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Hiroaki Kawanishi sheds light on theological trends of the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman world, an area of research that remains understudied in existing scholarship. The author challenges the "intellectual stagnation" thesis that has often framed post-classical Islamic intellectual history as a period of decline. In particular, he argues that the eleventh/seventeenth century Ottoman period was a time of intellectual prosperity by examining in depth the polymath of Ottoman Damascus ?Abd al-Ghan? al-N?bulus?'s (d. 1143/1731) commentaries on the ninth/fifteenth century Maghrib? theologian Mu?ammad ibn Y?suf al-San?s?'s (d. 895/1490) Creed. The author focuses on N?bulus?'s theological project, which synthesises Ash?arite speculative theology (kal?m) and Akbarian Sufism, while giving special attention to epistemology, cosmology, metaphysics, prophetology, and ethics.
Price: £95.20
Pages: 244
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
Imprint: Mohr Siebeck
Series: Sapientia Islamica
Publication Date:
23 February 2026
ISBN: 9783162001085
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
Introduction
1. Ottoman Islam?
2. Speculative Theology () at Ottoman Madrasas
3. The Sanūsian Creed in the Ottoman Lands
4. ʿAbd al-Ghanī al-Nābulusī and The Sanūsian Creed
5. Methodology
Chapter 1: Epistemology
1.Faith (īmān) in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
3. Nābulusī's Response to Sanūsī's Rationalist Epistemology
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Epistemology
5. Recognition of One's Ignorance as the Highest Form of Knowledge
6. Conclusion
Chapter 2: Cosmology
1. The Ontological Quest in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe (ḥudūth al-ʿālam)
3. Nābulusī on the Temporal Origination of the Universe
4. Nābulusī's Synthetic Cosmology: Immutable Entities (al-aʿyān al-thābita)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 3: Metaphysics (ilāhiyyāt)
1. God-Talk
2. Sanūsī's Metaphysics: Twenty Divine Attributes
3. Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Divine Existence
4. There is No Existence but God (lā wujūd illā Allāh)
5. Immanent Transcendentalism
6. Conclusion
Chapter 4: Prophetology (nubuwwāt)
1. Prophetology in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Prophetology: Prerequisite Qualities of Messengerhood
3. Nābulusī's Prophetology: Muḥammad's Superiority over Other Prophets
4. The Muḥammadan Light (al-nūr al-muḥammadī)
5. Conclusion
Chapter 5: Ethics
1. The Problem of Evil in Early Modern Ottoman Kalām Literature
2. Sanūsī's Theology of Good and Evil
3. Nābulusī's Epistemology of Good and Evil
4. Nābulusī's Metaphysics of Good and Evil
5. Nābulusī's Mystical Metaphysics of Faith and Disbelief
6. The Perfect Universe: Nābulusī's Synthetic Metaphysics of Good and Evil
7. Conclusion
Conclusion