The Introduction of Khojazada’s Tahafut Investigation, Translation and Evaluation

This article evaluates the Introduction of Tahafut, written by the Ottoman Kalām scholar Khojazada Muslih al-Din Mustafa on the request of the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror. As a follower of the philosophy of al-Ghazali, Khojazada’s work has contributed greatly to both Ottoman and the wider Muslim World. This article gives a brief overview of the life of Khojazada, his work and provides details regarding the copies of the Tahafut and library catalog records. From an examination of three copies of the Tahafut, the Arabic text of the introduction is presented together with an English translation. This introduction and his book are of great importance since they present Islamic Philosophy during the Ottoman period and this article is one of the first studies on this topic. The content of which is subsequently evaluated from a philosophical perspective contrasting it with the other Muslim philosophical works.