Access address: https://ulema.isam.org.tr/
Tabakat (biographical collections) have been one of the most prevalent and rich genres of writing in the Islamic world for over a thousand years. From the 9th century to the 20th century, tabakat were compiled, encompassing scholars, Sufis, poets, craftsmen, statesmen, and other prominent or less prominent groups within society. These tabakat contain detailed information about individuals and groups, including their families, education, marriages, and relationships with each other. Many modern researchers use tabakat as a fundamental source, both to learn about individual life stories and to compile group biographies (prosopography).
While tabakat continue to hold significance as a source, recent developments in digital technologies have inspired significant innovations in how researchers approach and utilize these resources. For instance, projects like the China Biographical Database compiled information from sources such as biographical books, chronicles, official documents, correspondence, etc., spanning the 7th to 19th centuries to illuminate Chinese history. Similarly, projects such as the Austrian Biographical Database, Mamluk Prosopography Project, and Prosopografía de los ulemas de al-Andalus have created databases by collecting biographical data from different periods in relevant geographical areas. These databases not only consolidate dispersed information from various sources but also inspire researchers with new ways to ask questions through their presentation formats and filtering capabilities. Thus, these databases contribute not only quantitatively but also qualitatively to current research.
UVT (Ulema Veri Tabanı) is a digital prosopographical application aimed at recording data from biographical works of tabakat produced throughout Islamic history. UVT was initiated to meet the need for a data repository supporting biographical entries to be included in the second edition of the Turkey Diyanet Foundation's Islamic Encyclopedia, under the support and hosting of the Center for Islamic Studies (İSAM) in 2019. Within this framework, UVT was developed as a database where biographies of all Muslim scholars and Sufis who lived in different geographical regions throughout Islamic history can be recorded and searched through various variables such as date, place, school of thought, discipline, expertise, relationships, etc.
Unlike some other projects mentioned above, UVT was not created by mimicking data models of existing ulema databases or transforming other tabakat databases. Instead, efforts in this field aimed to develop a new platform from scratch, where all biographical information from any tabakat work could be disaggregated and recorded down to the smallest details. In this context, a pilot project was conducted between 2019 and 2020 with a team of six people, focusing on Eş-Şakâ’iku’n-Nu‘mâniyye fî Ulemâ’i’d-Devleti’l-Osmâniyye written by Taşköprülüzâde Ahmed Efendi (d. 1561). During this pilot project, various biographies from Eş-Şakâ’ik were reviewed to discuss how existing biographical data could be recorded in an event-centered, relational, and source-centric manner. Subsequently, all biographies from this source were entered into the created pilot database, undergo editorial processes, and were checked.
By the end of 2020, this pilot database, modified and developed considering data from tabakat books such as Nev‘izâde Atâî’s Hadâiku’l-Hakâik fî Tekmileti’ş-Şakâ’ik, Şeyhî Mehmed Efendi’s Vekâyi‘u’l-Fuzalâ, and Necmeddin el-Gazzi’s el-Kevâkibu’s-Sâire bi-A‘yâni’l-Mi’eti’l-Âşira, expanded with a broader team of researchers joining between 2020 and 2023.
