The Missing Link in the History of Quranic Commentary: The Ottoman Period and the Quranic Commentary of Ebussuud/Abū al- Su‛ūd al-‛Imādī (d. 1574 CE) Irshād al-‛aql al-salīm ilā mazāyā al-Kitāb al- Karīm by Halil Simsek A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto © Copyright by Halil Simsek 2018 The Missing Link in the History of Quranic Commentary: The Ottoman Period and the Quranic Commentary of Ebussuud/Abū al- Su‛ūd al-‛Imādī (d. 1574 CE) Irshād al-‛aql al-salīm ilā mazāyā al-Kitāb al- Karīm Halil Simsek Doctor of Philosophy Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations University of Toronto 2018 ABSTRACT Ottoman legacy of Quranic commentary is highly understudied, if not entirely neglected, in the Muslim and Western scholarship alike. The current study is two-pronged in orientation: in part one, we have striven to explore the current situation in the history and historiography of Quranic commentary and attempted to underline and identify some of the misconceptions and clichés with which the current research is imbued. This first part is complemented, in separate appendix, with a historical study of a verifiable output of Quranic commentaries authored by Ottoman scholars and/or composed during the Ottoman era and under their suzerainty. We have also surveyed Ottoman exegetical attempts and medieval studies undertaken by the Ottomans ii and associated with the history and historiography of Muslim exegetical studies, all for the purpose of presenting some identifiable features of Ottoman exegetical mindset. The second part of this study focuses on a particular Quranic commentary that was authored by an eminent Ottoman scholar and man of state, namely the Irshād al-‛aql al-salīm ilā mazāyā al-Kitāb al-Karīm [Guiding the sound mind to the distinguishing features of the Noble Book] of Ebussuud/Abū al-Su‛ūd al-‛Imādī (d. 1574). Our primary goal is to present a case study of a famous Ottoman exegetical work and pave the way for further studies of other Ottoman exegetical outputs in order to contribute to forming a comprehensive view on the Ottoman trajectory of Quranic commentary. Ebussuud’s commentary led us to determine the exegetical artery of knowledge to which the Ottomans viewed themselves heir. Though the Ottoman efforts in Quranic exegesis can broadly be categorized as reason and linguistic-based efforts, the presence of tradition-based approaches cannot be dismissed as negligible. The study of Irshād thus allows us to analyze a sample of how the tradition and reason-based approaches can be synthesized. Dynastic presence and political orientations are also more glaringly manifested in Ottoman scholarly and exegetical efforts. Irshād is also significant in terms of assessing the history of variant Quranic readings and represents a post-classical exegetical work by virtue of which we are better able to demonstrate how the field was still being contested between the exegetes and the specialists in Quranic readings. Ebussuud’s Quranic commentary furthermore is a study of previous exegetical corpus and it provides exceptional research tools for us to evaluate and assess other exegetical works. Irshād is a work of verification that aimed to determine concise exegetical implications of a given Quranic expression and winnow out innumerous propositions with which the previous exegetical corpus is teemed. iii Acknowledgements The following study would not have come to fruition without the help, support, and guidance of a number of respected individuals and institutions that I would gratefully like to acknowledge. I wish to exceptionally thank my thesis advisor Professor Walid Saleh who has continuously provided his time and energy along the way of bringing this work to completion. His seminars in Quranic exegesis and in close reading of classical exegetical works has broadened my perspective and equipped me with far better understanding and handling of this vast Muslim literature. I am also no less grateful to Professor Victor Ostapchuk that has unstintingly lent me the hand of support and guidance throughout my entire period of graduate studies at the University of Toronto. I would also like to express my thanks and gratitude to the other members of my thesis advisory committee Professor Muhammad Fadel of the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto, Susan Gunasti of Ohio Wesleyan University, and Professor Virginia Aksan of both the University of McMaster and the University of Toronto for accepting to join and offer their insights and feedback on my research. I am also indebted to the distinguished faculty members of the Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations of the University of Toronto. Prominently Professor Saleh and professor Ostapchuk, and no less significantly Professors Maria Subtelny, Todd Lawson, Sebastian Guenther, a former member of the faculty, and Linda Northrup, all of whom have inestimably contributed to developing and improving my academic skills as well as methodological skills of critical and analytical approach. I also would like to offer my gratitude and appreciation for professor Eleazar Birnbaum, the emeritus member of the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations of the University of Toronto, with whom I had the distinct opportunity to iv work as his research assistant in typing up his catalogue of manuscript collection and by virtue of whom I developed inestimable skills in working with various Islamic manuscripts. My thanks are also due to other administrative members of the department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto, especially Anna Sousa, the graduate secretary, with the help and support of whom the intricacies of graduate life could not have been overcome less easily. I would also like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the financial support provided by the University of Toronto Fellowship and offer my thanks to the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto for it. My special thanks are also due to the Government of Ontario for offering me the Ontario Graduate Scholarship fund. And last but not the least, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my family, my wife, my children, my siblings, and my parents, all of whom considerably and understandingly put up with my prolonged period of study and provided emotional support and encouragement along every step of my graduate studies. I dedicate this study to the memory of my father, may he rest in peace and may God have mercy on his soul. v Table of Contents Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..…iv Notes on transliteration……………………………………………………………………….viii Thesis outline…………………………………………………………………………………ix Part I: Ottoman legacy of Quranic commentary Chapter 1………………………………………………………………………………….…1 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………..1 Chapter 2…………………………………………………………………………………….42 2.1. Quranic Commentary during the Ottoman Era: a general outlook…………………........42 2.2. Sources of Ottoman Tafsīr heritage and review of modern research…………………….51 2.3. Tafsīr outside the madrasa……………………………………………………………….82 2.4. Tafsīr in madrasa setting…………………………………………………………………85 2.5. Ottomans on the history and historiography of tafsīr…………………………………….99 2.6. Huzur Dersleri/The imperial sessions…………………………………………………….108 PART II: Ebussuud and his Quranic commentary Chapter 3: The biography of Ebussuud……………………………………………………115 3.1: The sources……………………………………………………………………………….115 3.2. Ebussuud’s life and career………………………………………………………………..119 3.3. Ebussuud’s select literary oeuvre.………………………………………………………...144 Chapter 4: Ebussuud’s Quranic commentary……………………………………………...152 4.1. The Prologue/Exordium of Ebussuud’s Quranic commentary Irshād al-‛aql al-salīm ilā mazāyā al-Kitāb al-Karīm……………………………………………………………………..152 vi 4.2. The reception of Irshād…………………………………………………………………....170 4.3. The autograph copy……………………………………………………………….……….187 4.4. The structure and characteristics of Irshād………………………………………….…….190 4.5. The sources of Irshād……………………………………………………………….……..194 Chapter 5: Irshād and variant Quranic readings…………………………………………..209 5.1. The traditional account on the history and development of Quranic text and its reading...209 5.2. Ebussuud’s handling of variant readings in Irshād………………………………………..233 5.3. Assessment and conclusions……………………………………………………………….249 Chapter 6: Ebussuud’s hermeneuticalapproach in his Irshād……………………………..255 6.1 The age of verification: Theoretical considerations …..…………………………………....255 6.2. The age of verification: Practical approaches .…………………………………….……....265 6.3. Al- , al-siyāq and al-sibāq as measuring tools for traditions in the hermeneutics of Ebussuud………………………………………………………………………………………..280 6.4. Political interpretations in Irshād…………………………………………………………..289 6.5. Apocrypha/legendary stories………………………………………………………...…….296 6.6. Merits of Sūras epilogues………………………………………………………………….305 Chapter 7: Conclusions……………………………………………………………………….307 Appendix 1: A bio-bibliographical account of Ottoman heritage of Quranic commentaries…317 Appendix 2: The gloss works composed on Ebussuud’s Quranic commentary Irshād al-‛Aql al- Salīm ilā Mazāyā al-Kitāb al-Karīm…………………………………………………………...337 Bibliography…………………………………………………………………………………..345 vii Notes on transliteration and translation This study has followed the transliteration system introduced by the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES). Owing to complications borne out by a text that involves three different