Scholars of qira'at recitation in Tashkopruzade's Al-Shaqa'iq Al-Nu'maniyya and its continuations and supplements

This study examines the biographies of qira'at (Quranic recitation) scholars within the framework of al-Shaqa'iq al-Nu'maniyya fī 'Ulama' al-Dawla al-'Uthmaniyya, written by Tashkopruzade Ahmed Efendi (d. 968/1561), one of the 16th-century Ottoman scholars, and the tatimmas (completions) and dhayls (supplements) written for it. In al-Shaqa'iq, which is one of the most prominent sources of the Ottoman biographical tradition, Tashkopruzade narrated the lives of 521 scholars who lived from the foundation of the Ottoman Empire until the year 965/1558, drawing upon his own observations, contemporary scholarly circles, and written sources. The fact that the work became a turning point in the world of science paved the way for the formation of a systematic and extensive corpus along with the completions and supplements composed after it, making it one of the most important Literatures of the biographical field today. In this regard, within the scope of a project carried out by the Turkish Institution of Manuscripts (Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı), al-Shaqa'iq and its 10 completions and supplements have been brought into the scholarly world through their transcribed editions prepared from manuscript copies. Within the scope of the research, a total of eighty-one qira'at scholars were identified in al-Shaqa'iq and the completions and supplements written for it. However, it was observed that eleven of these figures were included in more than one work. When the biographies of the scholars in question were compared, it was understood that the authors mostly conveyed similar information and the same life story. For this reason, in order to avoid repetition in the study, detailed information about the same figures was given where they first appeared, while in subsequent works, only remarkable differences and additional information were emphasized. The research is based on the document analysis method within the framework of qualitative research. In this context, al-Shaqa'iq and the completions and supplements written for this work were analyzed through descriptive analysis and biographical analysis methods. The qira'at scholars in the work were evaluated within their historical and scholarly contexts, and their positions within the Ottoman biographical tradition were revealed. Furthermore, the biographical information of the scholars examined within the scope of the study in different works was comparatively evaluated. As a result of the examinations, it has been determined that the science of qira'at is treated as an important and continuous branch of science within the Ottoman scholarly tradition in al-Shaqa'iq and the completions and supplements written for it. In addition, it has been concluded that the qira'at scholars whose biographies were examined played an active role not only in the field of qira'at but also in different scholarly fields such as tafsir (exegesis), hadith, fiqh (jurisprudence), and kalam (theology).