Bayrakdar (22) claims that the
work is clearly dedicated to Orhan Gazi (‘Davud
el-Kayseri’nin bu eserini Orhan Gazi’ye ithaf ettiǧi açıktır’). In reality, however,
the dedication does not mention Orhan at all as its dedicatee: المولى المعظم الواصل
الى عين الحقيقة الرافع بانوار باطنه الظلمات التي في النشأة البشرية افضل المأخرين
قدوة المتبحرين جلال الملة والدين جمال الاسلام والمسلمين مربي الضعفاء والمساكين ادام
الله ظلال عرضه بين يديه
Written as a preface to the Maṭla‘ Khuṣūṣ
al-Kilam fi Ma‘āni Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam ( مطلع خصوص الكلم في
فصوص الحكم). ( 34) considers it to be Davud’s earliest work, dating to c. 1330. In the introduction, Davud gives
himself the nisba ‘al-Sāwī’ indicated it was written while he was in Sawa (Iran). Written
for Ghiyāth
al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Rashīd al-Dīn.
According to Bayrakdar (21)
composed İznik (Turkey), post 1336 and presumed to have been
dedicated to Orhan Gazi. However, Davud’s nisba as given in his
introduction clearly shows he was resident at Sawa (Iran) at this point: داود بن محمود بن محمد
الرومي القيصري مولداً الساوي محتداً. The dedicatee is in fact a certain Ẓahīr al-Din, a
member of the ‘ulama’, described as ‘al-mawlā al-mu‘aẓẓam al-ṣāḥib al-a‘ẓam,
wa-farīd ḥukamā’ al-dahr…’.
