Mir'at el-Hubuş - مرأت الحبوش

This material is held atBritish Library Asia, Pacific and Africa Collections

  • Reference
    • GB 59 Or 11226
  • Dates of Creation
    • 1020
  • Language of Material
    • Arabic Turkish
  • Physical Description
    • 1 text 115 ff Materials : Paper. Foliation : European, 115 ff. Dimensions : 210 mm x 140 mm. Script : Nesih.

Scope and Content

This volume contains an account of the Ethiopians compiled in 1020 AH (1611-12 CE) by Mekki Ali İbn-i Musfata İbn-i Ali el-Müderris who was, at that time, in the medrese of the mother of Mehmet III. The author tells us that he was from Bursa but emigrated with his family to Makkah in 995 AH (1586-87 CE). In 1007 AH (1598-99 CE), he returned to Anatolia, performing the rites of a pilgrim on the way. Of the pilgrims he met, he came to like the Ethiopians the most and to read all he could find about that country. When Ali İbn-i Mustafa took up his appointment as müderris in İstanbul, he met an Ethiopian eunuch named Ahmet Mustafa Ağa İb-i Ahd ül-Mennan from whom he learned much about this man's country. Using reliable references, which he quotes in the original Arabic and then translates into Ottoman Turkish, he compiled this book. The text contains a single unvan. The manuscript, which is in the author's own hand, is dated 1020 AH (1611-12 CE).

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