Bosnian Ottoman scholar and judge, author of a commentary interwoven with the text (sharḥ mamzūj) on al-Kātibī’s Shamsiyya.
Life
Al-Busnawī was born in Sarajevo, around 1003/1595 according to Hazim Šabanović, and was nicknamed ʿAllāmak because he knew so much at a young age. He studied at the Gazi Husrev Bey madrasa in Sarajevo and at seventeen went to Istanbul, where he read with Ṣadr al-Dīn-zāde Mehmed Emin Şirvânî and Ganîzâde Mehmed Nâdirî. He then taught at a series of madrasas in Istanbul and Üsküdar, reaching one of the Sahn-ı Semân colleges in 1633, and in 1044/1634–35 was made chief judge of Aleppo, where his lessons on Jāmī’s on the Kāfiya drew large audiences. Rheumatism forced him to leave; appointed judge of Istanbul, he died before taking up the post and was buried at Rumelihisarı.
Most of his works are and glosses: on al-Bayḍāwī’s Qurʾān commentary, on al-Jurjānī’s commentary on al-Sakkākī’s Miftāḥ, on Jāmī’s commentary on the Kāfiya, and a commentary on al-Kātibī’s Shamsiyya. Kâtib Çelebi describes the last as a ‘mixed commentary’ (sharḥ mamzūj), its words woven into the sentences of the text, beginning ‘Praise be to God, the full praise of whom no eloquent tongue can bear’ (al-ḥamdu li-llāhi alladhī lā yuṭīqu bi-kamāli ḥamdihi manṭiqu manṭīq). The TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi lists five manuscripts of it in the Süleymaniye Library.
Uncertain or disputed
- Year of death: Kashf al-ẓunūn gives 1045 in its entry on the Shamsiyya but 1046 in its entry on al-Bayḍāwī; the TDV gives 1046/1636–37.
Works
- Sharḥ al-Shamsiyya شَرْحُ الشَّمْسِيَّةِ — on al-Risāla al-ShamsiyyaA sharḥ mamzūj (Kashf al-ẓunūn). Manuscripts: Süleymaniye, Lâleli 2658, 2661; Hamidiye 819; Fatih 3355; Şehid Ali Paşa 1791 (TDV).commentary
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Anwār al-tanzīlGloss on al-Bayḍāwī’s Qurʾān commentary, begun in 1037/1627 (TDV).gloss
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Sharḥ al-MiftāḥOn al-Jurjānī’s commentary on al-Sakkākī’s Miftāḥ al-ʿulūm (TDV).gloss
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Sharḥ al-JāmīOn Jāmī’s commentary on Ibn al-Ḥājib’s al-Kāfiya; printed Istanbul 1318 (TDV).gloss
Reception
The TDV’s article on the Shamsiyya names his among the later Ottoman commentaries on the book, with those of Muṣannifak and Ayyūbīzāde Muṣṭafā.
Sources (3)