Criticism of atheism in the latest Ottoman period (Example of Abdüllatif Harpûtî)

This study deals with the reflections of atheism in the late Ottoman Empire and the criticisms of atheism by Abdullatif Harpûtî, one of our important thinkers. Atheism opposes all Abrahamic religions and rejects God, prophecy, and the afterlife, or rather, all religious and divine realities. At this point, it has a structure that rejects all divine religions. It originated in Christian geography as a reaction movement against Christianity. Atheism moved to the Ottoman geography over time. Atheism in the Ottoman Empire showed its existence through atheist movements rather than its current name. Ottoman thinkers, who were aware of the danger posed by these movements, wrote critical articles against such movements. In addition, the idea of renewing the science of theology has also been on the agenda. It has been emphasized that the books of theology should have a competence to respond to such trends. Harpûtî is one of the thinkers who thought that the science of kalâm should be renewed, turned his thought into practice by writing Tenkîhu'l-kalâm, and criticized atheism. He criticized the atheist movements of his time at many points. The most important of these are the subjects of Isbât-ı Wajib, Knowledge, Will and Human Freedom, Miracle, Death and the Necessity of Prophethood. Harpûtî frequently resorted to mental and transcendental evidence in these criticisms. Keywords: Kalâm. Atheism. Harpûtî. Ottoman. God.