A Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Scholar in the Footsteps of Ibn Taymiyya and an Opponent of Ibn ʿArabī: Chiwizāda Muḥyī al-Dīn Sheikh Meḥmed Efendī

Abstract

One of the Ottoman scholars in the sixteenth century who opposed the view of the famous Sufi Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī was Chiwizāda Muḥyī al-Dīn Sheikh Meḥmed Efendī (d. 954/1547). He served as sheikh al-islām in the reign of Sulaymān the Magnificent for a short time. He stood out for his criticisms against some Sufis of his time and was even dismissed from the rank of sheikh al-islām because of these criticisms, according to some reports. In this paper, I will examine Chiwizāda’s criticisms of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī, who was at the top of the Sufis he opposed, in terms of their historicalintellectual roots.

Keywords

• : Chiwizāda
• Ibn ʿArabī
• Ibn Taymiyya
• Sheikh Bālī al-Ṣofyawī
• Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam
• : Chiwizāda, Ibn ʿArabī, Ibn Taymiyya, Sheikh Bālī al-Ṣofyawī, Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam

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