#  Ep. 20 | A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī | Dr. Hacı Osman Gündüz 

 



   ![Ozzy Gunduz](/sites/g/files/omnuum9396/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2025-11/Ozzy%20Gunduz%20square.JPG?itok=BL5_kyJe) 

 

**Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz** is a winner of the 2025 Alwaleed Bin Talal Dissertation Prize in Islamic Studies for his dissertation, "A Rūmī in the Lands of Shām: Life, Poetry, and Legacy of a Janissary-Turned-Poet Māmayya al-Rūmī (d. 985–7/1577–9)." Ozzy talks about his interests in Arabic literature during the Ottoman era, often considered a period of *inḥiṭāṭ*, or decline, in which Arabic literature became decadent, imitative, and lacking creativity. Ozzy challenges the decline narrative and conducts a micro-history of Māmayya al-Rūmī, a celebrated Arabic poet of non-Arab origin, whose poetry Ozzy analyzes on its own terms and within the context of the literary milieu of 16th century Damascus. Māmayya al-Rūmī's poetry spans a vast range, including panegyrics to rulers and scholars, multi-lingual macaronic poems, chronograms, and "bawdy" poetry on the themes of homoerotic desire, drugs, and the wildly popular new beverage, coffee.

**Dr. Hacı Osman (Ozzy) Gündüz** is Assistant Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. He earned his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University in 2025.



 

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###    Credits  expand\_more  

**Episode 20**

**Release date**:

**Hosts**: Harry Bastermajian and Meryum Kazmi

**Recording location**: Media Production Center, Harvard University

**Sound engineer**: Jeffrey Valade

**Audio editing**: Meryum Kazmi

**Audio elements**: [*Muwashshah*: "Dhabi min al-Turk," unknown author, Mohamed Jebali (10:35-12:28)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9rtdJfRYP0&t=635s)

**Photo**:

**Transcription**: Otter (modified for readability)

 

 



###    Transcript  expand\_more  

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