45 The Jewish community in Baghdad was quite large and important. “Jews
played a vital role in Baghdad as a bankers and court financiers.”
134
In the intellectual life of Baghdad, it was not only Christians that had important role but
Jews also had contribution even though in a small number. “Jews participated in the intellectual life of Baghdad in the early of Buyid period though their
contribution was not significant. Jews tended to excel in astronomy and medicine. The activity of the Jewish scholars as transmitters of learning took place in a later
period and in the West, where they had a major role in transmitting Arabic philosophical and scientific texts to Christian Europe.”
135
Due to the Islamic contact with the other cultures, civilizations, and religions, as well as their close
relationship, I can draw a conclusion that those evidences show that the Christian and the Jews also affect the Islamic philosophy and the Islamic thinking.
1.2. Cosmopolitanism in İstanbul
The encounter between Islam and the other cultures and religion was not only flourished during the Buyids era but also it existed in the Ottoman Empire
era, especially in İstanbul. İstanbul—the city where the two tales, My Name is Red and The White Castle
136
, take place and where Pamuk was born and living so far—is a multicultural city, which has a very special location. Its geographical
position transforms it into a “border city”, since it constitutes a gate that connects
134
Kraemer, Humanism, 78.
135
Kraemer, Humanism, 80.
136
Orhan Pamuk, The White Castle Beyaz Kale translated by Victoria Holbrook, First Edition New York: Vintage Books, Random House, Inc., 1998
46 Europe to Asia.
137
It has been a complex rendezvous from various cultures and civilizations, they are Persian and Greek and Christian Byzantine and Muslim
Ottoman.
138
After it was conquered in May 29, 1453
139
, Mehmet II opened this city for the Greek, the Armenian, and the Jews. Mehmet II has a very tolerant
attitude towards other religions and cultures. It could be seen when,
after conquering Constantinople, he encouraged Greek migration in the city and he also opened the city to Armenians and Jews. The city had flourish as a
multicultural society for hundreds of years and returned to its imperial mode of tolerance.
140
Roel Meijer, in Cosmopolitanism, Identity, and Authenticity in the Middle East, adds that “during the Ottoman period, groups of different religious and ethnic
backgrounds intermingled and exchange ideas, lifestyles, and cultures. Moreover, there were no certain boundaries, which had been drawn and the state did not yet
apply its power of standardisation or force its norms on its citizens.”
141
Under the reign of Mehmed II, the Persian, the Greek, the Christian, and the Ottoman lived
in peace and harmony and also respected the others’ cultures and religious practices. Moreover, due to their encounter, contact, and close relationship, I
argue that the cultural exchange within them could not be avoided.
137
Adriana Alves de Paula Martins, “Orhan Pamuk and the Construction of Turkey’s National Memory in İstanbul: Memories of a City”, MATHESIS 19 2010: 171.
138
Laksana, “İstanbul: Melankoli”.
139
Orhan Pamuk, İstanbul: Memories and the City translated by Maureen Freely New York: Vintage International, 2006 172.
140
Benton Jay Komins, “Cosmopolitanism Depopulated: The Cultures of Integration, Concealment, and Evacuation in İstanbul”, Comparative Literature Studies 39, 4 East-West Issue
2002: 366.
141
Roel Meijer, Cosmopolitanism, Identity, and Authenticity in the Middle East Surrey: Curzon, 1999 1.
47 What is interesting in Pamuk’s description of İstanbul is the importance he
gives to hüzün, the Turkish word for melancholy.
142
In the beginning, this word means a feeling of deep spiritual loss, and then to the Sufi, hüzün is the spiritual
anguish we feel because we cannot be close enough to Allah; because we cannot do enough for Him in this world.
143
Pamuk also tries to present hüzün as a spiritual attitude and point of view, which embrace and celebrate and is also
critical to the human life in this world
144
just like when he uses it to criticize Turkish modern identity that is forced by the elites. Hüzün stems from the same
“black passion” as melancholy. Pamuk, following Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy, finds that “melancholy paved the way to a happy solitude because it
strengthened his imaginative powers”. Through this statement, Pamuk wants to give a positive meaning to hüzün that the solitude is the heart, the very essence of
melancholy.
145
Therefore, hüzün leads people to solitude where they can “find the significance and the answer of their negative experiences”
146
as well as relieve the ache that finally saves their souls and also gives them depth.
147
As a city that witnesses the encounter of the East and the West, İstanbul becomes a multicultural city, which embraces complex issues on the feeling of
hüzün suffered by its residents. In his works, Pamuk tries to capture and paint this hüzün by presenting the oscillation to imitate the Frankish method or to keep the
old painting style as well as conflicts around the Ottoman miniaturists. Pamuk
142
Martins, “Orhan Pamuk”, 174.
143
Pamuk, İstanbul, 90.
144
Laksana, “İstanbul: Melankoli”.
145
Pamuk, İstanbul, 92.
146
Laksana, “İstanbul: Melankoli”.
147
Pamuk, İstanbul, 104.
48 explains that hüzün is “the black mood shared by millions of people
together”
148
…like the hüzün of entire community, such as the palace miniaturists in My Name is Red. It is of the miniaturists who feel the hüzün because the
Ottoman miniature painting has been replaced by the new Frankish painting style and because they are afraid to face their future; the old Ottoman tradition that will
vanish and has no future and the miniaturists that will be even less appreciated. Hüzün was not only felt by the palace miniaturists but also felt by Atik
Sinan. Atik Sinan, an architect who worked under the reign of Sultan Mehmet II, tried to make Fatih mosque, which resembled and emulated Hagia Sophia.
Because of his Christian background and of the glorious past of the Byzantine Emperor and as an architect who worked for Mehmed, Sinan released his hüzün
by combining Byzantine and Ottoman architecture by building Fatih külliye.
149
However, Mehmed’s attempt to build the mosque that was the rivalry of the grand Byzantine building was not success. Rabah Saoud explains that in this project,
“Sinan failed to make the dome of the mosque bigger and higher than the Hagia Sophia, which disappointed the Fatih that he amputated the hand of the
architect”.
150
From the explanation and information presented above, it can be concluded that as the city of complex and ambiguous rendezvous of various
cultures and religions, İstanbul has become a cosmopolitan city, which allows and
148
Pamuk, İstanbul, 92.
149
Fatih külliye is a building, made in the 15
th
century and consists of mosque and Islamic school. The Byzantine tradition, especially as embodied in Hagia Sophia, became a major source
of inspiration for Sinan; Kuiper, Islamic: Art, 200-206; Laksana, “İstanbul: Melankoli”.
150
Rabah Saoud, “Muslim Architecture under Ottoman Patronage 1326-1924”, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization 2004: 3.
49 highly respects the practices of different religions and ethnics of its citizens.
Additionally, Pamuk uses hüzün to overcome the deep spiritual loss of the Islamic Ottoman tradition. Hüzün leads people to the answer of their sadness and relieve
the ache that can save their souls. Pamuk suggests to combine the two cultures in revealing the feeling of melancholy rather than living in one of those cultures or
only slavishly imitating Western culture therefore a new hybrid culture can be invented.
151
1.3. Cosmopolitanism in Pamuk’s Works
