Philosopher, professor,
poet (B.?, Yanya [now within the borders of
After completing his
education he received private lessons from Şeyhülislam Ebu Saidzade Feyzullah
Efendi (1691). He won the exam organized and became a professor. Working in
various madrasahs he promoted to the highest rank of professorship, high
professor. He realized his most important scientific researches in this period.
On the other hand he was assigned to Magistracy of Galata, which was an
important position in terms of Ottoman hierarchy (1725-26). He joined council
meetings and served in Translation Institute, which was established in the Tulip
Period. He was assigned as an editor to the state publishing house, which had
recently been established, and as a librarian by Sultan Ahmed III to the palace
library established in
Esad Efendi
was known with his competence in religious and rational sciences. Aside from
his knowledge and political identity, he continued his life as a religious
person and member of Naqshi order. A short time after Tulip Period he passed away and was inhumed
near to Emir Buhari Lodge outside of Edirnekapı, Istanbul.
Esad Efendi was one of
the most important thinkers of Tulip Period. He knew Turkish, Arabic, Persian,
Greek and Latin, which granted him certain acquisitions classic Ottoman
professors did not have. He authored numerous works and translations. Duties he
took, translations he made, interpretations he wrote and books he authored granted
him a well-deserved reputation. The Ottoman scholars gave him the nickname
“Muallim-i Salis”. Besides, since he had information about all the three
celestial religions, some Christian and Jewish clergymen asked him for
information about their own religion. Esad Yanyevî was on the other hand a good poet and wrote Turkish, Arabic and
Persian poetry.
Esad Efendi attempted to
revive the Ottoman scientific thought, which had a silent environment for long
years. His most important attitude in his translation works and books was that
he criticized the “kalami-riyazi” paradigm placed to Ottoman scientific thought
by Fatih Sultan Mehmed, Ali Kuşçu and his friends after the conquest of
Istanbul and emphasized the Aristotelian natural paradigm. For this purpose, he attempted to
establish the Aristotelian logics and physics as a theoretical (acquired through
analyze and research) science, openly criticized people who had different
views. In the preface of his new translation of Aristoteles’ “Organon”, Esad Efendi stated that the
science of physics was a theoretical and empirical science and that Ibn-I Rüşd
(Averroes) also emphasized this, however, he said “some scholars of ours later
changed this and turned this science into a science of presumptions and
delusions” which was a subtle targeting of Ali Kuşçu’s thoughts in his “Şerh el-tecrid”. This attitude prepared
the mentality of Ottoman scientists during the period of modernization to
encounter the science of Western Europe in modern ages.
Esad Efendi, upon the
oral and written orders of Grand Vizier Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha and
Şeyhülislam Abdullah Efendi, translated fundamental works of Aristotle,
especially logics and physics, into Arabic again and wrote interpretations to
these translations. He corrected some of his views in his interpretations and
emphasized interpretations of Averroes. In these interpretations he also gave
place to the views of Western philosophers such as Albertus Magnus, Scotus
Erigena and Thomas Aquinas and Islamic philosophers such as el-Farabi, Avicenna
and Nasiruddin el-Tusi. Esad Efendi particularly emphasized that he used an
understandable Arabic in his translations and referred to numerous scholars and
philosophers. However, he referred especially to works of Aristotle and members
of Italy-Padua academy which was the center of Averroism, thus to the head of
the academy, Thessaloniki Greek Metropolitan Karaferyeli İoannis Kuttinius’
interpretations. He also produced interpretations and criticized
interpretations of the previous which were wrong in his view. He indicated
opinions of Aristotle and Averroes he did not share. Esad Efendi in these
translations mentions new optic devices probably for the first time which was
used in modern Western Europe and which concerned the science of optics in
Islamic and Ottoman history of science closely, such as telescope and microscope.
Sources claim that Esad
Efendi authored about ten books and translations. Some sources state that he
had a “Divan” in which he brought together his poems; he translated Avicenna’s
“Kitab el-Şifa”; interpreted
Şihabuddin Sühreverdi’s “Hikmet el-ışrak”
and translated Siracuddin el-Urmevi’s book on logics titled “Metali el-envar” into Turkish. However,
there are no samples of these books, which came until the present.
It is also known that
Esad Efendi translated some theorems of Archimedes, which were not translated
into Arabic using other works of Archimedes under the title “Kitab amel el-murabba el-musavi li-el-daire”
into Arabic. The information he provided in this work proves that he knew the
translations made into Arabic during the Abbasids very well and that he was
aware of scientific works related to the Greek period, which were just
discovered in Europe. Aside from this translation, which came until the
present, he also translated some texts in the field of mathematics concerning “Terbi el-daire ve nisbet-i müellefe”
from Latin.
WORKS:
Er-Risaletü'l - Lâhuttiyye (It Contains Problems of Kalam Science), El-Haşiyyetü'l Fethiye Ale'ş Şerhi'l Hanefiyye li'r Risaletü'l
Adudiyye, Haşiye Alâ Risale fi İsbati'l Vacib (incomplete), Şerh-i Manzume'i
Şahidi (It was translated into Greek), Tecümet-ü
Şerhi'1 Envâr (It was translated into Arabic), Et-Ta'limus-Salis (It is a translation from Greek into Arabic -
Aristotle's work of eight chapters titled “physics”.), Mürettep Dîvan, Terceme-i Şifâ, Şerhu Hikmeti’l-İşrâkiye,
Terceme-i Metâliu’l-Envâr, Terceme-i Kütüb-i Semâviye fî Hikmeti’t-Tabîiyye,
Terceme-i Şerhü’l-Envâr fi’l-Mantık, Terceme-i Kütüb-i Semâviye li Hakîm
Aristo, Hâşiye-i İsbât-ı Vâcib.
REFERENCE:
Bursalı Mehmet Tahir / Osmanlı Müellifleri (c. 1, s. 235, 1972), Kâzım
Sarıkavak / Yanyalı Esat Efendi (1997), İhsan Fazlıoğlu (ihsanfazlioglu.net / Erişim: 18 Aralık
2011), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Fikir ve Kültür Adamları
(Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 3, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous
People (2013) - Resimli ve Metin Örnekli
Türkiye Edebiyatçılar ve Kültür Adamları Ansiklopedisi (C. 12, 2017).