Molla Lütfi

Osmanlı Bilgini

Doğum
-
Ölüm
23 Ocak, 1495
Diğer İsimler
Lutfullah (asıl adı)

Ottoman scholar, student of Ali Kuşçu, teacher of İbn-i Kemal (B. Tokat? - D. January 23rd, 1495, Istanbul). His real name was Lutfullah and he is known as Molla Lütfî. He took his primary school education by his father, Kutbüddin Hasan. Then he went to Istanbul and took logic, philosophy, kalam courses from Sinan Pasha and mathematics courses from Ali Kuşçu with Sinan Pasha's direction. Beyond the teacher-student relationship, Molla Lütfî was a friend and probably a relative of Sinan pasha and was appointed as hafız-ı kütüp of the palace library (T.N. an official of library in charge of books' maintenance) by Fâtih Sultan Mehmet with the suggestion of his teacher who took up the position of Vizier (minister) in 1470. Therefore ­ he got the opportunity of examining the rare works in the library and he reached the level of expressing his opinion about many disciplines. Meanwhile, he made a close friendship with Sultan. He was close enough to joke with him. However, this friendship did not last long; he was dismissed from the library with the accusation of treason to foundation books and at first he was appointed as mudarris (teacher of madrasah). Then he was imprisoned by condemnation. After that, he was restored to his job and­ during the time when Sinan Pasha fell out with Sultan and went back to Seferihisar, he went there with him (1476).

Five years later, with the death of Fâtih Sultan Mehmet, he returned to Istanbul again with Sinan Pasha and he was appointed as a teacher in Yıldırım Bayezid (or Sultan Murad) Madrasah in Bursa by Bayezid II. Then he worked as a teacher in Şehabettin Pasha Madrasah in Plovdiv, Dârülhadis Madrasah in Edirne, Semâniye Madrasah in Istanbul, Muradiye Madrasah in Bursa, and again Semâniye Madrasah in Istanbul respectively.

Because of such reasons as his closeness to Bayezid II, and that he wrote critics against the works of scholars of this age, he got many enemies in a short time. Molla Lütfî was tried with the accusations of atheism (not believing to God or Hereafter) and ilhâd (deviating from the thing that to be done). He was executed by means of being beheaded at Atmeydanı on January 23rd, 1495 upon the fatwa judging him as an atheist by Hatibzâde, one of his enemies. He was buried near the Defterdar Mahmut Çelebi Masjid in Eyüp.

He was among the teachers of İbn-i Kemal, one of the reputable Ottoman Sheikhs al-Islam. Molla Lütfî produced works in both Islamic sciences and natural sciences and his execution brought a broad response and was discussed for many years. The declared reason of the execution of Molla Lütfî, who was mentioned by a known scholar Taşköprüzâde as “an unrivalled intellectual having a unique personality", was atheism, but all of the sources attributed the real cause of this judgment to the jealousy and hostility of his enemies. His unkind personality, reflected in his attitude and behaviors towards the notables and intellectuals of the era eased stiffening this hostility. After the investigation conducted by the command of Sultan Bayezid II, Molla Lütfî, arrested together with the others who could not flee abroad, out of ten people in question, wrote poems to each of the important statesmen including the Sultan himself during his time in jail lasting nineteen days, but he did not achieve any result.

It is known from the date of 1480 he recorded about a masjid that, he built a mosque known as Masjid of Sarı Lütfi, he had a library of precious books and that there is a quarter in Istanbul, called after his name. There were famous intellectuals among the students he schooled.

Molla Lütfî was an intellectual having given works on religious, literary, philosophical, and natural sciences areas. He wrote most of his works in Arabic, in accordance with the science understanding of the era, whereas wrote his Harnâme, his book about the rhetoric of Turkish and some of his poems in Turkish, also he had a few quatrains in Persian. Although a place of Molla Lütfî was set in collection of bibliographies of Şuara (poets) and examples from his poems were given, and Latifi described him as a Hassân and Selmân of poem and ode of the era, it is wrong to say that he was interested much in poetry, except for his attempts of ode, gazelle, historical and humorous quatrains.

WORKS:

Hâşiye alâ Hâşiyeti'ş-Şerhi'l-Metâli (Molla Lütfî's most bulky work, about a postscript written by Seyyid Şerif el-Cürcânî), Hâşiye ıalâ evâ'ili Şerhi'I-Mevâkıf (a postscript written on another commentary by Cürcânî ), es-Seb'u'ş-şidâd (with the command of Bayezid II, a postscript on Cürcânî's commentary on Kutbüddin er-Râzî's Metâli u'l-envâr), Risale fî tahkiki vücüdi'i-vâ-cib / vücûdi'l-mebde i'l-evvel); 5. Risâle (Kelimât) müte allika bi-âyeti'l-hac (A treatise which he wrote the outcomes of a debate took place before Bayezid II about verses numbered 196-199 of Bakara Surah in a feast day. He dedicated this work to the Grand Vizier Ali Pasha.), Zübdetü'l-Belâga (This treatise was called as Telhîşü't-Telhîş by Kâtib Çelebi. It features a summary of Hatîb et-Kazvînî's Telhîşü'l-Miftâh. It was published by name of Molla Lutfî ve Zubdetu'l-Belâga Adlı Eseri by Mehmet Sami Benli, in Istanbul in 2003), Risâletü Mevlânâ Lutfî min il-mi'i-Belâğa (A work about rhetoric of Turkish), Haşiye alâ Şerhi'l-Miftâh (his postscript on Cürcani’s commentary on the third chapter of Sekkâkî's book titled Miftâha'l-ulûm), Risâle fîmâ ye-le'a Allaku bi-Hurûfi't-Teheccî, Taz'îfü'l-mezbah (In this work which was not mentioned in old sources, he dealt with a mathematical problem known as the "Delos Problem."), Risâle fi'l-'Ulûmi'ş-Şer'iyye ve'l-'Arabiyye / Ri­sâle fî Mevzuâti'l-'Ulûm (In the book presented to Bayezid II, a total of seventy three sciences were mentioned, 29 of which was about the Arabic language, forty four of which was about Islam. Philosophical, natural and mathematical sciences were not subject to classification.), el-Metâlibü'l-ilâhiyye (Written for explaining some vague points of the previous work.), Harnâme (Firstly Oskar Rescher published an incomplete copy of this humorous work. After that, Orhan Şaik Gökyay published the entire work with its transcriptions and facsimile. In the work, there were coarse and obscene expressions, but Gökyay showed them with name tags.), el-Ferec ba’de'ş-Şidde Tercümesi (A simplified selection from this translation was made by Bilge Seyidoğlu - Orhan Yavuz: Güçlükten Kolaylığa Kederden Sevince: Seçme Hikâyeler, Ankara 1990).

REFERENCE: Abdülkadir Karahan / "Molla Lûtfi'nin Harname'si ve XV. Yüz­yıl Sade Türk Nesri" (TDK Kurul­tayına Sunulan Bildiriler: I, 1975, s. 173-179Bursalı Mehmed Tahir / Osmanlı Müellifleri I (1972), Orhan Şaik Gökyay / Molla Lütfî (1993), Ahmet Yaşar Ocak / Osmanlı Toplumunda Zındıklar ve Mülhidler (s. 205-221, 346, 1998), Orhan Şaik Gökyay / Molla Lûtfî (1987), Şükrü Özen / "Molla Lutfî'nin İdamına Karşı Çıkan Hamîdüddin Efendi'nin Ahkâmü'z-zındîk Risâlesi" (İslâm Araştırmaları Dergisi, IV, 2000), Orhan Şaik Gökyay – Şükrü Özen / TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (c. 30, 2005), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Bilim Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of Turkey’s Famous People (2013).

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