Ebu’l-Bekâ el-Kefevî’nin Tuhfetü’ş-Şâhân’ında İslam Akâidi
Islamic Akaid in Ebu’l-Beka’s Tuhfetu’s-Sahan
Yazar: Tarik, Ramazan
Dergi: e-Makalat Mezhep Araştırmaları Dergisi, Vol. 12 No. 2, 2019
Anahtar kelimeler: Religious Studies ; Din Araştırmaları ; el-Kefevî,Tuhfetü’ş-şâhân,İslam Akaîdi,Mezhep,İlmihal. ; al-Kaffawi,Tuhfetu’s-sahan,Islamic Akaid,Sect,Catechism

17. asır OsmanlıDevleti duraklama dönemi Hanefî fakihlerinden olan Ebü’l-Bekâ el-Kefevî, baştaFıkıh olmak üzere Arap Dili, Tefsir ve diğer İslami ilimler alanında birçokeser neşretmiştir. Ancak el-Kefevî’nin hayatı hakkında yeterince bilgiolmamakla birlikte eserleri hakkında da kaynaklarda farklı bilgiler mevcuttur.Çalışmamızda,Kefevî’nin “Tuhfetü’ş-şâhân” adlıilmihal türü eserinin giriş kısmında yer alan “İslam Akâidi” bölümününtranskripsiyonu yapılmıştır. Bununla birlikte müellifin hayatı ve eserleri,çalışmanın kaynağı, içeriği ve değerlendirilmesi yapılmıştır.Tuhfetü’ş-şâhân’da,geleneksel ilmihal türü eserlerde olduğu gibi Allah’ın varlığı, sıfatları,melekleri, kitapları ve peygamberleri ele alınmıştır. Peygamberle başlığıaltında mucizelere değinilmiştir. Daha sonra ahiret ahvali ele alınmış olup bukısımda da kabir, mizan, cennet-cehennem, sırat ve diğer konular elealınmıştır. Ahiret konularından sonra ise kaza-kader meselesine kısacadeğinilmiştir. Son kısmında mezhepler konusu işlenmiş olup burada ele alınanmezhepler, ameli mezheplerdir.

Ebu’l-Beka al-Kaffawi, who was one of the Hanafi scholars of the 17th century Ottoman Pause period, published many works in the field of Arabic language, commentary and other Islamic sciences, especially fiqh. However, although there is not much information about the life of al-Kaffawi, there is also different information about his works in the sources.In our study, the transcription of the Islamic Akâid section in the introductory part of the catechism type written in the fiqh area of Tuhfetu’s-sahan of al-Kaffawi was performed. Together with the transcription of the work, the author's life and works, the source, content and evaluation of the work were made.In Tuhfetu’s-sahan, the existence of God, adjectives, angels, books and prophets are discussed as in the works of the traditional catechism. Miracles are mentioned under the title of the Prophet. Afterwards, the states of the hereafter are mentioned and in this part, graves, trial balance, heaven-hell, sirat and other subjects are discussed. After the afterlife issues, the issue of predestinationis briefly mentioned. In the last part, the subject of sects has been discussed and the sects discussed here are fiqh sects.SummaryEbu’l-Beka al-Kaffawi, who was accepted as one of the Hanafi scholars of theOttoman State during the pause period, was born in a well-known family in Kefe,which is located within the territory of Ukraine and completed his educationthere. He worked as a mufti in his hometown of Kefe and then came to Istanbulwith the invitation of the Ottoman Grand Vizier. He worked as a mufti indifferent regions of Anatolia. Although he lived in exile due to some negativeevents, he was forgiven for the last period of his life and returned toIstanbul and died there.al-Kaffawipublished almost ten works in almost every branch of Islamic sciences.Especially in Arabic, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh and Kalam has a distinguished placein the sciences. His work Kulliyyat, which he wrote, bears traces from all ofthe Islamic sciences.Tuhfetu’s-sahanis the work of al-Kaffawi written in the fiqh field and evaluated under thetitle of catechism. The work is written in the form of belief, worship andmoral issues within the framework of the general characteristics of thecatechism works. The subject of faith has been dealt with as a separate chapterunder the title of Islamic Akaid. The aim of our study is to give briefinformation about the life of al-Kaffawi, to reveal the manuscripts of his bookTuhfetu’s-sahan and to transcribe the Islamic Akaid section based on one ofthese manuscripts.Asa result of our researches in the libraries of manuscripts about Tuhfetu’s-sahan,we identified twenty-five manuscripts. However, the work was also printed indifferent dates and places. This situation reveals the value of the work beforethe Ottoman ulema, but also shows that it is one of the most widely read worksin the Ottoman madrasas. However, there are limited number of studies on thiswork of al-Kaffawi in ​​our country. Especially in the thesis,articles and encyclopedia articles, it is seen that only brief informationabout the work is given in the subtitle of al-Kaffawi’s works. However, in athesis on history in Hungary in 2018, this work was referred to as the VampireCatechism because of some information contained in it.Inour study, firstly the life of al-Kaffawi was briefly mentioned. Then,information was given about the content of Tuhfetu’s-sahan and the manuscriptswere presented in a table. However, the methods and principles to be appliedwhen transcribing are mentioned in the articles. In the last part, thetranscription of the Islamic Akaid section, which deals with the belief in thework, is given. When transcribing the work, the manuscript in the IstanbulMetropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library was taken into consideration.Transcription is based on the simple transcription method. The work, written in17th century Ottoman Turkish, has been translated in today’s Turkish languageso that it can be easily understood by the reader. The meaning of the verses in the text is given in the footnotes. This processis based on the Holy Quran Portal of the Presidency of Religious Affairs.Inthe section of Islamic Akaid, which consists of seventeen leafs, the pleasureof knowing God, the existence of God, adjectives, books and prophets arediscussed. Afterwards, the prophet mentioned information about the family ofthe Prophet Muhammad. After the prophets, saints were mentioned and the firstfour caliphs in Islamic History were stated to be the most virtuous people. Animportant part of the chapter is devoted to the hereafter. In this section, thegrave, angels and the day of judgment and their characteristics are given.Again, the issue of predestination is another issue addressed. In the lastpart, the subject of heaven-hell is mentioned and information about those whowill enter here is given.Thelast subject of the Akaid is the sects. In this issue, fiqh sects areespecially discussed. It is emphasized that the Abu Hanifa sect is right andthe others are superstitious. The subject of ijtihad under the title of sectwas mentioned, and because of the ijtihad issue, people stated that theyadopted Hanafi, Shafi, Maliki, and Hanbali sects but they were all Ahl alSunnat wal-Jamaat. Since al-Kaffawi is a member of the Hanafi sect, he brieflygave some information about Abu Hanifa and finished the section. At the end ofthe Islamic Akaid section, there is a verse consisting of six couplets.Whileal-Kaffawi’s Tuhfetu’s-sahan was transcribing, the similarity between theRisale-i Birgivī of Imam Birgivī , who lived about a hundred yearsago, drew our attention. The titles, language and content used in both worksare very similar. The only difference in the content is the way the subject isexpressed. The issue in one is the addition or subtraction of only a few words.Similarities are the same in almost every title. Since al-Kaffawi wrote thework after Birgivī, the introductory part of the work was examined carefully.However, neither the entrance nor the other chapters found any informationabout the bond or relationship between them.AlthoughEbu’l-Beka al-Kaffawi did not have detailed information about his life in therelevant sources, it was seen that the available information sometimes did notcoincide. In Halil Çiçek’s words, the most important reason for this situationis the limited number of biographical works about him. The majority of hisstudies have been in the field of hadith, tafsir and fiqh.However,since the Tuhfetu’s-sahan, which he wrote in the fiqh field, was overshadowedby another work called Kulliyyat, the work on this work remained limited andcould not go beyond giving information about it. This work, which has beenwidely read in Ottoman madrasas for a period, should be examined, transcribed,and brought into today’s scientific world, especially by the researchers whowork in the field of fiqh. In addition, the negative image of the vampirecatechism about this work in the West should be eliminated. In this study, wewanted to unearth the work by transcribing the belief part at the beginning ofthe work. However, there are many sections waiting to be discovered.