Muhammad 'Ashik ibn 'Uthman ibn Bayezid

Muhammad 'Ashik, son of a teacher at the Koran elementary school of the Khatuniyya mosque, was born about 964 AH (1555) at Trabzon. At the age of twenty he left his town to see the world. His travels covered Anatolia and Rumelia. He took part in 'Uthman Pasha's campaign in the Caucasus and southern Russia in 989-992 AH (1581-1584); after 994 AH (1585) he spent several years at Salonica, whence he joined, in 1002-1003 AH (1593-1594), Kodja Sinan Pasha's Hungarian campaign. In 1005 AH (1596) he settled in Damascus, and he completed his cosmographic work in Ramadan 1006 AH (April-May 1598). The date of his death is not known. ¹

The work is in two parts. Part I begins with the creation and describes the upper world, the stars, paradise and hell. Part II treats the lower world in eighteen chapters: chapters 1 to 12 are geographical, 13 to 18 more general, and a last chapter treats the duration and end of the world. It is a vast compilation, written in Turkish, from older Arabic and Persian cosmographers, geographers and natural scientists, with precise references to each source; in the geographical part he also gives the personal views of each author. There are considerable additions on Rumelia and Hungary. Chapter 12, on towns, is the most important. Later writers such as Katib Celebi (Hajji Khalifa) and Abu Bakr ibn Bahram often based their writings on it, sometimes copying parts verbatim without its references. ¹