Add MS 7854

This volume contains a history of the martyrs from among the Prophet Muhammad's صلعم family as composed by Füzuli.

Mehmet İbn-i Süleyman, who used the mahlas Füzuli, was born in Hillah but spent most of his life in Baghdad. He wrote verses in Arabic, Persian and Ottoman Turkish. In a notice devoted to him in Kınalızade, he is said to have died around 970 AH (1562-63 CE) and that date has generally been adopted as his date of death. Ahdi, however, wrote while in Baghdad in 971 AH (1563-64 CE) that Füzuli had been a victim of the plague in 963 AH (1555-56 CE).

In the preface of the current work, Füzuli elaborates on the tribulations by which Allah in his love has tried his prophets and saints, above all İmam Hüseyin, and on the rewards promised to those who grieve and mourn for the martyrs of Kerbela. However, while Arabic- and Persian-speakers read about their history in their own languages, Turks possessed no such record, and Füzuli felt called upon to supply that deficiency. The standard books on the subject were in Arabic: the Maqtal al-Ḥusayn (مقتل الحسين) of Abu Miḥnaf and the Miṣraᶜ ṭāwusī (مصرع طاوسى) by Raḍī al-Dīn abū’l Qāsim ᶜalī ibn Mūsá bin Jaᶜfar al-Ṭāwusī; and in Persian: the Rawẓat al-shuhadā’ (روضة الشهداء)of Mavlānā Ḥusayn Vā’īẕ. He resolved to follow the latter work, while also adding to its details from other books.

In the epilogue, ff 305v-307v, Füzuli mentions Süleyman as the reigning Sultan and praises Mehmet Paşa, governor of Baghdad, by whose desire he wrote the present work. Baltacı Mehmet, Mirmiran of Sıvas, was transferred to Baghdad in 956 AH (1549-50 CE) and remained in office till 961 AH (1553-54 CE).

Füzuli’s work is divided, like the Rawẓat al-shuhadā’, into ten ebvab and a hatime, as follows:

(I) ff 7r-41r : Trials of some of the prophets ;

(II) ff 41v-57r : Ill-usage suffered by Muhammad صلعم at the hands of the Qurayshi ;

(III) ff 57v-72r : Death of Muhammad صلعم ;

(IV) ff 72v-93v : Death of Fatime;

(V) ff 94r-118v : Death of Ali;

(VI) ff 119r-132r : Trials of Imam Hasan;

(VII) ff 132v-153v : Journey of Imam Hüseyin from Medine to Mekke;

(VIII) ff 154r-176v : Martyrdom of Muslim ibn ᶜaqīl;

(IX) ff 177r-204r : March of Imam Hüseyin from Mekke to Kerbela;

(X) ff 204v-265v : Martyrdom of Imam Hüseyin;

(XI) ff 266r-307v : Hatime.

The text contains a single unvan.

This manuscript was likely copied in the 16th century CE.