Fuat Sezgin

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Mehmet Fuat Sezgin (born October 24, 1924 in Bitlis , † June 30, 2018 in Istanbul ) was a Turkish orientalist . The author and editor of numerous scientific works, professor emeritus for the history of natural sciences at the University of Frankfurt am Main as well as the founder and first director of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences, is considered a pioneer in researching Islamic scientific culture in Arabic. With his history of Arabic literature , he has created an internationally respected standard work.

Sezgin's personal copy of Carl Brockelmann : History of Arabic Literature. Supplement 1 from 1937

life and work

Sezgin grew up in the small Anatolian town of Bitlis. From 1943 to 1951 he studied Islamic and Arabic studies at Istanbul University , among others with the German Islamic scholar Hellmut Ritter, who teaches there . Sezgin's Turkish-language doctoral thesis Buhari'nin kaynakları on the sources of al-Bukhari (810-870), the editor of a prestigious hadith collection of legally binding traditions of the Prophet Mohammed, showed that al-Bukhari had recourse to a chain of written sources dating back to go back to early Islam, i.e. to the 7th century.

When the military put on a coup in Turkey in 1960 , he lost his teaching license. In 1961, Sezgin came to Germany, where he initially taught as a guest lecturer at Frankfurt University. Here the history of the natural sciences in the Arab-Islamic cultural area became the focus of his academic work and the subject for which he completed his habilitation in 1965 . Furthermore, he dealt with the history of Arabic-Islamic literature up to about 430 H., i.e. about 1039 AD. In 1967 the first volume of his history of Arabic literature was published, which he dedicated to Willy Hartner . Further volumes appeared in quick succession. Until shortly before his death, Sezgin worked on the conclusion of volume 18. The series became a standard work on the history of science and has the citation abbreviation GAS.

In 1968, while looking through manuscripts in the library of the Imam Reza Shrine in the Iranian pilgrimage city of Mashhad , Sezgin discovered four of the seven books of the Arithmetica of Diophantos of Alexandria believed to be lost in Arabic translation. The librarians had attributed the works to the author Costa ben Luca latinus (Qustā b. Lūqā al-Ba'labakkī) from Baghdad .

In 1978 Sezgin became the first recipient of the King Faisal Foundation's Prize for Islamic Studies of Saudi Arabia . He made these and other awards the basis of a foundation by means of which he founded the Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences at the University of Frankfurt in 1982. The aim of the institute is to publicize the position of the Arab-Islamic cultural area in the history of science .

Globe with al-Ma'mun's world map with Africa that can be
navigated around , 2008, in front of the Istanbul Museum for the History of Science and Technology in Islam

In Istanbul, Sezgin established the Istanbul Museum for the History of Science and Technology in Islam (Turkish: Museum İstanbul İslam Bilim ve Teknoloji Tarihi Müzesi ). It is located in the Sultan's former stable building in Gülhane Park below Topkapı Palace and was opened in 2008. Its collection consists of around 800 replicas of instruments and devices developed by Muslim scientists from the 9th to the 16th centuries.

In 2001 Sezgin received the Great Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 2009 he was to be awarded the Hessian Culture Prize together with Salomon Korn for his services to the dialogue of religions . Sezgin refused the assumption that Korn “ justified Israel's war in Gaza ” and therefore did not wish to be awarded the Korn label.

On May 12, 2017, customs prevented the researcher from bringing books from the institute at the university to the museum in Istanbul. Hessian authorities assumed that the books had been procured with public money and that they were nationally valuable cultural assets. The manuscript for volume 18 of his “History of Arabic Literature”, which was to be devoted to philosophy, was removed from him in his presence, like everything else on his desk, and was never returned. From then on, Sezgin was no longer allowed to enter the institute. Investigations into breach of trust and violation of the Cultural Property Protection Act were later discontinued, but until mid-2018 it had not been legally clarified who the books belong to.

Fuat Sezgin was married to the orientalist Ursula Sezgin, with whom he lived in Kronberg im Taunus . Their daughter, Hilal Sezgin, is an author and journalist.

Fuat Sezgin died on June 30, 2018 at the age of 93 in Istanbul. He was buried next to the museum in Gülhane Park. President Erdoğan was among the mourners .

Awards and honors

Memberships

  • Academy of the Arabic Language (Cairo)
  • Academy of the Arabic Language (Damascus)
  • Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco (Rabat)
  • Iraqi Academy of the Arabic Language (Baghdad)

Publications

End cover of volume 1 of Sezgin's History of Arabic Literature , 1967
  • History of Arabic Literature, DNB 550381627 .
    • Volume 1: Quranic studies, hadît, history, fiqh, dogmatics, mysticism up to approx. 430 H. Brill, Leiden 1967, DNB 458290912 .
    • Vol. 2: Poetry up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1975, ISBN 90-04-04376-4 .
    • Vol. 3: Medicine, pharmacy, zoology, veterinary medicine up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1970, DNB 750142782 .
    • Vol. 4: Alchemy, chemistry, botany, agriculture up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1971, DNB 750142782 .
    • Vol. 5: Mathematics up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1974, OCLC 61843689 .
    • Vol. 6: Astronomy up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1978, ISBN 90-04-05878-8 .
    • Vol. 7: Astrology, meteorology and related things up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1979, ISBN 90-04-06159-2 .
    • Vol. 8: Lexicography up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1982, ISBN 90-04-06867-8 .
    • Vol. 9: Grammar up to approx. 430 H. Leiden 1984, ISBN 90-04-07261-6 .
    • Total indices for vol. 1/9. Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences, Frankfurt am Main 1995, DNB 956137776 .
    • Vol. 10: Mathematical geography and cartography in Islam and their survival in the West, historical presentation. Part 1. Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-8298-0056-8 .
    • Vol. 11: Mathematical geography and cartography in Islam and their survival in the West, historical presentation. Part 2. Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-8298-0057-6 .
    • Vol. 12: Mathematical geography and cartography in Islam and their survival in the West, map volume. Frankfurt am Main 2000, ISBN 3-8298-0058-4 .
    • Vol. 13: Mathematical geography and cartography in Islam and their survival in the West. Frankfurt am Main 2007, ISBN 978-3-8298-0086-0 .
    • Vol. 14: Anthropogeography. Part 1: Overall and country geography. Urban and regional geography. Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-8298-0087-7 .
    • Vol. 15: Anthropogeography. Part 2: Topography - Geographical Lexicons. Cosmography - Cosmology. Travel reports. Frankfurt am Main 2010, ISBN 978-3-8298-0088-4 .
    • Vol. 16: Schöngeistige literature. Part 1: poetics, rhetoric and literary theory, poetry books, anthologies, art prose. Frankfurt am Main, 2015, ISBN 978-3-8298-0105-8 .
    • Vol. 17: Literature of aesthetics. Part 2: Educational and entertainment literature. Leiden 2015, ISBN 978-3-8298-0106-5 .

as editor: Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Volume 1 ff.

Other works (selection)
Endpage of the Turkish edition of Sezgin's Science and Technology in Islam, 2007
  • Abü 'Ubaid: Maðâz al Qour'ân. 2 volumes. Cairo 1954–1962 (Repr. Cairo 1980, Beirut 1981).
  • Buhari'nin kaynakları; hakkinda araştırmalar ( The sources of Bukhari [Turkish]). İstanbul 1956 (2nd edition. Ankara 2000).
  • "Kitâb Dalâ'il al-qibla" li-Ibn al-Qaþþ (The "Kitâb Dalâ'il al-qibla" by Ibn al Qaþþ). In: Journal for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences. Volume 4 (1987-1988), ISSN  0179-4639 , pp. 7-91; (1989), pp. 7-45.
  • Risâlat Ibn Ridwân fi Daf 'madârr al-abdân bi-ard Miþr (Ibn Ridwân's treatise on preventing of harmful influences upon the human body in the climate of Egypt). In: Journal for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences. Volume 6, 1990, pp. 7-44.
  • as editor: Studies on Ibn Sīnā (d. 1037) and his medical works. 4 volumes. Frankfurt am Main 1996 (= Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Ed. By Fuat Sezgin, Vol. 10-13: Islamic Medicine ).
  • as ed. with others: ʿAli ibn abi l-Ḥazm al-Qarshī ibn al-Nafīs (d. 687/1288). Texts and Studies. Frankfurt am Main 1997 (= Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Volume 79).
  • with others than publisher: Abū ʿAlī Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/1037). Texts and Studies. Collected and Reprinted. 5 volumes, Frankfurt am Main 1999 (= Publications of the Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science. Volume 30–34: Islamic Philosophy ).
  • as ed. with Mazen Amawi, Carl Ehrig-Eggert a. a .: Ibn al-Nafis, ʿAli ibn Abi 'l-Hazm al-Qarshi (d. 1288). Texts and studies (= Islamic Medicine. Volume 79). Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-8298-3079-3 .
  • Muhâdarât fi ta'rih al-'ulüm al-'arabïya wa-l-kartüðrâfiya 'inda l-'Arab wa stimrâruhâ fi l-ðarb (Selections from: Mathematical Geography and Cartography in Islam and their Continuation in the Occident). Frankfurt 2000.
  • The Caliph al-Ma'mun and his contribution to the world map. Arabic origin of European maps. In: Research Frankfurt . 2000, pp. 22-31.
  • al Uþül al-'arabïya li l-harâ'it al-urübïya bain al-qarn al-tâli t'asara wa-t-tâmin 'asara li l-mïlâd (The Arabic origins of European maps between the 13th and the 18th century ). In: Journal for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences. Volume 14, 2001, pp. 7-40.
  • Science and Technology in Islam. In: Publications of the Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences. 5 volumes. Frankfurt am Main 2003, ISBN 3-8298-0072-X ; Volume 1 , Volume 2 , Volume 3 , Volume 4 , Volume 5 . Turkish İslam'da bilim ve teknik. 5 volumes, Istanbul 2007, English Science and technology in Islam. Abstract, Frankfurt am Main 2004.
  • Arabic origin of European maps. In: Journal for the History of Arabic-Islamic Sciences. Volume 15, 2002/2003, pp. 1-23.
  • The discovery of the American continent by Muslim sailors before Columbus. In: History of Arabic literature. Volume XIII (2006), pp. 2–39 ( PDF; 2.6 MB; full text scan ).

Secondary literature

Web links

Single receipts

  1. ↑ Obituary notice Mehmet Fuat Sezgin. In: FAZ . 4th July 2018.
  2. Islam scholar Fuat Sezgin has died. In: deutschlandfunkkultur.de , published and accessed on July 2, 2018.
  3. ^ Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung (FAS). December 21, 2014, p. 4.
  4. FAS December 21, 2014, p. 4.
  5. Wolfdietrich Fischer (Hrsg.): Literaturwissenschaft (= Helmut Gätje [Hrsg.]: Grundriss der Arabischen Philologie. Volume 2). Reichert, Wiesbaden 1987, ISBN 3-88226-145-5 , p. 481.
  6. Fuat Sezgin: Qusta b. Lūqā. In: History of Arabic Literature. Volume 5. 1974, pp. 285-286; Diophant , ibid pp. 176–179, quoted from Costa ben Luca latinus. In: Alcuin, Bibliothek der Scholastik ( uni-regensburg.de [accessed on July 2, 2018]). - Diophantus, Qusta Ibn-Luqa al-Balabakki, Jacques Sesiano: Books IV (four) to VII of Diophantus Arithmetica in the Arabic translation attributed to Qusta Ibn-Luqa. Springer, New York / Heidelberg / Berlin 1982; Sources in the history of mathematics and physical sciences, 3. Arithmetica; See also: Providence, Brown University, Dissertation Jacques Sesiano, 1975 (reprint). Review: Jan P. Hogendijk, in: Historia Mathematica . 12 (1985), pp. 82-85 ( jphogendijk.nl [accessed July 2, 2018]).
  7. ^ Costa ben Luca latinus. In: Alcuin, Bibliothek der Scholastik ( uni-regensburg.de [accessed on July 2, 2018]). On the circumstances of the wrong attribution: Norbert Schappacher : Diophantus of Alexandria. A Text and its History. Undated manuscript, p. 17 ( PDF; 213 kB [November 22, 2004, amended June 13, 2015, accessed August 27, 2018]).
  8. See publications of the institute in the German National Library under GND 2083102-X .
  9. Museum portrait with virtual tour. In: uni-frankfurt.de, accessed on June 30, 2018.
  10. Andrea Dernbach: Controversy over culture prize: Germany's new elites. In: Zeit Online. September 6, 2009. Retrieved May 25, 2009 .
  11. ^ Rainer Hermann : Arabia's contribution. On the death of Fuat Sezgin. Obituary. In: faz.net. July 3, 2018, accessed August 25, 2018.
  12. ^ Marie Lisa Kehler: Did an Islam researcher want to withhold books? In: faz.net. May 12, 2017, accessed June 30, 2018 ( online ).
    Volker Siefert: The Ministry of Science prevents Islam researchers from working. In: hessenschau.de. January 10, 2018, accessed June 30, 2018 ( online ). - Hilal Sezgin: On the creation of the library by Ursula and Fuat Sezgin. Video message for the 8th meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Fuat Sezgin Foundation for Research into the History of Islamic Sciences. February 16, 2018 ( online on YouTube , accessed June 30, 2018).
  13. ^ Institute for the History of Arab-Islamic Sciences at the University ( Memento of December 7, 2011 in the Internet Archive ). In: uni-frankfurt.de, accessed on June 30, 2018.
  14. Cumhurbaşkanı Erdoğan: 2019 yılını Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin İslam Bilim Tarihi yılı ilan edeceğiz. in: NTV. July 1, 2018 ( ntv.com.tr. [accessed August 27, 2018]).
  15. ^ King Faisal International Prize Winners 1979 Fuat Sezgin Germany ( Memento from April 6, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: kff.com, accessed June 30, 2018 (PDF; 1.3 MB).
  16. Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin Adına Yapılan Anıtı Kendisi Açtı (Turkish) . In: Son Dakika , September 24, 2012. Accessed July 21, 2018. 
  17. 2019 Prof. Dr. Fuat Sezgin Yılı, official video , accessed February 6, 2019