Once the First Button is Put Wrong… An Assessment of a Study by Judith Pfeiffer on Kashf al-asrār fī ilzām al-Yahūd wa-l-aḥbār by Yūsuf Ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Dayyān

Abstract

Refutations by native or converted Muslims to reject religions other than Islam have been produced for ages, including during the Ottoman era. However, studies about such refutations have mainly focused on the Ottoman world from the 19th century until the 2000s. One of the exceptions is Judith Pfeiffer’s study on Kashf al-asrār fī ilzām al-Yahūd wa-l-aḥbār by Yūsuf Ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Dayyān. This paper intends to demonstrate that the conclusion reached by Pfeiffer, i.e., that the text, which she dates to 17th century within the context of the Qāḍīzādelis-Sivāsīs debate and uses as a reference, is actually a tract called al-Radd ʿalá l-Yahūd by Ṭāshkuprīzādah, is not accurate. This paper also aims to demonstrate that Ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Dayyān actually lived in the 16th century and wrote this work in relation to the Jews who had become gradually more visible in the social and cultural life of Istanbul following their migration from Spain and that the use of the reference is actually the use of the book of Ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Dayyān by Ṭāshkuprīzādah.

Keywords

• Yūsuf Ibn Abī ʿAbd al-Dayyān
• Ṭāshkuprīzādah
• refutation
• Judith Pfeiffer
• Kashf al-asrār
• radd iʿtiqādāt al-Yahūd

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