Statesman, translator
(B. 24 March 1843, Preveze - D. 1908, Istanbul). He is the son of Prevezeli
Ahmed Dino Bey an Albanian elite. After having a decent education in his
homeland, he went to Istanbul and entered the palace as a warrior. Later he
became district governor, governor, prefect and grand vizier and served in
various positions and different cities of the empire. He was appreciated by the
people of places where he ruled thanks to his ruling skills and behaviors. He
was sent to Diyarbakır for Eastern Reform Movements. Later he was assigned to
Sivas as Governor of Rumeli and within six months to Prefecture of
Thessaloniki. Finally he served as Prefect of Cezayir-i Bahr-i Sefîd
(Mediterranean Isles). Upon being retired from here, he returned to Istanbul.
Later he was assigned to the commission established to reform Yemen. While on
this duty he passed away. His articles and poems in Greek were published in the
newspaper Neogolos in Istanbul for a long time.
Abidin Pasha knew Arabic, Persian, Albanian, French and Greek aside from
his native language Turkish. He wrote Greek poems and these poems were
published in Istanbul and Paris. He translated Mevlana Celâleddin-i Rumi’s Mesnevi into our language and published
it in six volumes. Besides he wrote booklets on morality and religion.
WORKS:
Tercüme ve Şerh-I Mesnevi-i Şerîf (6 volumes, Abidin Pasha owes his
fame to this work. It is the translation and interpretation of the first volume
of Mevlana’s Mesnevi. It has a distinguished place among other
translations of Mesnevi, 1812), Tercüme ve Şerh-i Kasîde-I Bürde (Translation and
interpretation of İmam Bûsirî’’s famous eulogy. A facsimile and a simplified
text were published by Ömer Faruk Harman, 1977), Âlem-i İslâmiyet (Müdafaa,
This small work of forty pages is a refusal written to a booklet published by a
priest in Egypt, 1897-98), Meâl-i İslâm (This book shows superiorities
of Islam and consists of small chapters titled “wisdom”, 1897-98).