Ahmed Sudi Bosneviʼs Commentaries on Ibn Ḥāğibʼs Grammatical Works al-Kāfiya and al-Šāfiya

Abstract

Before the famous commentaries on the classical works of Persian literature, Ahmed Sudi Bosnevi wrote in Ottoman Turkish language commentaries on al-Kāfiya and al-Šāfiya, the works on Arabic syntax and morphology written by the famous Arab grammarian, Ibn Ḥāğib. The main purpose of this research is to explore and analyse different aspects of Sudiʼs commentaries on al-Kāfiya and al-Šāfiya, to give an insight into these hitherto unstudied manuscripts and to present Sudiʼs specific way of commenting by translation and description of passages from the original texts of the commentaries. In addition to this, the paper presents the educational and scientific path of Ahmed Sudi Bosnevi and his role as a muderis who tried to improve the teaching process by writing commentaries on the textbooks that were part of the Curriculum in Ottoman madrasas. Likewise, this paper investigates the significance of the original texts of al-Kāfiya and al-Šāfiya in the Arabic grammatical tradition.