Vefa Erginbas

Vefa Erginbas is a historian of the Ottoman Empire in the pre-modern period (1300-1800) with broader interests in the history of the Islamic world. Erginbas' scholarly contributions grew out of his interest in historical writing and the intellectual and religious history of the Ottoman Empire.

Erginbas' earlier work dealt with the first Ottoman printer and polymath, Ibrahim Muteferrika (1674-1747), as one of the forerunners of the somewhat difficult-to-define Ottoman Enlightenment.

Erginbas' most current interests culminate in the recently published work that deals with the questions of sectarianism in the Ottoman Empire in the early modern period and the phenomenon of ahl-al-baytism , which refers to broader reverence among the Sunnis extended not only to Prophet Muhammad's immediate family but also to the Twelve Imams of Shiism.

Erginbas is the editor of Ottoman Sunnism: New Perspectives (Edinburgh University Press, 2019). His articles and reviews appeared in The Journal of Economic and Social History of the Orient, the International Journal of Middle East Studies, and the Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association.

https://providence.academia.edu/VErginbas