Ibrahim Muteferrika
Ibrahim Muteferrika (
Early life
Ibrahim Muteferrika was born in Kolozsvár (present-day Cluj-Napoca, Romania). He was an ethnic Hungarian Unitarian who converted to Islam,[2][3] but his original Hungarian name is unknown.[2]
Diplomatic service
At a young age, Ibrahim Muteferrika entered the Ottoman diplomatic services. He took an active part in the negotiations with Austria and Russia. Ibrahim Muteferrika was an active figure in promoting the Ottoman-French alliance (1737–1739) against Austria and Russia. Ibrahim Muteferrika was also acclaimed for his role in the Ottoman-Swedish action against Russia.
During his services as a diplomat, he is known to have befriended many influential personalities including Osman Aga of Temesvar, a fellow diplomat of Transylvanian origins and former prisoner-of-war imprisoned in Austria.[4]
It was during his years as a diplomat that he took a keen interest in collecting books that helped him understand the ongoing
Printing press
The printing press had already been known in the Ottoman Empire since 1493 or 1504 in Hebrew characters.[5] Other communities operated presses. The first Ottoman press using movable Arabic type was operated in 1706–1711 in Aleppo by Christians.[6]
Muteferrika's volumes, printed in
Following a 1726 report on the efficiency of the new system, which he drafted and presented simultaneously to
Among the works published by Müteferrika were historical and generically scientific works, as well as
After 1742, however, Ibrahim Muteferrika's printing activities were discontinued and an attempt by the
A Press had been set up here about sixty years ago in the turbulent reign of Ahmed III but those who maintained themselves by copying of Books, apprehending with reason that their trade would be totally ruined, were so loud in their clamours as to alarm the Seraglio, and as they were supported by a seditious Corps of Janissary, the Sultan apprehending what really did after happen, that as he mounted the throne by one insurrection, he might be tumbled from it by another, gave way to their complaints, and suppressed the Press, before anything better than the Quran, Sunnah, and some trifling books of Mathematics had been struck off.[10]
Legacy
A statue of Muteferrika can be found in the Sahaflar Çarşısı adjacent to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul.[11]
Books published
There were 17 titles published by Muteferrika at his press during his lifetime:
- Kitab-ı Lügat-ı Vankulu (Sihah El-Cevheri), 2 volumes, 1729
- Tuhfet-ül Kibar fi Esfar el-Bihar, 1729
- Tarih-i Seyyah, 1729
- Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi, 1730
- Tarih-i Timur Gürgan, 1730
- Tarih-I Mısr-i Kadim ve Mısr-i Cedid, 1730
- Gülşen-i Hülefa, 1730
- Grammaire Turque, 1730
- Usul el-Hikem fi Nizam el-Ümem, 1732
- Fiyuzat-ı Mıknatısiye, 1732
- Cihan-nüma, 1732
- Takvim el-Tevarih, 1733
- Kitab-ı Tarih-i Naima, 2 volumes, 1734
- Tarih-i Raşid, 3 volumes, 1735
- Tarih-i Çelebizade, 1741
- Ahval-i Gazavat der Diyar-ı Bosna, 1741
- Kitab-ı Lisan el-Acem el Müsemma bi-Ferheng-i Şuuri, 2 volumes, 1742
(Most of the copies of the book Tarih-i Çelebizade have been bound into the third and last volume of Tarih-i Raşid and sold together with it and thus have erroneously led several sources to believe a total of 16 items have been published.)
Own works
- Risâle Islâmiyye (available in manuscript form) (published by [Esed Cosan] in 1993)
See also
References
- ^ Vefa Erginbas (2005), Forerunner Of The Ottoman Enlightenment: Ibrahim Muteferrika and His Intellectual Landscape, p. 1 & 46-47, Sabancı University.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Presentation of Katip Çelebi, Kitâb-i Cihân-nümâ li-Kâtib Çelebi Archived 2009-05-05 at the Wayback Machine, at the Utrecht University Library
- ISBN 90-04-14761-6
- ^ "Ibrahim Muteferrika - Ottoman diplomat". Britannica.com. Retrieved 11 August 2017.
- ISBN 978-9944-994-54-5
- ^ Feodorov, Ioana (2013). "Beginnings of Arabic printing in Ottoman Syria (1706-1711). The Romanians' part in Athanasius Dabbas's achievements". ARAM Periodical. 25:1&2: 231–260.
- ^ a b William J. Watson, "Ibrahim Muteferrika and Turkish Incunabula", in Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 88, No. 3 (1968), p. 435.
- ISBN 9781438110257.
- ^ İ. Kalaycıoğulları, Y. Unat, Kopernik Kuramının Türkiye'deki Yansımaları ("Reflections of Copernican Theory in Turkey"), presented at the XIVth National Astronomy Congress, September 2004, Kayseri, Turkey
- ^ a b Clogg 1979, p. 67
- ^ İbrahim Müteferrika -- a statue in the Sahaflar Çarşısı Archived 2010-01-14 at the Wayback Machine Today's Zaman, 12 January 2010
Sources
- Clogg, Richard (1979), "An Attempt to Revive Turkish Printing in Istanbul in 1779", S2CID 159835641
- Watson, William J. (1968), "İbrāhīm Müteferriḳa and Turkish Incunabula", JSTOR 596868