Review of the Book: Yakubovich M.M. Philosophical Thought of the Crimean Khanate

• Main Author: R.R. Abduzhemilev
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: State Institution «Sh.Marjani Institute of History of Tatarstan Academy of Sciences» 2017-09-01
• Series: Zolotoordynskoe Obozrenie
• Online Access: http://goldhorde.ru/en/stati2017-3-11/
• ISSN: 2308-152X; 2313-6197

The book “Philosophical Thought of the Crimean Khanate” by Mikhaylo Yakubovich offers a comprehensive study of the religious and philosophical heritage of the Crimean Khanate. It should be mentioned that up to the present there was no such work among the list of available research monographs. There were only some fragmentary works, which did not cover the conceptual essence of the philosophical perspectives and concepts of medieval thinkers whose activity was shaped within the context of the Crimean Khanate. Thus, Mikhaylo Yakubovich’s contribution is obvious and there is no doubt of the work’s significance. The book consists of a preface, an introduction, seven chapters, conclusions, appendixes, list of illustrations (religious sites, libraries and photocopies of manuscripts), and a bibliography. A wide source-base is evident in the work: the bibliography lists manuscripts from various libraries throughout the world. In the first introductory chapter, a review of historiography is carried out and the range of sources within the framework of the study is defined. The prehistory of the formation of philosophical thought of the Crimean khanate, namely the origins of its formation back to the Golden Horde era, is outlined in the second chapter. This section presents the hermeneutical aspects of Sharaf ad-Din al-Kyrymi and Ahmad bin ‘Abd Allah al-Kyrymi’s interpretation of the philosophy of Ibn al-‘Arabi and Sadr al-Din al-Kunavi. The third chapter contains biographical information about Ibrahim al-Kyrymi, the specificity of the Qur’anic hermeneutics in his work, as well as the idea of a spiritual journey as viewed from anthropological and historiosophical perspectives. In the fourth chapter, the creativity of Abu’l-Baka’ al-Kafauvi is considered, while also reflecting on the life and scientific heritage of this philosopher, his work “al-Qulliyyat” in the context of Islamic encyclopedic learning, understanding the divine properties (syfat) and the hermeneutic theory in “al-Qulliyyat” (“The Book of General Concepts”). The main issues of the fifth chapter are the perception of Avicennism in the works by Muhammad al-Kafauvi, and ontological and the ethical views of Muhammad al-Akkirmani. The sixth chapter covers a wide area: ideological features of the work “Hadaik al-Ahyar fi Hakaik al-Ahbar” (“The Gardends of the Best among the Essences of the News”), “inner” and “outward” ways of knowing of God in “The Guides for Experts” (“Ariflerin delili”) by Selim Divane Kyrymly, philosophical features of the Sufi exegesis of Hamid ‘Bi-nuva’ Kyrymi, and the mystical outlook of ‘Abd al-Baki al-Hijabi. In the seventh chapter, the researcher focuses his attention on the problem of Isla­mic apologetics in the works of Crimean authors of the 17th–18th centuries (‘Abd Allah al-Kafauvi, Hasan al-Kafauvi and Kutb ad-Din al-Kyrymi). Conclusions that can be drawn from M. Yakubovich’s book: there was a distinctive form of philosophical thought in the Crimean Khanate, which, on the one hand, had absorbed the experience and knowledge of the previous generations (primarily based in the classics). On the other hand it had a certain originality; the philosophical heritage of the Crimean Khanate is an important component of the global history of philosophy, revealing the vectors of development for Turkic-Muslim regions in subsequent periods. The basis of the philosophical thought of the Crimean khanate had been laid with the Islamization in the Golden Horde, when conditions were created for the emergence of the religious and philosophical schools. Lastly, one can conclude that there are still plenty of works of a philosophical nature that require detailed analysis.