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 commentary 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 commentaries 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 — بر al-Risāla al-ShamsiyyaA sharḥ mamzūj (Kashf al-ẓunūn). Manuscripts: Süleymaniye, Lâleli 2658, 2661; Hamidiye 819; Fatih 3355; Şehid Ali Paşa 1791 (TDV).شرح
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Anwār al-tanzīlGloss on al-Bayḍāwī’s Qurʾān commentary, begun in 1037/1627 (TDV).حاشیه
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Sharḥ al-MiftāḥOn al-Jurjānī’s commentary on al-Sakkākī’s Miftāḥ al-ʿulūm (TDV).حاشیه
- Ḥāshiya ʿalā Sharḥ al-JāmīOn Jāmī’s commentary on Ibn al-Ḥājib’s al-Kāfiya; printed Istanbul 1318 (TDV).حاشیه
Reception
The TDV’s article on the Shamsiyya names his commentary among the later Ottoman commentaries on the book, with those of Muṣannifak and Ayyūbīzāde Muṣṭafā.
Sources (3)