Summary View

Country

Egypt

City

Cairo

Institution

National Library Turkish Manuscripts

Shelfmark

8658

Contents

Work 23: Dīvān (Ahmed Dâi, active 1387-1421)

LOC subject headings

Love poetry, Turkish

Author

Ahmed Dâi, active 1387-1421

ﺍﺤﻤﺪِ ﺪﺍﻋﻰ

Show other names

Aḥmed-i Dāʿī

Ahmed Dâi, active 1387-1421 (authorised)

Ahmad Dâʻî, active 1387-1421 (variant)

Aḥmed bin İbrāhīm bin Muḥammed, active 1387-1421 (variant)

Ahmed Dâi, fl. 1387-1421 (variant)

Ahmed-i Dāʻī, active 1387-1421 (variant)

احمد داعى (variant)

Biographical notes

Aḥmed-i Dāʿī was a distinguished figure in early Ottoman literature. Renowned for his literary skills, Dāʿī was also a prolific writer. From his original works and translations we can infer that he had knowledge in various fields such as poetry, tafsir, astronomy, astrology, dream interpretation, language (Turkish, Arabic and Persian), and medicine. His father’s name is İbrāhīm ; his grandfather’s name is Meḥmed. Sources agree that Aḥmed-i Dāʿī is from the principality of Germiyān, but his date and place of birth are not certain. We can tell from his works that he lived during the reigns of Murād I (d. 791/1389), Yaʿḳūb II of Germiyān (d. 831/1428) , Emīr Süleymān (d. 813/1411) and Murād II (d. 855/1451). According to ʿĀlī and Sehī, he served as qadi in the principality of Germiyān for some time. Yaʿḳūb II took him under his patronage after the death of Germiyān prince Süleymān Şāh (d. 789/1387). Emīr Süleymān, who was known to be very generous to men of letters, probably took him under his patronage after the defeat of Yaʿḳūb II by Yıldırım and the subsequent Ottoman annexation of the Germiyān lands. Aḥmed-i Dāʿī dedicated his work Çeng-nāme, written in 808 AH [1406 CE], to Emīr Süleymān. In his Dīvān, he also wrote some poems in praise of Emīr Süleymān. After the death of Emīr Süleymān in 813 AH [1411 CE], Aḥmed-i Dāʿī began serving under the patronage of Çelebi Meḥmed (816/1413-824/1421), as is evident from a qasida that he wrote for the latter’s enthronement. Aḥmed-i Dāʿī dedicated his Persian Dīvān to Vezīr-i aʿẓām ʿOsmāncıḳlı Ḫalīl Pāşā (d. after 816/1413). After a period of low attention, he was finally accepted to the court as a tutor for Çelebi Meḥmed (816/1413-824/1421) son Murād II (824/1421-848/1444). He wrote his Arabic to Persian dictionary ʿUḳūdü’l-cevāhir for Murād II (824/1421-848/1444). After Çelebi Meḥmed (816/1413-824/1421) death in 824 [1421 CE], Murād II (824/1421-848/1444) took him under his patronage. He wrote Tercüme-i Tezkiretü’l-evliyā during this period, probably his last work. Aḥmed-i Dāʿī’s date of death is unknown. There is a mosque, a district and a hammam known by his name in Bursa . According to tradition, the tomb near the mosque known as Dāʿī Dede belongs to him.

Title

Dīvān

ديوان

Notes

The work is part of Aḥmed-i Dā’ī's külliyāt at Burdur İl Halk Kütüphanesi. It consists of 5 qasidas and 199 ghazals. Two of the qasidas are dedicated to Çelebi Meḥmed (816/1413-824/1421). The külliyāt includes two more works by Dāʿī: Vaṣiyyet-i Nūşirevān and Çeng-nāme. Another copy of the Dīvān is located in Cairo, at the National Library Dar al-Kotob al-Qavmiya collection. It is more complete compared to the Burdur copy.

Main language of text

Turkish

Bibliography

Editions

Da'i, Ahmed-i. Ahmed-i Da'i Divanı. Edited by Özmen, Mehmet. Ankara: Türk Dil Kurumu Yayınları, 2001.

Studies

Kut, Günay. "Ahmed Paşa, Bursalı." Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslam Ansiklopedisi. 2Istanbul: Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı, 1989: 111-112.

Show filiations

Bursa İnebey Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 1196

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 187

Physical Description

Number of folios

120 ff.

Columns

1

Ruled lines

13

History

Date of copy

possibly 16th. century