Summary View

Country

Turkey

City

Istanbul

Institution

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi

Collection

Yazma Bağışlar

Shelfmark

6535

Contents

ʿUḳūdü’l-cevāhīr (Ahmed Dâi, active 1387-1421)

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

ʿUḳūdü’l-cevāhīr

عقود الجواهير

Notes

The work is a verse dictionnary which gives the Persian equivalents of Arabic words in 650 couplets and five shorts poems. It is an abridged version of Rashīd al-dīn Vaṭvāṭ’s Nuqūd al-ẓawāhir. Dāʿī prepared the work for the use of prince Murād, when he was the latter’s tutor.

Main language of text

Arabic-Persian

Bibliography

Studies

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

Show filiations

Süleymaniye Yazma Eser Kütüphanesi 1102

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1949

Ankara Milli Kütüphane 9103

Süleymaniye Yazma Eserler Kütüphanesi 1029

Physical Description

Number of folios

78 ff.

Columns

1

Ruled lines

9

History

Date of copy

20th. century