Osmanlı Şehri Neresi?: Fıkhın Şehri Tanımlamada ve Finâ’nın Şehrin Sınırlarını Belirlemedeki Yeri
Where is the Ottoman City? The Place of Fiqh in Defining a City and Fina's Role in Determining its Borders

Summary/Abstract: The literature on the Ottoman city currently consists of a considerable corpus; however, questions like the exact location, boundaries, and the identity of a city are yet to be determined. The city has been examined from a socio-economic perspective and with an inherent "progressive perception of history", and has been evaluated as an economic unit within the framework of Marxist and liberal modernization theories and based on data obtained from land survey (tahrir) registers. These approaches result in anachronistic conclusions. This study starts from the question of how the Ottomans themselves conceptualized their cities and thus aims to draw the contours of the city, which was only vaguely noticed by modern researchers. For this purpose, a methodology that ensures a comprehensive picture of the city will be proposed. The functional role of fiqh as a comprehensive science enabling to capture the entirety of a city, and a comparative reading of tahrir registers, and Sharia court records are the two essential foundations of this methodology. Ultimately, by taking into account the concepts of "nefs (totality of houses) and "finâ" (courtyard), an attempt will be made to open up possibilities for a more comprehensive understanding of Ottoman urban history.

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