[Müfid] - [مفيد]

This volume contains Abdurrahman Abdi Pasha's (died 1103 AH/1692 CE) grammatical commentary on the Pandnama, the famous mystical and didactic work in Persian attributed to the renowned poet and Sufi Farid al-Din Attar (died 618 AH/1221 CE). As well as being a clerk and statesman, Abdi Pasha was a poet and an accomplished chronicler. He was born in the Anadoluhisarı neighbourhood of Istanbul, and entered the palace at a young age. Educated in the Enderun, he went on to serve in a number of palace roles. He eventually gained the favour of Sultan Mehmed IV (reigned 1058-1099 AH/1648-1687 CE) with a kaside written on the occasion of the Kurban Bayramı in 1060 AH/1650 CE. By 1066 AH/1656 CE, he was working in the Privy Chamber (Has Oda) as Peşkir Ağası and then Sır Kâtibi. He went on to become a nişancı with the rank of vezir, Kaymakam of Istanbul, Vali of Bosnia, Vali of Basra (twice), Muhafız of Kandiye, and finally Muhafız of Sakız. He died in Sakız while serving in the latter role in 1103 AH/1692 CE. Abdi Pasha authored the Müfid (also called Şerh-i Pend-i Attar) during the reign of Mehmed IV. According to the text, he composed the work because Şem'i's (died 1011 AH/1602-1603 CE [?])'s şerh of the Pandname did not adequately explain every beyit, whilst Sudi (died 1007 AH/1599 CE [?]) neglected to compose a şerh of the text altogether, despite doing so for a number of other works in Persian (see Kamçi, 'Feridüddîn Attâr'). Abdi Pasha's own work was intended to enable Ottoman Turkish readers to access the Pandnama ('Book of Advice') in its original Persian. He was writing in a time when Ottoman scholars were producing a variety of philological works in Persian to cater to the increased interest in literary and mystical texts in the language (Inan 2020, 161-2). The Pandnama was among the most popular and widely read texts in Persian. Abdi Pasha followed Sudi's style of commentary in the Müfid; he first gives the Persian original from the Pandnama and then explains the beyitler with a focus on grammar. He then explains how the words should be read and also provides their meaning, sometimes giving exclusively Ottoman Turkish meanings and on other occasions giving their Arabic equivalents. He then gives his own explanation of their wider meaning, which he calls 'Mahsul-i beyt.'. Begins:. Besmele, Esniye-i tazim-ara ve ed'iye-i terecci-nüma o Huda-yi bi-hemta ve Halik-i küll eşyaya layık sezadir (sic) kim enbiya-i izamının ve evliya-i kiramının çırağ-i pend-i nasihatler ile encümen kılıp zü'l-hidayetini müzeyya ve revşena eyledi. Ends:. Raḥmat-i Ḥaqq bād bar rūḥ-i kas * kīn nasāyiḥ bakhwānad bas. Mahsul-i beyit: Hak Teâlâ Hazretinin rahmeti şol kimesnenin ruhuna olsun ki bu nasihatleri çok okuya. There are additions, corrections, and indications of subject matter in the margins of several folios. Although it is undated, the present copy is likely from the 13th century AH/19th century CE.

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Another copy of the Pandname in Persian with an Ottoman Turkish interlinear translation can be found at Or 5932 ff 17r-54r. On Abdi Pasha, see Nagehan U. Eke, 'Abdî, Nişancı Abdurrahman Abdî Paşa,' TEİS (teis.yesevi.edu.tr/madde-detay/abdi-nisanci-abdurrahman-abdi-pasa). For a study of his Müfid, see Muhammet Kamçi, 'Feridüddîn Attâr'ın Pend-Nâmesi'nin Abdurrahmân Abdî Paşa şerhi: Müfîd (35a-105a varakları arası inceleme- metin)' (MA thesis, Erzincan Binali Yıldırım University, 2019); F. Yerdemir, 'Abdurrahman Abdî Paşa'nın Pendname Şerhi İle İsmail Hakkı Bursevi'nin Pendname Şerhi'nin Karşılaştırılması,' Asia Minor Studies 9:1 (2021), 602-620; Murat Umut Inan, 'Ottomans reading Persian classics: Readers and reading in the Ottoman Empire,' in Edinburgh History of Reading. Early Readers, edited by Mary Hammond (Edinburgh University Press, 2020): 160-81. See also H. Sohrweide, VOHD XIII/3, 266-7 and M. Götz, VOHD XIII/2, 416. For Abdi Pasha's well-known chronicle title Vekayiname, see Vekâyi'-nâme: Osmanlı târihi (1648-1682): tahlil ve metin tenkidi, edited by Fahri Çetin Derin (İstanbul: Çamlıca, 2008).