Friend and foe: The early Ottoman reception of Ibn ‘Arabi

This dissertation is a historical inquiry into the pathways through which the influence of Ibn ‘Arab!, as well as that of his works, disciples and ideas was inherited and incorporated into the intellectual milieu of the Ottoman learned class represented here by two groups: religious scholars, and members of the imperial administration. This dissertation follows the continuities of the textual and interpretative community of Ibn Arabi, stretching through a series of Ibn Arabi’s disciples from the time of his sojourn in pre-Ottoman Anatolia until the first scholarly figures and institutions of the Ottomans whereby Akbari teachings were propelled into the nascent Ottoman scholarly circles.