Mustafa Naima ( ota, مصطفى نعيما; ''Muṣṭafā Na'īmā''; Aleppo,

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and so ...

1655 – 1716) was an Ottoman bureaucrat and historian who wrote the chronicle known as the ''Tārīḫ-i Na'īmā'' (''Naima's History''). He is often considered to be the first official historian of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, although this formal office was probably not created until the time of his successor, Rashid.

Life and career

Mustafā Na'īm was born the son of a

Janissary A Janissary ( ota, یڭیچری, yeŋiçeri, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops and the first modern standing army in Europe. The corps was most likely established under sultan Orha ...

in Aleppo,

. He joined the palace guard in Constantinople and was educated as a secretary there. He rose in the financial administration of the empire until the palace intrigues caused him to be sent to a provincial administrative post in 1715. As a historian Naima mentions the arrival of Mughal ambassadors: Qaim Beg, Sayyid Ataullah and Hajji Ahmad Saeed, sent by the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Shah Jahan Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugh ...

. The ambassadors lodged in the

Seraglio A seraglio, serail, seray or saray (from fa, سرای, sarāy, palace, via Turkish and Italian) is a castle, palace or government building which was considered to have particular administrative importance in various parts of the former Ott ...

of Saiwush Pasha. He died in Patras.

Works

Na'īmā's main work is the ''Ravżatu'l-Ḥüseyn fī ḫulāṣati aḫbāri'l-ḫāfiḳeyn'' (روضة الحسين فى خلاصة أخبار الخافقين in Ottoman; literally: "The Garden of Hüseyin in the Summary of the Chronicles of East and West"). This work was finished in 1704 and dedicated to the

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called '' katib'' (secretary), who was ...

Amcazade Hüseyin Paşa. The book covers the events of the years from 1591 to 1660.

Bibliography

*Norman Itzkowitz: ''Ottoman Empire and Islamic Tradition'', University of Chicago Press 1980, . *Lewis V. Thomas, Norman Itzkowitz (ed.): ''A Study Of Naima'', New York University Press 1972, / Hodder & Stoughton Ltd 1972, . *''Annals of the Turkish Empire: from 1591 to 1659''. Trans. Charles Fraser. London: Oriental Translation Fund, 1832. *Gül Şen: ''Das Ereignis von Edirne (1703). Astrologie als Strategie zur Herrschaftslegitimation und Kontingenzbewältigung.'' In: ''Das Mittelalter'', vol. 20, no. 1 (2015), pp. 115–138
online
(German). *Gül Şen: ''Kompilation als Handwerk des Historiographen – Zur Narrativität in Naʿīmās (gest. 1716) Hofchronik Tārīḫ-i Naʿīmā''. In: Stephan Conermann (ed.): ''Innovation oder Plagiat? Kompilationstechniken in der Vormoderne''. EB Verlag: Berlin 2015, , pp. 169–218
online
(German).

External links

Article in the Encyclopædia Britannica

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Naima, Mustafa 17th-century historians from the Ottoman Empire Syrian people of Turkish descent People from Aleppo 1716 deaths 1655 births Baltadji Historians of the Ottoman Empire Scholars of the Ottoman Empire Muslim historians of Islam

Life and career

Works

Bibliography

See also

External links

References