ḤASAN B. ʿABD-AL-MOʾMEN

 

ḤASAN B. ʿABD-AL-MOʾMEN, ḤOSĀM-AL-DIN ḴOʾI, scribe, poet and lexicographer from Azerbaijan of the 7th/13th century. Little is known about his life. References in some of his works indicate that he lived during the reigns of Yāvlāq Arslān (r. 679-90/1280-91) and his son, Amir Maḥmud (r. 692-?/1292-?), two of the Çobanoğulları rulers of Kastamonu (Nozhat al-kottāb wa toḥfat al-aḥbāb, fol. 33a; Qawāʿed al-rasāʾel wa farāʾed al-fażāʾel, ms. Süleymaniye (Esad Efendi), 3369, fol. 1b). As well as being known by the nesba Ḵoʾi (from Khoy, the city of his birth), he was sometimes called Moẓaffari, in allusion to his service with Moẓaffar-al-Din Yāvlāq Arslān, and he himself used the penname Ḥosāmi (Tarbiat, 1314 Š./1925, p. 111). The date of his death is not known.

The bulk of Ḥasan b. ʿAbd-al-Moʾmen’s output belongs to the genre of enšāʾ (epistolary manuals), for use by Persian- and Turkish-speaking scribes. He composed the following works: (1) Nozhat al-kottāb wa toḥfat al-aḥbāb (ms. Süleymaniye [Fatih], 5406). Written for Yāvlāq Arslān, this work exemplifies four categories of texts suitable for citation in letters, with a hundred sample citations: Koranic verses, hadiths, sayings of the first four caliphs and other revered figures, verses of Arabic poetry with Persian translation (Kašf al-ẓonun: Ḏayl II, col. 1945; for mss., see Monzavi, II, cols. 2122-23). (2) Qawāʿed al-rasāʾel wa farāʾed al-fażāʾel. Written for Amir Maḥmud, this work discusses the forms of address to be used in letters sent to rulers (see Yınanç, 1948, pp. 96-99). (3) Ḡonyat al-ṭāleb wa monyat al-kāteb, on the rules of epistolary composition, which Ḵoʾi wrote for his own son, Naṣr-al-Din (ed. Erzi, 1963; see also Yınanç, pp. 99-103). (4) Rosum al-rasāʾel wa nojum al-fażāʾel, which discusses the titles that should be used for various dignitaries and bureaucrats, their respective ranks and responsibilities, the salaries they receive, and the towns where they were appointed; in addition, it provides sample farmāns (formal decrees written on behalf of rulers, q.v.; ed. Erzi, together with work Ḡonyat al-ṭāleb, no. 4 above). (5) Naṣib al-fetyān, a versified Arabic-Persian vocabulary, modeled on Abu Naṣr Farāhi’s Neṣāb al-ṣebyān (mss. Süleymaniye, Reşid Ef. 978; Lala Ismâil 644; Hasan Hüsnü 1102; Kayseri, Râşid Efendi, 11279; see DICTIONARIES II.). (6) Toḥfa-ye Ḥosām, a versified Persian-Turkish vocabulary (concerning the ms. in Mosul, see Fehrest-e maḵtutāt-e Mawṣel, p. 115). (7) His divān of poetry (Ṭehrāni, IX/1, p. 236).

 

Bibliography:

In addition to that given in the text, Dehḵodā,I, pp. 296, 300.

ʿAbd-al-Rasul Ḵayyāmpur, Farhang-e soḵanvarān, Tabriz, 1340 Š./1961, p. 157.

Ḥasan b. ʿAbd-al-Moʾmen Ḵoʾi, Ḡonyat al-ṭāleb wa monyat al-kāteb, ed. Adnan Sadik Erzi, Ankara, 1963.

Aḥmad Monzavi, Fehrest-e nosḵahā-ye ḵaṭṭi-e fārsi, Tehran, 1350 Š./1971, III. Ṣafā, Adabiyāt III/1, p. 285.

Tawfiq Sobḥāni, Fehrest-e nosḵahā-ye ḵaṭṭi-ye fārsi-ye Ketâbḵāna-ye Maḡnesā, Tehran, 1366 Š./1987, pp. 199-200.

Moḥammad-ʿAli Tarbiat, Dānešmandān-e Āḏarbāyjān, Tehran, 1314 Š./1925.

Āqā Bozorg Ṭeh-rāni, al-Ḏariʿa ilā taṣānif al-šiʿa IX/1, p. 236.

Osman Turan, Türkiye Selçukluları hakkında resmi vesikalar, Ankara, 1958, pp. 172-84.

Mükrimin Halil Yınanç, Anadolu Selçukluları tarihine ait bazı kaynaklar, Ankara, 1948.

Yaşar Yücel, XIII-XV. yüzyıllar kuzeybatı Anadolu tarihi: Çobanoğulları ve Candaroğulları Beylikleri, Ankara, 1980, pp. 24-28.

(Tahsin Yaziçi)

Originally Published: December 15, 2003

Last Updated: December 15, 2003