News

The second meeting in the "Sources in Medical History Research" series, organized under the coordination of the Department of Medical History and Ethics at Istanbul Medeniyet University Faculty of Medicine, was held on December 17, 2025, at our university's Central Classroom Building Red Hall, with the theme "Sufi Texts and Menakıbnames."

Organized by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elif Gültekin, Head of the Department of History of Medicine and Ethics, together with Prof. Dr. Mükerrem Bedizel Aydın, faculty member of the Department of Philosophy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Sakarya University, the panel aimed to offer different approaches for researchers working outside the field of medicine/history of medicine but conducting studies related to the history of medicine to bring their fields together with the history of medicine, as well as to introduce different sources that would enrich the work of medical historians.

At the panel, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nükhet Varlık, a faculty member at Rutgers University who is well known in academic circles for her work in this field, discussed the value of menakıbnames (hagiographies) in terms of medical history under the title "Menakıbnames as a Source for the History of Disease and Death." Next, Prof. Dr. Haşim Şahin, a faculty member at Anadolu University, addressed the tradition of medicine in Sufi history in his presentation titled "The Dervish's Cure: Physician Sufis According to Menakıbnames." Prof. Dr. Güldane Gündüzöz, a faculty member at Kırıkkale University, shed light on different aspects of the topic with her presentation titled "Ahlat-ı Erbaa in the Works of Ibn al-Arabi," and Prof. Dr. Hülya Küçük, a faculty member at Necmettin Erbakan University, with her presentation titled "The Effect of Morsel on Temperament and Spirit: The Anatolian Tekke Kitchen in the Light of Mecmua-i Fevaid."