Cluster of Excellence Religion and Politics

The theory of nazm which was established by Abd al-Qâhir al-Jurjânî (d. 471/1078) to explain the phenomenon of the Qur’anic miracle has found its most fruitful application in the tafsîr literature and has directed the subsequent language, balâgha and tafsîr studies. In this thesis, Fakhr al-Dîn al-Râzî’s (d. 606/1210) understanding of nazm, who stands at an important point in the course of the theory, is studied within the scope of his thoughts in tafsîr, i‘jâz and balâgha fields. In the first part, the historical background of the concept of nazm exhibited in different scientific traditions. Here showed that the concept of nazm was first dealt with in a theoretical scale by al-Jurjânî, and has not found a serious response in the i‘jâz and balâgha literature in the period between al-Jurjânî and al-Râzî, and brought on the agenda both in theoretical and practical level by al-Râzî first time after al-Jurjânî. In the main part of the thesis, the concept of nazm examined respectively in historical order throughout al-Râzî’s three related works; Nihâyat al-îjâz, Nihâyat al-‘uqûl and Mafâtîh al-ghayb. In the study reached the conclusion that the theory of nazm has been taken over by al-Râzî instrumentally, neglecting its main issues and conceptual emphases.

İslâm tarihinde bilgi üretiminin kaynaklarından birisi de yöneticilerin emriyle oluşturulan ve dönemin seçkin âlimlerinin özel bir konu ya da eser hakkında müzakerelerde bulunmak üzere bir araya geldiği ilim meclisleridir. XVI. yüzyılın son çeyreğinde Atik Vâlide Medresesi’nde Sultan III. Murad’ın emriyle düzenlenen ilim meclisleri, bu tür toplantıların Osmanlı dönemindeki güzel bir örneğini oluşturmaktadır. Sultan Murad, medreseye tayin olunan müderrislerin birer açılış dersi tertip etmelerini ve başta kendileri olmak üzere derse katılacak olan müzakerecilerin dersin konusuyla ilgili birer tefsir risâlesi yazmalarını emrederek, hem medreselerin kurumsal işleyişi hem de tefsir hâşiyesi yazım geleneği açısından farklı bir gelenek oluşturmuştur. Bu çalışmada ilk olarak, bahsi geçen ilim meclislerinin mahiyeti ve katılımcıları hakkında tarihsel ve bibliyografik veriler sunulacak, ardından bu meclisler vesilesiyle telif edilen bazı hâşiyeler muhteva ve kaynakları yönünden kısaca tanıtılacaktır.

Öz: İslâm düşüncesinde dil üzerine nazari araştırmalar, Batı’dan farklı olarak, hicrî ilk asırlardan itibaren gelişerek kesintisiz şekilde devam edegelmiştir. Bu çalışmaların ne kadar derinleştirildiğine dair güzel bir örnek, kitap isimlerinin tabiatına dair yapılan tartışmalarda kendini göstermektedir. Sorun temelde el-Hayevân, Şerhü’l-Mevâkıf, Beyhude Ömrüm, Anlam ve Yorum vb. kitap isimlerinin ne’yin yerini tuttuğuna dairdir. Adlandırmada “nesnellik” ve “bütünlük” problemi göz önünde bulundurulduğunda, bu isimler nesnelerinin yerini nasıl tutabilmektedir ve farklı bağlamlarda nasıl davranmaktadır? Aynı isimle yazılan iki farklı kitap, birden fazla isimle anılan tek kitap, yazarı tarafından başlık konulmayan kitap, henüz ya da hiç yazılmamış kitapların durumu nasıl açıklanacaktır? Kitap isimlerinin mahiyetine dair felsefi düzlemdeki farklı yaklaşımların dilbilimsel düzeye yansıması ne olmuştur? Bu çalışmada, bazı Müslüman düşünürlerin meseleye yaklaşımları ortaya konularak tartışılacak ve varlık mertebeleri ile “nefsü’l-emr” kavramına atıfla farklı görüşleri telif edebilecek bir bakış açısı önerilecektir.

Abdülkâhir el-Cürcânî’nin (ö. 471/1078-79) lafızcı fesâhat anlayışını reddederek söz dizimi (nazm) nazariyesini
ortaya koyduğu hicri beşinci asırda, bir başka edebiyatçı düşünür İbn Sinân el-Hafâcî’nin (ö. 466/1073) pür lafızcı
bir fesâhat nazariyesi geliştirdiği görülmektedir. Cürcânî’nin sınırları nahvin anlamlarıyla çizilmiş anlamcı fesâhat
anlayışı Eş‘arî söz anlayışını dilbilim ve edebiyat zemininden desteklerken, İbn Sinân el-Hafâcî, benimsediği kelâmi
mezhebin yaratılmış söz anlayışını doğrudan fesâhat anlayışına yansıtarak lafızcı bir fesâhat anlayışı geliştirir. O
bunu yaparken, dilin seslerine dair nahiv biliminde ortaya konan veriler, edebî eleştiri ve belâgat geleneğindeki
lafız eksenli yaklaşımlar ile Mu‘tezile kelâmcısı Kâdî Abdülcebbâr’dan (ö. 415/1025) devraldığı yaratılmış söz
anlayışını terkiplemektedir. Ancak fesâhatin lafız ve seslere atıfla açıklanması Kur’ân ve onun eşsiz dil özelliği dikkate
alındığında birtakım problemlere yol açmaktadır. Bu çalışmada, Hafâcî’nin kelâmî kaygılarla geliştirdiği lafızcı söz
anlayışının, onu, Kur’ân’ın i‘câzı meselesinde sarfe görüşünü benimsemeye meylettirdiği öne sürülecek. Böylelikle
kelâm, belâgat ve i‘câz gelenekleri arasındaki irtibat Hafâcî örnekliği üzerinden gösterilirken, yaratılmış söz anlayışının
lafızcı bir fesâhat anlayışını doğurduğuna, lafızcı fesâhat anlayışının da sarfe görüşünü olumlamaya zemin
hazırladığına işaret edilecektir.

Ḥāshiyah for Lectures: Ḥāshiyahs for Tafsir Lectures Delivered at Madrasah of Atik Vālide During the Reign of Murad III

One of the sources of knowledge production in Islamic history is ‘ilm sessions held by the order from the rulers and in which the distinguished scholars came together to discuss a specific topic or a certain scientific work. The ‘ilm sessions organized by the order from Sultan Murad III (d. 1003/1595) at Madrasah of Atik Valide in the last quarter of 16th-century represent a good example of such meetings during the Ottoman period.
Sultan Murad has ordered the newly appointed instructors (mudarris) to the madrasah to hold an “opening lecture” (dersiām, lit. public lesson) and make the attending lecturers write a tafsir ḥāshiya on the subject of the lecture, primarily themselves. By doing this, Sultan Murad has created a different tradition in terms of both the institutional functioning of the madrasahs and the ḥāshiyah writing tradition. 
Three of the lectures that held during the Sultan Murad III’s reign and sixteen related ḥāshiyas have been identified thanks to the copies of the treatises written for these lectures: Dersiāms of Şemseddin Ahmed Efendi (d. 1009/1600, Şeyhülislâm Sun‘ullah Efendi (d. 1021/1612) and Ahîzâde Abdülhalim Efendi (d. 1013/1604).
In this paper, firstly, historical and bibliographical data about the nature and participants of the mentioned lectures will be presented, then, as a high representative example the ḥāshiyahs written for the Sun‘ullah Efendi’s dersiām will be examined in terms of method, source and scientific value.

al Irshād al-ʻaql al-salīm ilá mazāyā al-kitāb al-karīm

Shaykh al-Islam Abū al-Suʿūd Efendi (d. 982/1574)

Ed. by Mehmet Taha Boyalık, Ahmet Aytep, Ziyaüddin el-Kaliş, Muhammed İmâd el-Nabulsî

al Irshād al-ʻaql al-salīm ilá mazāyā al-Kitāb al-karīm was published within the scope of ISAM Late Classical Period Project which was initiated in 2012. The work is 9 volumes in total, including one volume review of the work and the author, and bibliography. The tafsir of Shaykh al-Islam Abū al-Suʿūd Efendi, who was charged with the post of Shaykh al-Islam for around thirty years during the reign of Suleyman I and afterward, is one of the most important tafsir books in its field.

Although the book has many editions, the ISAM version of the work completes other editions' shortcomings and errors in different aspects by using the author's version for the first time, containing over a thousand notes, and keeping the characteristics of the original text.

http://english.isam.org.tr/index.cfm?fuseaction=objects2.detail_content&cid=1652&cat_id=20

The transmission processes of handwritten texts that confront today’s researchers into the Islamic world before the widespread introduction of printing in the 19th century take different forms and can include both minor “corrections” and additions as well as complete revisions of a text with changes to its central statements. The aim of the international cooperation between scholars in Germany and Japan is to make existing approaches and findings relating to the creation, transmission, and reception of texts from the Middle Eastern subjects of Arabic Studies, Islamic Studies, and Iranian Studies, which are strongly represented in both countries, internationally fruitful and visible. The objective is to shed light on how historiographical, religious, scientific, legal, or literary works in Arabic and Persian were copied, handed down, received, deliberately altered,
and made newly usable in the region ranging from the Near East to the Indian subcontinent throughout the extended early modern period.

The case studies to be discussed include texts from various regions of the Near and Middle East, the majority of which were written or handed down between c. 1300 and 1800. The focus is on authors, copyists, and later recipients who composed, copied, interpreted, and used texts in new contexts, modifying them according to changing socio-cultural contexts, (religious) political necessities, or individual preferences. The following questions are addressed:
(1) What type of narrative or motif in literary and historiographical works is selectively transmitted from one context to another?
(2) What changes in content can be demonstrated here, and to what factors can they be attributed?
(3) Which actors were involved and how?
(4) How did the transmission of knowledge take shape with regard to phenomena such as collected manuscripts (majmūʿa) with partial sections from works or abridged versions (mukhtaṣar)?
(5) What does this say about the contemporaneous understanding of texts and knowledge?
See: https://www.uni-muenster.de/ArabistikIslam/translapt/events/textual_transmission.html

This article compares two Protestant schools for elite indigenous girls in the Dutch East Indies. While both schools were financially supported by the colonial government, they emerged from Christian organizations and were partly dependent on voluntary gifts from the Netherlands and the colony. The article proposes to look at such philanthropic initiatives as integral parts of a larger colonial civilizing mission which was not limited to the colonial state. On the contrary, discourses about the implementation of "civilized" gender roles within indigenous families through girls' education first emerged among philanthropists , and eventually influenced state-driven educational policies for girls. It is argued that philanthropical initiatives for girls' education such as the two schools presented here are best understood as attempts to gain control over, and ultimately reform, the domestic lives of the indigenous population in the Dutch East Indies

This article provides an introduction to the two articles in this Special Theme on education, labour, and discipline in colonial Asia. It offers a brief historiography of education to indigenous children in the colonial context provided by non-state as well as state actors. We argue that while many studies have separated the motives behind, and actions of, these different actors in relation to education and “civilizing missions”, it is worthwhile connecting these histories. Moreover, apart from looking at motives, the articles in this Special Theme aim to show the value of studying educational practices in a colonial context. Finally, this introduction identifies several opportunities for future – comparative as well as transnational – studies into the topic of education, child labour, and discipline.