KADER Kelam Araştırmaları Dergisi

Abstract

The Copernican revolution in cosmology, which took place in Europe in 16th century did not only displace the central position of earth in the universe but also brought major repercussions in a variety of directions including man’s view of his own place in the entire scheme of things and doubts about man’s claim to an uniquely privileged status and role in the universe. The shift from Earth-centered (geocentric) to Sun-centered (heliocentric) conception of world had constantly challenged traditional monotheistic religion’s exegesis about the universe based on the geocentric model of the universe devised by Aristotle (384–322 BC) and Ptolemy (90-168), which was most widely accepted during the middle ages. By way of transmission of western thought to Islamic world in 19th century, this new worldview started influencing the Ottoman environment, consequently some Ottoman scholars in the new kal?m movement such as Abdullatif Harputi (1842-1916), Arapkirli Husayin Avni (1864-1954) Ismail Hakki Izmirli (1869-1946) and Omar Nasuhi Bilman (1882-1971) tried to reinterpret Quranic verses related to the universe according to the new cosmological picture. In this article my aim is to introduce their approach of cosmological verses so that their method can provide us with a new insight so as to determine the relationship between science and religion in the Islamic world.