Persian Qasidah With the Shīn Rhyme by ‘Abdullāh Bosnawī

Abstract

The principal aim of this article is to introduce a hitherto unknown 175-distich long Persian qasidah composed by great Ottoman commentator on the Fuṣūṣ, ‘Abdullāh al-Bosnawī. The article consists of two main parts. In the first part the author offers an overview of the existing works in Bosnian and other languages pertinent to al-Bosnawī and his opus. In a separate section of the first part, the author gives new insights into the life and career of al-Bosnawī gleaned from marginal notes and colophons in the available manuscripts of al-Bosnawi’s works in manuscript collections, some of which were penned by al-Bosnawī himself. After this biographical section, the author proceeds with an analysis of the qasidah referred to as al-shiniyya because of the last letter of its rhyme pattern. After a brief description of the manuscript and the qasideh, the author analyses some formal and stylistic features of the poem such as the metre, rhyme, the language of the poem and some elements of style and figures of speech. After this formal and stylistic section, the author analyses the main currents of the poem’s subjectmatter including but not limited to the transcendental unity of being and its gradation, five Divine presences, al-Bosnawī’s epistemological means as well as other motifs that stand out in the text. This section is followed by a conclusion, bibliography and three facsimile prints: the facsimile of the opening page of the poem and the endowment stamp from SK: Kılıç Ali Paşa 1037 manuscript as well as the facsimile of the marginal biographical note containing new significant information about al-Bosnawī’s life from the front cover of his Turkish Sharh (SK: Hekimoğlu 470).