Mecmau'l-letaif - مجمع اللطائف

This volume contains a collection of essays on a range of subjects, including advice for rulers (nesaih-i müluk), the merits of Holy War (gaza), the histories of the prophets, the differences between Muslim, Christian, and Jewish doctrines and beliefs, and answers to questions commonly posed by Christians and Jews to Muslims. The author based his work on the Quran, the Bible, the Book of Psalms, the Torah, the hadith, and the sayings of the caliphs and the saints. According to the present copy, the Mecmau'l-letaif was authored by el-Hac İsa ibn-i Ali, an author of the tenth century AH/sixteenth century CE. However, another copy of this text in the Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi (Ms Ayasfoya 4872) states the author's name as Sirac ibn-i Abdullah. The text is organised across five bablar, however the end of first bab and beginning of the second are missing in this volume, as is the entirety of the final bab. The subjects discussed are indicated by notes added in puce or red ink in the margin at a later date than the text. They include the following: f 15r, Sünnet-i İbrahim; 18r, Hükm-i Tevrat-i Şerif; 20v, Ref-i İlyas; 22v, Davud; 23v, Lokman; 24r, Süleyman; 25v, Yunus; 32r, Zebur; 33v, Fasıl fi hikâyet-i Enbiya' ve evliya; 36r, Nuh gemisi; 38r, Yirmi sual; 39v, İki fasıl; 75r, Hikâye-i latif. The work is not to be confused with the Mecmau'l-letaif (or Letaifname) of Lamiî Çelebi (died 938 AH/1532 CE), a work in prose also organised in five bablar. Lâmiî's work belonged to the genre of Letaifnameler, texts in either prose or verse which consist of entertaining and/or humorous stories, anecdotes and cautionary tales (fıkralar). Unlike Letâifnâmeler, the present volume does not have much humorous content, but does have various stories and anecdotes. Begins:. Besmele, şükür o Tanrıya kim birdir ve kadimdir ve sana o Padişah'a kim mecmu-i kulları üzerine Rahîmdir ve salavat... Bilgil ki ez'af halku'llah ve ahkar ibadi'llah el-Hacc Isa ibn-i Ali eydür ki günlerden bir gün fariğü'l-bal ve müntezimü'l-hal oturmuştum, Bu zayıfın hatırına bu düştü kim lisan-i Yunan'dan lisan-i Arabi'ye tercüme olunmuş Tevrat'ta ve İncil'de ve Zebur'da…. Ends:. Tekfurun oğlu Le'nus Tekfurun zamandı (sic) ki onu daha ol zaman Kayser-i Rum derlerdi ve Ömer ibnü'l-Hattab'in hilafeti zamandı. Bu hikâye bu makama gelince zikir olunup tamam oldu. Other contents include a list of contents with page numbers on the front flyleaf verso and on ff 1r-1v, as well as miscellaneous verses and arithmetic sums on 79v. The work was copied on a Thursday in the middle of Receb 977 AH/mid-April 1570 CE.

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