Mulla Shams ad-Din Muhammad ibn Hamzah al-Fanari (

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: محمد بن حمزة الفناري, Turkish: Molla Şemseddin Mehmed Fenari), 1350–1431,Alan Godlas, Molla Fanari and the Misbah al-Uns: The Commentator and The Perfect Man, ''International Symposium On Molla Fanari 4–6 December 2009 Bursa Proceedings'', p. 31. known in short as Molla Fenari was an Ottoman

logician Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure of arg ...

Islamic theologian Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding creed. The main schools of Islamic theology include the extant Mu'tazili, Ash'ari, Maturidi, and Athari schools; the extinct ones i ...

, Islamic legal scholar, and mystical philosopher of the school of

Ibn ʿArabī Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian Sunni scholar, Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher who was extremely influential within Islamic thought. Out of the 850 works attributed to him, some 700 are authentic, while over 400 are ...

Biography

Fanari's family history and his birthplace are not well known. His ''nasab'', 'Fanari', has been explained in different ways in the sources. It has variously been related to a town in

Transoxiana Transoxiana or Transoxania (, now called the Amu Darya) is the Latin name for the region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...

, to a town near Bursa in Anatolia and to his father's profession as a lamp maker.Aydın, İ.H. (2005). Molla Fenari. in ''İslam Ansiklopedisi'' (Vol. 30, pp. 245-247). Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı. He studied under Mevlânâ Alâuddîn Esved, Cemâleddîn Aksarâyî, Hamîduddîn-i Kayserî. He traveled to Egypt, which was then under the rule of the Mamluk Sultanate, to study Hanafi jurisprudence under Ekmeleddîn el-Bâberti. Ottoman Sultan

Bayezid I Bayezid I (; ), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt (; ; – 8 March 1403), was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1389 to 1402. He adopted the title of ''Sultan-i Rûm'', ''Rûm'' being the Arabic name for the Eastern Roman Empire. In 139 ...

subsequently appointed Fanari judge (''

qadi A qadi (; ) is the magistrate or judge of a Sharia court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and minors, and supervision and auditing of public works. History The term '' was in use from ...

'') of Bursa in 1390. The death of Bayezid I precipitated a civil war, which caused Fanari to leave the country, after which he lectured in

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and in

Hejaz Hejaz is a Historical region, historical region of the Arabian Peninsula that includes the majority of the western region of Saudi Arabia, covering the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif and Al Bahah, Al-B ...

(part of present-day Saudi Arabia). He thereafter sought employment in the court of the ruler of the Karamanoğlu Beylik, where he wrote his text on legal theory. In 1421,

Murad II Murad II (, ; June 1404 – 3 February 1451) was twice the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1421 to 1444 and from 1446 to 1451. Early life Murad was born in June 1404 to Mehmed I, while the identity of his mother is disputed according to v ...

ascended the throne as the sixth Ottoman

Sultan Sultan (; ', ) 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 came to be use ...

and recalled Fanari to the court in Bursa. In 1424 Murad appointed him as the qādī of the military, a position which would evolve over the next century into the

Sheikh ul-Islam Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning " elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim scholar. Though this title generally refers to men, there are also a small number of ...

. Fanari held this position in addition to his other positions as professor and judge. He retained all three positions until the end of his life in Bursa in 1431.

Works

During his career, he specialized in

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

and

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, also known as theory of law or philosophy of law, is the examination in a general perspective of what law is and what it ought to be. It investigates issues such as the definition of law; legal validity; legal norms and values ...

. His work on logic was reputed throughout the Islamic world. Some of his major writings are: * ''Sarh al-Isaguji'' or ''Al-Feva'id al-Fenariyye'': Commentary on Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī's famous ''Isāghūjī fi al-Manṭiq''. * ''Miṣbāḥ al-Uns'': Commentary on

Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi Ṣadr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Isḥāq ibn Muḥammad ibn Yūnus Qūnawī lternatively, Qūnavī, Qūnyawī (; 1207–1274), was a PersianF. E. Peters, "The Monotheists", Published by Princeton University Press, 2005. pg 330: "Al-Qunawi was a ...

's ''Miftāḥ al-Ghayb''. * ''Fuṣūl al-Badāʼiʻ fī uṣūl al-Sharāʼi'': A work in Uṣūl al-fiqh (

Principles of Islamic jurisprudence Principles of Islamic jurisprudence () are traditional methodological principles used in Islamic jurisprudence (''fiqh'') for deriving the rulings of Islamic law (''sharia''). Traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how the scri ...

). *''Risāle der Tasavvuf'': A short treatise on sufism in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

''Unmudhaj al-Ulum'', which in some sources has been attributed to Muhammad ibn Hamzah al-Fanari, was in fact authored by his son Muhammad Shah al-Fanari.

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:al-Fanari, Mulla Shams ad-Din Hanafis Maturidis 14th-century Muslim theologians Quranic exegesis scholars 15th-century writers from the Ottoman Empire Jurists from the Ottoman Empire People from Bursa Sunni Sufis Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Sunni fiqh scholars Sheikh-ul-Islams of the Ottoman Empire Turkish Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Turkish logicians 1350 births 1431 deaths 15th-century Muslim theologians Islamic scholars from the Ottoman Empire Shaykh al-Islāms Akbarian Sufis

Biography

Works

See also

Sources