Bir Amerikan Rahibi İslamın Gücüne Güvendiğinde: Modern Dünyada Müslüman Tıbbı, Akılcılık ve Kamu Sağlığı

This paper discusses how Ottoman science helped Cotton Mather, Boston and the Anglo-Atlantic World accept inoculation in 1721. Mather was more willing to put his faith as a Christian in Islamic medicine than one of America´s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and many other leading secular voices at the time. The process reflected the intersection of two trends in the Anglo-American Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the European Enlightenment and a vision of Islamic civilization that recognized and sought to benefit from its intellectual and social achievements. It also challenges two misconceptions: Islamic science stagnated after the medieval period and Muslims did not contribute to American history before 1800. Finally, this paper reframes Mather´s place in history. Despite his achievements, he is remembered for his unyielding defense of the Salem Witch Trials-one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American history.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Smallpox, Boston, Ottoman Empire, Islamic Science, and Cotton Mather.

Doi Number :10.9737/historyS843

This paper discusses how Ottoman science helped a prominent American Protestant Christian Theologian, Cotton Mather (1663-1728), and the Anglo-Atlantic World accept inoculation-a process that saved lives from Smallpox in Boston in 1721 and led to advances in public health in the West. Ironically, Mather was more willing to put his faith as a Christian in Islamic medicine than one of America´s founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, and many other leading secular voices. The process reflected the intersection of two trends in the Anglo-American Atlantic world in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: the European Enlightenment and a vision of Islamic civilization that recognized and sought to benefit from its intellectual and social achievements. It also challenges two misconceptions about Islamic science and American history: first, Islamic science stagnated after the medieval period and fell behind European medicine after the Renaissance; second, Islam and Muslims did not contribute to American history before the nineteenth century. In addition, this paper reframes Cotton Mather´s place in American history. Despite his intellectual achievements, he is almost universally remembered for his unyielding adherence to Puritan Christian dogma and defense of the Salem Witch Trials (1692)-one of the worst miscarriages of justice in American history.

Keywords: Smallpox, Boston, Ottoman Empire, Islamic Science, and Cotton Mather.

Doi Number :10.9737/historyS843