Kâtip Çelebi#Names of books

He was born Muṣṭafa ibn 'Abd Allāh ({{lang|ar|مصطفى بن عبد الله}}) in Istanbul in February 1609 (Dhu’l-Qa‘da 1017 AH). His father was a sipahi{{sfn|Mitchell|1831|p=v}} (cavalrist) and silāhdār (sword bearer) of the Sublime Porte and secretary in the Anadolı muhasebesi (Anatolian finance accountancy) in Istanbul. His mother came from a wealthy Istanbul family.{{sfn|Piterberg|2003|p=46}} From age five or six he began learning the Qur’ān, Arabic grammar and calligraphy, and at the age of 14 his father found him a clerical position in the imperial financial bureaucracy.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=7}}{{sfn|Shefer-Mossensohn|2015|p=65}} He excelled in penmanship, accountancy and siyāqat ("Treasury cipher").{{refn|group=n|Siyāqat was a particular crabbed script used by financial administration of Ottoman Empire.}}{{sfn|Lewis|1957|pages=135, 152.}} As the accountant of the commissariat department of the Ottoman army in Anatolia, he fought alongside his father on the Terjan campaign (1624){{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=135}}{{sfn|Piterberg|2003|p=47}} and in the failed expedition to recapture Baghdād from Persian control in 1625. On the return home his father died at Mosul, and his uncle died a month later. In 1626–1627 he was at the siege of Erzurum.

Çelebi had a love of learning from his father, and on his return to Istanbul in 1628 he attended the sermons of the charismatic preacher Qādīzāde, who inspired him to resume his studies. An inheritance allowed him to settle permanently in Istanbul.{{Cite web |date=2025-01-28 |title=Kâtip Çelebi {{!}} Ottoman Empire, Islamic scholar, Enlightenment {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katip-Celebi |access-date=2025-03-25 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}} He continued for 34 years, interrupted only for military service on campaigns to Baghdād (1629) and Hamadan (1630). In 1633 he left his corps' winter quarters in Aleppo to make the Hajj, earning the title Hajji. He rejoined the imperial army at Diyarbakr, where he associated with scholars.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=137}} He took part in the recapture of Erivan by Sultan Murad IV, and expeditions to Tabriz{{sfn|Mitchell|1831|p=vi}} and Baghdād (1629-1631).

On his return in 1635 to Istanbul, Mehmed Kalfa, an old associate of his father's, secured him an apprentice position as Khalifa (second clerk), in the Audit Office of the Cavalry.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=7}} He later obtained a post in the head office of the Commissariat Department. In 1645 a legacy left to him by a wealthy relative enabled him to dedicate himself full-time to scholarship and acquire books. {{sfn|Piterberg|2003|p=47}}{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=138}} With his master and friend A'rej Mustafa Efendi, he studied the commentary of al-Baydawi, The Roots of Law, commentaries on Ashkāl al-ta’sīs (Ideal Forms),{{refn|group=n|Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Ashraf al-Samarqandī's geometry on the 35 propositions of Euclid.}} al-Mulakhkhas (Summary) of Chaghmīnī,{{refn|group=n|Mulakhkhas by Mahmūd ibn Muḥammad al-Chaghmīnī of Khwarazm was a work on astronomy.}} ‘arūd (prosody) of Andalusī, and Ulugh Beg’s Zīj (Almanac). {{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=141}} He also attended the ders-i 'amm (lecturers), Kurd 'Abd Allāh Efendi at Ayia Sophia and Kechi Mehmed Efendi at the Suleymānīye. In 1642, in order to carry on the chain of oral teaching, he attended Veli Efendi's lectures on the Nukhba, the Alfiya,{{refn|group=n|Nukhbat al-fikr mustalah ahl al-ithr by al-Hāfiz Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad ibn ‘Alī al-‘Asqalānī (d.852/1448); Alfīyat al-‘Irāqī fī usūl al-hadith by al-Hāfiz Zayn al-Dīn ‘Abd al-Rahīm ibn al Ḥusayn (d. 806/1403).}} and The Principles of Tradition. He also studied the Tawdīh, Isfahānī, Qādī-Mīr, al-Maqāsid (Object of Search){{refn|group=n|It is unclear if Celebi refers to a manual of astrology by Mīrim Chelebi Mahmūd ibn Muḥammad (d.1525) author, as several books share the title al-Maqāsid.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=155, n.22}}}}, the [https://archive.org/details/risalahfiadabalb00unse Ādāb al-bahth (Rules of Disputation)], Fanārī, the Tahdhīb and the Shamsiya.

He taught medicine, geography, geometry, the Sí fasl ('Thirty Sections') and the Bīst bāb ('Twenty Chapters') on the astrolabe, Elements of Accidence, al-Fanārī, the Shamsīya on logic, Jāmī, Mukhtasar, Farā’id, Multaqā, Durar, and Ali Qushji's treatises titled al-Muhammadiya on arithmetic and al-Fathīya on astronomy. {{refn|group=n|He began a commentary on al-Muhammadiya which he never completed due to the deaths of his son and his pupil.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|pages=142,143}}}} He wrote that his teaching method was “to enter every plurality by way of unity, and to master first principles by comprehending universals.”{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=140}} The astronomer Mevlana Mehmed ibn Ahmed Rumi al-Aqhisar was among those who attended his lectures.{{Citation needed|date=July 2024}}

His research ranged across lexicology, fiqh (jurisprudence), logic, rhetoric, tafsīr (Qur’ānic exegesis) and hadīth (Prophetic tradition), mathematics, medicine, mysteries of religion, astronomy, genealogy, history and chronicling.

Among his academic circle, he acquired the sobriquet “Kâtip Çelebi” (Learned Scribe). "Khatib" refers to a government clerk and "Chelebi" was used either for Ottoman princes or for scholars not part of the official hierarchy.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=8}} His theology is described as Islamic orthodoxy combined with adherence to Ishrāqī (Illuminationist philosophy).{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=9}} The politician Köprülü Mehmed Paşa was a friend. It seems his tireless dedication to an arduous study regime, may have contributed to ill health and premature death in 1657 from a heart-attack, aged just 49. On his death, Kâtip Çelebi left unfinished works. His only son died young and, in 1659, after his widow was deceased, his library was partly acquired by Levinus Warner for Leiden University (Legatum Warnerianum).

Çelebi’s taste for book acquisition had begun in Aleppo, and he would later expend a substantial part of his inheritance building his famous library, which came to be the largest in Istanbul in its day.

File:Houghton_Typ_794.34.475_-_Kâtip_Çelebi,_Kitab-ı_cihannüma.jpg, Kitab-ı cihannüma [Istanbul, 1732] Typ 794.34.475 Houghton Library]]

File:Map_of_Japan_appears_in_the_Cihannuma.jpg, Kitab-ı cihannüma [Istanbul, 1732] Cambridge University Library]]

Kâtip Çelebi was most productive in the decade up to his death in 1657.{{sfn|Piterberg|2003|p=47}} He authored at least 23 books, in addition to shorter essays and treatises:{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=7}}

• Fadhlakat al-Tawārīkh ('Compendium History') (1639); summary account of 150 dynasties.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=139}} Fadhlakat; i) Arabic edition from Creation to c. 1639. Fezliké; ii) Turkish edition from 1000 AH to c. 1655. Index of 1,300 sources from original manuscript is lost.
• Taqwīm at-Tawārikh ({{lang|ar|تقويم التواريخ}}), ('Calendar of Histories' or ‘Chronological Tables’) (1648); Universal history from Creation of Adam until the year 1648. Written as an index to Fadhlaka partly in Turkish and partly in Persian. {{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=142}} In 1697 Gio. Rinaldo Carli’s Italian translation was published titled Cronologia Historica.
• Cihânnümâ, (var., Djihān-numā, Jihannuma ) ({{Lang|ar|جهان نما}}) (‘View of the World’); Two-part geographic dictionary begun in 1648: part I - seas, their configuration and islands; part II - countries, rivers, mountains, roads and lands newly discovered since the 15th century (i.e. America).{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=11}} Çelebi based the work on Lawāmi’ al-Nūr (‘Flashes of Light’) a translation by Mehmed Ikhlāsī’{{refn|group=n|Mehmed Efendi Ikhlāsī’ was a French priest convert to Islām, who introduced Çelebi to Western sources and assisted him with Latin translation for his book. {{sfn|Mitchell|1831|p=vi}}}} from the Latin work Atlas Minor by Gerardus Mercator (in the version published by Jodocus Hondius in Arnhem in 1621) ;{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=144}} the first use of European atlases and sources in Ottoman literature.
• Kashf aẓ-Ẓunūn ‘an 'asāmī ‘l-Kutub wa'l-funūn{{Anchor|Names of books}} ({{lang|ar|كشف الظنون عن أسامي الكتب والفنون}}) (‘Opinion’s Scrutiny of the Names of Books and the Sciences’). Begun in Aleppo in 1042 AH/1632 AD and completed in about 1062 AH/1652 AD, it is a vast bibliographic-biographical dictionary in Arabic, and a research-tool for scholars.{{sfn|Lewis|1957|p=11}} Its list, approx. 15,000 Arabic, Persian and Turkish titles, 9500 authors and 300 arts and sciences, comprises among the most extensive bibliographical dictionaries of Islamic literature.{{sfn|Chalabi|loc=Sullam al-Wuṣūl|2010|p=5}} It was published as Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopaedicum in Latin in 7 vols.{{sfn|Katib Jelebi|1835|p=}}
• Düstûr ül-Amel fî Islâh il-Halel / Dustūr al-amal li islāh al-khalal ({{lang|ar|دستور العمل}}) ('Code of Practice for the Rectification of Defects', or 'Instructions for the Reform of Abuses') (1653); This essay on the conduct of the State was published within a couple of years of Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan, and contains some interesting parallels.[https://www.britannica.com/topic/Dustur-al-amal-li-islah-al-khalal Dustūr al-amal li islāh al-khalal]
• Qānūnnāme-i tashrīfāt (‘Code of Ceremonies') (1653)
• Rajm al-rajīm bi’l-sīn wa’l-jīm (‘The Stoning of the Accursed with Sīn and Jīm’); a collection of fatwas (legal rulings).
• Mīzān al-ḥaqq fī iḫtiyār al-aḥaqq ({{langx|ar|ميزان الحق في التصوف}}) (1656); ('Scales of Truth in the Choice of the Righteous One', or 'True Scales for the Detection of Truth'); “The Balance of Truth”; English translation and notes by Geoffrey L. Lewis (1957).
• Tarih-i Frengi - Translation of the Chronique de Jean Carrion (Paris, 1548){{citation needed|date=March 2019}}
• Rawnaq al-Sultāna – ('Splendour of the Sultanate'); translation of the Historia rerum in Oriente gestarum (Frankfurt, 1587). A history of Constantinople.
• Tuḥfat al-kibār fī asfār al-Bihār ({{lang|ar|تحفة الكبار في أسفار البحار}}) ('A Gift to the Great concerning Naval Expeditions') (1656) –The History of the Maritime Wars of the Turks{{sfn|Mitchell|1831|p=}} (1831) English translation by James Mitchell.[http://muslimheritage.com/article/jewel-ottoman-naval-history-book-k%c3%a2tib-%c3%a7elebi-naval-campaigns “A Jewel of Ottoman Naval History: The Book of Kâtip Çelebi on Naval Campaigns"] in the MuslimHeritage.com[http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=658 "Ottoman Maritime Arsenals And Shipbuilding Technology In The 16th And 17th Centuries"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131014092439/http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=658 |date=2013-10-14 }} in the MuslimHeritage.com
• Sullam al-Wuṣūl ilā Ṭabaqāt al-Fuḥūl ({{lang|ar|سلم الوصول إلى طبقات الفحول}}) ('Ladder Leading to the Strata of the Eminent') (1651/2) Biographical dictionary of 8561 scholars, ancient and modern, to the letter Ṯāʾ, counterpart to Kashf al-Ẓunūn.{{sfn|Chalabi|loc=Ihsanoğlu|2010|p=vii}} Critical edition 2009. {{refn|group=n|2009 was the 400th anniversary of the author’s birth and in celebration UNESCO named 2009 Kātip Çelebi Year, and the I.R.C.I.C.A. (Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture) recognised his significance to the culture heritage of the Ottoman era with the first publication of his great biographical dictionary Sullam Al-Wuṣūl from the Arabic original manuscript.}}
• Tuḥfat al-Akhyār fī’l-Hukam wa-l’Amthāl wa-l’Asha’ār ({{lang|ar|تحفة الأخيار في الحكم والأمثال والأشعار}}) (‘The Precious Gift of the Elect, on Maxims, Proverbs, and Poems’) (1653); completed to the letter Jīm.
• Rumeli und Bosna, geographical treatise (tr. German){{sfn|Hadschi Chalfa|1812|p=}}

The İzmir Kâtip Çelebi University in İzmir is named after him,{{cite web|url=http://ikc.edu.tr/|access-date=21 August 2015|title= İzmir Kâtip Çelebi Üniversitesi}} and The Newton-Katip Çelebi Fund operates an exchange program for science and innovation between Turkey and the UK.{{cite web|url=http://www.britishcouncil.org.tr/en/programmes/education/newton-katip-celebi-fund|access-date=21 August 2015|title=Newton-Katip Çelebi Fund - British Council}}

• Evliya Çelebi
• Surat Al-Ard

{{Reflist|group=n}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{cite book|last=Herbelot de Molainville|author-link=Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville|first=Barthélemy d'|title=Bibliothèque Orientale; from Ḣājī Khalfah, Kashf al-zunūn)|language=French|url=https://archive.org/details/bibliothqueorie00khalgoog|year=1777|publisher=La Haye, J. Neaulme & N. van Daalen|volume=3}}
• {{cite book|last1=Bernath|first1=Mathias |last2=von Schroeder |first2=Felix |title=Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I_sb13u8AyoC&pg=PA270|year=1979|publisher=Oldenbourg Verlag|isbn=978-3-486-48991-0|page=270|quote=Mustafa bin 'Abdullah (= Mustafa Sohn des Abdullah, gewöhnlich Katib oder Haci Halife genannt)}}
• {{cite book|last=Chalabi|first=Katib|editor-last=Ihsanoğlu|editor-first=Ekmeleddin|title=Sullam al-Wuṣūl (with introduction in English)|year=2010|language=Arabic|url=https://archive.org/stream/WAQ119250/01_119250e#page/n5/mode/2up}}
• {{cite encyclopedia| encyclopedia=Historians of the Ottoman Empire|editor=Don Babai |title= Reflections on the past, visions for the future| publisher=Harvard University, Center for Middle Eastern Studies|year= 2004| isbn=978-0-9762727-0-0 |pages=97–99}}
• Encyclopædia of Islam (Leiden, 1954) vol. 4, s.v. [https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-1/hadjdji-khalifa-SIM_2589?s.num=34&s.start=20 Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī K̲h̲alīfai].
• {{cite book|last=Hadschi Chalfa|first=Mustafa Ben Abdalla |title=Rumeli und Bosna, geographische |language=German|translator-last=von Hammer |translator-first=Joseph|place=Wien|year=1812|url=https://archive.org/details/rumeliundbosnag00purgoog}}
• {{cite book|last=Hagen|first= Gottfried|title=Ein osmanischer Geograph bei der Arbeit: Entstehung und Gedankenwelt von Katib Celebis Ğihannüma|publisher=Klaus-Schwarz-Verlag|place=Berlin|year=2003|isbn=3-87997-303-2}}
• {{cite journal|last=Hagen|first= Gottfried |title=Kātib Çelebī. In: Cemal Kafadar, Hakan Karateke|editor=Cornell Fleischer |journal=Historians of the Ottoman Empire|date=March 2007}}
• {{cite book|last=Halife'|first=Hazi|translator-last=Carli|translator-first=Gio. Rinaldo|title=Cronologia Historica|year=1697|language=Italian|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_Owyd0NKBP6wC}}
• {{cite book|last=Katib Jelebi|first=Mustafa Ben Abdallah|editor=Gustav Flügel|editor-link=Gustav Leberecht Flügel|translator=Gustav Flügel|title=Lexicon Bibliographicum et Encyclopaedicum (Kashf az-Zunun)|language=Arabic, Latin|publisher=The Oriental Translation Fund of Gt. Brit. & Ireland|url=https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr03elgoog/page/n5|volume=1|place=Leipzig|year= 1835}}, [https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr08elgoog/page/n6 (Vol.,2; Leipzig, 1837)], [https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr04elgoog/page/n5 (Vol.,3; London, 1842)], [https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr05elgoog/page/n6 (Vol.,4; London, 1845)], [https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr01elgoog/page/n6 (Vol.,5; London, 1850)], [https://archive.org/details/lexiconbibliogr00elgoog/page/n5 (Vol.,6; London, 1852)].
• {{cite book|last=Klaus Kreiser|title=Der osmanische Staat 1300-1922|place=Oldenbourg|year= 2008| isbn=978-3-486-58588-9| page=101f|language=German}}
• {{cite book|last=Kreiser/Neumann|title=Kleine Geschichte der Türkei|year=2003|isbn=3-15-010540-4|pages=190, 208, 235f, 239f|publisher=Reclam |language=German}}
• {{cite book|last=Kreutel|first=Liex Richard Franz| title= Mustafa bin 'Abdullah, in: Biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte Südosteuropas. |volume=3 |place=München|year=1979| page=270 f |language=German}}
• {{cite book|last=Lewis|first=G.L.|title=The Balance of Truth (translated from Mīzān al-ḥaqq of Katib Chelebi with an introduction and notes) |year=1957|location=London|url=https://archive.org/details/MN40230ucmf_5 }}
• {{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=James|title=The History of the Maritime Wars of the Turks (translated from "Tuḥfat al-kibār" of Haji Khalifeh)|language=English|place=London|publisher=Oriental Translation Fund|year=1831|url=https://archive.org/details/historymaritime00elgoog }}
• {{cite book|last1=Piterberg|first1=Gabriel|title=An Ottoman Tragedy: History and Historiography at Play|date=2003|publisher=University of California Press|place=California|isbn=978-0520930056|pages=46–47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bbTPTqs9n5EC&q=K%C3%A2tip+%C3%87elebi+born&pg=PA46}}
• {{cite book |last1=Shefer-Mossensohn |first1=Miri |title=Science Among the Ottomans: The Cultural Creation and Exchange of Knowledge |date=2015 |publisher=University of Texas Press |location=Texas |isbn=978-1477303597 |pages=64–66 |author-link=Miri Shefer-Mossensohn |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jRBmCgAAQBAJ&q=K%C3%A2tip+%C3%87elebi+1609+baghdad}}
• {{cite book|last= Taeschner|first= Franz |title=Die osmanische Literatur in Handbuch der Orientalistik: Turkologie|publisher=Brill publishers|year=1982 |isbn=90-04-06555-5|page=316f |language=German}}
• {{cite journal|last= Zemmin|first= Florian |title=Islamische Verantwortungsethik im 17. Jahrhundert. Ein weberianisches Verständnis der Handlungsvorstellungen Kātib Čelebis (1609-1657)|journal=Bonner Islamstudien|issue=26| publisher=ebv-Verlag|place=Berlin|year=2011 |isbn=978-3-86893-065-8|language=German}}

; Attribution

• {{EB1911|wstitle=Hājjī Khalīfa|author=Griffithes Wheeler Thatcher}}

• {{Gutenberg author|id=47551}}
• {{Cite NIE|wstitle=Hajji Khalfah, Mustafa ibn Abdallah Katib Tchelebi|year=1905 |short=x}}
• [https://www.britannica.com/biography/Katip-Celebi "Kâtip Çelebi"] at the Encyclopædia Britannica

{{Ottoman historians |state=all}}

{{Authority control}}

{{Hanafi scholars}}

{{Maturidi}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Celebi, Katip}}

Category:1609 births

Category:1657 deaths

Category:17th-century biographers

Category:17th-century historians from the Ottoman Empire

Category:Arabic-language writers from the Ottoman Empire

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Category:Hanafis

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Category:Encyclopedists from the Ottoman Empire

Category:17th-century Muslim scholars of Islam

Category:Ottoman people of the Ottoman–Persian Wars

Category:Writers from Istanbul

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Category:Turks from the Ottoman Empire