Exploring Sufi Majālis as a tradition of writing tafsīr in the seventeenth century Ottoman caliphate

• Main Authors: Gōkbulut, Zehra, Shehu, Fatmir Mehdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IIUM Press 2022
• Subjects: BP1 Islam; BP170.85 Da'wah. Mission of Islam. Summons, invitation, etc.; BP188 Islamic religious life; BV1460 Religious Education
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/100055/1/100055_Exploring%20Sufi%20Maj%C4%81lis%20as%20a%20tradition.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/100055/; https://journals.iium.edu.my/al-risalah/index.php/al-risalah/article/view/386/265

This research paper seeks to examine selected writings of the seventeenth century Ottoman Caliphate on Sufi Majālis as a traditional way of writing Tafsīr, where conversations were held in the form of explanations of verses during the sermons. The aim of this study is to explore the Sufi Majālis style of Tafsīr as a method of guiding the people and explaining the Qur’anic verses to them during the seventeenth century Ottoman Era. This work is very significant as it deals with the analysis of selected examples of Majālis writings produced by Sufis intellectuals, who preached in Masājid during the seventeenth century. Brief bibliography of three selected Sufi scholars is provided, description of their writings is presented, and analysis of selected Majālis cases from their works are discussed. Descriptive and analytical methods are used in the entire paper. The findings of this study provide new insights about Sufi Majālis style of Tafsīr according to the original writings of three selected Muslim scholars, ʿAzīz Maḥmūd Hūdāī, Niyazī Mıṣrī and Ummī Sinānzāde Ced Hasan Efendi, during the seventeenth century Ottoman Caliphate.