Commentary and Gloss Literaturure on Nasîruddîn et-Tûsî's Tecrîdu'l-i'tikâd: An Approach From Turkey;'s Manuscript Libraries
It is well known that the main literary vehicle of intellectual output in the postclassical period had become the forms of writing such as commentaries, glosses and superglosses, which were considered to be derivatives of classical texts. Nasīruddīn al-Tūsī's (d. 672/1274) Tajrīd al-I'tiqad turned into a definitive classic in the fields of Islamic philosophy and kalam and continued to exert its influence to this day through the commentary and gloss literature it engendered. Although many studies exist on some important works belonging to the Tajrīd tradition, attempts at evaluating the literature as a whole are still very limited. In an attempt to contribute to this ongoing investigation, this article will first point out certain factors that were influential in the Tajrīd becoming a classic, after which it will shed some light on the nature of the literary tradition itself and its development based on the most prominent works of the tradition. Subsequently it will try to explain how this work, after having played an important role in the Ottoman education system for centuries, was completely removed from the madrasa curricula as early as the second half of the sixteenth century and, in time, cam to play only a secondary role in Ottoman scholarly circles. Finally, it will provide a comprehensive list of the Tajrīd literature, while also noting its extant copies in Turkish manuscript libraries.
SALİH GÜNAYDIN
