Abdullah Necîb el-Ayıntâbî’nin er-Risâletü’l-Vaz‘iyye Adlı Eserinin Tahkikli Neşri

A Critical Edition of “al-Risālah al-Wađ‘iyya” by ‘Abdullāh Najīb al-Ayintabī (d. 1219/1804)

Özet

İslâm düşünce geleneğinde lafız-anlam ilişkisi meselesi dil bilimleri, mantık, kelâm ve fıkıh usûlü gibi ilimlerde çeşitli açılardan incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda vaz‘ olgusu, ilk dönemlerden itibaren bir mesele olarak inceleme konusu olmuş, Adudüddîn el-Îcî’nin (ö. 756/1355) er-Risâletü’l-vaz‘iyye’si ile birlikte muhtelif ilimlerde dağınık şekilde yer alan bu bilgiler, belirli bir konu ve amaç etrafında toplanmış, müstakil bir yazım geleneği başlatılmıştır. Dar bir kapsam ve muhteva ile telif edilen er-Risâletü’l-vaz‘iyye’den sonra bu alanda yazılan çok sayıdaki şerh-hâşiye ve müstakil eserler vaz‘ meselelerinin gelişimine katkıda bulunmuş ve böylece vaz‘ müstakil bir ilim dalı hüviyetini kazanmıştır. Vaz‘ ilmine dair eser yazan âlimlerden Abdullah Necîb Efendi önce vaz‘ ilmi ile alakalı kısa bir vaz‘ risâlesi telif etmiş, daha sonra da risâlesindeki konuların daha anlaşılır olması için risâlesini şerh etmiştir. Bu çalışmada amacımız, risâlenin tahkîkli neşrini gerçekleştirmenin yanı sıra ihtiva ettiği vaz‘ ilmi meselelerini değerlendirmektir. Abdullah Necîb Efendi bu risâlesinde kendisinden önceki dönemlerde yazılmış vaz‘ ilmi literatüründen istifade edip bu alandaki tartışmaları mukayeseli bir değerlendirmeye tabi tutarak kendisine göre en doğru görüşleri tercih ettikten sonra doğruluk payı içermeyen görüşleri de çeşitli açılardan deliller sunmak suretiyle eleştirir. Vaz‘ ilmindeki ihtilaflı meselelerin odak noktası olarak belirlendiği bu risâleden yola çıkarak Abdullah Necîb Efendi’nin görüş ve eleştirilerini değerlendireceğiz.

Abstract

This paper presents a critical edition of al-Risālah al-Wađ‘iyya by ‘Abdullāh Najīb al-Ayintabī who was an Ottoman scholar from the 19th century. The first section provides general information about the author and his scholarly endeavors. ‘Abdullāh Najīb al-Ayintabī published a variety of analyses in several fields such as grammar, Islamic law, Islamic theology, Islamic mysticism, shamā’il, logic and wađ‘. His works consisted mostly of commentaries in consideration of the fact that the tradition of commentaries and super-commentaries on the standard of texts were used extensively during this period. He wrote on shamā’il in addition to a commentary on al-Qāđī ‘Iyāđ’s al-Shifā’ entitled Kanz al-Wafā’ fī Sharĥ al-Shifā’, and on Abū ‘Īsā al-Tirmidhī’s Shamā’il; on taśawwuf a commentary on Ibn ‘Arabī’s al-Dawr al-A‘lā; on Persian grammar a commentary on Muśŧafā b. Abū Bakr al-Sivāsī’s al-Mafātiĥ al-Dariyya; on logic a commentary on Abū Sa‘īd al-Hādimī’s al-‘Arā’is; on the science of the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence (uśūl al-fiqh) a commentary on Abū Sa‘īd al-Hādimī’s Majāmi‘ al-Haqā’iq; on Islamic theology two short treatises entitled Risāla fī Ism Allāh and Sharĥ Kalimāt al-Tawĥīd. Taking his listed publications into consideration he may be regarded as a leading scholar in the field of ‘ilm al-wađ‘ in his time. He also wrote a commentary (sharĥ) on his al-Risālah al-Wađ‘iyya by referring to works of both past and present. Among other Islamic disciplines, special emphasis was placed on linguistic studies as a way of reflecting their efforts to understand the Qur’ān. The linguistic sciences in the Ottoman period were dominated by studies on morphology, syntax, dictionary, rhetoric, poetry, prosody, and wađ‘ as part of the broader framework of Arabic language and literature. Scholars from other parts of the Islamic world had therefore followed the Ottomans in this particular scholarly endeavor. The term wađ‘ is a verbal noun or an infinitive whose generic meaning is “to put down”, “to place”, “to posit”, and so forth. In its more technical usage the term wađ‘ refers to the positing of vocables as designations for particular meanings. ‘Ilm al-wađ‘ is one of the Arabic-Islamic grammatical sciences that discusses the relationship between vocables (lafẓ/mawđū‘) and meaning (ma‘nā/mawđū‘ lah). There are three components of language: vocables, meanings and a positor (wāđi‘). According to this theory, meanings are ideas in the mind, humans produce vocables, and then a decision maker selects a vocable for specific meanings. The wađ‘ consists of the word-meaning relation debate. It comes out of a linguistic problem in relation to the characteristics of a meaning denoted by words. It essentially aims to fix the relationship between two sets: vocables and meanings. The issues and problems related to the science of wađ‘ were discussed dispersedly in various sciences including, for example, in linguistic sciences (morphology, syntax, rhetoric), logic, Islamic theology (‘ilm al-kalām), and the science of the methodology of Islamic jurisprudence (uśūl al-fıqh). Nevertheless, these issues and problems were not evaluated within the framework of ‘ilm al-wađ‘, instead they were generally viewed from a much more limited perspective. The groundbreaking work in ‘ilm al-wađ‘ was a short treatise entitled al-Risālah al-Wađ‘iyya by ‘Ađud al-Dīn al-Ījī. The main motivation of al-Ījī to write this treatise was the problem on the characteristics of meaning, denoted by pronouns and particles. In this treatise, al-Ījī determined wađ‘ at the center of his analysis and further introduced a new kind of development in the wađ‘ debate by harmonizing the tools of the then existing scientific legacies. Al-Ījī became the dividing line between the earlier generations of linguists (mutaqaddimūn) and the later generations (muta’akhkhirūn) on the problem of the positing of shakhsī vocables. Earlier scholars claimed that, in terms of meaning, wađ‘ has two types: al-wađ‘ al-‘āmm/mawđū‘ lah ‘āmm (the general positing of a vocable for a general meaning) and al-wađ‘ al-khāśś/mawđū‘ lah al-khāśś (the specific positing of a vocable for a specific meaning). Earlier scholars assumed pronouns and particles to be universal, although al-Ījī and later scholars re-framed them as particular. Al-Ījī criticized previous scholars and argued that there were certain types of shakśī vocables such as pronouns and particles that could not be grouped under any of the two types. These problematic groups of vocables are comprised of four categories: personal pronouns (đamīr), demonstrative pronouns (ism al-ishāra), relative pronouns (ism al-mawśūl) and particles (ĥarf). Al-Ījī solved the problem of categorization by adding a new type into a two-fold categorization: al-wađ‘ al-‘amm/mawđū‘ lah al-khāśś (the general positing of a vocable for a specific meaning). Although a general entity in the mind-set is posited on an unspecified thing in the outside world, in practice it always refers to a specific entity. He introduced a new concept to resolve this issue: ālat al-wađ‘ (tool of positing). According to this tool of positing, one could use a general term in order to refer to a particular person, that is, a general positing to a specific meaning. Al-Ījī was therefore first to introduce the category of general positing to a specific meaning. His new contribution emerged as an area of scholarly discussion and studies on the science of wađ‘ have stirred many a debate thereafter. Following his publication, numerous commentaries and super-commentaries on his treatise and some independent works were written. The discussions between al-Taftazānī and Sayyid Sharīf al-Jurjānī contributed to the advancement of the subject. The various schools of wađ‘ and their followers have enriched the dynamism within the science of wađ‘ and their works have likewise made considerable contributions to the debate. Al-Ayintabī discusses in his short treatise and commentary on al-Ris

Anahtar kelimeler: Abdullah Necîb el-Ayıntâbî, er-Risâletü’l-Vaz‘iyye, Vaz‘ İlmi