Abstract
This article evaluates the Introduction of Tahafut, written by the Ottoman Kalām scholar Khojazada Muslih al-Din Mustafa on the request of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the
 Conqueror. As a follower of the philosophy of al-Ghazali, Khojazada’s work has contributed greatly to both Ottoman and the wider Muslim World. This article gives a brief overview of the life of Khojazada, his work and provides details regarding the copies of the Tahafut and library catalog records. From an examination of three copies of the Tahafut, the Arabic text of the introduction is presented together with an English translation. This introduction and his book are of great importance since they present Islamic Philosophy during the Ottoman period and this article is one of the first studies on this topic. The content of which is subsequently evaluated from a philosophical perspective contrasting it with the other Muslim philosophical works.
Highlights
This article evaluates the Introduction of Tahafut, written by the Ottoman Kalām scholar Khojazada Muslih al-Din Mustafa on the request of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror
Khojazada’s preference, was to be a Qadi ‘Asker.5 Later on, the Sultan assigned him to a madrasah in Istanbul and Khojazada worked as a teacher there with great zeal and eagerness
Tahafut was written by Khojazada upon the request of Mehmet the Conqueror following the conquest of Constantinople
Summary
Tahafut was written by Khojazada upon the request of Mehmet the Conqueror following the conquest of Constantinople. Sultan Mehmet assigned great importance to Islamic science and assigned two important scholars for reevaluating the philosophers’ works because they were declared as nonbelievers in Imam Al-Ghazali’s book Tahafut alFalasifah (The Incoherence of Philosophers). Khojazada completed his work in four months, giving it the title of “al-Tahafut fi al-Muhākamah bayna al-Ghazali wal-. See Mustafa bin Abdullah al-Qustantin Haj Khalifa, Sullemu al-wusul ila Tabakat al-Fuhul (Istanbul: Arsika Yayınevi, 2010), 3:324; Muhammed bin Abdullah al Shawkani, al-Badru al-Taali‘. Osmaniyah (Beyrut: Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1975), 78; Haj Khalifa, Sullemu al-Wusul, 3:339. Khojazada’s book consists of twenty-two topics and provides solutions to many philosophical problems through the use of commentaries and comparisons. The book evaluates its topics with clarity and distinctness, leaving little room for confusion
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