İbrahim Müteferrika was an early 18th-century Ottoman intellectual figure notably accredited for the introduction printing of Ottoman and Arabic texts to the Ottoman Empire. Born in the Transylvanian town of Kolozsvár (Cluj) in the early 1080s /1670s, his original Hungarian name is unknown; he is known by his chosen name İbrahim after becoming an Ottoman subject and a convert to Islam despite being formally trained at a Unitarian theological seminary. In response to earlier scholars claiming that İbrahim was forcefully converted to Islam, Turkish scholar Niyazi Berkes states that İbrahim willingly converted to Islam, this was confirmed in his autobiographical notes tentatively titled Risale-i İslamiyye(Treatise on Islam), penned in 1710, roughly twenty years after his conversion.

On account of his fluency in Greek, Latin, and Hungarian, alongside his learning of the Turkish language and the Islamic sciences, İbrahim embarked on a successful career in the Ottoman court. His nickname “Müteferrika” originated from his appointment to the division known as the müteferrika corps, whose members were attached to the Sultan’s person and served in various public or political missions. It was in this capacity that İbrahim Müteferrika served in various diplomatic missions to Europe. He also served in the Ottoman bureaucracy as a scribe at the Ottoman artillery and later at the Imperial council. As per his inheritance inventory (tereke), İbrahim Müteferrika passed away at the end of January 1747, and his grave is currently located at the Galata Mevlevihane in Istanbul.

Though İbrahim Müteferrika was by no means the first person to start printing in the empire- non-Muslim Ottoman subjects had already been printing before him- he pioneered the introduction of translated works and intellectual texts on a wide range of subjects such as history, science, mathematics, and literature that served to make knowledge accessible to a wider audience, and encourage the spread of new developments, ideas, and learning. His contribution was that of immense value for the development of Islamic culture. Notably, İbrahim began his publishing activities during the time of the grand vizier Damad İbrahim Pasha, whose patronage of İbrahim’s work ensured state support for the printing house.

İbrahim established his printing house in 1726, and sought to obtain state approval. In 1727, he was granted an imperial decree by the Ottoman sultan Ahmed III to establish a printing press in Istanbul. It is mentionable that the imperial decree gave him the right to publish books useful to the community, which provided an alternative literature that swayed from the norm of publishing religious texts. He later obtained a fetva from Yenishehirli Abdullah Efendi on the benefits of printing. He published around sixteen books, including translations of European works and original works by Ottoman scholars, alongside four separate maps. Among the books was a manual of the Turkish language, one Arabic Turkish and one Persian Turkish dictionary, nine histories, both narrative history and geographical, and a book on political and military topics – a list of the works with further details can be found both here and here. Prominent among these were three works by Katip Çelebi - Tuhfetü’l-Kibar fi Esfari’l-Bihar (1729), Cihannüma (1732), and Taqvimü’t-Tevarih (1733), and the author’s own influential treatise Usulü’l-Hikem fi Nizami’l-Ümem (1732), where he discussed the reasons behind the disruptive 1730 Patrona rebellion in Istanbul, which involved the Janissaries. It was in this rebellion that his patron and grand vizier Damad İbrahim Pasha met a gruesome end; the author called for pro-European military reforms to enhance order and army discipline, partly based on existing European works in the field of the state and military organization.

One should not be under the illusion that the Müteferrika printing press was comparable to a private business institution; it came into fruition with financial assistance from the state and all activities and any changes required permission from the proper authorities. It cannot be said that the sole focus of this enterprise was to attain a profit, as evidenced by his frequent petitions to the state to meet expenses, alongside an estimated one-third of his books remaining unsold at the time of his death. Müteferrika additionally remained a salaried official of the state throughout the period. Nonetheless, his printing press was successful, particularly when examining the immense impact that it had on contemporary and future Ottoman society. In the end, it was İbrahim Müteferrika’s very dedication, intellectual acumen and visionary personality that enabled him to select, work on, and publish the works that he did.

Bibliography:

"İbrahim Müteferriqa." Historians of the Ottoman Empire. Accessed January 27, 2023. https://ottomanhistorians.uchicago.edu/en/historian/İbrahim-muteferriqa.

"İBRÂHİM MÜTEFERRİKA." TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Accessed January 27, 2023. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/İbrahim-Müteferrika.

Erginbas, V. (2013) Enlightenment in the Ottoman Context: İbrahim Müteferrika and his Intellectual Landscape. Leiden; Boston: Brill