Kader

Öz

The last century of the Ottoman Empire was a turbulent period not only politically and economically, but also scientifically and socially. In order to understand the political, theological and sectarian debates of the period, it is necessary to analyze the education and service life of the ulema who shaped the society. In the Ottoman Empire, as in every field of Islamic sciences, important scholars were educated in the field of theology. It is important to examine the life stories of the ulema and their scholarly activities in order to reveal the theological understandings and sectarian formations. In this context, Sayyid Ali Haydar Zuhtu Efendi was a sophisticated scholar who wrote works in the field of aqā‘id and kalām in the last century of the Ottoman Empire. The fact that Ali Haydar Zuhtu Efendi's grandfathers were from the generation of Naqīb al-ashraf is an indication that he belonged to the Prophet’s lineage, that is, he was a “sayyid”. In addition, in the introduction of Ali Haydar Efendi’s work on theology called Hadīqat al-‘uqalā fī iddihāri Ezhāri al-Fudalā, it is clearly written in the author’s name that he is a “sayyid”. Ali Haydar Zuhtu Efendi grew up in a family belonging to the scholarly class and benefited from the knowledge and scholarly circle of his father, Şeyhülislâm [Shaykh al-Islām] Hasan Fehmi Efendi of Aksehir. He attended the scholarly circles in Fatih, Beyazit and Suleymaniye, known as the neighborhoods of the ulema, and received icāzetnāma from them. His father, Shaykh al-Islām Hasan Fehmi Efendi, witnessed the opening of the Dārü’l-Funūn, the establishment of the Dīvān-ı Aḥkām-ı ‘Adliyye, and the preparation of the Mecelle, and even attracted attention with his opposition to these activities. At a time when Westernization activities were intensifying in the political arena, his father's position as Shaykh al-Islām and his position in the traditionalist camp led him to be at the center of political debates. Although his father's position improved him in his scholarly pursuit, the political conjuncture of the period negatively affected his life. Despite the political debates, Ali Haydar Efendi engaged in intensive scholarly activities and wrote multidisciplinary works in many fields such as hadith, fiqh, theology, aqā‘id, Islamic history, medicine, Arabic language and rhetoric. One of the important works written by Ali Haydar Efendi is “Hadīqat al-‘uqalā fī iddihāri Ezhāri al-Fudalā” on theology and belief. In his work, in general, he deals with basic theological issues such as the attributes of Allah, ma‘rifatullāh, creation of the universe, the apocalypse, resurrection, the straight path, the scale, as well as the status of the caliphate after the Prophet, the virtues of the rightly-guided caliphs, and respect for the companions. In this study, Sayyid Ali Haydar Zuhtu Efendi's scholarly and political career and his contributions to the world of science are examined by making use of the documents in the sicill-i aḥvāl file of Seyyid Ali Haydar Zuhtu Efendi in the Shaykh al-Islām Archive, which we identified for the first time. In addition, his kalām work titled Hadīqat al-‘uqalā fī iddihāri Ezhāri al-Fudalā has been examined. The nature, method and subjects of the work are emphasized. This study, which makes use of archival sources, aims to contribute to the field of Kalām and History of Islamic Sects.