1 Poetry, Muhammad, and the Ottomans: Conceptions and Discussions of Poetry in Süruri’s Bahrü’l-Ma‘arif (1549)* Murat Umut Inan The Ottoman Empire was an empire of poetry, of vibrant poetic production, circulation, and consumption. Orally and/or textually, poems in various languages, forms, and genres traversed and connected diverse literary and sociocultural landscapes of the empire, linking cities and communities from Eastern Anatolia to Southeastern Europe and from the Black Sea to the Arabian Peninsula. Poetry not only contributed to the formation and expansion of literary and sociocultural networks that linked the empire internally. It also loomed large in the empire’s connections to the wider Islamic world, as poets and poems remained an integral part of the literary, cultural, and even diplomatic traffic and exchange between the Ottomans, Timurids, Safavids, and Mughals. Across the lands of Rum (Ottoman territories in Anatolia and the Balkans), poetry was more than a technical art or a specialized profession confined to students and producers of literature. As a popular form of cultural expression and social communication, poetry reached a much broader audience, who engaged with poems in various ways and contexts and with different motivations. ‘The majority of the people of Rum have a strong natural disposition toward poetry’, the bureaucrat and poet Sehi Beg (1470–1549) wrote in explaining the Ottoman enthusiasm for poetry.1 Thus, the Ottomans’ engagement with *Forthcoming in Post-Eurocentric Poetics, eds. Rebecca Ruth Gould and Hany Rashwan, Oxford University Press. 2 poetry extended beyond literary circles and salons to permeate an array of political- bureaucratic, pedagogical-scholarly, and sociocultural spaces, ranging from the imperial court and administrative offices to madrasas and Sufi lodges to pleasure gardens, taverns, and coffeehouses. As poetry left its stamp on all walks of life and appealed to all ranks of society, poetic interest and taste became one of the hallmarks of Ottoman culture and cultural identity. As such, the Ottoman communities of writers, readers, reciters, and listeners of poetry not only comprised professional poets and their audiences, but also included a wide range of people from such different classes and professions as members of the dynasty, courtiers, the ruling elite, bureaucrats, the ulema (religious and legal scholars), dervishes, artisans, janissaries, and commoners. In the words of Aşık Çelebi (1520–72), an Ottoman scholar, judge, and poet famed for his collection of biographies of poets entitled Meşa‘irü’ş-Şu‘ara (Assemblies of Poets, 1568), poetry was a common medium for expression of emotion, shared by both the havass (the elite) and the avamm (commoners): Whether they fall in love or are in a state of desire, whether they praise their beloveds or rebuke their rivals angrily, or whether they narrate the lovers’ union or complain about their separation—on all these occasions, poetry serves as an interpreter for the elite. The commoners, too, resort to the language of poetry, whether to describe something with prolixity or praise someone extravagantly, 1 Sehi Beg, Heşt Bihişt, eds. Haluk İpekten et al. (Ankara, Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, 2017), p. 187. Unless otherwise noted, all translations from primary texts are my own. 3 whether to reprimand people severely or provoke them, or whether to express their satirical allusions or say their words of attack rhythmically.2 For centuries, poetry remained a lively component of Ottoman cultural and social life. But equally important is the fact that the empire was also a place where the worth of poets and poetry was ardently debated. Telling in this regard is the discussion between Nev‘i Yahya Efendi (1533–99) and the grand vizier Sinan Pasha (d. 1596). Nev‘i Efendi, an esteemed member of the late 16th-century Ottoman ulema who taught at the prestigious madrasas of Istanbul for years, was a passionate proponent and prolific writer of poetry, whose famous encyclopedic work Netayicü’l-Fünun (Essence of Sciences) features a short but captivating section on ilmü’ş-şi‘r (science of poetry). Particularly revealing of Nev‘i Efendi’s dedication to poetry is his 1589 letter to Sinan Pasha, which he penned in defense of poets and poetry. The impetus behind Nev‘i Efendi’s long letter was to respond to Sinan Pasha’s sarcastic words about poets, whom the Pasha had earlier mocked, on a festival day at a gathering where Nev‘i Efendi was present, by saying: ‘A poet cannot be a man of knowledge.’ In response, Nev‘i Efendi wrote in closing his sharp letter: ‘Both rationally and theologically, poets do not deserve to be looked down on or treated with contempt just because they write poetry. On the contrary, they should be honored and respected for their craft.’3 This paper explores how poetry was viewed and understood—both as a form of art and as a branch of knowledge or discipline—in the 16th-century Ottoman world, 2 Aşık Çelebi, Meşa‘irü’ş-Şu‘ara, ed. Filiz Kılıç (Ankara, Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı, 2018), p. 38. 3 For Nev‘i Efendi’s letter, see Nev‘izade Atayi, Hadaiku’l-Hakaik fi Tekmileti’ş-Şakaik, vol. 2, ed. Suat Donuk (Istanbul, Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı, 2017), pp. 1147–50. For the section on poetry in Netayicü’l-Fünun, see Nev‘i Efendi, İlimlerin Özü: Netayic el-Fünun, ed. Ömer Tolgay (Istanbul, İnsan Yayınları, 1995), pp. 252–5. 4 which saw the flourishing of an imperial literary culture where poetry enjoyed greater prestige and popularity while writings and discussions on poets and poetry were on the rise.4 In so doing, I aim to uncover the functions and values attributed to poetic composition and expression while seeking to shed light on the status of poetry as an ilm (science or branch of learning) in the Ottoman tradition. Western scholarship on late medieval and early modern Islamicate poetry and poetics has remained largely focused on the Arabic and Persian traditions. Often seen as derivative of Arabo-Persian poetry, the Ottoman tradition has therefore mostly been on the fringes of scholarly interest. Seen in this light, this paper also aims to bring to the fore Ottoman perspectives on poetry, which, I think, offer valuable insight into perceptions and uses of poetry in pre-modern Islamic cultures.5 My focus here is on the Bahrü’l-Ma‘arif (Sea of Knowledge, 1549), a celebrated manual on the art of poetry by the Ottoman Sufi poet, scholar, and madrasa 4 On poets and poetry in the 16th-century Ottoman Empire, see Murat Umut Inan, ‘Imperial Patronage of Literature in the Ottoman World, 1400–1600’ in The Empires of the Near East and India: Source Studies of the Safavid, Ottoman, and Mughal Literate Communities, ed. Hani Khafipour (New York, Columbia University Press, 2019), pp. 493–504. 5 There is a small but growing body of English-language scholarship on Ottoman poetry and poetics. See, among others, Elias John Wilkinson Gibb, A History of Ottoman Poetry, 6 vols. (London, Luzac, 1900–9); Walter G. Andrews, Poetry’s Voice, Society’s Song: Ottoman Lyric Poetry (Seattle, University of Washington Press, 1985); Victoria Rowe Holbrook, The Unreadable Shores of Love: Turkish Modernity and Mystic Romance (Austin, University of Texas Press, 1994); Hatice Aynur, ‘Ottoman Literature’ in The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 3, ed. Suraiya N. Faroqhi (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2006), pp. 481–520; Selim S. Kuru, ‘The Literature of Rum: The Making of a Literary Tradition (1450–1600)’ in The Cambridge History of Turkey, vol. 2, eds. Suraiya N. Faroqhi and Kate Fleet (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 548–92; Murat Umut Inan, ‘Rethinking the Ottoman Imitation of Persian Poetry’, Iranian Studies, 50, 5 (2017), 671–89; Didem Havlioğlu, Mihrî Hatun: Performance, Gender-Bending, and Subversion in Ottoman Intellectual History (Syracuse, Syracuse University Press, 2017); Sooyong Kim, The Last of an Age: The Making and Unmaking of a Sixteenth-Century Ottoman Poet (London and New York, Routledge, 2018); Christiane Czygan and Stephan Conermann, eds., An Iridescent Device: Premodern Ottoman Poetry (Göttingen, Bonn University Press, 2018). 5 professor Muslihüddin Süruri (1491–1562). Süruri’s work opens a window into the early modern Ottoman world of poetry, providing us not only with a rich repertoire of poetic terms, devices, and conventions but also with a glimpse into the ideas and arguments of a learned poet who mentored many young, aspiring poets and helped the ‘sapling of their hopes’ thrive, as Aşık Çelebi, a student and close friend of Süruri, put it in presenting his biography.6 My discussion here focuses mainly on the concluding chapter of the Bahrü’l- Ma‘arif, in which Süruri offers his reflections on poetry as a source of knowledge and inspiration and constructs an Islamic defense of poetry grounded largely in the Prophet Muhammad’s example. ‘Poetry excites the soul’: Süruri on the nature and uses of poetry In 1548, the Ottoman sultan Süleyman I, also referred to as Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520–66), appointed Süruri, one of the leading literary and scholarly figures of the time, as mentor and tutor to his eldest son Prince Mustafa (1515–53), governor of the city of Amasya, potential heir to the throne, and, like his father, an enthusiast for poetry. It was Prince Mustafa who urged Süruri to compile a book for poetry enthusiasts and students of poetic art, as Süruri’s preface to the Bahrü’l-Ma‘arif reveals.7 Completed in Amasya on 11 March 1549, the Bahrü’l-Ma‘arif is the first comprehensive Ottoman handbook of poetry, which remained widely popular among readers, writers, and teachers of poetry 6 Aşık Çelebi, Meşa‘irü’ş-Şu‘ara, p. 418. 7 Süruri, Bahrü’l-Ma‘arif (Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Istanbul, MS Ali Nihat Tarlan 113), folio 2a.