JĀMI RUMI (or Jāmi Meṣri), AḤMAD, Ottoman official, poet, and translator (fl. 10th/16th century). Next to nothing is known about him beyond his career as a ranking official of the Ottoman state, even the dates and places of his birth and death are not recorded. He was a professional soldier in the service of the royal court. In the reign of Sultan Süleymān (Solaymān) the Magnificent (r. 1520-66), he worked as a treasurer (ḵazīna-ye ʿāmera kātebi) in Egypt, where he lost four sons during a plague epidemic. He was sent to Mecca in order to renovate the Kaʿba, where he stayed for three years (ca. 1551-55). Upon returning to Istanbul he was promoted and once again sent to Egypt. During this time he translated Wāʿeẓ Kāšefi’s Rawżat al-šohadāʾ from Persian into Ottoman Turkish under the title of Saʿādat-nāma for Süleymān the Magnificent. He became famous for this translation and became governor of a sanjaq (provincial district) in Egypt, the position in which he also served under Sultan Murād III (r. 1574-94).
His poetical works were apparently never collected in a divān, but some of his poems can be found in taḏkeras and anthologies. In Saʿādat-nāma he used simple language but adorned it with poems of Turkish and Persian poets. There are many manuscripts of Saʿādat-nāma; the oldest known manuscript dates from 986/1578 and is kept at Topkapı Palace Library in Istanbul (Revan, no. 1092; see Uzun, p. 103).
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(Osman G. Özgüdenli)
Originally Published: December 15, 2008
Last Updated: April 10, 2012
This article is available in print.
Vol. XIV, Fasc. 5, pp. 482-483
