Abstract
Persian
was among the languages taught as a course in Ottoman education system between
15th and the second quarter of 20th century. Since the beginning of the 15th century, Persian was taught as a lesson
in the tekkes/lodges in order to develop Sufistic thought and to understand
Masnavi.
Salâhî, who is also known as Abdullah Salâhaddîn-i
Uşşâkî, the third pir of the
Uşşâkiyya sect, was one of the Halvatî-Uşşâkî sheikhs who lived in the Ottoman
period in the 18th century. A scholar, a poet and a savior person who had both
Arabic and Persian eloquence. Although it is said that Salâhî has more works in
old sources than it is today, it is known that today there are 31 works in
total with 12 copyrighted works, 11 annotations and 8 translations.
Majma-i
fann-i zarâfat, written in Ottoman Turkish, is one of the copyrighted
works written by Salâhî on Persian grammar. The work was written in Ottoman
Turkish in order to collect the grammar topics described in the dictionaries of
early periods and to eliminate the difficulty in understanding the Persian
grammars written in Arabic.
In the work titled Majma-i fann-i zarâfat, the
sources that the author said he benefited from were recorded with different
names in the catalogs within the libraries and information about the works was
given incomplete. In this article, after a brief information about the
historical course of Persian were given, Majma-i fann-i zarâfat was
introduced with annotations for Qavâid-i Furs and Mafâtîh-i dariyya,
which Salâhî benefited for his work.
Structured Abstract
Turks and Iranians
were influenced by each other since they lived in a common geography throughout
history. One of the places where these effects are seen is language. Persian
was among the languages taught as a course in Ottoman education system between
15th and the second quarter of 20th century. As such, Persian has been
effective in terms of the elements it has in Turkish in our culture and our
eternity.
Since the beginning of the 15th century, Persian was taught as a lesson
in the tekkes/lodges in order to develop Sufistic thought and to understand Masnavî.
Abdullah Salâhaddîn-i Uşşâkî (1705-1783), one
of the Halvatî-Uşşâkî sheikhs and the third pir
of the Uşşâkiyya, wrote a Persian grammar book in Ottoman Turkish called Majma-i fann-i zarâfat for this purpose.
Abdullah Salâhaddîn-i Uşşâkî, who had both Arabic and Persian eloquence, was a scholar, poet and
commentator of 18th century Ottoman period and was mostly known for his
pseudonym, Salâhî.
There has been no
definite information about the number of works of Salâhî, who lived in the 18th
century. It was stated that this number was 57 in the Osmanlı Müellifleri
(Ottoman Authors) and 100 in Hüseyin Vassaf's Safîna-i avliyâ. Salâhî's part in Turkey's Islamic Encyclopedia
of Religious Foundation is described 31 pieces in total as 12 copyrighted
works, 11 annotations and 8 translations.
Majma-i fann-i zarâfat is one of the copyrighted works written by
Salâhî on Persian grammar. The work was written in Ottoman Turkish in order to
collect the grammar topics described in the dictionaries in an early period and
collect them in one book and to eliminate the difficulty in understanding
Persian grammars written in Arabic.
Various manuscripts of
Majma-i fann-i zarâfat et are
available in many libraries in Turkey. Although these copies were recorded with
different names in the information slips in the libraries, the Ankara National
Library Manuscripts section numbers 2646, 2662; Istanbul Süleymaniye Library
Hacı Mahmud Efendi section number 6127, 6135 and Esad Efendi section number
3721; The copies of Istanbul Millet Library Ali Emiri collection Qavâid section
number 163, 164; and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Atatürk Library
Manuscript section number 232/2 are the known manuscripts of the work.
In these manuscripts,
it is recorded that the name of the work was put as “ مجمع فنّ ظرافت/ Majma-i fann-i zarâfat” by the author, and in the finishing records/ferağ there, the
writing date of the work was recorded as in Hijri 1167 (AC 1753-54) according
to numerological abjad
calculation.
The author stated that
he benefited from two sources written in Arabic, one of them was Qavâid-i Furs and the other was Mafâtîh-i dariyya. It is understood from
the slips and sources that there are different information about these two
sources in the libraries and the names were recorded incorrectly. Although some
general information about these two sources is given in the article, it is
emphasized that a broader research and investigation should be carried out.
Though
the author mentioned the name of the work as Qavâid-i Furs in the
introduction, but did not mention the name of the work’s author. Since the word
"قواعد / qavâid", which means "rules / rules", is used
in books containing generally grammar rules, it is not fully understood what
the author meant by this name.
Although
the copies of the Ankara National Library Manuscripts collection number 4831 on
page 15b and 26b and number 3554 on page 15b and 26b were recorded with
different names, they are the same copies and they are called Qavâidü'l-Furs.The
reason is that the name of the work is mentioned as Qavâidü'l-Furs in
the destiny part of these copies. Since the content here is very similar to the
content of Salâhî's Majma-i fann-i zarâfat, it is probably the same
source that Salâhî used while preparing his work.
In
the Turkish Language Association Library, the number 266 and the Ankara
National Library Manuscripts section are the works named Qavâidü'l-Furs
on page 15b and 26b on the number 4831 and on the pages 15b and 26b on the
number 3554. In the Turkish Language Institution Library, there is an Arabic
manuscript with the name of Qavâid-i Fârisî between pages 51b and 69a on
page 123. This copy is the work named Qavâidü'l-Furs, which was copied
on 30 November 1796 by copyist Sayyid Muhammed Saîd, who is known as Sheikh
Ibrâhîm Salâmî.
The
second work that the author says that he benefited is Mafâtîh-i dariyya. The author once again mentioned only the title
of the work and did not mention the name of its author. The name of this work
was recorded with different names in various libraries. There is a Persian
grammar book written in Arabic under the name Mafâtîhü’d-dariyya fî
isbâti qavânîni’d-durriyya. Considering the content and subject sequence of
the work, it can be said that Salâhî may have benefited from this work.
There
are many manuscripts in the library records under the name Mafâtîhü’d-dariyya
fî isbâti qavânîni’d-durriyya. These are the Istanbul Millet Library Ali
Emîrî Arabic Manuscripts section number 3070/9, 3392/2, 3396/5, 3523/2 and 4021/9;
Ankara National Library Manuscripts section number 4548/3, 4548/5, 5131/1,
7116/7 and 4888/6 and Konya Regional Directorate Selçuk University Faculty of
Theology section 91 are copies of the mentioned work.
There
are "و سمّيتها بمفاتيح الدرية فی اثبات القوانين الدرية (And
I named it Mafâtîhü’d-dariyya fî isbâti qavânîni’d-durriyya) in
the introductions of the copies given the library registration numbers above.
This is probably the source that Salâhî may have benefited from. The author may
have shortenede the name of the work as Mafâtîh-i dariyya instead of Mafâtîhü’d-dariyya fî isbâti qavânîni’d-durriyya.
There
are annotations of the latter mentioned work at Ankara National Library
Manuscripts section number 7302, Istanbul Süleymaniye Library Denizli section
number 402 and Turkish Historical Society Library number 453/2.
The
fact that Salâhî said that he benefited from the books named Qavâid-i Furs
and Mafâtîh-i dariyya in the introduction part of Majma-i fann-i zarâfat and does not mention the names of the
authors creates the possibility that there are more of the works in the similar
titles.
Salâhî described the
Persian grammar in Majma-i fann-i zarâfat,
within three main titles as noun in the first title, verb in the second and the
letter in the third. The main titles are named with the word “bâb” in the
meaning of Arabic “door” and the subtitles are shown with the word “fasl”.
Thus, the first title is four; the second main title is fifteen; The third main
title is organized into three subtitles.
Salâhî's Majma-i fann-i zarâfat has been an
important source in his field in terms of bringing together grammatical issues
scattered in dictionaries and some sources. This book is remarkable in terms of
showing the level of development and processing of grammar subjects, and it is
an important work that requires academic study by comparing poetry translations
with other Persian grammar books.
In this article, both Salâhî’s Majma-i fann-i zarâfat and Qavâid-i
Furs and Mafâtîh-i dariyya, which he said he benefited from, were
introduced, and the missing information in the library records was provided to
the academic community to reach the information accurately and quickly.
