Bingöl Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi

Öz

There are sciences in Turkish-Islamic culture that deal with various practices for learning the unknown and the future. One of these sciences is science of the stars. Although science of the stars is sometimes associated with fortune-telling and seen as an unrealistic science, it deeply affected the society. Beliefs that the stars have an effect on the works people do have led to the emergence of the genre called “saatname” based on this science. Such works were respected by both the public and the rulers. The impact of the seven stars on the works of the seven times of the day is the subject of the saatnames. There are many manuscripts in different libraries about the genre of saatname. However, most of such works have not been studied yet. There are few studies in the scientific field about the genre of saatname. In this study, a manuscript prose example of an unknown author in the Fleischer Catalogue of the Leipzig Library in Germany was examined. The text, which was arranged in the form of a small tractate, was written to inform the provisions of the hours, to indicate which works were good to be done at which hour and which ones were bad. In the text, the positive and negative effects of the seven stars in seven times of seven days are explained. The influence of the stars on the days and times continues in a regular circular cycle. It has been observed that the effect of stars on auspicious deeds is more. Another notable feature is that there is no mention of any sinister work when certain stars are in effect. It is important in terms of Turkish cultural history to evaluate many examples of saatnames, which are generally a short genre.