A Systematic Literature Analysis of Manuscripts in Islamic Philosophy in the Amasya Beyazıt Manuscript Library

Authors : İrfan Karadeniz

Pages : 278-301

Doi:10.18498/amailad.1760605

View : 98 | Download : 144

Publication Date : 2025-11-30

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :Studies on Islamic philosophy have long engaged with questions about the nature, scope, and historical continuity of the discipline. These inquiries often challenge or reaffirm conventional narratives about the temporal and thematic boundaries of Islamic philosophical thought. A significant portion of these debates revolves around the assertion that Islamic philosophy began with al-Kindī and ended with Ibn Rushd, a view that continues to shape the epistemological assumptions of both Western and Islamic scholarship. However, the manuscript tradition, particularly in post-classical and early modern periods, offers substantial evidence that calls for a reassessment of this linear and restrictive account. This study proposes a systematic literature analysis of Islamic philosophy manuscripts housed in the Amasya Beyazıt Manuscript Library (ABML), one of the richest repositories of Ottoman-era intellectual production. The library holds 4,351 cataloged manuscripts, of which 49 are directly associated with Islamic philosophy. These manuscripts comprise various textual genres, including risāla (treatise), sharḥ (commentary), ḥashiya (gloss), and taʿlīq (annotation). A genre-based classification of these texts allows an analytical understanding of how philosophical ideas were transmitted, reinterpreted, and elaborated across generations. By focusing on genre, authorship, and thematic content, the study identifies patterns of philosophical activity and the sustained relevance of certain foundational texts. For example, the prevalence of numerous commentaries and glosses written on works such as Hidayat al-Ḥikma demonstrates that, in the post-Ibn Sīnā period, intellectual engagement had become an established tradition. Moreover, the presence of commentaries on fields such as logic, metaphysics, and epistemology among these 49 manuscripts indicates that Islamic philosophy did not come to an end; rather, it continued in an established manner within the culture of madrasas and manuscript production. The significance of this research lies not only in mapping the intellectual activity within a particular manuscript corpus, but also in critically questioning, at a literal level, the historical closure that is often imposed on Islamic philosophy. It emphasizes the importance of manuscript-based studies in offering a more nuanced, accurate, and temporally extended understanding of the Islamic philosophical tradition.
Keywords : Islamic Philosophy, Manuscript Tradition, Sharḥ and Ḥashiya, Taʿlīq and Commentary Culture, Amasya Beyazıt Manuscripts Library.

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