A Hashiya of Mashariq al-Anwar in the Ottoman Empire: Darwish 'Ali b. Muhammad's Anwar al-Mashariq

Abstract

Sagani's Mashariq al-Anwar is one of the most used sources about the science of hadith in the Ottoman Empire. This work reinforced its authority with the commentaries of Ibn Melek and Ekmeleddin Baberti. Many studies have been done about Mashariq and its commentaries in the Ottoman Empire. Most of them are in manuscript form, and some do not even have introductory information. One of these works, about which there is no study, is Darwish Ali's Anwar a'l-Mashariq. The work is a voluminous hashiya written about the commentaries of Ibn Malak and Babarti together with Mashariq al-Anwar.Studies attribute this work to Ali Dede el-Bosnawi (d. 1007-1598). However, this ratio needs to be corrected. One of the questions of this article is whether Darwish Ali b. Muhammad, who is stated as the author of the book, and Ali Dede al-Bosnawi are the same person. The answer to this question has been researched as a result of comparing information obtained from the different copies of the work and the points where Ali Dede's life overlaps and does not overlap.Although Ali Dede lived in Bosnia, Zigetvar, Istanbul, Mecca, and Medina, there is no information that he lived in Aleppo. However, our author Darwish Ali clearly states that he was a mufti in Aleppo in the introduction of some of his copies. The author also talks about a period when he was in the Husrev Pasha madrasah. Even though Gazi Husrev Pasha madrasah in Bosnia comes to mind when Husrev Pasha madrasah is mentioned, there is also a madrasah with this name in Aleppo. It is known that Darwish Ali, who was a mufti in Aleppo, has a history book called Hulasa al-Tawarih. In different copies of Anwar al-Mashariq, Ahmed Pasha Madrasa in Karahisar is men-tioned as the place where his work was written. What is meant here may be the Gedik Ahmed Pasha madrasah in Afyonkarahisar or the Ahmed Pasha madrasah in Tekirdag corlu. It is difficult to identify the author from the information used in the hashiya. Because the features such as the use of poetry and Persian, a good knowledge of hadith, and knowledge of Sufism in the book can point to both authors.Mashariq al-Anwar consists of a lengthy introduction and twelve titles. In Anwar al-Mashariq, however, there is no explanation about the introduction, and there are notes on six headings. Although this makes the work feel unfinished, the end date of the work is deducted as h. 990/m. 1582 in the records at the end of the copies. As stated in the introduction, the book was presented to the Ottoman Sultan III. Murad's (1574-1595) teacher Hodja Sadeddin (d. 1008/1599). Katib celebi, in his work Kashf al-Zunun, does not mention this work when he talks about Mashariq sharhs and hashiyas. This suggests that the work was not well known at that time. However, we identified nine copies of Anwar al-Mashariq in Anatolian libraries. Accordingly, we can say that the work has a certain prestige. In Anwar al-Mashariq, there are explanations about both Sagani's Mashariq al-Anwar and his commentaries, Ibn Melek's Mebariq al-Azhar and Akmal al-din Baberti's Tuhfa al-Abrar. In the book, only the part to be explained is quoted, and it is not specified which hadith the relevant part belongs to. Understanding the text requires closely following the two related works (Ibn Malak and Babarti's sharhs). This is a challenge for the reader. However, it is convenient for the reader to clearly state it in the work from whom the citation is made (Sagani, Ibn Malak, and Babarti).The explanations made are sometimes explanatory and sometimes critical. Although Darwish 'Ali criticizes all three scholars, it is seen that the criticisms are mostly made about Ibn Malak. Even at the points where Ibn Malak criticizes Babarti, Darwish 'Ali makes statements supporting Babarti. The explanations in the book concern many branches of science. The sciences of the Qur'an, hadith, fiqh, kalam, mysticism, and history are frequently discussed in work. It is clear from the work that the author has a mystical spirit. In the discussions that will be known as Kadizadalis-Sivasis in the next century, the author declares agreed ideas to the Sivasis. Never-theless, although Darwish 'Ali included mystical views in his work, he did not mention ishari interpretation. He made explanations by using sources in his work in accordance with classical madrasah education.Darwish 'Ali frequently cites al-Kashshaf, a tafsir work, al-Kamus, a dictionary, and al-Cami al-usul, a compilation of hadith, as sources. Apart from these, many other sources are mentioned in different fields. It is seen that the author frequently refers to Ottoman scholars in his work. This situation is important in terms of showing the interaction among the Ottoman authors. The most striking one for us from the sources mentioned in the work is Ibn Hajar. We could not find any reference to Ibn Hajar's Bukhari commentary in the 16th-century Ottoman hadith commenta -tors, and Darwish 'Ali referred to him several times. Although the reasons for this situation de -serve further research, the first conclusion is that Darwish 'Ali was in the Syrian region and was influenced by the scientific environment there.