Or 15746

This volume contains a treatise on horses and their care and training. It was authored by Şeyh Kadızade Küçük Mehmed Alemi Efendi (died 1045 AH/1635 CE) of Amasya.

He was a student of Zileli Abdurrahman Efendi and a student and disciple of Abdülmecid Sivasi (died 1049 AH/1639 CE), who awarded him hilafet in the Halveti tarikat. He was kürsü şeyhi (preacher) of the Sultan Beyazıt II Camii in Amasya. He died in 1045 AH/1635 CE, and was buried next to Pir İlyas Halveti in Amasya (see Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, Osmanlı Müellifleri).

The work has frequently been mistakenly ascribed to the author’s more well-known namesake, Kadızade Mehmed (died 1045 AH/1635 CE), a scholar and preacher after whom the controversial Kadızadeli movement of the eleventh century AH/seventeenth century CE is named. Nor is the present work to be confused with two others which often carry the same title, such as the work authored by Ali Hadi and presented to Sultan Abdülmecid I (ruled 1255-1277 AH/ 1839-1861 CE) and another authored by Füyuzi in the eleventh century AH/seventeenth century CE.

In the preface to the present work, Şeyh Kadızade says that among the many sciences to which he applied himself from childhood to old age was ilm-i feraset, or the science of horsemanship. He had gained some experience of good and bad horses, and had perused a number of baytarnameler (works of veterinary science). Having heard that the reigning Sultan, Osman II (ruled 1027-31 AH/1618-22 CE), was a matchless horseman who had adopted the mahlas 'Farisi,' he composed the present treatise as an offering to His Majesty.

The contents of the text are as follows: Mukaddime on the value and importance of the horse (f 5v-10r); Bab I, verses of the Qur'an and Ahadith relating to horses and their excellence (10r-26v); Bab II, signs of good and bad horses (26v-30v); Bab III, on the management of horses and the care due to them (30v-34v); Bab IV, on the teeth of horses and their age (34v-35v); Hatime, On the useful property of the various parts of the horse (35v-37v).

Begins:

Bismi’llahi’r-rahmani’r-rahim. Hamdu bi-haad ve sena-yı la yu‘ad, ol Hayy u Da‘im u Ebed ve Ferd ü Ka‘im u Samed hazretinin Cenab-ı kibriyasına … Ve salavatın ve selamın, ol Fatiha-ı sure-i nübüvvet ve hatime-i risale-i risalet .. Ve ba‘d, bu hakir-i bi-mikdar ve fakir-i fazl-ı gaffar Şeyh-i Muhammed el-Ma‘ruf bi-Kadızade

The colophon on f 37v states two different copyists; Esad is named at the conclusion of top section with ‘ketebehu.’ This is followed by a short section on the history of the work, stating that it was initially presented by Şeyh Mehmed Mileli (which may be a scribal error for ‘Alemi’), preacher (vaiz) at the mosque of Sultan Bayezid-i Veli, to Sultan Osman II. This is consistent with what is known about Şeyh Kadızade Küçük Mehmed Alemi Efendi, who was preacher of the Sultan Beyazıt II Camii in Amasya. On the final line of this short passage, which is in the same hand as the main work, Hasan Namurad along with ‘‘temme an yed.’

There is an illuminated unvan with gilt and floral designs on f 1v. The present copy is undated, and is likely from the eleventh century AH/seventeenth century CE.