The Power of Commentary

Managing the Meaning of the Original in Sharḥ ‘ala al-Maqala al-Rumiyya by Anonymous

Abstract

Shihab al-Din al-Hafagi (b. 1571), writer, qadi and an Egyptian military judge wrote a maqama entitled al-Maqama al-Rumiyya ridiculing the Sheikh al-Islam Zekeriyazade Yahya- effendi for preventing al-Hafagi’s promotion in service and degrading him to the position of an ordinary judge in Egypt. At the same time, in this maqama al-Hafagi riduculed the overall situation in the Ottoman Empire, primarily in Istanbul. An unknown author provided a commentary to the maqama, trying to alter the meaning of the text by al-Hafagi and present the ridicule directed at Sheikh al-Islam as an attempt to ridicule all religious scholars, religion and the state.