Manuscripts of Fadil pasha Šerifović's Divan

Abstract

The author of this paper points out the need for registering and cataloging the contents of manuscript collections in Yugoslavia. He consideres this to be the prerequisite for the study of Muslim cultural heritage written in Turkish, Arabic or Persian.

The lack of complete and asccurate information about literary works of Muslims from Bosnia and Herzegovina was the reason why some of the researches made serious errors in that field. Thug, the life and literary work of Fadil-pasha Šerifovich was not represented adequately for a long time and three transcripts of his Divan were not known to Safvetbey Basagich (Bošnjaci i Hercegovci u islamskoj književnosti, Sarajevo 1912), Mehmed Handžić (Književni rad bosansko-hercegovačkih Muslimana Sarajevo, 1933) and to Hazim Šabanovich (Književnost Muslimana Bosne i Hercegovine na orijentalnim jezicima Sarajevo, 1973). So, their opinion about this outstanding man of Bosnian Muslim culture of the XIXth century was established on lacking and incomplete data. Studying the poetical work of Fadil- pasha, the author of this work evaluates his poetry as an outstandinyne

Transcribers of these two manuscrpipts (third one is only a copy of the first) are Muhamed Shefki Imamovich (1820-1883) calligrapher and bookbinder from Sarajevo and Muhamed Enver.Kadich (1855-1931) chronicler from Sasrajevo, poet in Turkish languasge, copyst and bibliographer. In Kadich’s anthology (Tarih-i Enveri) vol. XXVI and XXVII in Gazi Husrevbey’s library in Sarajevo are besides this Kakich’s copy of Fadil-pasha’s Divan included many other Fadil-pasha’s poems.