Osmanlı Sarayında Bir Dinler Tarihçisi: Max Müller’in Türkiye Ziyaretinin Değerlendirilmesi/A Historian of Religions at the Ottoman Palace: Evaluation of Max Müller's Visit to Turkey

• Main Author: Ahmet Türkan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Uludag University 2021-07-01
• Series: Oksident
• Subjects: max müller; history of religions; ottoman; istanbul; sultan abdulhamid; islam; turks; orientalism
• Online Access: https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/oksident/issue/62773/838196
• ISSN: 2687-2749; 2687-2749

Max Müller is one of the most important religious researchers of 19th century England. Considered as the History of Religions founder, Müller draws attention with his studies on Eastern Religions. The general perspective of his comments on Islam and Turks is like this. His negative thoughts about Turks are mostly related to the domination of the Ottomans in Anatolia and the Balkans. However, Müller’s visit to Istanbul and Bursa with his wife in 1893 eliminated many of his prejudices but not all. In this visit, Müller meets with Sultan Abdülhamid and establishes a warm relationship. He presented the Sacred Books of the East to the Sultan, which he edited, and the Sultan Abdülhamid gave various gifts to the Müller’s family. After returning to England, Müller frequently mentions his experiences in Istanbul and talks with the Sultan. During the deprecation of Western media about the Ottomans, Müller’s thoughts changed. However, this time his analyzes are not entirely black or white. Due to what he saw in Istanbul, gray tones were formed in his thoughts. In this sense, Max Müller’s visit to Istanbul makes a significant contribution to the orientalist perspective and the importance of the data taken from the field in terms of understanding the other.