This didactic religious compilation with Sufi overtones and interspersed with Qur’anic verses, hadith reports
and stories of the prophets, consists of five chapters (bāb): chapter one (maʿrifet-i nefs) begins with a Sufi
discussion of self-knowledge as a first step to knowing God; chapter two (vācibāt), the bulk of the work, presents
an explanatory commentary on the ninety-nine “beautiful” names of God (asmāʾ al-ḥusnā); chapter 3 (fıṭrat-ı ervāḥ)
deals with the creation of the angels and relates miscellaneous information on the prophets and the end of the world
as well as descriptions of heaven and hell; chapter 4 (ḫılḳat-ı insān) discusses the creation of man; and chapter 5
(sülūk-i umerāʾ ve vüzerāʾ) consists of discourses on correct sultanic behavior and political ethics, with the
sultan conceived as the successor (khalifa) of God and previous rulers and caliphs serving as exemplary models.
The work concludes with adages of wisdom and maxims of advice. This work was composed in 809 during the period of Emir Süleyman, son of Bayezid I, and dedicated to a certain unnamed Paşa in Emir Süleyman’s employment. Lemi Akın proposes that this paşa most likely was Çandarlızade Ali Paşa (d. 809/1406), who served as vizier for around 19 years under
the Ottoman sultans, beginning with Murad I. There has been much dispute over the authorship of his work. While Zeki Kaymaz
argues that Aḥmed-i Dāʿī composed the work, Abdülbaki Çetin believes that Ḫıżır b. Yaʿḳūb el-Ḫaṭīb is the author as indicated in two of the earliest manuscripts. Subsequent
scholars have generally followed Çetin in
attributing authorship to Ḫıżır b. Yaʿḳūb
el-Ḫaṭīb. Nevertheless, the work’s relationship with Aḥmed-i Dāʿī’s Miftâhu’l-Cenne, especially in regard to its shared stories of the prophets,
deserves a closer look. There is considerable variation in some of the later manuscripts of this text. Show more
