“Commendable in an Ottoman of his background”: Christopher Ferrard and a reassessment of hiscontributions on Islamic literary sciences

Abstract

This paper critically assesses Christopher Ferrard’s (d. 2024)contributions to the study of nineteenth-century Ottomanrhetorical scholarship. In particular, it examines Ferrard’s definitionof rhetoric as necessarily grounded in national literary traditionsand his assessment of the scholarly output based on its alignmentwith a nation-centric approach. We demonstrate how thisconceptual framework results in favorable evaluations of scholarswho advocated for a nation-centric approach while leading tonegative assessments of those who upheld the universality ofbalāgha and sought to vernacularize it in the Ottoman context. Weconclude by advocating for further research that offers morecomprehensive accounts of Ottoman rhetorical thought, balancinguniversalist and particularist perspectives.