A Unique Maqama in Ottoman Literature Debate Between a Fluent Woman and an Eloquent Young Husband by Nevizade Atayi

Maqma, as one of the most original genres of Arabic literature, was also written in Hebrew, Syriac, and Persian. However, no original maqma written in Turkish has hitherto been encountered. This research reveals a formerly unknown Turkish maqma and presents its full text transliterated into Latin script and translation into modern Turkish and English. The maqma, written by the 17th-century Turkish poet Nevzde Aty, 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 others evils in a highly artistic and entertaining manner. This maqma echoes Hamadns Shamiyya, al-Harrs Tabriziyya Arabic and Hamds Hukumat al-Zawjayn Persian in both style and theme. Therefore, this study also compare Turkish maqma with Arabic and Persian counterparts, and uncover a successfully enriched example that handles a classical maqma topic while simultaneously adhering to the technical features of the genre in a new language.