Eminent Mathematicians And Their Works In Ottoman State
Keywords:
Ali al-Qushjī, Ottoman Mathematicians, Fathullah al-Shirwānī, Muhammad II, Arithmetic, HisābAbstract
This article examines the evolution of mathematical sciences within the Ottoman State over a six-hundred-year period, specifically focusing on the conceptual and practical integration of mathematics into the Islamic intellectual and social framework. By analyzing the lives and contributions of key figures such as Qādīzāda al-Rūmī, Ali al-Qushjī, and Matrakçı Nasūh, the study demonstrates how the Ottomans harmonized the "rational sciences" (al-ulūm al-aqliyya) with the "religious sciences" (al-ulūm al-naqliyya). It argues that mathematics underwent a distinct process of institutionalization within the Madrasa system, where arithmetic (hisāb) was often categorized as a compulsory religious necessity for tasks such as calculating inheritance (farāʾiḍ), managing endowments (waqf), and determining prayer times. Through a survey of seminal textbooks and the establishment of institutions like the Sahn-i Sāmān, the article illustrates how mathematical inquiry was framed as a pursuit of wisdom (hikma) and a means to contemplate the order of creation. Furthermore, the transition from classical Arabic and Persian manuscripts to vernacular Turkish texts for state accountants reflects a unique synthesis of high-level scholarship with the pragmatic administrative needs of an Islamic caliphate, maintaining a coherent scientific identity even as it engaged with emerging Western technologies in the later centuries.
References
Adivar, Adnan. Osmanli Türklerinde Ilim, 5th ed. Ed. Aykut Kazancigil and Sevim Tekeli. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 1983.
Aydüz, Salim. Osmanli Devleti’nde Müneccimbasilik ve Müneccimbasi. M. A. thesis, Istanbul University, 1993.
Cavusoglu, Semiramis. The Kadizadeli Movement: An Attempt of Seri‘at-Minded Reform in the Ottoman Empire. Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton University, 1990.
Demir, Remzi. Takiyüddin’in Ceridetü’d-Dürer ve Haridetü’l-Fiker Adli Eseri ve Onun Ondalik Kesirleri Astronomi ve Trigonometriye Uygulamasi. Ph.D. dissertation, Ankara University, 1992.
Dilgan, Hamit, Matematiğin Tarih ve Tekamülüne Bakış, İTÜ Library, no. 1955.
Goodrich, Thomas C. The Ottoman Turks and the New World, A Study of Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi and Sixteenth- Century Ottoman Americana. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1990.
History of Mathematical Literature During the Ottoman Period (OMLT). Ed. E. Ihsanoglu and others, Istanbul: IRCICA. 1999, I-II.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Bashoca Ishak Efendi, Pioneer of Modern Science in Turkey.” In Decision Making and Change In The Ottoman Empire. Kirksville, Missouri: The Thomas Jefferson University Press at Northeast Missouri State University, 1993, pp. 157–168.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Introduction of Western Science to the Ottoman World: A Case Study of Modern Astronomy (1660–1860).” In Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World. Ed. E. Ihsanoglu. Istanbul: The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1992, pp. 67–120.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Ottoman Science in the Classical Period and Early Contacts with European Science and Technology.” In Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World. Ed. E. hsanoglu. Istanbul: The Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, 1992, pp. 1–48.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Ottomans and European Science.” In Science and Empires. Ed. Patrick Petitjean, Catherine Jami and Anne Marie Moulin. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1992, pp. 37–48.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Some Remarks on Ottoman Science and its Relation with European Science & Technology up to the End of the Eighteenth Century.” Papers of the First Conference on the Transfer of Science and Technology between Europe and Asia since Vasco da Gama (1498–1998). Journal of the Japan–Netherlands Institute 3: 45–73, 1991.
Ihsanoglu, E., “Tanzimat Oncesi ve Tanzimat Dönemi Osmanli Bilim ve Egitim Anlayisi.” 150. Yilinda Tanzimat. Ed. Hakki Dursun Yildiz. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu Basimevi, 1992, pp. 335–395.
Ihsanoglu, E., Bashoca Ishak Efendi: Türkiye’de Modern Bilimin Öncüsü (Chief Instructor Ishak Efendi: Pioneer of Modern Science in Turkey). Ankara: Kültür Bakanligi Yayinlari, 1989.
Ihsanoglu, Ekmeleddin ct al. Osmanli Malemalik Literaturu Tarihi / History of Mathematical Literature during the Ottoman Period (refered as OMLT). 2 Vols. Istanbul, 1999.
Inalcik, Halil. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age, 1300–1600. Trans. Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973.
Kāhya, Esin. El-’Itaqi, The Treatise on Anatomy of Human Body. Islamabad: National Hijra Council, 1990.
Miroglu, Ismet. “Istanbul Rasathanesine Ait Belgeler.” Tarih Enstitüsü Dergisi 3:75–82, 1973.
Russell, Gül. “The Owl and the Pussycat: The Process of Cultural Transmission in Anatomical Illustration.” In Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World. Ed. E. Ihsanoglu. Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic, History, Art and Culture, 1992, pp. 180–212.
Sari, Nil & Zülfikar Bedizel. “The Paracelsusian Influence on Ottoman Medicine in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries.” In Transfer of Modern Science & Technology to the Muslim World. Ed. E. Ihsanoglu. Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic, History, Art and Culture, 1992, pp. 157–179.
Sayili, Aydin. The Observatory in Islam. Ankara: Publications of the Turkish Historical Society, 1960.
Tekeli, Sevim. “Nasirüddin, Takiyüddin ve Tycho Brahe’nin Rasad Aletlerinin Mukayesesi.” Ankara Universitesi, Dil ve Tarih-Cografya Fakültesi Dergisi 16 (3–4): 301–393, 1958.
Tekeli, Sevim. “Onaltinci Yüzyil Trigonometri Calismalari Uzerine bir Arastirma, Copernicus ve Takiyüddin (Trigonometry in the Sixteenth Century, Copernicus and Taqi al Din).” Erdem 2/4 (1986): 219–272.
Terzioglu, Arslan. “Bīmāristan, Islām dünyasinda klasik hastahanelerin genel adi.” Türkiye Diyanet Vakfi İslām Ansiklopedisi 6: 163–198, 1992.
Terzioglu, Arslan. Moses Hamons Kompendium der Zahnheilkunde aus dem Anfang des 16. Jahrhunderts. München, 1977.
Unan, Fahri. Kurulustan Günümüze Fātih Külliyesi. Ph.D. dissertation, Hacettepe University, Ankara, 1993.
Unver, A. Süheyl. “Osmanli Türkleri İlim Tarihinde Muvakkithaneler.” Atatürk Konferanslari 1971–72. 5:217–257, 1975.
Uzel, Ilter. Dentistry on the Early Turkish Medical Manuscripts. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Istanbul, 1979.
Uzel, Ilter. Serefeddin Sabuncuoglu. Cerrahiyyetü’l Haniyye. Ankara: Publications of the Turkish Historical Society, 2 vols., 1992.
