[Muhammediye]

This volume contains a fragment of 31 folios from a once complete copy of the Muhammediye, a work on the life and attributes of the Prophet Muhammad. It was authored by the renowned Sufi Yazıcıoğlu Mehmed Efendi (died 855 AH/1451 CE), who, along with his brother Ahmed Bican (died after 870 AH/1466 CE), was among the most popular vernacular religious writers and thinkers of the early Ottoman period. Both were educated by their father, Yazıcı Salih (died after 826 AH/1422-3 CE), and were disciples of the founder of the Bayramiye order, Hacı Bayram-ı Veli (died 833 AH/1429-30 CE). Mehmed had initially written a broader didactic work on religion and Sufism in Arabic called Maghārib al-Zamān, which his brother translated into Ottoman Turkish as Envarü'l-Aşikin. Mehmed then decided to rewrite and expand the sections of the Maghārib on the Prophet Muhammad. The ensuing work was titled Kitabü Muhammediye fi na'ti seyyidi'l-alemin habibillahi'l-a'zam Ebi'l-Kasım Muhammedini'l-Mustafa, or the Muhammediye, as it was more commonly known. Mehmed completed the work in Gelibolu (Gallipoli) in 853 AH/1449 CE. It went on to become one of the most widely read and memorised books in the Ottoman Empire. Written in a simple style, the work consists of couplets in groups of varying length and arranged in three main parts: beyit 1 to beyit 1413 talks about creation; beyit 1414 to beyit 4756 focuses on the birth (mevlid) and life of the Prophet; and beyit 4757-8765 covers a range of subjects, including signs of the end times, the Day of Resurrection, and the afterlife. In the centuries after the Muhammediye's completion, its verses on the mevlid were recited during the annual celebrations of this event, while sections on Hasan and Hüseyin were recited on the tenth of Muharrem. Beginning in the seventeenth century CE, the work was also recited by specially appointed Muhammediyehan. Commentaries of the work are many, but the most famous is probably İsmâil Hakki Bursevî's (died 1137 AH/1725 CE) Ferahu'r-rûh. Begins:. Besmele İlahun Vahidun Rabbun te'ala * Hüvellahü'l-Bedi'u'l-Hakku'l-A'la. Te'ala Zatuhu lemma tecella * min el-gaybi ila'l-'ayni fe-cella. Ends:. Çün evvel âlemin misbahı çıktı * pes andan Mürselin ervahı çıktı. The orthography in this copy includes some archaic features, such as the possessive suffix being shortened to a kesre or sublinear line. The manuscript has been paginated in Ottoman numerals but in reverse, from back to front. Since f 1r is numbered 412, it is likely that the volume originally comprised 206 folios. The front flyleaf (r and v) has scribbles, including on a drawing of either a camel or a dragon with a hump. 1r has verses invoking blessings on the Prophet, followed by several lines of either verse or prose that have been deliberately effaced. Scribbles can also be seen on the end flyleaf. The copy is undated, but is likely from the eleventh/twelfth century AH/seventeenth or eighteenth century CE.

Available for research unless otherwise stated

Other catalogues and indexes: Charles Rieu, Turkish Manuscripts in the British Museum, 168-169.

Other copies of the Muhammediye in the Library's holdings are: Or 1040; Or 5092; Or 13358; Or 13906; Add 6536 (part of text); Or 16234; and Or 16265. On Yazıcıoğlu Mehmet, see Mustafa İsmet Uzun, 'Yazicioğlu Mehmed Efendi,' TDVİA, 43:362-363 and Franz Babinger, 'Yāzid̲j̲i-Og̲h̲lu,'' in Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition. On his thought, İlyas Çelebi, 'Yazicioğlu Mehmed Efendi,' TDVİA, 43:363-364. On his Muhammediyye, see Mustafa İsmet Uzun, 'Muhammediyye,' TDVİA, 30:586-587. For a study of the Yazıcıoğlu family, see Carlos Grenier, The Spiritual Vernacular of the Early Ottoman Frontier. The Yazıcıoğlu Family (Edinburgh University Press, 2021). For copies of Ahmed Bican's Envarü'l-aşikin, see Or 15918 and Add MS 7874. On Ahmed Bican see Hatice Aynur, 'Ahmed Bican, Yazıcıoğlu,' in EI3 (dx.doi.org/10.1163/1573-3912_ei3_COM_27278) and Amil Çelebioğlu, 'Ahmed Bîcan,' TDVİA 2:49-51. On the Envar, see Mustafa Uzun, 'Envârü'l-âşıkîn,' TDVİA 11:258-60.

The Muhammediye was edited by Kazim Beg in Kazan in 1845 CE (Ludvig Şuts Matbaası) and lithographed in Istanbul on several occasions between 1262 AH/1846 CE and 1326 AH/1910 CE. Many of these editions are illustrated. For a more recent edition, see Yazıcıoğlu Mehmed, Muhammediye, edited by Amil Çelebioğlu, 2 volumes (İstanbul: Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı, 1996). The Muhammediye was also edited by Agâh Güçlü (İstanbul 1969) and Abdülkadir Akçiçek (İstanbul 1984). A commentary by İsmail Hakkı, entitled Ferahu'r-rûh, was printed in Bulaq in 1252 AH. See İsmâil Hakki Bursevî, Şerh ul-Muhammediye el-Müsemma bi-Ferah ir-ruh, 2 volumes (Bulak,1252 [1836]). A second edition was published in the same place in two volumes in 1258 AH (1842 CE) and contains the text of the poem.