SOME EXAMPLES of SELJUK (Besmele) CIPHERS

SOME EXAMPLES of SELJUK (Besmele) CIPHERS
by Ord. Prof. Dr. A. Süheyl Ünver 

Our subject is the usually little regarded ciphers or formulas to be found in many of the 15,000 or so manuscripts in Turkish museums. These ciphers, bearing the exclamation "Bismillahirrahmanirrahim" - " I write in the God the All - Merciful and All - Compasssionate", have the function of religous talismans illuminated and drawn at the beginning of Islamic manuscripts.

The Gülbün Mesara collection contains some of the finest examples of these ciphers, mainly from hand-written copies of Arabic and Persian manuscripts, by Turkish scribes and artists, and executed in Turkish - Arabic dialect.

Writers of vernacular Latin in various European countries began to be distinguished bey their regional dialects in the XIV century. Turco - Arabic dialects may be distinguished in the same way.
 

On the Turkish Seljuk empire of central Asia and Iran, the language of cultural and economic transactions was mainly Persian, and Arabic to a lesser degree, so that vernacular Turkish dialects had a notable influence on the literature of the time, in those areas.

Hence, we have here some interesting examples; manscripts in which the text is in arabic or Perisan, and the decorated ciphers within them are seen to have been executed by Turkish artists, during the Anatolian Seljuk era.

Among them are:  

1- The cipher at the head of "Zahire-i Harezmisahiye" (1290) (Suleymaniye Library, Haghia Sophia No:3617), with Persian text, which is executed in the Kufic script in black ink, infilled with illuminated and gilged interlace (Rumi) containing Seljuk esglas and other birds.
2- The cipher at the head of a "Commentary on the Traditions of the Prophet" of "Ebubekir bin ebi ıshak bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim ül güle badi essofi" in Kufic decorated with geometric forms. Executed in the XIII C, probably in Konya (Suleymaniye Umumi Lib. Yeni Cami 274)
3- A cipher in a "Collection of Pamphlets" in Arabic, dated 1129, in decorated Seljuk Kufic. (Suleymaniye Umumi Lib. Haghia Sophia 4824)

4- A Persian translation of "Observations on the Tasavvuf Mirsadul" containing a Cipher with decorated ground. The M.S. belonged to Emir Fahrul Hakkı ved Din in 1378. (Suleymaniye Umumi Lib. Haghia Sophia 2065)

5- The cipher on the first page of the medical treatise "Hidaye", which belonged to "Emir" in 1116, and was among the books in the private library of Hacı Ivaz Pasha Bin ahi Byazid (the architects - Suabsi- of the Green Mosque and tomb in Bursa) in 1411.

6- A cipher at the head of the "Kitab-us Shifa" of İbni Sina, the first volume, dated 1272-75, is in Arabic, by a Harput hand, completed by Eminuddin at Harput. (Suleymaniye Umumi Lib. No2442)

7- A headpiece and cipher in a Konya hand in the "Musannifek" (Compilation) of Molla Ali Bestani, written in Konya, 1455 (Suleymaniye Umumi Lib. Fatih 5004)

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