Tezin basılı İstanbul Şehir Üniversitesi Kütüphanesi'ndedir.El-Milel ve’n-Nihal (The Book of Religions and Denominations) was written by an influential Persian historian of religions and a heresiographer Shahrastani (1086– 1153 CE). It includes, in addition to those of Islamic denominations and sectarian groups, the doctrinal ideas of main religions and philosophies that existed up to Shahrastani’s time. Nuh ibn Mustafa el-Konevî, who played a significant role in terms of Hanafi literature in the 17th century Ottoman world, made a constructive translation of el-Milel ve’n-Nihal. My analysis would concern the question how Nuh Efendi has adapted the knowledge presented by Shahrastani to his own time and environment. After treating the biographies of Shahrastani and Nuh Efendi, and the period Nuh Efendi lived, the thesis concentrates on the narration of Nuh Efendi and his special contributions to and disposals from Shahrastani’s book. A lithographic print of Nuh Efendi’s translation and his biography from Süleymaniye Library formed the main source for the thesis. In addition, secondary sources especially on 17th century Ottoman history and some main pieces on Islamic Sunni creed were also used. As a result, the present study reached the basic conclusion that Nuh Efendi’s translation functioned as a religious manual that might play a substantive role in terms of the Ottoman Sunnitization policy in and after the period where it was written.Abstract ....................................................................................................................... iv
Öz ................................................................................................................................. v
Dedication .................................................................................................................. vi Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... vii
Table of Contents ........................................................................................................ ix
Abbreviations ............................................................................................................... x 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.1.
Problems and Literature ................................................................................ 3 1.2.
Methods and Sources .................................................................................. 11 1.3.
The Biography of Shahrastani .................................................................... 14 1.4.
Shahrastani’s El-Milel ve’n-Nihal ................................................................ 15
2. THE BIOGRAPHY AND THE PERIOD OF NUH B. MUSTAFA ..................... 18
2.1. Life and the Scholarly Background of Nuh b. Mustafa ............................... 18
2.2. The Period and the Environment Nuh b. Mustafa Lived ............................. 23
2.3. Nuh b. Mustafa’s Books ............................................................................. 38
2.4. A General Look at Nuh b. Mustafa’s Books ................................................ 47
3. GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF NUH B. MUSTAFA’S TRANSLATION OF SHAHRASTANI’S EL-MİLEL VE’N-NİHAL ........................................................... 51 4. THE CONTENT OF TERCÜME-İ MİLEL VE NİHAL ......................................... 61
4.1. Nuh B. Mustafa’s Main Contributions and Criticisms on Firak-ı Dâlle and the One Who Are Outside of Millet-İ İslamiyye ................................................. 61
4.1.1. The Deviant Sects ............................................................................... 61
4.1.2. On the People of the Book and the People Outside of it ...................... 68
4.2. The Highlighted Chapters in Nuh B. Mustafa’s Translation ....................... 76
4.2.1. “Her akile lazım” umuru ihtiva eder: Fırka-i Nâciyye ........................ 76
4.2.2. Chapters which Nuh b. Mustafa did not Cover .................................... 84 5.
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 86
BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................... 8
