İhvân-ı Safâ Risalelerinde Sanatlar/Ameli Sanatlar
Arts/Working Arts in Ikhwan al-Safa’s (Brethren of Purity) Treatises
Yazar: Karakuş, Mehmet
Dergi: Bilimname No. 46, 2021
Anahtar kelimeler: İslam Felsefesi,İhvân-ı Safâ,İhvân-ı Safâ Risaleleri,Sanat,Zanaat. ; Islamic Philosophy,Ikhwān-i Safā,Ikhwān-i Safā Treatises,Art,Craft.

İhvân-ı Safâ, yaşadıkları toplumu düşünsel anlamda aydınlatma gayesi taşıyan, felsefî ve ilmî alandaki çalışmalarını yazdıkları Risaleler aracılığıyla topluma yaymaya çalışan özgün bir felsefe topluluğudur. Yazdıkları Risaleler de, İslâm dünyasının X. yüzyıldaki felsefe, bilim ve kültür alanında kat ettiği mesafeyi gösteren önemli bir kaynaktır. Bir kültür hazinesi niteliğinde olan bu Risalelerden biri de “Pratik Sanatlar ve Amaçları Üzerine” adını taşıyan 8. Risaledir. Bu Risalede, Sanat ve zanaat ayrımının yapılmadığı bir dönemde insan ürünü olan çeşitli sanatlar hakkında bilgi verilmiştir. Bu çalışmada X. yüzyıl İslam dünyasının dikkat çeken entelektüel topluluğunun Risaleleri esas alınarak sanat/zanaat konularındaki düşünceleri araştırılmıştır. Risalelerde zanaatların değeri ve önemine işaret edilmiş; zanaatlar faydasına, kullanılan alet ve edevata, yapılan eşyanın değerine göre çeşitli açılardan sınıflandırılmıştır. Zanaatların yapımında ateşe duyulan ihtiyaca vurgu yapılmış; yine zanaatlarda uzmanlaşmanın önemine değinilmiş, öğrenilen ve öğretilen yapısı göz önüne alınarak zanaatların usta eller vasıtasıyla nesilden nesile aktarılmasının zorunluluğundan söz edilmiştir. Sanatların bazı yönlerden birbirlerinden üstün oldukları ifade edilmiş ve bu üstünlüğün; ya konu oldukları madde açısından, ya yapılan şey açısından, ya onları edinmeye sevk eden zaruri ihtiyaçlar açısından, ya sağladığı umumun menfaati açısından, ya da bizzat sanatın kendisi açısından olduğu belirlenmiştir. Buna göre sanatların ya zorunluluk ya fayda ya da bizzat sanatın kendisi için yapıldığı ortaya konulmuştur.

Ikhwān-i Safā is a unique philosophical community that aims to enlighten the society they live in in the Islamic geography intellectually in the 10th century, and tries to spread its philosophical and scientific studies to the society through the Treatises (al-Risalât) they wrote. Ikhwān-i Safā considers it as the main goal that the members of the community should have knowledge of all sciences and not be ignorant. Accordingly, the system adopted by the group provides that they think about all sciences, research them completely, grasp the outward and inward knowledge of the sciences.  Most of the aims they pursue in the Treatises they have revealed are about to unite Allah, to absolve Him from the things that ignorant people, who are far from the knowledge of the arts invented by the servants he created out of love, regard Him. In this sense, Treatises are texts that aim to go beyond the apparent meaning of religious texts, including the Qur'an, and that clearly reveal the need to use philosophy as a primary tool for the realization of this purpose.For this reason, the community, which also had political goals, gathered secretly with its members periodically and wrote fifty-one treatises to realize their goals. One of these Treatises is the 8th Treatise, that of the part on the Mathematics, and it is called "On Practical Arts and Its Purposes". In this Treatise, it is possible to see that crafts were discussed in detail in a period when there wasn’t any distinction between art and craft. In this study, it will be investigated what Ikhwān-i Safā means by the concept of art, as well as working, earning, having a profession and what should be the things that are needed while all these are obtained.According to Ikhwān-i Safā, Allah gave men the ability to make admirable arts and to speak various languages in tongue. The main difference that distinguishes man from other living things is his desire for theoretical and practical arts, which are qualities peculiar to the thinking soul. Ikhwān-i Safā, who determines the arts as a natural inclination of the human soul and examines the practical arts after the scientific arts, accepts the art as creation on the one hand. Again, it is understood that those who claim to have invented the arts see the human arts as an imitation of nature, since they have come to a conclusion only by observing what has been done in nature, thinking about them and making comparisons and creating a work of art. However, it turns out that what Ikhwān-i Safā means by imitation is to imitate beings in a higher position rather than imitating nature.In the thought of Ikhwān-i Safā, which divides the human arts into two as theoretical and practical, the practical art is the knowing artist's bringing out the form in his mind and revealing it on matter. What is revealed consists of the combination of both matter and form. The beginning of this is based on the command of Allah, the support of the Universal Mind and the influence of the Universal Soul. From this point of view, it is important for Ikhwān-i Safā to emphasize that men is supported by Allah in the emergence of arts. According to Ikhwān, that bases the source of arts on Allah in the last step, the aim in art is to be master/skilled in every art and to resemble the "real Artist" who is the Creator. What is meant by resembling here should be understood as performing acts similar to the acts of God, in other words, producing harmonious and regular products.In the Ikhvān-ı Safā Treatises, the crafts were classified in terms of their subject, the tools and equipment they used, and the value of the resulting product. In this Treatise, the arts were divided into parts and the qualities that every art producer should have were investigated. Again, the organs and tools needed while performing the art were mentioned and it was emphasized that fire was a useful tool in art. According to Ikhwān-i Safā, who states that the arts are superior to each other in some ways, this superiority is either in terms of the material they are subject to, in terms of what is done, in terms of the essential needs that lead them to be acquired, or in terms of the benefit of the general public, or in terms of the art itself. In short, it has been revealed that the arts are made either for necessity or for utility or for the art itself. The driving force behind all these and the main goal of the realization of the arts have been expressed as ensuring that people reach the level of perfection. According to İkhvān-i Safā, every artist and professional should not do things outside the scope of his art by using his mind, make his art sound and make his attitude towards other people good. Only in this way can the superiority of the craftsman in his art be revealed.