Add MS 7904

This volume contains the following texts:

(I) ff 1v-40v : Hayriname, a moral poem by Yusuf Nabi;

(II) ff 41v-88r : Mizanu'l-hak fi ihtiyari'l-ehak, a text on philosophical method applied to the discussion of Islamic doctrine by Mustafa İbn-i Abdullah, also known as Hacı Halife or Kâtip Çelebi. This is his last work, composed, as stated in the appendix, in Safer 1067 AH (November-December 1656 CE, two years before his death). It consists of a Mukaddime, twenty-one dissertations (bahıslar) and a Hatime, as follows:

Mukaddime, Importance of the rational sciences (f 42r);

Bahıs 1, Is hızır alive? (f 45v);

Bahıs 2, Is music lawful? (f 47v);

Bahıs 3, Is dancing lawful? (f 49r);

Bahıs 4, On the use of the tasliye or tarziye after the names of prophets and saints (f 51r);

Bahıs 5, On smoking tobacco (f 52r);

Bahıs 6, On the use of coffee (f 56r);

Bahıs 7, On the use of hemp and opium (f 57r);

Bahıs 8, Were the parents of the Prophet Muhammad صلعم kafirun? (f 57v);

Bahıs 9, On the faith of the Pharaoh (f 61r);

Bahıs 10, Conflicting opinions on Şeyh Muhyiddin Ibn-i Arabi (f 63r);

Bahıs 11, On the practice of cursing Yezidis (f 64r);

Bahıs 12, On bid'at or innovation in religious matters (f 65v);

Bahıs 13, On the practice of visiting saints' tombs (f 66v);

Bahıs 14, On supererogatory powers (f 68r);

Bahıs 15, On the practice of saluting by grabbing the hand (f 69r);

Bahıs 16, On bowing by way of a salutation (f 69v);

Bahıs 17, On the duty of prescribing good and prohibiting evil (f 70v);

Bahıs 18, On the sense of millet; can a Muslim call themselves a follower of a former prophet? (f 72r);

Bahıs 19, On bribery (f 77v);

Bahıs 20, The dispute of Ebussuûd Efendi with Birgili Mehmet Efendi on the subject of pious legacies in money (f 78v);

Bahıs 21, On the controversies between Sivasi Efendi (Abdülmecit İbn-i Şeyh Muharrem, a celebrated mystic and preacher who died in 1049 AH/1639-40 CE) and Kadızade Efendi (Şeyh Mehmet İbn-i Mustafa, who died in 1045 AH/1635-36 CE) (f 80r);

Hatime, which contains an account of the author's life and of his numerous writings prior to the present work (f 81r). It concludes with a vision in which the Prophet Muhammad صلعم appeared to the author and with four admonitions addressed to the Sultan, preachers, Muslims in general, and students in particular, respectively;

(III) ff 91v-120r : A memorial addressed to the Sultan on the means of restoring prosperity to the Empire under the heading Nasihatü'l-muluk. The author's name does not appear. This is not the text of the same name composed by Gazzali. The author sees the cause of the Empire's decline in the decrease of piety and looks upon the reverses of Muslim fortunes as God's punishment for the neglect of His laws. Texts from the Qur'an and the Aḥādith are freely quoted in Arabic and explained in Ottoman Turkish, while Persian and Ottoman Turkish verses are also frequently inserted into the text. The Sultan addressed was apparently Murad IV, as the author quotes on f 107v the fetva of Esat Efendi against the consumption of tobacco. Esat Efendi was Mufti between 1024-1034 AH (1615-1625 CE). This implied that the text was compiled prior to the rigorous prohibition on tobacco introduced by Sultan Murad IV in 1045 AH (1635-36 CE). The text is considerably different from the text written for the same Sultan by Koja Bey in 1040 AH (1630-31 CE);

(IV) ff 121v-139r : Risale-i Ehl-i Sünnet ve Cemaat, an elementary treatise by questions and answers on the doctrine and duties of the Sunnah by Sun'ullah İbn-i Şeyh Ahmet İbn-i Şeyh Beşir. The work was compiled, as stated at the end of the text, from the treatises of Birgili Mehmet Efendi, Rumi Akhısari Efendi, and Kadızade Efendi, as well as from other well-known texts;

(V) ff 139v-190r : Gül ü Bülbül, a mesnevi by Fazlı;

(VI) ff 191v-199v : A commentary by Ayinezade Mehmet Siruzi on a mystic poem by the 'late' Rusuhi Efendi, every beyit of which contains a question and ends with the interrogative statement 'nedir'. Rusuhi Süleyman of Sofia was initiated into Sufism by Şeyh Balı of the same town (died 960 AH/1552-53 CE) and lived as a religious teacher in Istanbul, but he fled from the city fearing prosecution for some verses that he had written and were deemed to be heretical. He was never heard of after this incident;

(VII) ff 200v-207v : Commentary by the same Ayinezade on a poem by the 'late' Çelebi Sultan. The poem consists of questions relating to the name of God;

(VIII) ff 208v-261v : Tuhfetü'l-haremeyn, a text by Yusuf Nabi recounting his pilgrimage to Mekke and Medine and the holy sites he visited along the way. This copy is imperfect at the end;

(IX) ff 262r-265v : Three terkibibentler of a religious character by Ali, Senai Efendi, and Nabi. The first is imperfect at the end.

The following five texts are written in the margins:

(X) ff 52v-54r : A poem on the pros and cons of tobacco consumption by Futuhi (died 1054 AH/1644-45 CE);

(XI) ff 63v-68r : Biographical notices of the Prophet Muhammad صلعم, the first four Caliphs, and the various Imams, down to Ebû Hanife, all in Arabic ;

(XII) ff 71r-78r : Qaṣīdat Saᶜadī qad yakūn lāziman li’l-mustaᶜdá (قصيدة سعدى قد يكون لازما للمستعدى), versified treatise on prayer by Sa'di;

(XIII) ff 79r-87v : Sübhatü'l-uşşak, a collection of one hundred Aḥādith with a paraphrase in Ottoman Turkish verse by Latifi. The text is wrongly ascribed to Kemal Paşazade in the heading. The number of Aḥādith included and the title of the work are stated in the prologue, while the author's name is provided in the epilogue. The Arabic text of each Ḥadīth, written in red ink, is followed by an Ottoman Turkish paraphrase in two beyitler;

(XIV) ff 87v-92r : A collection of sixty-nine Aḥādīth and ten sayings of İmam Ali with an Ottoman Turkish paraphrase.

The text contains various dates throughout (ff 89, 120, 190, 199) which range from 1124 AH (1712-13 CE) to 1133 AH (1720-21 CE). The manuscript was copied by two different copyists: el-Seyit Ali İbnü'l-Seyit Ebubekr (f 120r) and Ahmet İbnü'l-Hacc Mehmet el-Hatip bi-Cami' Abdizade.