Rewani (c. 1475 – 1524), ''Ilyas Shudja Celebi'', was an Ottoman poet. Born in Edirne the son of 'Abd Allah, he was employed by

Bayezid II Bayezid II ( ota, بايزيد ثانى, Bāyezīd-i s̱ānī, 3 December 1447 – 26 May 1512, Turkish: ''II. Bayezid'') was the eldest son and successor of Mehmed II, ruling as Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512. During his reign, ...

as administrator of the ''surre''; money for the poor in the holy cities of Mecca and Medina."Rewani", W. Bjorkmann and Kathleen Burrill, ''The Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Vol. VIII, ed. C.E.Bosworth, E. van Donzel, W.P.Heinrichs and G. Lecomte, (Brill, 1995), 489. After being accused of embezzling, he was promptly dismissed. He found service with Prince Selim, Bayezid's son, in Trabzon Province. Yet again, he fell into disfavor through some indiscretion, but was forgiven by Prince Selim. Following Selim's overthrow of Bayezid II, Rewani became superintendent of the kitchen(''matbakh emini'') and later entrusted with the administration of the

Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...

. Yet, during his lifetime, Rewani was accused of

peculation Embezzlement is a crime that consists of withholding assets for the purpose of criminal conversion, conversion of such assets, by one or more persons to whom the assets were entrusted, either to be held or to be used for specific purposes. Em ...

and

plagiarism Plagiarism is the fraudulent representation of another person's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions as one's own original work.From the 1995 '' Random House Compact Unabridged Dictionary'': use or close imitation of the language and thought ...

."Chapter XII: Rewani", Elias John Wilkinson Gibb, ''A History of Ottoman Poetry'', Vol. 2, ed. Edward G. Browne, (Luzac and Co., 1902), 321. Rewani built a mosque complex in the Kırk Çeşme quarter of

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

and was buried there in 1524. The mosque complex no longer exists. Rewani suffered from an affliction to his eyes and in the words of a hostile contemporary poet, "a just punishment of God". Rewani's response was, "he who has honey licks his fingers".

Work

Rewani dedicated his ''Diwan'' to

Selim I Selim I ( ota, سليم الأول; tr, I. Selim; 10 October 1470 – 22 September 1520), known as Selim the Grim or Selim the Resolute ( tr, links=no, Yavuz Sultan Selim), was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to 1520. Despite last ...

. The strength of this ''Diwan'' originates in its ''ghazels'', which sing in a gentle flowing manner of human and mystic love, most of which were later set to music. Rewani's ''magnum opus'' is the ''Ishret-name'', a

masnavi The ''Masnavi'', or ''Masnavi-ye-Ma'navi'' ( fa, مثنوی معنوی), also written ''Mathnawi'', or ''Mathnavi'', is an extensive poem written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi. The ''Masnavi'' is one of the most ...

consisting of 694 beyts, which was finished near the end of his life. The ''Ishret-name'' gives a history of viniculture and Rewani goes into great detail concerning wine-drinking including the etiquette and the meals served. As a precaution, he gives the story a mystical setting to avoid attacks from the devout. However, the story indicates the existence of such activities during his lifetime and his preference for such things and was praised for its wit, which was graceful and elegant. Rewani's ''Ishret-name'' was the first Ottoman Turkish poem with a bacchic theme, which inspired the ''saki-names'' genre that became popular a century later.

References

{{Authority control 16th-century poets from the Ottoman Empire Male poets from the Ottoman Empire 1470s births 1524 deaths People from Edirne Date of death unknown Year of birth uncertain