Summary View

Country

Turkey

City

Ankara

Institution

Ankara Milli Kütüphane

Collection

Milli Kütüphane Yazmalar Koleksiyonu

Shelfmark

8294

Contents

Work 3: ʿÖmer b. Ḫaṭṭāb Destānı (Kirdeci Ali)

LOC subject headings

Epic literature, Turkish

Author

Kirdeci Ali

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Show other names

Kirdeci ʿAlī (fl. 13th-14th century)

Kirdeci Ali (authorised)

Kirdeci, Ali (variant)

Ali, Kirdeci (variant)

Biographical notes

Kirdeci ʿAlī is known as the author of three religious stories (dāstān): The Kesik Bāş Destānı, the Güvercin Destānı, the Ejderhā Destānı. The only information about his life is also given by him in those stories. Nothing else is known about his life. He mentions the names of Mevlānā (Rūmī) (d. 672/1273) , Shams-i Tabrīzī (d. 645/1247 ?) and Aḥmed Faḳīh (d. 618/1221 or 628/1230) in his works, which is often accepted as evidence of his belonging to Mawlaw'īyya sect. His name Kirdeci, meaning the maker of pitta bread/bread, might suggest his role as the baker in a dervish convent. Vasfi Mahir Kocatürk argues that he lived between the 13th and 15th centuries [1200-1499 CE] based on the general characteristics of the language used in his stories. This is emphasizes by one of the manuscripts dated 1461 [1461 CE] where the Ejderhā Destānı is included. However, Halit Biltekin has noted that there is an earlier manuscript dated 760 AH [1359 CE], where another story by Kirdeci ʿAlī the ʿÖmer b. Ḥaṭṭāb Destānı is included. So it might be possible to suggest that he was active in 13th or 14th centuries [1200-1399 CE]. Although some other stories such as the Ḥikāye-i Delletü’l-Muḫtel, the Ḥikāye-i Geyik and the Dāstān-ı İsmāʿil are usually included in the manuscripts containing the works mentioned above, the attribution of these last three works to Kirdeci ʿAlī is no clear, since his name doesn’t appear in those stories. Further, despite the fact that his name appears in the works mentioned above, there is no way to be certain if Kirdeci is the person who is simply putting in writing already existing folk stories or if he is the author of them.

Title

ʿÖmer b. Ḫaṭṭāb Destānı

عمر ابن خطاب دستانى

Notes

This is a short mathnawi consisting of 15 bayts in which the 2nd caliph of Islam Umar ibn Al-Khattab (13/634-23/644) converts a Jewish community to Islam. Only one copy known of the work in which Kirdeci ʿAlī’s name can be seen is published by Halit Biltekin

Main language of text

Turkish

Columns

1

Ruled lines

17

Bibliography

Editions

Argunşah, Mustafa. Kirdeci Ali Kesikbaş Destanı. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlığı Yayınları, 2002.

Kocatürk, Vasfi Mahir. Türk Edebiyatı Tarihi. Ankara: Edebiyat Yayınevi, 1970.

Studies

Biltekin, Halit. "Kirdeci Ali ve Dâstân-ı ‘Ömer İbni Hattâb Adlı Küçük Mesnevisi." Turkish Studies. 8, no. I 2013: 1061-1069. (<p>includes the text in transcription</p>)

History

Date of copy

possibly 14th. century