The Leading Name in the History of Ottoman Law: A Biographical Research on Timurtashi
Abstract
Timurtashi is well-known name among the late Hanafi jurists who was counted among the jurists of 21st generation (tabaqa) He lived in the tenth Century (AH) (XVI. CE) He has given works which about the sciences of belief, Islamic law, metodology of Islamic law, arabic language and literature. His birth is in 939/1532-1533 and he was born in Gaza. Therefore his surname is al-Ghazzî. His full name is Ebu Salikh Shaikh al-Islam Mohammad Ibn Abdillah Ibn Ahmad Ibn Mohammad Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Mohammad Al-‘Umarî el-Ghazzî al-Timurtashi. Timurtashi who lived in Gaza which is within the baundries of Ottoman in that time although he had seen the periods of Qanuni and Selim the Second and Murad the Third and Mehmet the Third, he lived away government policy because of living in Gaza and being away from the Center. The faqih travelled to the many scientific centers for the purpose of education and he was educated in fiqh by Ibn Nujaym who was the most famous in this era. He codified the fatwa of Ibn Nujaym. He stayed on countries such as Gaza, Damascus and Egypt. In addition, he studied in a period with the Shaykh Emin ad-din Ibn Abd al-Al, Mohamad al-Mashriqi and Qazaskar Qınalızade Ali Efendi. As well as his ancestors and descendants, he is a member of a well-known scholar family.
Timurtashi was called “Sahibu Tanwir al-absar” because of his work which its name is Tanwir al-absar. This work which was written by Timurtashi, gained a reputation among the well-known Hanafite scholars such as al-Haskafi and Ibn Abidin. Many commentaries and postscripts were written on this work. It was quoted as a reference by many jurists. The most important of these works is certainly Haskafi’s work which named Al-Durru’l-muhtar sharh tanwiru’l-absar and Ibn Abidin’s work Raddu’l-muhtar ‘ala al-Durril-muhtar. His work which is entitled Fatawa lead to müfti. al-Wusul ila qawaid al-usul which is another work deals with the connection between theory and practice in Islamic law. The booklet of Nukûd has reflected the age when the Ottomon Empire face to economically unstable. The booklet includes the economic debates between scholars of the period in the 16th century. Morevover he wrote little booklets that he has given answer of questions by writting which he was asked about various topics such as the wakfa (waiting) of Arafat, the mash (to rob something by hand) on socks, provisions regarding the church, entering to the baths, qıraah (reciting) behind the imam, provisions on Durzis and Rafızis. Some of his works which mentioned in sources did not reach our time. There is no exact knowledge about the date of Timurtashi’s death. Although a date has been given by author himself since the date of writing Tukhfetu al-aqran and its commentary Mevahibu’r-rahman, we have no definite data. That’s why we can say: He was alive in the date 1007/1599.
Some of the major works which are attributed to Timurtashi within the literature of bibliography and which already have been printed are as follows: Minahu’l-Gaffar Sharh Tanwiri’l-absar, Mu'inu’l-mufti ‘ala jawabi’l-mustafti, Fatawa’t-Timurtashi, Mus’ifetu’l-hukkam ‘ale’l-ahkam, al-Fatawa’z-zayniyya, İ‘anatu’l-haqir sharh Zad al-faqir, Sharh muhtasar al-Manar, el-Wusul ila qawaidi’l-usul, Feydu’l-mustafid fî masaili’t-tafwid.
Moreover there are names of works which are related to Timurtashi in the archives that unnamed in resources. However some of these works belong to different people and they have been recorded wrong. Some of names of them were different it seemed that some of his works were registered with variant names. After a research in the library records about works of the author some descriptive informations are given which we can reach. The main resource about the life of Timurtashi consists of informations which takes place in Hulasatu’l-asar by Muhıbbi. Apart from this and an article “Timurtashi” of TDV, the studies which deal with his biography consist of verifications of author’s works or limited informations that given at beginning of the partial studies about the works rather than being separate. These are broadly similar - information about the date of death of Timurtashi which are controversial-repetition of the same information. In this study; we reached some details by using informations in historial resources about the region where the author lived and which is not found in the order or the partial difference in other biographies of Timurtashi. In studies about Timurtashi his most important works have been mentioned, yet an important part of his works have been neglected. In some studies new list of Timurtashi have been provided based on informations in resources and have been given place descriptive informations about these works. In this study after general informations have been provided about the biography of Timurtashi and his scientific properties, informations will provided about studied on the work and the work’s printed ones in which date and where have been published.
The information which written in the bibliography literature, such as Kashf al- zunun by Katip Chelebi and Hadıyyat al-arifin by İsmail Pasha Bagdadi, is repeated in these studies, but writing information in library records of many works are not unadressed. In this study, in order to facilitate the work of the people who wants to do research about Timurtashi, work of the author, which are not found as an authentic work and in the library records, have also been pointed out.
Osmanlı Hukuk Tarihinde Öncü Bir İsim: Timurtaşi Üzerine Biyografik Bir İnceleme
Abstract
Hicrî X. (m. XVI.) Yüzyılda yaşayan Timurtâşî; akâid, fıkıh, fıkıh usulü, kelam ve Arap dili alanlarında eserler vermiş ve Hanefiler arasında meşhur olmuş bir fakihtir. Doğumu 939/1532-1533 yılında Gazze’de doğan Timurtâşî’ye doğum yerine nispetle el-Gazzî denir. Tam adı Ebu Sâlih Şeyhülislâm Muhammed İbn Abdullah İbn Ahmed İbn Muhammed İbn [Muhammed İbn] İbrahim [İbn Halil İbn Timurtâş] el-Umerî el-Gazzî et-Timurtâşî’dir. Osmanlı’da Kanûnî ve III. Mehmet dönemlerini görmesine rağmen Gazze’de yaşaması ve merkezden uzak olması sebebiyle devlet olaylarına uzak kalmıştır. İlmî amaçla Mısır ve Şam gibi ilim merkezlerini ziyaret eden fakih, döneminin tanınmış simalarından olan İbn Nüceym’e öğrenci olmuş ve hocasına ait fetvâları derlemiştir. Genellikle Tenvîru’l-ebsâr isimli eseriyle tanındığı için bu esere nisbetle “Sahibu Tenvîri’l-ebsâr” da denir. Kaleme aldığı bu eseri Haskefî ve İbn Âbidîn gibi tanınmış fakihler tarafından itibar görmüştür. Klasik dönemde pek çok esere nasip olmayacak bir ilgiye mazhar olan bu eser üzerine pek çok şerh ve haşiye yazılmıştır. Fetâvâ isimli eseriyle fetvâ ve fetvâ usülü alanında müftülere rehber olmuş, el-Vüsûl ilâ kavâidi’l-usûl adlı eseriyle de usûl-füru ilişkisini inceleyen tahrîcü’l-füru’ ale’l-usûl literatürüne katkıda bulunmuştur. 1007/1599 yılında Gazze’de vefat etmiş olması kuvvetle muhtemeldir. Farklı alanlarda eğitim alan Timurtâşî; fıkıh, usul, kelam, tasavvuf, dil ve edebiyat alanlarına dair pek çok esere imza atan velud bir alimdir.
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