THE APPROPRIATION OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND AHL AL

271 Pages·2013·1.72 MB·English

THE APPROPRIATION OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND AHL AL-
BAYTISM IN OTTOMAN HISTORICAL WRITING, 1300-1650

Dissertation
Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of
Philisophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University
By
Vefa Erginbaş, M.A.
Graduate Program in History

The Ohio State University
2013

Dissertation Committee
Jane Hathaway, Advisor
Stephen Dale
Dale K. Van Kley

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Copyright by
Vefa Erginbaş
2013

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Abstract

This is a study of Ottoman historical productions of the pre-1700 period
that deal directly with narratives of early Islamic history. It specifically deals with
the representations of the formative events of early Islamic history. Through the
lenses of universal histories, biographies of Muhammad, religious treatieses and
other narrative sources, this study examines Ottoman intellectuals’ perceptions of
the events that occurred after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632 C.E. It
particularly provides a perspective on issues such as the problem of succession to
Muhammad as leader of the Muslim community; the conflict between ‘Alī ibn Abī
Talīb and Mu‘āwiyah and the Umayyad dynasty’s assumption of the position of
successor (caliph); and Ottoman views of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphs and
significant events and persons during the reigns of these two dynasties. Since the
great schism between the Sunnis and Shiites began because of their different
stances on the issue of succession to Muhammad, studying these perceptions can
help to tell us whether the Ottomans were strict Sunnis who favored a rigidly
Sunni interpretation of the formative events of Islam.
After the death of Muhammad, the Muslim community was divided over
how his successor as leader of the community should be chosen. This division
resulted in the emergence of the Sunni-Shiite schism. The Ottomans have
traditionally been regarded as strict Sunnis. In this study, which utilizes Ottoman
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Turkish and Arabic manuscript sources, many of which have never been studied
before, it is argued that Ottoman Sunnism was not as monolithic as has been
conventionally assumed and that there were many intellectual currents
competing to shape the nature of Sunnism in the Empire. The study covers a wide
range of historians, from the earliest representatives of Ottoman universal
history-writers, such as Ahmedī (1334-1412), Enverī (d, 1460), and Şükrullah
(1388-1461), to comparatively well-known later intellectual luminaries such as
Mustafa ‘Ālī (1541-1600) and Katip Çelebi (1609-57), and lesser-known figures
such as Mustafa Cenabī (d. 1590) and Muslihuddin Lārī (d. 1572).
A particularly noteworthy contribution of this study is the analysis of the
course of ahl al-baytism in Ottoman historical writing. Ahl al-baytism is a term
used to describe the love and reverence that Sunnis show not only to the
immediate family of Muhammad but also to the twelve imams of the Shiites. (Ahl
al-bayt, literally “people of the house,” refers to the family of Muhammad in
broad terms.) It is argued in this study that ahl al-baytism was a widespread
cultural phenomenon among Ottoman intellectuals. Based on this evidence, this
study challenges the idea that Ottomans were zealous Sunnis. It contends that
Ottoman Sunnism can be best understood with reference to divergent and even at
times contradictory trends that coexisted. The pendulum, it demonstrates,
consistently swung more towards ahl al-baytism and away from zealous
Sunnism.

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To my wife
for being there

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Acknowledgments

I should say at the beginning what I should say at the end: This study is
dedicated to my wife. Without her continuous support and encouragement none
of this could have been written.
If I am a better academic today, it is most certainly due to my advisor Jane
Hathaway. Throughout my graduate studies she has provided me with the best of
advice, support and friendship. She made this dissertation much better with her
suggestions and revisions. She left a mark on my academic training that proved
to be indispensable. My gratitude is not easy to pin down here.
Dale K. Van Kley broadened my horizons with his courses on early modern
Europe and has been one of the biggest supporters of my work. He also provided
me with personal friendship and always treated me with kindness. Stephen Dale
equally broadened my horizons by encouraging me to study Safavid history and
provided much needed help at a critical time. Nicholas Breyfogle also encouraged
me to continue my work with his supportiveness.
I have been fortunate to do a full year of research in Istanbul with the help
of joint funds from Adıvar and Sydney Fisher fellowships. I am grateful to Carter
V. Findley for providing me with these funds. I also received a dissertation
fellowship from Turkish Cultural Foundation at a difficult time and it helped me
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to continue my work. I also received various funds from the College of
Humanities and the Department of History at Ohio State. Alam Payind gave me a
hand at a time of financial uncertainty and helped me to get some first-hand
experience in the Middle East field. All these funds and interventions combined
helped me to finish this work and I am grateful to these people and institutions.
I had spent quite a bit of time in ISAM and Süleymaniye Libraries during
the 2008-2009 academic year. I am thankful to the courteous staff of both. I
would like to also thank Dr. Mehmet Canatar of İstanbul University for providing
me with a copy of his doctoral dissertation.
I have been also blessed with the amity and support of many people: A.
Kadir Yıldırım and Oğuz Kurt made Columbus home to me and we established a
life-long friendship. Yunus Zeytuncu and Ufuk Ulutaş were the ones with whom
we developed a real camaraderie all along. Yiğit Akın provided me with support
and encouragement during these years. All the other Tarih-i Osmani students at
Ohio State, notably James Helicke, Serdar Poyraz, and Catalina Hunt, made it
easier for me to adjust and thrive. We shared fun and enthusiasm with Okan
Çakır, Ahmet İzzet Bozbey and Mehmet Uğur Ekinci during their stay in
Columbus. Calvert Tooley and Matthew Yates had been my opening to Americana
and I am thankful for their friendship. Kerem Dirlikli and Nuh Aydın deserve
special thanks for providing me with much-needed support. I am much obliged
to all these friends.
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My mother and my brothers Sefa and Sezai deserve thanks for waiting
patiently all these years for me to get a doctorate. My final thanks go to my
daughter, Esra Ela, for sharing her room with me and bringing so much joy to our
lives.

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Vita

Education

2003 B.A., History, Boğaziçi University
2003 B.A., Sociology, Boğaziçi University
2005 M.A., History, Sabancı University

Employment

2003-2005 Teaching Assistant, Sabancı University
2005-2008 Graduate Teaching Associate, The Ohio State University
2008-2013 Instructor, The Ohio State University (OSU)

Publications:
“Lizol, Bıçak ve Tentürdiyot: Cumhuriyetin İlk Yıllarında İntiharlar (“Lysol,
Knife, and Tincture of Iodine: Suicides in Early Republican Turkey”), Tarih ve
Toplum (History and Society), June 2003.

Fellowships, Grants and Awards:

2010 Sydney N. Fisher Memorial Fund in Ottoman and Turkish Studies, OSU
2009 Turkish Cultural Foundation Dissertation Fellowship
2009 Sdyney N. Fisher Memorial Fund in Ottoman and and Turkish Studies,
OSU
2009 Adıvar Fellowship for the Study of Ottomand and Turkish History, OSU
2008 College of Humaties Summer Award, OSU
2008 Dr. Gordon P. K. Chu Memorial Scholarship, OSU
2007 Sydney N. Fisher Memorial Fund in Ottoman and Turkish Studies, OSU
2006 Foreign Language Enhancement Program (FLEP) Summer Fellowship
for Arabic, University of Chicago

Fields of Study
History
Major, Islamic History
Minor, Early Modern European History
Minor, Russian History

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Contents

THE APPROPRIATION OF ISLAMIC HISTORY AND AHL AL-BAYTISM IN
OTTOMAN HISTORICAL WRITING, 1300-1650
Abstract ....................................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgments ......................................................................................... v
Vita ........................................................................................................... viii
Contents ......................................................................................................ix
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION........................................................................ 1
The Problem ......................................................................................................................... 1
Chronological scope ............................................................................................................ 9
Sources for and plan of the study ...................................................................................... 11
CHAPTER 2 FROM SIRĀṬ TO GHAZĀ: BEGINNINGS OF ISLAMIC
HISTORICAL WRITING IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE, 1300-1481 ............... 16
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 16
The Age of Tales and Fables: Writing the History of Islam in the 14th Century ................ 21
From Sirāṭ to Ghazā: Ahmedī’s History of Islam as Reflected in His İskendernāme ...... 31
Sirāṭ in Popular Didactic Literature: A Glance at Yazıcıoğlu Mehmed’s Muhammediye 44
The Lives and Times of Kings in Persian: Şükrullah’s Behçetü’l- Tevārīh ....................... 53
Sirāṭ as Epic: Enverī’s Düsturnāme ................................................................................. 70
Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 74
CHAPTER 3 WRITING ISLAMIC HISTORY DURING THE AGE OF
OTTOMAN EXPANSION, 1481-1574 ............................................................ 77
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 77
Ottoman History in Persian: Notes on İdrīs-i Bidlisī ....................................................... 80
Neşrī’s Universal History in Turkish ................................................................................ 82
Molla Jāmī and Molla Miskin in Translation: The Miraculous Sīrāts of Lāmi‘ī Çelebi
(1472-1532) and Celālzāde Mustafa Çelebi (1490-1567) .................................................. 87
History for the Court and History for the World: Ramaẓānzade’s Siyer-i enbiyāʾ-i ʿiẓām
ve-aḥvāl-i hulefāʾ-i ḳirām ve menāḳib-i selāṭīn-i Āl-i ʿOṣmān .......................................103
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