Translation of Mavahib-i Aliyya in Chagatai (Tafsir-i Husayni)
Özcan Tabaklar, Saidbek BoltabayevAs the Turkish people have always paid special attention to the sacred books of the religions they accepted, they translated them to their native language and tried to spread the religions. Even after the adoption of Islam, the Turkish people translated and interpreted the Qur’an several times. Some of them are interlinear translations of the Qur’an, and some others are considered as the translations with interpretation (called tafsir). One such interpretation is “Mavahib-i Aliyya,” which became famous as “Tafsir-i Husayni.” It was translated from Persian into Turkic in the XVIth century. In this article, it was demonstrated based on a doctoral thesis “Chaghatay Tafsir” in the Topkapi and Konya libraries is the Turkic translation of “Mavahib-i Aliyya.”
Çağatayca Mevahib-i Aliyye (Tefsir-i Hüseynî) Tercümesi
Özcan Tabaklar, Saidbek BoltabayevTürkler her zaman mensup oldukları dinin kutsal kitaplarına çok ayrı önem vermişlerdir. Mensubu olunan dinin kutsal kitapları, Türk diline tercüme edilmiştir. Türkler, İslam’ı kabul ettikten sonra Kur’an-ı Kerim’in birçok Türkçe tercüme ve tefsirini yapmışlardır. Bu tercümelerin bazıları kelime kelime diye adlandırılan satırarası tercüme, bazıları ise daha tafsilatlı ve şerhe dayalı olan tefsirli tercümelerdir. Bahsi geçen tefsirli tercümelerden biri de Çağatay Türkçesi ile yazılmış Kur’an tefsirlerinden Tefsir-i Hüseynî adı ile meşhur olan Mevahib-i Aliyye tefsirinin ХVI. yüzyılda Farsçadan Çağataycaya yapılan tercümesidir. Makalede, doktora tezi çalışmasından hareketle, Topkapı Sarayı Müzesi Kütüphanesinin III. Ahmet Bölümü’nde 16 numarada ve Konya Yusuf Ağa Kütüphanesinde 42 YU 6624 numarada muhafaza edilen ve Çağatayca Kur’an Tefsiri olarak bilinen eserin Hüseyin Vaiz Kaşifî tarafından Fars dilinde kaleme alınan Mevahib-i Aliyye adlı eserin birebir çevirisi olduğu kanıtlanmıştır.
This work, the full name of which is Al-Mavahibu’l-Aliyya Fi Tafsiri’l-Kalami’r-Rabbaniyya, is also well-known with the names of Mavahib-i Aliyya and Tafsir-i Husayni. It was written in Persian by Husayn Vaiz Kashifi in the late XVth century. Husayn Vaiz Kashifi, as he did with some of his other works, dedicated the tafsir of Mavahib-i Aliyya to Ali Shir Navai, one of the most important personalities of the Eastern literature. After the acceptance of Islam by Turks, the need for translations and tafsir of the Qur’an increased so that the Turkish works of this kind multiplied. Some of the Qur’an translations and tafsirs of Turkish are copyrighted works while some others are translated works. Translated works are generally translated from Persian to Turkic. Mavahib-i Aliyya also was translated from Persian into Chagatai Turkic in the middle of the XVIth century by an unknown translator. This article has been prepared from the doctoral thesis. Firstly it was detected in the doctoral thesis,the work, which is well known as the Chagatai Koran Tafsir, and has two copies in Topkapi Palace Museum and Konya Karatay Yusuf Aga Library, is actually a translation of the work Mavahib-i Aliyya, written in Persian. Moreover, the Chagatai and Persian tafsir were compared with each other, and the third copy of Mavahib-i Aliyya was identified in Tashkent after the research that was conducted in the copies of Mavahib-i Aliyya. It is known in history that the first translation of the Qur’an was made into Persian. In some sources, it is stated that some of the surahs were translated to Persian while Prophet Muhammad was alive. According to many historical sources, the first Persian translation was made in the late Xth century. At the time of Abu Salih Mansur bin Nuh (961–976), who was the Samanid ruler, it was translated into Persian by taking the example of Tabari’s tafsir. The translations of the Qur’an in Turkish also date back to history. According to historians, the first Turkish translation was made in the X–XIth century. Eleven translations of the Qur’an intoEastern Turkic written in XII–XVIth centuries are known. These translations are structured in two ways. Translations made in the form of word–word translation are called interlinear Qur’anic translations. If there are examples from other works, examples from hadiths and exegetical explanations of the translated part after the Turkish translation, these types of works are called tafsirs. The eleven Eastern Turkic translations are as follows:
1. Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum Copy
2. Suleymaniye Copy written in Khwarazm Turkic
3. Suleymaniye Copy with mixed language translation 239 Tabaklar Ö, Boltabayev S Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Dergisi, Cilt: 57, Sayı: 57, 2017
4. Rylands Copy
5. Uzbekistan Copy
6. Anonymous Tafsir
7. Interpretive Mashhad Copy
8. Interliner Mashhad Copy
9. Bilingual Interliner Mashhad Copy
10. Translation of Tafsir-i Yakub Charhi
11. Translation of Mavahib-i Aliyya
The work, which we studied as a doctoral thesis, is called the Anonymous Tafsir in Chagatai. However, it was determined in the doctoral thesis, that the work is the Chagatai translation of Mevahib-i Aliyya, also called Tafsir-i Husayni, is written in Persian. The oldest known copy of the translation of tafsir is in Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ahmet III Section at number 16. The second copy of the work is preserved in Konya Karatay Yusuf Aga Library (Archive number 42 YU 6624). Articles were written by scientists at various times on the work, and the doctoral thesis and master’s theses were prepared. On the 184a page of the work there is translation of Surah Tawba. While translating the phrase “ ” it is written as: ( nesezed ve revā bolmaġay müşrikìn müşriklerge). Afterwords the word “ ” was corrected as (oḫşamas). The word “ ” is a negative conjugation of the Persian verb “ ” (3rd person singular). Except for this, the characteristics of the Persian language are clearly identified in the work. Therefore, it is highly probable that the work has been translated from Persian. It has been proved that the work is a translation of Mavahib-i Aliyya by showing the comparison of Surah al-Fatihah, the comparison of the story in Surah Yusuf, and the comparison of personal names and poems in the work.
