Radu Dipratu “Blessings of the Printed Work”: Islamic Scholars (ulemâ) and the Müteferrika Press in Early 18th-Century Istanbul 1 Introduction: The Tulip Age The first Arabic-type printing press for Turkish, opened by Ibrahim Müteferrika in Istanbul, was a product of the so-called Tulip Age (Lale Devri), which spanned from 1718 to 1730. It was a relatively quiet period for the Ottoman Empire, having secured peace with its European rivals at Passarowitz.1 The only major military campaigns occurring in this period were in Western Persia, as the Porte sought easy gains from the crumbling Safavid state. Under the reign of Sultan Ahmet III (ruled 1703–1730), his grand vizier and son-in-law (Damat) Nevşehirli Ibrahim Pasha, and the progressive grand mufti Yenişehirli Abdullah Efendi, this stability provided a suitable environment for the flourishing of arts and culture. The lavish celebrations hosted at the sultan’s newly-built Saadabad palace complex in Kağıthane, or “the Sweet Waters of Europe”, were sung in the poems of Nedim and depicted in Levnî Abdülcelil Çelebi’s miniatures. Topping them all was, of course, the Tulip-mania, which engulfed many levels of Ottoman society. Later analysts have also identified this era with a predisposition to the reception of Western cultural and technological influences, a primary example being Ibrahim Müteferrika’s printing press.2 However, this period of relative stability came to an abrupt and, for many, dra- matic end in the fall of 1730. Conservatives criticized the extravagant lifestyle of the sultan, grand vizier and other high-ranking officials; the new taxes introduced by Ibrahim Pasha to support the ever-increasing expenditure of the State weighed heavily on the population; finally, the announcement of yet another eastern cam- paign in Persia filled the cup of social unrest. 1 C. Ingrao, N. Samardžić, J. Pešalj (eds.), The Peace of Passarowitz, 1718, West Lafayette, 2011. 2 The modern concept of the Tulip Age can be traced back to Ahmet Refik Altınay’s early 20 th -centu- ry works. For a historiographical overview and criticism, see C. Erimtan, Ottomans Looking West? The Origins of the Tulip Age and its Development in Modern Turkey, London/New York, 2008. Open Access. © 2024 the author(s), published by De Gruyter. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783111068787-009 This research is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement No. 883219-AdG-2019 – Project TYPARABIC).