Ahmed Sudi Bošnjak

The Persian language and literature which played an important role in the Ottoman culture, were also taught and learnt in the Yugoslav lands, and especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Turkish rule. Besides Arabic and Turkish, Persian was taught both in elementary and secondary schools, and works of the important Persian classics used to be favourite literature, such as: Sadi’s Gulistan (Rosegarden), Baharestan (The Springgarden) by Abdurrahman Djami, Divan of Ghazals by Hafiz from Shiraz, and Masnevi (The mystical code) by Jalal-ad-Din Rumi. As a consequence of the mentioned Persian influence and the interest in the Persian literature, numerous writers, by origin from Bosnia and Herzegovina and other Yugoslav lands, wrote their works in Persian: Dervish-pasha Bajezidagić (XVIth century), Sabuhi (died 1641), Rushdi (died 1699), Husrev-pasha Sokolović (died 1639), Nerkesi Muhamed from Sarajevo (died 1672), Tevekkuli-Dede (XVII century), and Fawzi of Mostar (died 1747). The strength and continuity of those influences and reflections had been visibly present both in the „Bosnian“ language and the literature of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the XVth to the end of the XIXth century. The present author described the life and work of one of the greatest comentators of the classical Persian literature Ahmad Sudi Bosnevi (died1593), who was known in the Ottoman literature by the name of Sudi Bosnevi. He was born in the village of Sudići near the town of Čajniče in Bosnia. He obtained his secondary education in his homeland, studied in Istanbul, and for some time attended lectures in Persian language and literature of Muslih ad-Din Lari (died 1569) in Diarbakr in Syria. Upon his return to Istanbul, he worked as a teacher at Atmaydan-Saray of the Bosnian Ibrahim-pasha, where he taught the young men who were being educated for the positions at the Court. Most probably he taught Arabic language and Persian language and literature. However, the later period of his work is much more important. His memorable works, with which he greatly contributed to the Ottoman Turkish culture, date from that period. He enriched that culture with his outstanding comentaries on the Persian classics, his translations into Turkish and his original works. Still, the most important part of Sudi’s literary work are his commentaries: Gulistan and Bustan of Sadi from Shiraz, Divan, poems by Hafiz from Shiraz, Baharestan by Abdurrahma Djami, Masnevi by Jelal-ad-Din Rumi. Besides the fact