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The Appropriation of Islamic History and Ahl Al- Baytism in Ottoman Historical Writing, 1300-1650

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The Appropriation of Islamic History and Ahl Al- Baytism in Ottoman Historical Writing, 1300-1650 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 ii Copyright by Vefa Erginbaş 2013 iii 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 ii 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. iii To my wife for being there iv 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 v 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. vi 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. vii 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 viii 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 ................................................................................
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