Master of Two Oceans: Mulla Ibrahim al-Kurani (d. 1690) and the Medinan School for Religious Reformism

No scholars have sufficiently addressed Medinan intellectual milieu during the seventeenth century. Despite much ground-breaking works on topics such as Islamic reformism, revivalism, and Enlightenment, scholars scrutinizing seventeenth century Islamic thought have not yet adequately interpreted Medina as one of the excellent centers of religious learning. Yet without such appreciation, we lack the knowledge in order to portray fuller pictures of post-classical Islamic learned tradition. This is no doubt to avoid misunderstanding on the period of pre-Wahhabi movement. This study will fill this crucial gap in the established literature by investigating social and intellectual formation of seventeenth century Ottoman Medina. This study will focus specifically on the intellectual project of a Kurdish scholar, Mulla Ibrahim al-Kurani (d. 1690). Through a close reading of previously unstudied manuscripts of this scholar and his contemporaries, I aim to demonstrate that Mulla Ibrahim contributed to the development of both rational and transmitted sciences in Medina where his ideas were transmitted, appropriated, and also refuted throughout Mediterranean and Indian Ocean Muslim cultures.

First Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Birgit Krawietz

Second Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Torsten Tschacher

Third Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Sait Özervarlı

Khairul Umam, Zacky. 2016. "Seventeenth-Century Islamic Teaching in Medina: The Life, Circle, and Forum of Ahmad al-Qushashi", In: Qiraat 2016(6). King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies.