Research Associate
Fatih Ermiş joined the OIB in 2018. He received a doctorate from the University of Erfurt with a thesis entitled “Ottoman Economic Thinking before the 19th Century.” He holds an MA in economic history from Marmara University and a BA in economics from Boğaziçi University, both in Istanbul. Before joining the OIB, he worked as a research assistant for the Chair of History of West Asia at the University of Erfurt and, most recently, as a post-doctoral associate at the Centre for Islamic Theology, University of Tübingen. His main research interest is pre-modern Islamic intellectual history, with a particular focus on intellectual endeavours in Ottoman lands. His work is also concerned with economic, social, religious and literary writing as well as with Sufi thought. His research at the OIB focuses on a famous book of ethics, Aḫlāḳ-ı ‘Alāʾī, written in Damascus by the Ottoman scholar Ḳınālīzāde ʿAlī Çelebī (1510 – 1572).
This project deals with the Ottoman understanding of ethics at the intersection of philosophy, mysticism and sharia using the example of Ḳınālīzāde’s Akhlāḳ-ı ʿAlāʾī. Ḳınālīzāde ʿAlī Çelebī (1510-1572), perhaps the most influential moral philosopher in the history of the Ottoman Empire, wrote the Akhlāḳ-ı ʿAlāʾī between 1563 and 1565 in Damascus, where he served as the chief judge.
A History of Ottoman Economic Thought: Developments before the 19th century, Oxford and New York: Routledge, 2014.
Osmanlı’da İktisadi Düşünce Tarihi, trans. by Mustafa Tek, Ayşen Edirneligil, Istanbul: Albaraka Yayınları, 2020.
Maḥmūd Šabistarī’s Rosenflor des Geheimnisses, trans. by Hammer-Purgstall, edited and annotated by Fatih Ermiş, Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang Edition, 2017.
Mahmud Şebüsteri, Gülşen-i Râz, translated and annotated by Fatih Ermiş, Istanbul: Ketebe, 2021.
“Bin Altınlık Hazine: Gülşen-i Râz - Önemi, Hakkındaki Literatür, Ele Aldığı Belli Başlı Konular”, (Treasure of Thousand Gold Coins: Gulshan-i Rāz - Its Significance, Literature on Gulshan-i Rāz and its Main Subjects)Türkiye Araştırmaları LiteratürDergisi, vol. 15, issue 30, 2019, pp. 155-180.
Translation of Namık Kemal’s article “Renan Müdafaanamesi” into German as “Die Verteidigung (des Rufs des Islam) gegen Renan”, in: Birgit Schäbler, Moderne Muslime. Ernest Renan und die Geschichte der ersten Islamdebatte 1883, Schöningh Verlag, 2016, pp. 93-106.
Translation of Suat Mertoğlu’s article “Doğrudan Doğruya Kur’an’dan Alıp İlhamı: Kur’an’a Dönüş’ten Kur’an İslamı’na” into German as “‛Direkt vom Koran inspiriert’: Rückkehr zum Koran oder ein Koranischer Islam”, HIKMA – Zeitschrift für Islamische Theologie und Religionspädagogik, vol. 5, issue 8, 2014, pp. 9-37.
Onur İnal, Yavuz Köse (eds.), "Seeds of Power. Explorations in Ottoman Environmental History", Winwick, Cambridgeshire 2019: The White Horse Press, xvii, 292 pp., ISBN: 9781-874267-997 (Hardback). In: H/Soz/Kult, https://www.hsozkult.de/review/id/reb-29034?title=o-inal-u-a-hrsg-seeds-of-power (2021)
Book review of Meltem Toksöz’s The Çukurova: From Nomadic Life to Commercial Agriculture, 1800-1908, Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi, vol. 3, No: 6 (2005).
Book review of Charles Issawi’s The Economic History of Turkey, Türkiye Araştırmaları Literatür Dergisi, vol. 1, No: 1 (2003).
Warum erzählen die Sufis Geschichten? - Von der theoretischen zur praktischen Weisheit // 15 JUNI 2022.
“Typology of “Turk” in Islamicate Literature and Ethical Works”, paper presented in the workshop on Typologies in the Islamic Ethical Discourse // 10-12 MARCH 2022.
" Ḳınālīzāde: Political system in the Ottoman Empire", Alliance of Civilizations Institute, Ibn Haldun University, ISTANBUL // 23 NOVEMBER 2021.
"New Garments for Old Wisdoms: Ḳınālīzāde ʿAlī Çelebī's ethics", Ibn Haldun University, ISTANBUL // 24 NOVEMBER 2021.
"Drawing Inspiration from Ḳınālīzāde ʿAlī Çelebī, Ottoman Scholar of Sixteenth Century" in the radio show Shaping Tomorrow, Radio IKIM, MALAYSIA // 27 NOVEMBER 2021.
"The Soul, Virtues and Circle of Justice according to Ḳınālīzāde ʿAlī Çelebī", in the radio show Shaping Tomorrow, Radio IKIM, MALAYSIA // 11 DECEMBER 2021.
"Bin Altınlık Hazine: Gülşen-i Râz", Medeniyet University, ISTANBUL // 20 DECEMBER 2021.
“Storytelling for Transmission of Ethics: Theoretical versus Practical Wisdom”, at the conference: “Narrative and Ethics: The Morals of the Qurʾanic Stories and Beyond”, CILE, Hamad bin Khalifa University, 27-29 January 2020, Doha.
“Main Parameters of Ottoman Economic Thought”, Türkisch-Deutsche Universität, 2 December 2019, Istanbul.
“Maḥmūd Shabistarī’s Rose Garden of Secrets: Treasure of Thousand Gold Coins”, American University of Beirut (AUB), 20 February 2019, Beirut.
“Charā Charḫa-i ʿAdālat tā Bīnihāyat Idāma Nadārad?” (“Why does the Circle of Justice not Continue Perpetually?” in Persian), Firdawsi University, 7 February 2017, Mashhad, Iran.
“Main Parameters of Ottoman Economic Thought”, University of Ghent, 14 November 2016, Ghent, Belgium.
“Economic Perceptions of 16th and 17th Century Muslim Scholars: Kınalızade, Katib Çelebi, Naima”, Universita Degli Studi Firenze, Corso Di Storia Del Pensiero Economico, 7 May 2014, Florence, Italy.
Workshop on Typologies in the Islamic Ethical Discourse // 10-12 MARCH 2022.
Workshop “Environmental History of the Ottoman Empire”, Orient-Institut Beirut, 10–12 December 2020, OIB.
Workshop “Conversion from/to Islam”, Universität Tübingen, 11–14 May 2017, Tübingen.
Lecture Series “Wissenstransfer in der türkisch-iranischen Welt” (Transfer of knowledge in the Turco-Iranian World), Universität Tübingen, winter term 2015–16, Tübingen.
Workshop “Islamische Tradition: Vom Autor zum Leser” (Islamic Tradition: From Author to Reader), Universität Tübingen, 27–28 April 2015, Tübingen.
