Notes on the Autobiographical Treatise(s) Attributed to Kādızāde Mehmed

Abstract

Autobiographical texts have a privileged position when it comes to pre-modern Ottoman self-narratives. The first condition for the identification of the relevant texts -whether they are complete, partial, or fragmentary- is simple: qualified studies examining these pre-modern works, most of which are still in manuscript form; such studies of author, content, and manuscript culture should become widespread. The subject of this article is an autobiography attributed to Kādizāde Meh­med Efendi (d. 1045/1635), one of the most influential preachers in seventeenth-century Istanbul. The first of the article’s two aims is to question the nature of the autobiography previously attributed to Kādizāde under the title Risāle-i Mudāfa‘a and to demonstrate the possibility of speaking of two different autobiographies in the context of the newly discovered manuscript. In line with this aim, the Arabic texts and Turkish translations of the treatises called Risāle fī Hasbi al-hāl and Risāle fī Tafsīl al-hâl are included. The second aim is to analyze the author-protagonist’s self-centered narrative style. Kādizāde wrote these treatises -which also shed light on his relationships with his intellectual circle- in response to a rumor about him, and he provided valuable information about his birth, family, educational life, scholarly works, and more. Although this was the author’s general motivation, the first work emphasized al-Ghazzālī (d. 505/1111) and the second work emphasized ʿAbd al-Wahhāb Shaʿrānī (d. 973/1565), thus creating two autobiographies that differ in style and content.