Problematizing Islam: The Materialismusstreit in the late Ottoman context between Celal Nuri and Ahmed Hilmis (Filibeli)

Imeri, Enur (2020). Problematizing Islam: The Materialismusstreit in the late Ottoman context between Celal Nuri and Ahmed Hilmis (Filibeli). Asiatische Studien / Etudes asiatiques AS/EA, 74(1), pp. 1-34. de Gruyter 10.1515/asia-2020-0035

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The so-called Materialismusstreit evolved in the second half of the 19th century as a new genre of popular literature and was carried out as a public debate mainly by German popularisers. In the Ottoman context, however, the reception of the Materialismusstreit demonstrates how a universalised perception of the West had already become the main frame of reference among secularly educated Ottoman intelligentsia in the course of late Ottoman modernity. This fact not only constitutively shaped their modern discourse on Islam. Moreover, it brought about at the same time fundamental semantic shifts in concepts holding a prominent role within the Islamicate epistemological tradition. Consequently, the entanglement between this abovementioned frame of reference and concepts inherited from a traditional knowledge order resulted in a conceptual rupture with the traditional epistemologies.
In an attempt to exemplify the argument, this paper builds on a less-known dispute on materialism between Celal Nuri and Ahmed Hilmi (Filibeli), and shows the transformation in their usage of epistemic concepts such as ʿilm, fenn, and dīn, as well as their reception of the Orientalist Islam discourse. Prior to the analysis of two core primary sources, the first part of this paper elaborates on the theoretical and methodological modalities of making fruitful the intellectual output of late Ottoman modernity for a globally entangled intellectual history.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	06 Faculty of Humanities > Department of Art and Cultural Studies > Institut für Studien zum Nahen Osten und zu muslimischen Gesellschaften
Graduate School:	Graduate School of the Arts and Humanities (GSAH)
UniBE Contributor:	Imeri, Enur
Subjects:	100 Philosophy > 180 Ancient, medieval & eastern philosophy 100 Philosophy > 190 Modern western philosophy 200 Religion > 290 Other religions 400 Language > 490 Other languages 900 History > 990 History of other areas
ISSN:	0004-4717
Publisher:	de Gruyter
Language:	English
Submitter:	Enur Imeri
Date Deposited:	17 Feb 2021 07:41
Last Modified:	05 Dec 2022 15:46
Publisher DOI:	10.1515/asia-2020-0035
URI:	https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/152044