Ibrahim Müteferrika ( tr, İbrahim Müteferrika; 1674–1745 CE) was a Hungarian-born Ottoman

diplomat A diplomat (from grc, δίπλωμα; romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state or an intergovernmental institution such as the United Nations or the European Union to conduct diplomacy with one or more other states or internati ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

, economist, historian,

Islamic theologian Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding ''ʿaqīdah'' (creed). The main schools of Islamic Theology include the Qadariyah, Falasifa, Jahmiyya, Murji'ah, Muʿtazila, Batin ...

, sociologist, and the first

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

to run a

printing press A printing press is a mechanical device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a printing, print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink. It marked a dramatic improvement on earlier printing methods in wh ...

with movable

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

type.Presentation of Katip Çelebi, ''Kitâb-i Cihân-nümâ li-Kâtib Çelebi''
, at the

Utrecht University Utrecht University (UU; nl, Universiteit Utrecht, formerly ''Rijksuniversiteit Utrecht'') is a public research university in Utrecht, Netherlands. Established , it is one of the oldest universities in the Netherlands. In 2018, it had an enrollme ...

Library

Early life

Ibrahim Muteferrika was born in Kolozsvár (present-day

Cluj-Napoca ; hu, kincses város) , official_name=Cluj-Napoca , native_name= , image_skyline= , subdivision_type1 = Counties of Romania, County , subdivision_name1 = Cluj County , subdivision_type2 = Subdivisions of Romania, Status , subdivision_name2 ...

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

). He was an ethnic Hungarian Unitarian who converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

, but his original Hungarian name is unknown.

Diplomatic service

At a young age, Ibrahim Muteferrika entered the Ottoman diplomatic services. He took an active part in the negotiations with

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. Ibrahim Muteferrika was an active figure in promoting the Ottoman-French alliance (1737–1739) against

and

. Ibrahim Muteferrika was also acclaimed for his role in the Ottoman-Swedish action against

. During his services as a diplomat, he is known to have befriended many influential personalities including

Osman Aga of Temesvar Osman Ağa of Temeşvar ( tr, Temeşvarlı Osman Ağa; 1670–1725) was an Ottoman army officer and one of the few Turkish-language autobiographers of the era. The former prisoner-of-war wrote mostly about his adventures in Habsburg Austria, an ...

, a fellow diplomat of

Transylvanian Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

origins and former prisoner-of-war imprisoned in

. It was during his years as a diplomat that he took a keen interest in collecting books that helped him understand the ongoing

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, the emergence of

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

movements in Europe, and the rise of powerful

colonial empires A colonial empire is a collective of territories (often called colonies), either contiguous with the imperial center or located overseas, settled by the population of a certain state and governed by that state. Before the expansion of early mode ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

Printing press

The printing press had already been known in the Ottoman Empire since 1493 or 1504 in Hebrew characters.Naim A. Güleryüz, ''Bizans'tan 20. Yüzyıla - Türk Yahudileri'', Gözlem Gazetecilik Basın ve Yayın A.Ş., İstanbul, January 2012, p.90 Other

communities A community is a Level of analysis, social unit (a group of living things) with commonality such as place (geography), place, Norm (social), norms, religion, values, Convention (norm), customs, or Identity (social science), identity. Communiti ...

operated presses. The first Ottoman press using Arabic type was operated in 1706-1711 in Aleppo by Christians. Muteferrika's volumes, printed in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

and using custom-made fonts, are occasionally referred to as "

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

".William J. Watson, "Ibrahim Muteferrika and Turkish Incunabula", in ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'', Vol. 88, No. 3 (1968), p. 435. Muteferrika, whose last name derived from his employment as a , or head of the household, under

Sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Ahmed III Ahmed III ( ota, احمد ثالث, ''Aḥmed-i sālis'') was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at H ...

and during the

Tulip Era The Tulip Period, or Tulip Era (Ottoman Turkish: لاله دورى, tr, Lâle Devri), is a period in Ottoman history from the Treaty of Passarowitz on 21 July 1718 to the Patrona Halil Revolt on 28 September 1730. This was a relatively peacef ...

, was also a geographer, astronomer, and philosopher. Following a 1726 report on the efficiency of the new system, which he drafted and presented simultaneously to

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim Pasha, the

Grand Mufti The Grand Mufti (also called Chief Mufti, State Mufti and Supreme Mufti) is the head of regional muftis, Islamic jurisconsults, of a state. The office originated in the early modern era in the Ottoman empire and has been later adopted in a num ...

, and the clergy, and a later request submitted to Sultan Ahmed III, he received permission to publish non-religious books (despite opposition from some Islamic calligraphers and religious leaders). Muteferrika's press published its first book in 1729, and, by 1743, issued 17 works in 23 volumes (each having between 500 and 1,000 copies). The first book ever published by Muteferrika is ''"Vankulu Lügati"'', a 2-volume Arabic-Turkish dictionary. Printing religious books was prohibited until 1803. Among the works published by Müteferrika were historical and generically scientific works, as well as Katip Çelebi's world atlas ''Cihannüma'' (loosely translated as ''The Mirror of the World'' or the ''World Seer''). In a digression that he added to his printing, Müteferrika discussed the

heliocentrism Heliocentrism (also known as the Heliocentric model) is the astronomical model in which the Earth and planets revolve around the Sun at the center of the universe. Historically, heliocentrism was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the Earth at ...

of astronomy in detail, with references to relatively up-to-date scientific arguments for and against it. In that regard, he is considered one of the first people to properly introduce heliocentrism to Ottoman readers. After 1742, however, Ibrahim Muteferrika's printing activities were discontinued and an attempt by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

diplomat James Mario Matra, motivated by the exorbitant prices for manuscript books, to re-establish a press in

was aborted in 1779. In his account, Matra refers to the strong opposition of the scribes that Müteferrika's enterprise had faced:

Legacy

A statue of Muteferrika can be found in the Sahaflar Çarşısı adjacent to the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. İbrahim Müteferrika -- a statue in the Sahaflar Çarşısı
Today's Zaman, 12 January 2010

Books published

There were 17 titles published by Muteferrika at his press during his lifetime: # ''Kitab-ı Lügat-ı Vankulu (Sihah El-Cevheri)'', 2 volumes, 1729 # ''Tuhfet-ül Kibar fi Esfar el-Bihar'', 1729 # ''Tarih-i Seyyah'', 1729 # ''Tarih-i Hind-i Garbi'', 1730 # ''Tarih-i Timur Gürgan'', 1730 # ''Tarih-I Mısr-i Kadim ve Mısr-i Cedid'', 1730 # ''Gülşen-i Hülefa'', 1730 # ''Grammaire Turque'', 1730 # ''Usul el-Hikem fi Nizam el-Ümem'', 1732 # ''Fiyuzat-ı Mıknatısiye'', 1732 # ''Cihan-nüma'', 1732 # ''Takvim el-Tevarih'', 1733 # ''Kitab-ı Tarih-i Naima'', 2 volumes, 1734 # ''Tarih-i Raşid'', 3 volumes, 1735 # ''Tarih-i Çelebizade'', 1741 # ''Ahval-i Gazavat der Diyar-ı Bosna'', 1741 # ''Kitab-ı Lisan el-Acem el Müsemma bi-Ferheng-i Şuuri'', 2 volumes, 1742 (Most of the copies of the book ''Tarih-i Çelebizade'' have been bound into the third and last volume of ''Tarih-i Raşid'' and sold together with it and thus have erroneously led several sources to believe a total of 16 items have been published.)

Own works

* ''Risâle Islâmiyye'' (available i
manuscript form
(published by sed Cosanin 1993)

References

Sources

* *

External links

Image of Ibrahim Muteferrika
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mueteferrika, Ibrahim 1674 births 1745 deaths Diplomats from Cluj-Napoca 17th-century Hungarian historians 18th-century Hungarian historians 17th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 18th-century historians from the Ottoman Empire Political people from the Ottoman Empire Hungarian Muslims Hungarian former Christians Converts to Islam from Protestantism Printers Scientists from the Ottoman Empire Turkish anthropologists Turkish sociologists Turkish publishers (people) Turkish economists Scholars of the Ottoman Empire