Project (2013-2014)

Reliable Books: Islamic Law, Canonization, and Manuscripts in the Ottoman Empire (Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries)

In the framework of the Working Group "The Learned Practices of Canonical Texts," Guy Burak's project explored the emergence of an imperial jurisprudential canon in the Ottoman Empire in the early modern period. It examines the ways in which the Ottoman dynasty regulated the circulation and reading of a specific textual corpus. In particular, the project drew attention to the implication of this development for our understanding of the nature of the manuscript culture in the early modern Ottoman Empire and beyond.