KARAKAŞZÂDE ÖMER EFENDİ VE MİR’ATÜ’L-‘UŞŞÂK ADLI ESERİ
KARAKAŞZÂDE ÖMER EFENDİ AND HIS WORK TITLED MİR’AT-AL-‘UŞŞÂK

Summary/Abstract: Karakaşzâde Ömer Efendi was a 17th century author. Sources refer to him as “Karakaşzâde Ömer Efendi, Karakaşzâde Ömer Ibn Mehmed, Sheikh Ömer Efendi al-Bursawî al-ma‘rûf Karakaşzâde” and so forth. Biographical sources provide very limited information about the author’s life. According to this information, he was born in Bursa in 983/1575-76 and died in 1047-48/1637-38. Detailed information about his life has been gleaned from his works Mir’at-al-‘Uşşâk and Nûr-al-Hudâ. Karakaşzâde Ömer Efendi’s work, Mir’at-al ‘Uşşâk, which is the subject of our study, was written in 1038- 39/1629-30 in four chapters and a conclusion, in a mixture of verse and prose. The work covers many topics, including the creation of Adam, divine love and its definition, the story of Solomon and the ant, the transience of the world, greed, generosity, fate and destiny, the forty hadiths, the benefits of the surahs, and various prayers. The work is presented as a religious-mystical and didactic text. While addressing the aforementioned topics, the work draws upon the works of Muhyiddin ibn Arabi, Imam al-Ghazali, Fahreddin al-Razi, Junayd al-Baghdadi, Imam Shafi'i, Davud al-Qaysari, Abdullah al-Ansari, Bayhaqi, Ibn Sina, Harun al-Rashid, Bayezid al-Bistami, and Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardi. This study will focus on the author of the work Mir’at-al ‘Uşşâk, which was written in a style suitable for teaching in madrasas within the tradition of Turkish literature developed under the influence of Islam, and on the manuscripts of the work. The manuscripts of the work in question are introduced in the study, and noteworthy findings about the work and its author are reached based on these manuscripts.

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