronomical calculations. Tazkiraji Kosa Ibrahim Effendi says in his work [3]:

 “In 1461, Peurbach and Regiomontaus, German scholars,  determined the errors of Alfonso's Zij (astronomical table). Although Regiomontaus had begun to make observations in order to correct this zij, he died before completing his study. A few years later Nicolaus Copernicus established a new method in 1525, determining the errors of Alfonso's Zij and finding its basis unsound.

Copernicus, establishing a new basis, constructed a small new zij by assuming that the Earth was moving. This zij was in use for 60 years until the time of Tycho Brahe. 

While Tycho Brahe, in the coasts of Reine, was correcting Copernicus's Zij through observations with a great number of more accurate devices, the Bohemian military expedition began. Even though he desired to publish the drafts of his zij,  his life was not sufficiently long to finish that. The zij as good as Tycho's zij was eventually produced by his contemporary Longomontanus of Daina. 

After that, Johannes Kepler (d. 1630), who was working in the palace of the Spain King Rudolph, prepared an original zij to contain all the stars based on Tycho's observations, and called it Zij of Rudolph. As stated by Kepler, this zij was not consistent with all the observations because the positions of the stars Ptotemy observed did not match up to the positions in this zij. The solar and lunar eclipses also showed incongruity with this zij. Eventually Duret constructed a zij based on Lansberge's zij using 30 years of observations. I, Ibrahim al-Zigatwari and also known as Tazkiraji, had Duret's work brought from abroad and translated this work”.

References

[1] Robert B. Downs, Dünyayı Değiştiren Kitaplar [Books That Changed the World], Translation into Turkish by Erol Güngör, İstanbul, 2008, p.187,190. 

[2] Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu, Osmanlılar ve Bilim [Ottomans and Science], İstanbul, 2003, p. 37. 

[3] Ibid., p. 166-168.

Riddles in Islamic Teaching Tradition

Since ilm (knowledge) has been one of the primary focuses of Islamic civilization, books, one of the transmission media of ilm, have drawn much attention. While transferring knowledge into books, not only prose form but also verse form has been used. 

Today's scholars are doing research on how to get young generation to like ilm and how to avoid making them bored while they are studying difficult and uninteresting books in the first stages of their education life. Fortunately, through computer technology, books have recently become interactive and subjects of  courses are being taught with video and animations.

Centuries ago, Islamic scholars produced different mediums to the extent that they could do so as to increase the curiosity of the new learners and to enable them to learn with fun. One of these mediums is the riddle. Arabic word “Algaz” is a plural form of lugz (lam gayn za) and means riddles.

The titles of some riddle books on different topics are given below:

Nahw (Syntax)

al-Azharî, al-Alğazu al-Nahwiyya fî Ilm al-Arabiyya

Suyutî, al-Tirâz fi al-Alğâz

Zamahsharî, al-Muhâjât bi al-Masâil al-Nahwiyya

Abu al-Ma'âlî al-Varrâk, al-İcâz fi al-Ahâcî wa al-Alğaz

Abu al-Kâsım al-Harîrî, Alğâzu al-Harîrî wa  Ahâcîhî fi Mâkâmâtihî

Ibn Hisham, al-Alğâzu al-Nahwiyya

Fiqh (Islamic Law)

Abdalaziz al-Jîlî, al-İcâz fi al-Alğâz

Ibn Fârid al-Hamawî, al-Alğâz

Ibn Farhûn, Durretu al-Ğavâs fi Muhadarat al-Havâs

al-Jarrâ'î, Hilyatu al-Tirâz fi Halli Masâil al-Alğâz

Sadruddin İbnu al-İzz al-Hanafî, al-Tazhîb li Zihni al-Labîb

Ibnu al-Shihna (d. 890/1485), al-Zahairu al-Ashrafiyya fi al-Alğaz al-Hanafiyya. It was published.

Ibn Ğalbûnn,  al-Tuhfa fî İlmi al-Mawârîs

Karaçelebizâde Abdülazîz Efendi (d. 1068/1658), Kitâb al-Algaz fî Fiqh al-Hanafiyya. He was the 33th grand mufti of the Ottoman Empire. I could not access the manuscript form of this book.

Mehmed Zihni Efendi (d. 1332/1913), Algâz-i Fiqhiyya. Zihni Efendi has knowledge on literature and fiqh. His book titled Nimet-i Islam is well-known catechism. Even today it is among the books which are frequently referred in Turkey. Algaz-i Fiqhiyya was written in Ottoman-Turkish language in the form of translation-sharh (commentary). Even though Algaz-i Fiqhiyya is dedicated to fiqh, it contains riddles related to arithmetic and intelligence. The book is based on algaz section of Hanafi faqih Ibn Nucaym's Ashbah. Algaz-i Fiqhiyya also was published in modern Turkish with unnecessary simplifications.

Qiraat (Quran reading)

Shamsaddin b. Muhammad al-Jazarî, Alğâz al-Jazarî or al-Aqdu al-Samîn fi Alğâz al-Qur’ân al-Mubîn

Alaaddin b. Nasır al-Trablûsî, Alğâz al-Alâiyye

Omar al-Askâtî, Kitabu Ajwibah al-Masâil fî Ilm al-Qiraât

Hasab (Arithmetic)

Musa al-Harizmî, Kitâb al-Mukhtasar fî Hisab al-Jabr wa al-Mukâbala

Abû Abdillah b. Gâzî al-Miknâsî, Buğyet al-Tullâb fî Sharh Munyat al-Hisâb

Introduction of Modernism into Islamic World

When speaking about the Modernist movement in Islamic world, one of the places that comes to the mind first is Egypt. When we look to the Islamic history over the last two centuries, we realize that the pioneers of the Modernist movement came from Egypt and their thoughts spread over Islamic world. Since the movement began in Egypt, it is important to read the history of modernism in Islamic world from an Egyptian author. I will share some noteworthy parts of the book, al-lslam wa al-Hadarah al-Gharbiyyah, which was written by Prof. Muhammad Mahmud Husayn, and also translated into Turkish.

Rifaa Tahtawi and Hayraddin Tunusi

According to the author,  the modernist wind started blowing when  Egypt, under the ruling of Qawalali Mahmad Ali Pasha, began to bring the science and technology from Europe. To realize his goal, Mahmad Ali Pasha brought foreign experts to his country and sent students to the European countries to get a good education. The foreign experts brought their families, schools, and hospitals with themselves. The author deals with this event as follows: It was an obvious danger for Egyptians to live together with these foreigners. The same danger was valid for the students being sent to Europe for education. How much these students are affected by European thought and movements can be understood from their writings when in Europe or after coming back to Egypt. Rifaa Tahtawi,  staying in Paris between 1826-1831, and Hayraddin Tunusi, staying in Paris between 1852-1856 can be given as an example for this,  [page 17].

These two people planted quickly the seeds, which they obtained from Europe, in  the Islamic world [page 18].  It can be seen in their works that they lowered themselves before Europe and  imitated Europe blindly. The author reveals their structures of thought through citing their works.

Lord Cromer and Lord Lloyd

Lord Cromer, a colonial governor of England in Egypt, says that  the severe conflict and difference between Muslims and colonizer Europeans  stem from the difference between religious and moral values, traditions and customs, language, art, and music. Cromer suggests two ways to remove this conflict: One way is to raise modern and privately educated generation in order to approach Egyptians to Europeans, especially to English in terms of thought and behavior. He established Victoria College due to this opinion. The second way is to develop an Islamic understanding which is consistent with Western civilization or at least close to it and does not  conflict with it, and subject to Islam to a new interpretation [page 41]. According to Lord Lloyd, the latter way was more effective than the former. 

Afghani – Abduh – Rashid Rida

The third section of the book is about Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Abduh. According to the author, it is suspicious that al-Afghani's identity is not clear. al-Afghani says that he is an Afghani Sunni. However, the research conducted reveals that he is an Iranian Shiite. This can also be easily understood from the book of his sister's son Mirza Lutfullah Khan, from whom al-Afghani never kept away during his visits to Iran. Since the Afghani people in the Ottoman state were Sunni, al-Afghani concealed that he was Shiite. The lack of both a representative abroad and an ambassador of Iran facilitated al-Afghani's concealing his original identity. He could make people believe that he was from Afghanistan because Afghanistan did not have any representative abroad.

Hasan Fahmi Effendi, shaykh al-islam of the Ottoman state, stated that he had to struggle with al-Afgani when in his first visit to Istanbul he talked scandalously, treating prophethood (nubuwwah) as an art of the arts and equating prophets with philosophers. As a result of this struggle al-Afgani was removed from Istanbul [p. 61].

The opinions of Yusuf al-Nabhani, who came to know Abduh and al-Afgani and lived together with them, should be taken into consideration. He explained his opinions about them in the many parts of his  works in both verse and prose form. He witnessed that Abduh deliberately did not perform prayer (salat) [73]. In the third section of his work, al-Uqud al-Luluiyyah fi al-Madaih al-Nabawiyya, al-Nabhani says this  about those who have an affiliation with  Abduh  and his student Rashid Rida, “Although these ahl al-bidah (those who follow innovations in the religion) willingly imitated protestants, they, somehow, could not imitate the imams and elders of Muhammad's Ummah (followers), whose tracks have been followed for more than one thousand years” [p. 75]

Mustafa Sabri Effendi, shaykh al-islam of the Ottoman state, is one of the scholars who drew attention to  the danger of Abduh. Mustafa Sabri Effendi declares the following in his book, Mawqif al-Aql wa al-Alim min Rabb al-Alamin wa Ibadih al-Mursalin, “Abduh had a harmful effect on Islam and  those scholars distanced from the Islamic culture, who succeeded Abduh. His thoughts which I criticized in this book were blown up like a balloon. Due to his thoughts, undoubtedly supported by the propaganda of the Masons,  he was put in a high place among the ulama (scholars). This kind of situation led some of elderly scholars and a  lot of young people, who wanted to shine quickly  and become  famous, and to give speeches contrary to traditional knowledge.”

Mustafa Sabri Effendi says in another part of the book, “Abduh and his master al-Afgani might want to play the same role in Islam as Luther and Calvin played  in Christianity. But they did not have the opportunity to establish a new sect even though Luther and Calvin established a new sect. Their efforts merely helped the modernist movement, which wore the thought of irreligion.”

The attempt to westernize Islam was based on the reports of Lord Cromer and later that of Lord Lloyd. According to their reports, al-Azhar University was the center of the propaganda against Britain and would continue this attitude of anti-colonialism if it maintained its traditional structure. 

Fears of colonists

Professor Muhammad Husayn speaks of the colonists' fears that: “Islam will continue to maintain its authenticity even though it has lost its activity. One day Islam will establish its dominance again and remove Western values. As a result of this fear, Westerners and their local followers were talking about the approximation and interaction of the two civilizations in order to distort the authenticity of Islam. Their ultimate goal was to realize this.” [p. 103]

Alliance of religions

As to the alliance between the religions, especially between Islam and Christianity, the approximation the two religions to each other began with an agreement between English pastor Isac Taylor and Abduh and some of his friends in 1883 when Abduh was exiled to Dimashq. [p. 155]

Blind imitation

The blind imitation of the intellectuals, who have been affected by the reformist movement in Europe and the French Revolution, reminds us of this symbolic story about two donkeys: One donkey is carrying salt and the other sponges. The donkey with sponges sees his friend going into water, hence lessening his load by melting some of salt. Suddenly it comes to his mind that he might do the same, and he does so. But, he faces the inverse effect. The donkey going into the water with his load of sponges pays tragically  for his reckless mistake. A blind imitation might be deadly for a society. [p. 184]

Westernization

When weak societies abandon their own culture and civilization and adapt to the culture and civilization of colonists, these societies lose their soul. Eventually they will excessively admire those who exploit them. Because they have forgotten the feeling that the colonists exploit them, they have no longer  a lively soul, saving them from this slavery and exploitation,  Under these circumstances, they see the exploiters as those who are superior to them, release them from the dark to the light, and bring them from brutality to 'contemporary civilization'. Here is the secret of the western countries which exploit different countries from East to West and desire to spread their religion, civilization, language, and culture. Here is the westernization politicians and orientalists have often remarked. [p. 188]

The Duty of Conscience

Isak Jerusalmi, son of David Effendi working as a translator for Mahmad Sadik Rifat Pasha, has transliterated Pasha's Risale-i Ahlaq (an Ottoman Turkish treatise on ethics taught in the Ottoman schools) into Latin alphabet. Isak writes in the preface of the book [1]: “Yellowish pages of fair amount of 'old' books were sold to shops of dried fruits by miserable people and after being used for a paper bag, these pages were thrown into the trash bin. The existing publications from the Ottoman period constitute very small amount of the total publications from that period. The books have been waiting, locked up in the cabinets of famous libraries. This tragic waiting has lasted over a century. Who will read and evaluate these books, which have not seen sunlight? Unfortunately, there is a lack of experts”.

The cover page of the treatise

Isak Effendi, born in Uskudar district of Istanbul, tells us so and asks the uncomfortable question: Who will read these books in Ottoman Turkish?

At the end of the preface, he writes that on March 4, 1924, after the abolition of the Caliphate, it was decided that Abdulmajid II would go to Çatalca from Istanbul by car and from there to Europe by train. His private secretary, Salih Nigar, narrates the arrival of the convoy to the train station in his book [2]: “The manager of the station of Rumali Railway Corporation was a Jewish citizen. Since there was no convenient place where His Excellency and his family could rest, the manager assigned his building to the high guests and the manager and his family treated them with respect and served. When His Excellency thanked him for the sincere respect and help, the manager said 'the Ottoman dynasty is the benefactor of the Jewish people. When our ancestors, being exiled from Spain, were looking for a country to protect themselves, the Ottoman dynasty saved them from vanishing and provided them with safety of life, honor and property, and freedom of religion and language. In the time of troubles, it is a duty of conscience for us to serve them as good as we can'. These words filled us with tears”.

Reference

[1] Mehmed Sadik Rifat Pasa, Risale-i Ahlak, prepared by Isak Jerusalmi, Cincinnati, 1990. The book contains Ottoman text along with its transliteration. This book can be downloaded here.                  

[2] Salih Nigar, Halife İkinci Abdülmecid, İstanbul, 1964, p. 8.