Mâtemî’nin Nesrü’l-Le’âlî Tercümesi

The apothegms of Hz. Ali, who is loved, respected and taken as a role model by Turkish nation becauseof his being a member of Ahl-i Bayt (the family of the Prophet), have been translated into Turkishas both poetry and prose by a total of fifty different writers some of whom are unknown. Amongthem, Terceme-i Nesrü’l-Le’âlî Min Kelâmi Alî Ebî Tâlib, written by Mâtemî who is known to live inthe 16th century, is the subject of this study. In the first part of the study, the selected collected worksabout the apothegms of Hz. Ali and their Turkish translations were concisely presented; then, bygiving information about Mâtemî, it was pointed out that Mâtemî, the poet of the above-stated work,was a different person from the poet who firstly used the pseudonym Mâtemî and then changed it toHâtemî. In this study, it was also revealed that the poet whose work was focused in this study lived inthe sixteenth century and that his real name was Yâr Alî Tebrîzî who migrated to Anatolia and livedin Bursa after the collapse of the Akkoyunlu State. It was also found out that he presented a literarywork to Selim the Resolute and had three literary works. Afterwards, the content, language andstyle of the above-mentioned work was analysed and then the copies of the work were introduced.Hz. Ali’s 252 apothegms were listed on the basis of elifba and each one was translated into Turkishwith two couplets. These educative and guiding statements are important in terms of enlightenmentof society and maturation of individuals. While translating the Mâtemî apothegms,it was aimed tocontribute to the vocabulary and poetic quality of the Turkish language by using Turkish words asmuch as possible.