Aziz Mahmud Hudayi: The Translations of Fatiha and Ihlas Suras and the Two Poems of Tawhid

The Fatiha and Ihlas suras, the first and the 112nd chapters of Qur'an respectively are the texts where the essence of Islam, tawhid, the decleration of the oneness of God , is expressed vividly. There have been many works, especially by the sufis since the early days of Islam on these suras and tawhid, which gradually made this subject a discipline. These suras and tawhid were not only the subjects of academic research but also topics of literary works, which are often intertwined in many of them as it has been the case in the work that is the subject of search in this paper. Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi (d. 1628) and Kadızade Mehmed Efendi (d. 1636) are the two significant theologians of the 17th century who had enduring legacies in the Ottoman society and history, the former as a sufi, and the latter as an interpreter of Islam on the literal basis. There is a translation of the Fatiha sura which is attributed to both of these two. There are five manuscript copies of the work, which is followed by the two poems of tawhid by Hudayi, and one poem for each of Pir Mehmed Azmi and Cinani, adding one more dimension to the conflict. In this paper, I'll look into the lives of Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi and Kadızade Mehmed Efendi by the aim of finding clues for the ownership of this translation. I'll also examine the manuscripts of the work for that aim. A critical edition of the translation will be given at the end.

Keywords

Allah, Aziz Mahmud Hudayi, Bayezid-i Bestami, Cinani, Divan Literature, Ebu Sa'id Ebu'l-Hayr, Fatiha