MYSTICAL PHILOSOPHY AS THE SOURCE OF OTTOMAN TOLERANCE THE CASE OF ISMAIL HAKKI BURSEVÎ’S DOCTRINE OF BEING

İDRİS D ANIŞMA Z

ABSTRACT

Many of us may have heard something about the religious tolerance of the Ottomans and how they
could have harmonized different religions such as Christianity, Judaism and so on. But only very
few people know the details that are expressed in answering these two questions: what was their
philosophy of tolerance? And how was this philosophy influenced from Tasawwuf? Our study which
is composed of two parts attempts firstly to answer these questions. In the first part, we are going to
investigate into the mystic thought of İsmail Hakkı Bursevi (d.1725) in his Risâle-i Hazarât-ı Hams-i
Ulûhiye (the Treatise of Five Divine Presences) (RHH) as a sample of the philosophy of the Ottomans.
The second part will include accounts of Bursevî’s thought in his masterpiece work Tafsîr Rûh al-
Bayân (Commentary on soul of the Qur’ân) (RB). This part will also provide some accounts of how the
mystical thought was applied to the Qur’anic verses to offer ideas that can be read as tolerance. The first
part deals with tasawwuf especially Ibn Arabi’s (d. 1240) wahdat al-wujûd (the Theory of Oneness of
Being), which can be defined simply as a theory that unifies the diversity of things in God’s existence
by using the motto “There is no true existence except the Ultimate Truth (God)”, occupies an important
position in Ottomans thought. The theory has been widely accepted and constantly interpreted by a
school called Akbariyya (Ibn Arabi School) throughout the Ottomans era to contemporary Turkey.
Bursevî’ mystical thought that is scattered throughout his RHH and his commentary (RB) is influenced
from the philosophy of being of Ibn Arabi School. However he develops a new approach that we call
“mystical tolerance”. Mystical tolerance can be summarized in points below: The existence is same
in its essence, although there is diversity in its shape and manifestation. Moreover, this diversity is
relative. However, we evaluate most things from this relative aspect of the existence. It is the main
reason that leads us to ignore the real aspect of things and to not tolerate the negative aspects of things
that are relative. However, we are supposed to see the existence as it is in a way that is expressed in
verses from the chapter of the Cave. Mystical tolerance is a kind of philosophic way starting from the
mystic’s own spiritual experience via epistemological premises to ethical practices. The main steps of
mystical tolerance are: There is one reality in the existence which is the Reality (Haqq). But, there are
countless manifestations of this Reality. Our valuation on these countless manifestations is relative too.
So, what we valuate as “good” could be “bad” or vice versa. Therefore, tolerate things or behaviors that
are supposed bad. Mystical tolerance has two objects: Existence and Behaviors. Mystical tolerance is
different from the “pragmatic tolerance” of those people who treat tolerance as a social need to be able
to live together peacefully. The mystic tolerates things due to his mystical experiences. Lastly, within a
society in which people respect this idea, it would not be so difficult to tolerate a difference of beliefs,
language, or races which are relative from one man to another, and see the human as a pure existence.