Islamic Elements in Medieval Catalan Literature: The Case of Ramon Llull's Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Savis

Year 2025, Issue: 45, 535 - 560, 30.06.2025

Enes Şanal

https://doi.org/10.31591/istem.1632362

Abstract

Ramon Llull, who was born in Mallorca in the east of the Iberian Peninsula, which has a multi-religious and multi-cultural structure where contacts between Muslims and Christians intensified in the XIIIth century, has a very special place in the history of Islamic-Western relations as a philosopher and clergyman. Living in a common environment with Muslims, the Catalan scholar became familiar with Islamic faith and culture from an early age. Ramon Llull, who wrote works in various sciences, learnt Arabic and dealt with subjects such as Islam, Muhammad and Islamic philosophy in some of his works. Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Savis, one of the Catalan scholar’s works in which he deals with these issues, not only reveals his views on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam but also reflects the general characteristics of interreligious relations in Europe in his time.
This study aims to determine the Islamic elements in Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Savis, written in Catalan in 1274 by Ramon Llull, one of the Christians with the deepest knowledge of Islamic in medieval Europe. In this article, which is the first work in Turkish based on medieval Catalan sources, the main protagonist of the work, a Muslim called “Saracen”, will be evaluated on the basic principles of Islam and his comments on some theological issues discussed in other religions. Thus, the level of knowledge of Ramon Llull, who wrote his work by feeding on different sources, about Islamic religion and culture will be revealed. In addition, the similarities and differences between the Catalan philosopher and his co-religionists who lived in the West before him and expressed their views on Islam will be analysed comparatively.

Keywords

Ramon Llull, Islam-Western relations, Catalan, al-Andalus, Spain

Ortaçağ Katalan Literatüründe İslâmî Ögeler: Ramon Llull’un Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Örneği

Abstract

XIII. asırda Müslümanlarla Hristiyanlar arasındaki temasların yoğunlaştığı çok dinli ve çok kültürlü bir yapıya sahip olan İber Yarımadası’nın doğusundaki Mallorca Adası’nda dünyaya gelen Ramon Llull, filozof ve din adamı olarak İslâm-Batı ilişkileri tarihinde çok özel bir yere sahiptir. Müslümanlarla ortak bir çevrede yaşayan Katalan âlim, erken yaşlarından itibaren İslâm inancına ve kültürüne aşina oldu. Muhtelif bilimlerde eserler kaleme alan Ramon Llull, Arapça öğrenip bazı çalışmalarında İslâm dini, Hz. Muhammed ve İslâm felsefesi gibi konuları ele aldı. Katalan âlimin bu konuları işlediği eserlerinden biri olan Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Savis, onun Hristiyanlık, Yahudilik ve İslâm hakkındaki görüşlerini ortaya koymasının yanı sıra yaşadığı çağda Avrupa’daki dinlerarası ilişkilerin genel özelliklerini yansıtmaktadır.
Bu çalışma Orta Çağ Avrupası’nda İslâm dini hakkında en derin bilgi sahibi Hristiyanlardan olan Ramon Llull’un 1274 yılında Katalanca olarak kaleme aldığı Llibre del Gentil e los Tres Savis adlı eserinde yer alan İslâmî ögeleri tespit etmeyi amaçlamaktadır. Ortaçağ Katalan kaynaklarına dayalı ilk Türkçe çalışma olan bu makalede eserin ana kahramanlarından olan “Sarazen” adıyla anılan Müslüman’ın anlattığı İslâm’ın temel esasları ve diğer dinlerde de ele alınan bazı teolojik konular üzerine onun yorumları değerlendirilecektir. Böylece farklı kaynaklardan beslenerek eserini kaleme alan Ramon Llull’un İslâm dini ve kültürüne dair bilgisinin ne seviyede olduğu da tespit edilecektir. Ayrıca Katalan filozofun kendisinden önce Batı’da yaşayıp İslâm hakkında görüşler dile getiren dindaşlarından ne gibi benzer ve farklı özelliklere sahip olduğu da karşılaştırmalı olarak ele alınacaktır.

Keywords

Ramon Llull, İslâm-Batı ilişkileri, Katalan, Endülüs, İspanya

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