Citation:
Thesis Type:
PhD dissertationAbstract:
This dissertation explores the growing influence of sheikhs in the lives of the ulema during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries as represented in the work of an Ottoman `ālim. My subject, the prominent biographer Nev'īzāde `Atā'ī (1583–1635), gives us a rich picture of the relationship between the ulema and sheikhs of his times and the past two generations in his biographical dictionary, the Hadā'ikü'l-Hakā'ik fī Tekmileti'l-Sakā'īk. Through an examination of what `Atā'ī chose to narrate, omit, and alter when presenting the life stories of the sheikhs, I argue that rather than a timeless opposition or an unchanging alliance between the ulema and sheikhs, the interactions of these two groups during this period was characterized by a new emphasis among a certain group of the ulema and the sheikhs on acceptance of the authority of the Ottoman sultan in this world as well as the valorization of otherworldliness.
To identify the ways in which `Atā'ī's interests shaped the Hadā'ik, the first two chapters examine the biographer and his work within the context of social circles, literary pursuits, and the Ottoman biography tradition of the time. I propose that much like his patrons among the high ranking ulema of Istanbul and his friends from the provincial notables, Atā'ī was a member of an old elite and shared their interest in transmitting and transforming sixteenth-century literary traditions, such as composing the Hadā'ik. The following three chapters focus on three themes which Atā'ī chose to emphasize in his narration of the lives of the sheikhs and their relations with the ulema. The third chapter discusses `Atā'ī's views on the persecution of the sheikhs during the sixteenth century, to examine how a seventeenth-century `ālim with Sufi sympathies would represent the struggle between the sheikhs and the Ottoman authorities. As the strife between the sheikhs and the ulema during the sixteenth century did not hinder young ulema from choosing the Sufi path as an alternative to the `ilmiyye, the fourth chapter examines Atā'ī's representation of this career change and reveals a so far unexplored interest of the learned circles of this period with otherworldliness. `Atā'ī's concern with otherworldliness in the Hadā'ik is explored farther in the last chapter, which aims to understand the place of the sheikhs in the cosmos of `Atā'ī.