HÜSNÎ AND A TRANSLATION OF THE AHD-N?MA OF HAZRAT ?AL? FOR SULTAN ?ABD AL-?AZ?Z

Abstract

It is accepted that ?Al? b. Ab? ??lib sent a letter also known in Turkish literature as Amrn?ma, Ahd-n?ma, and Vasiyat-n?ma, to M?lik al-Ashtar, whom he appointed as governor of Egypt. Hüseyin Hüsnü Pasha was a statesman and poet in 19th-century Turkish literature who wrote his poems under the pseudonym Hüsnî and compiled a d?w?n. Hüsnü Pasha translated this work from Arabic into Turkish. He entitled the translation Terceme-i Ahd-i Azîz since he dedicated it to Sultan ?Abd al-?Az?z. The critical analysis of the translation mentioned above and the biography of Hüsnü Pasha constitute the subject of this study. I have located three copies of the above-mentioned translation in manuscript libraries. The present article aims to create a critical text of the above-cited translation based on these copies and, to present the life of Hüsnî through archival documents and some previously overlooked sources. In this context, first of all, the importance of the Turkish tradition of political and advisory texts will be briefly discussed prepare the reader for the subject and to emphasize the importance of Ahdn?me translations. Afterward, in the first part of the present work, brief information will be given about M?lik al-Ashtar and the translations of Ahdn?ma in Turkish literature. In the second part, the biography of Hüsnî will be composed in the light of some archival documents that have not been used before and, Hüsnî’s works will be summarily introduced. The third part is devoted to the analysis of Terceme, which consists of the main subject of this study. In this part, a general examination of the work will be made via the language of the work, its attribution to the author, content, title, and the person to whom it was dedicated will be analyzed. Just before the text section, the three identified manuscripts will be described. Finally, a critical text will be provided over the three manuscript copies that we have identified. In the conclusion, the reasons behind the translation of the Ahd-n?ma will be discussed from a historical perspective and the collective structure of the entire work will be pointed out, as well as further studies on literature. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.