Very Good Turkish, Ottoman (1500-1928) Original brown half morocco, raised bands to spine, gilt lettering. three volumes set: (2 volumes in one: [2], 641 p.; third volume: [8], 379 p.). Foxing and stains on pages, overall a very good copy set. Extremely rare first Turkish edition translated by Nüzhet Muhammad (translator of Ministry of Education) of this first Muslim source to use Western scholarly works in order to ascertain the errors and contradictions of the Bible, in response to the allegations made by certain Christian missionaries against Islam and especially to counter Mizân al-Haqq [i.e. The balance of truth], a book written by Basel Mission missionary in Central Asia and Trans-Caucasus Karl Gottlieb Pfander (1803-1865) against Islam. Izhar al-Haqq aims to respond to Christian criticism of Islam. The doctrine of the Trinity is purportedly contested using biblical, Christian, and other sources. The book was originally written in Arabic in 1864, this six-volume book was later translated (or summarized) into English, Turkish, Urdu, and Bengali. This set is printed in the Vilâyât Printing House of Bosnia-Herzegovina. "'The Demonstration of the Truth' served as a summary of all possible charges against Christianity and was therefore used after al-Kairânawî's death as a sort of encyclopedia since al-Kairânawî extended the material of former polemicists like 'Ali Tabarî, Ibn Hazm or Ibn Taymiyya to a great extent". (Schirrmacher). Rahmatullah Kairanawi Al-Hindi, (1818-1891), was a Sunni Muslim scholar who is a descendant of the third Caliph, Uthman ibn Affan, his full lineage is mentioned in family sources. Sheikh Hakeem Abdul Kareem who was the 8th great-grandfather of Rahmatullah was Emperor Akbar's physician. Kairanwi began receiving traditional Islamic education at the age of 6, memorizing the Qur'an at 12. He also learned Arabic and Persian. Later he moved to Delhi where he studied different disciplines including mathematics and medicine. In 1837 the Church Mission Society appointed Karl Gottlieb Pfander who was known for converting Muslims to Christianity, described by Eugene Stock as "perhaps the greatest of all missionaries to Mohammedans", to Agra in Northern India, where in 1854 he engaged in a famous public debate with leading Islamic scholars. The main Muslim debater was Kairanawi, being assisted by English-speaking Muhammad Wazîr Khân and influential Islamic writer Imad ud-din Lahiz. Kairanawi used arguments from recent European theologically critical works that Pfander was unfamiliar with, having left Europe before these were published, though his main source of reference was the apocryphal sixteenth-century Gospel of Barnabas, which he held to be authentic. Following armed uprisings against the British in which he personally took part, Kairanawani (his property was confiscated by the Imperial British Raj) had to leave all his property (auctioned later), and board a ship in Bombay. Arriving at the port of Mocha, Yemen, he walked to Mecca. The journey took two years. Özege 8894.; TBTK 674/6745.
