A Unique Maqama in Ottoman Literature: Debate Betw

Maqama, as one of the most original genres of Arabic literature, was also written in Hebrew, Syriac, and Persian. However, no original maqama written in Turkish has hitherto been encountered. This research reveals a formerly unknown Turkish maqama and presents its full text transliterated into Latin script and translation into modern Turkish and English. The maqama, written by the 17th-century Turkish poet Nev'izade Atayi, deals with a woman and her husband who appealed to a court seeking divorce. In the presence of a judge and other witnesses, they extol their own virtues and besmirch each other's evils in a highly artistic and entertaining manner. This maqama echoes Hamadani's "Shamiyya," al-Hariri's "Tabriziyya" (Arabic) and Hamidi's "Hukumat al-Zawjayn" (Persian) in both style and theme. Therefore, this study also compare Turkish maqama with Arabic and Persian counterparts, and uncover a successfully enriched example that handles a classical maqama topic while simultaneously adhering to the technical features of the genre in a new language.