Ahmet Câmî-i Rûmî also known as Câmî-i Mısrî was an Ottoman official, poet and translator who flourished in the 16th century.

Biography

Almost nothing is known about Câmî-i Rûmî apart from his career. Not even the dates and places of his birth and death are known. He served as a soldier in the royal Ottoman court in

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

(present-day

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey) before being appointed treasurer in the

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

under Sultan

Suleiman the Magnificent Suleiman I (; , ; 6 November 14946 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent in the Western world and as Suleiman the Lawgiver () in his own realm, was the List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman sultan between 1520 a ...

(1520–1566). While in Egypt, four of his sons died during a plague. Câmî-i Rûmî was subsequently sent to

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

for three years, where he oversaw the renovation of the

Ka'aba The Kaaba (), also spelled Kaba, Kabah or Kabah, sometimes referred to as al-Kaba al-Musharrafa (), is a stone building at the center of Islam's most important mosque and holiest site, the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is consi ...

(). Thereafter, he returned to Constantinople, where he received promotion before leaving for Egypt once again. During his second stay in Egypt he translated

Husayn Kashifi Kamāl al-Dīn Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī Kāshifī, best simply known as Husayn Kashifi, was a prolific Persian prose-stylist, a poet, a Quran exegete, a Sufi scholar, and an astronomer of the Timurid era. ''Kashifi'' was his pen name, whereas his s ...

's ''Rawżat ol-šohadāʾ'' from

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

into Turkish for Sultan Suleiman. He entitled his translation the ''Sa'adat-nama''; he used simple language, but embellished it with poems of Turkish and Persian poets. He received recognition for the quality of his translation, and was subsequently appointed governor of a

sanjak A sanjak or sancak (, , "flag, banner") was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottomans also sometimes called the sanjak a liva (, ) from the name's calque in Arabic and Persian. Banners were a common organization of nomad ...

in Egypt. He continued serving as governor under Sultan

Murad III Murad III (; ; 4 July 1546 – 16 January 1595) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1574 until his death in 1595. His rule saw battles with the Habsburg monarchy, Habsburgs and exhausting wars with the Safavid Iran, Safavids. The long-inde ...

(1574–1595). Osman G. Özgüdenli notes that Câmî-i Rûmî's writings were never collected in a ''

divan A divan or diwan (, ''dīvān''; from Sumerian ''dub'', clay tablet) was a high government ministry in various Islamic states, or its chief official (see ''dewan''). Etymology The word, recorded in English since 1586, meaning "Oriental cou ...

''. However, he adds that some of his poems are found in '' tazkeras'' and

anthologies In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and ge ...

. There are many extant manuscripts of Câmî-i Rûmî's translation. The oldest (dated 1578) is stored at the Topkapı Palace Library.

Notes

References

Sources

* {{authority control 16th-century poets from the Ottoman Empire 16th-century Ottoman military personnel Translators from Persian 16th-century deaths 16th-century civil servants from the Ottoman Empire Male poets from the Ottoman Empire Translators to Turkish Translators from the Ottoman Empire