[ANTI-BEKTASHI AND ANTI-HETERODOX PROPAGANDA BY A MAINSTREAM SUNNI OTTOMAN SCHOLAR IN THE 19TH CENTURY] Kâsifü'l-esrâr ve dafiü'l-esrâr: Mevâlî-i kirâmdan fazîletlü Ishâk Efendi... [i.e. Disclosure of the secret and ward off evil].

[ANTI-BEKTASHI AND ANTI-HETERODOX PROPAGANDA BY A MAINSTREAM SUNNI OTTOMAN SCHOLAR IN THE 19TH CENTURY] Kâsifü'l-esrâr ve dafiü'l-esrâr: Mevâlî-i kirâmdan fazîletlü Ishâk Efendi hazretlerinin 'Esrâr-i Bektâsiyân' hakkinda beyne'l-Müslimîn gâyet müfîd te'lîf-gerdesi olan 'Kâsifü'l-esrâr' nâm risâlesidir. [i.e. Disclosure of the secret and ward off evil]. 

ISHAK [ISHAQ EFENDI, HARPUTÎ; HARPUTLU], (1801-1892).

Seyh Yahya Efendi Matbaasi., Ist., [AH 1290] = 1873.

Original very decorative 1/4 leather bdg. Raised bands, ornaments gilded on four compartments of five. Foolscap 8vo. (17 x 12 cm). In Ottoman script. 173 p. Framed text in a style of early 19th century mostly seen in the transition period from manuscripts to the printing. Slightly faded on boards, stains on margins of two pages. Otherwise a very good copy. Harputî Ishak Efendi was a 19th-century statesman and Islamic scholar in the Ottoman Empire. After completing his first education in his hometown, he came to Istanbul and received a license from "Sahn-i Seman Madrasahs" in Fatih, Constantinople. While teaching in Istanbul madrasas, he taught "huzur dersleri" [i.e. the peace lessons] of Sultan Abdulaziz. He continued these lessons for many years as an educator. During the reign of Sultan Abdülhamit II, he was a commission member in the Ministry of Foundations (Waqfs), as a teacher of junior high, and as a qadi of Isparta and Medina. Harputi Ishak was an accomplished theological instructor and writer. In 1861, he published the Sems al-hakikat against Karl Pfander's ideas. During the 1860s he was a teacher at the prestigious Darü'l-Maarif secondary school. Harputî Ishak then rose within the religious scholarly ranks while an instructor at the Fatih Medrese, and he gained the attention of Sultan Abdülaziz. In the 1870s, he held the position of molla, as he was an instructor at the Darü'l-Maarif, and attained the rank of Istanbul payesi (rank of the qadi of Istanbul). His literary ventures had the official sanction and reflected so-called traditionalist views of Sultan Abdulaziz's administration in contrast to Euro-centric reformers such as Ali Pasha. In 1874, he wrote the Kashifu'l-esrâr ve dafiu'l-eshrar, against Bektashism. On the third page of the work, İshak Efendi stated that he divided the book into three parts. The first part includes Fadlullah el-Hurufi (prophet, or, leader of Hurufism) and the basic principles of Bektashism, the second part, the criticism of Abdülmecid Firisteoglu's work named Isknâme [i.e. The book of light], and third part, the criticism of the views against religion in Câvidânnâme (The sacred book of Hurufis by their leader, Fazlullah). Ishaq says that all Hurufis and Bektashis are the enemies of Islamic religion in his book, which he describes as Hurufi and attacks in this direction. (Source: AN ANTI-ISLAMIC POLEMIC IN 1878 OTTOMAN ISTANBUL: S.W. KOELLE'S GIDAÜ'L-MÜLAHAZAT, by Scott Rank). It is not known how many copies of the book written by Ishaq were published in any source, but it is known that the readers and the public of the period were influenced by this Sunni-origin counter-discourse. Second Edition. Özege 10358.; OCLC 892728564.; Library of Congress. Karl Süssheim Collection, no. 785.