Knowing the Contents of the Qur’an as a Precondition to the Understanding SūfI Poetry in Oriental Languages

Example of Tahmis by Abdullah Salahuddin Uššaki Bosniak, Poetic answer to al-Busiri’s poem Qaṣīda al-Burda

Abstract

Bosniaks as a people who embraced Islam and the Oriental-Islamic cultural heritage very early, confirm the Islamic culture as their own universal canon, and the Qur’an as the Basic Text of their own culture, by creating works in Oriental languages. They achieve that aim by strong citational connection to the Qur’an. The constant return to the Qur’an, achieved in various ways, presents an effort to embed a part of themselves into the eternal meaning of the Holy Text. In this paper, we are trying to present the way which a poet uses to connect himself to the Qur’an and how he incorporates the Qur’anic quotations and ideas into his own poem. For this undertaking, we shall use the very long Tahmis by Abdullah Salahuddin Uššaki Bosniak, a poetic answer to al-Busiri’s poem Qaṣīda al-Burda. We would also like to point out how it is necessary to know the contents of the Qur’an in order to understand Bosniak poetry written in Oriental languages in a better manner.