The Influence of Ibn Khaldun on the Ottoman Thought

Year 2006, Issue: 15, 141 - 185, 01.01.2006

Ejder Okumuş

Abstract

As the Ottoman Empire began to “wane”, the statesmen, scholars, thinkers and historians began to concentrate on the causes for this deterioration and started to investigate the possible ways to halt it. Within this framework there is one man of science, one historical philosopher, one sociologist who appears before us as having affected the ideas and been of benefit to the statesmen, scholars, historians and thinkers, who even tried to warn the Ottoman State via his theories of collapse - despite a few changes having been made to his thought: Ibn Khaldun. A social theorist, Ibn Khaldun’s historical and social views were a fundamental source to which thinkers turned in order to find a solution to the “deterioration” and “collapse” of the Ottoman State. There is no doubt that Ibn Khaldun had and continues to have an important effect on other thinkers, both Western and Eastern, non-Muslim and Muslim. But, the topic of this study is the effect Ibn Khaldun had on Ottoman thinkers. In this study the effect of Ibn Khaldun on Ottoman thought of some Ottoman thinkers will be examined.

Keywords

Ibn Khaldun, Ottoman thought, Ottoman thinkers

İbn Haldûn’un Osmanlı Düşüncesine Etkisi

Abstract

Osmanlı Devleti’nin “zayıflama” sürecine girmesiyle birlikte devlet adamı, âlim, düşünür ve tarihçiler bu durumun sebepleri üzerinde yoğunlaşmış; gerilemenin çöküşle sonuçlanmamasının yollarını düşünüp araştırmışlardır. İbn Haldûn (1332-1406) bu çerçevede ulema, tarihçi ve düşünürlerin fikirlerinden etkilendikleri, yararlandıkları, hatta çöküşle ilgili teorilerini Osmanlı Devleti’ne -bazı değişikliklerle de olsa- uyarlamaya çalıştıkları bir ilim adamı, tarih felsefecisi ve sosyolog olarak karşımıza çıkmaktadır.

Keywords

İbn Haldûn, Osmanlı düşüncesi, Osmanlı düşünürleri

References

• Voll, John Obert, İslâm, Süreklilik ve Değişim (çev. Cemil Aydın v.dğr.), İstanbul: Yöneliş Yayınları, 1991.