On the Article Titled “Başşār” by Mahmad Fahmī Lecturer in History of Arabic Literature in Dār Al-Funūn

Abstract

Mudarriszādah Mahmad Fahmī (ö. 1873-1944) was a lecturer who held several offices in Baghdad during the reign of Abdulhamīd II. Mudarriszādah then lectured in the History of Arabic Literature at Dār al-Funūn for ten more years. Besides Arabic and Turkish he also spoke and read Persian and French. He prepared this lecture notes in four volumes and published the first volume dedicated to the jāhiliyya period in Istanbul. One of the articles he wrote in Turkish is an article entitled Başşār, which was published among the letters of Abdulhak Hāmid. In this article, Mudarriszādah presented information about Başşār's life and then analyzed selected couplets from his poems by comparing them with some poems belonging to the jāhiliyya period as well as Persian and Turkish poems. In this study, the life of Mudarriszādah will be discussed through Arabic and Turkish sources, including the period from his birth to his departure from Istanbul and then his article entitled Başşār will be presented.