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This volume contains the Müzekki’n-nüfus (‘The purifier of souls’), a treatise on Sufism and Islamic ethics by the renowned early Ottoman poet and mystic Eşrefoğlu Rumi (died 874 AH/1469-70 CE), also known as Eşrefzade.

Eşrefoğlu was born in Iznik in the late eighth century AH/fourteenth century CE and educated at the Çelebi Sultan Medrese in Bursa. He was a disciple of the prominent Anatolian Sufi Hacı Bayram-ı Veli (died 833 AH/1430 CE), with whom he trained in the Bayramiyye path for eleven years in Ankara. He married Hacı Bayram’s daughter and was sent back to Iznik as his halife. Eşrefoğlu later also became a disciple of Husayn al-Ḥamāwī (died 832 AH/1428 CE), a Kadiri shaykh in Hama, Syria. After completing his training with the shaykh, he returned to Iznik and established a dervish lodge (dergah), from where he preached the Kadiri path and Sufi ideals. He counted the Grand Vizier Mahmud Paşa (died 878 AH/1474 CE) amongst his disciples, and also earnt the respect of Sultan Mehmed II (ruled 848-50 and 855-86 AH/ 1444-6 and 1451-81 CE). He died in Iznik, and was buried in the cemetery of the dergah he established.

The Müzekki’n-nüfus is one Eşrefoğlu’s most important works, and also one of the first religious, mystical, and moral works in Ottoman Turkish. Through this work, Eşrefoğlu sought to instruct lay, Ottoman-Turkish speaking Muslims, many of whom were converts, in the essentials of Islamic faith, as well as sharing a message of spiritual and moral reform. Like similar works authored in the ninth century AH/fifteenth century CE, such as the Muhammediye and Envarü’l-Aşıkin of the Yazıcıoğlu brothers, the Müzekki’n-nüfus did much to shape the formation of Ottoman Islam and was frequently found in libraries across the Empire in subsequent centuries. The contents of the work are as follows:

• (2v-29v) Introduction
• (2v) Begins: Besmele ve bihi nesta‘in, elhamdülillahi Rabbi’l-‘alemin ve’s-salat ... Amma ba‘d: Amma bundan sonra bilgil bu dem oğlanlarının nefisleri kim vardır dört kısıma munkasımdır
• (ff 29v-145r) El-babü’l-evvel fi marifeti’d-dünya: Eşrefoğlu discusses the love of the world and the benefits and harms of this love, the characteristics of the nefs-i emmare, death, the Day of Resurrection, major sins, and tevekkül.
• (ff 145r-309r) El-babü’s-sani talibe terbiyet etmeğin beyan eder: Eşrefoğlu explains the spiritual refinement of the nefs-i emmare, the etiquettes of Sufism, and the manners and conditions of being a good Muslim.
• Ends (309r):…ve bu nasihatlerle müritlere ve şeyhlere lazım ve labuddur ki amel eyleyeler, inşallah Teâlâ…

The present manuscript lacks the preface. Following the colophon, the scribe includes Eşrefzade’s silsile in the Kadiri tarikat (ff 309r-310v). Other contents include a pencilled invocation of Şeyh Sünbül Sinan on 1r, a list of contents of chapters on 1v (page numbers provided correspond to old foliation); and a prayer in Arabic for forgiveness on 2r. A certain degree of carelessness is evident in places, but appears to have been remedied by several marginal corrections made by the copyist himself.

The work was copied by Mustafa ibn-i Şahidi-i Mevlevi-i Muğlavi on 15 Cemaziyülevvel 1001 AH/17 Feb 1593 CE.