Author(s): Kayhan ATÄ°K
We already mentioned about what Comparative History is, what it does, and how useful it is for the science of history. In this work, we will try to reveal the comparative history in Katip Çelebi. In this work we will primarily be studying on the author's "The Essay on Greek Roman and Christian History" and other works. Katip Çelebi wrote this work named "?r?adü'l- Hayâra il Târîhi'l-Yunân ve'r-Rûm ve Nasârâ", in Ottoman Turkish in order to introduce the European thought to Ottoman Turks. Since the author stated that he wrote this work by taking advantage of Western works himself, it is an important work in the sense that it reflects Western and Ottoman conception at that time. In addition, many important issues such as secularism and the class of the ruhban who were said to correspond to the Sufism in our country and which did not interfere with the administration, were the issues Ottoman society didn’t have much knowledge on until about the 19th century. According to Kâtip Çelebi, it is far more important to recognize him than to turn away from the enemy. In this respect he wrote this work in order to introduce the Christian world to Muslims. When you look at this attitude of the author from a comparative history perspective, we come to find very important messages. Because Kâtip Çelebi is trying to prevent the two communities from becoming enemies by correcting the wrong information of Turks about the Christians with the works he wrote. Here, comparative history is a huge benefit. As we have pointed out above, comparative history can not only compare two societies, but also can prevent them from being enemies unduly by putting forward the false knowledge of each other.
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