Shaykh Ilyas Çelebi (Ibn Isa al-Akhisari)

Sufi poet descended from the Shamsiyya line of the Bayramiyya; founder of the Isawiyya branch named after him and shaykh of the lodge at Akhisar. He is known for poems in which he treated the idea of the unity of being, and for his renown in the science of jafr.

He was born in 902 (1496-97) at Akhisar, then the seat of a district in the Saruhan sub-province of the province of Aydın. His real name was İlyas, his father's name Isa. What is known of his life rests on his own work Menakıb-ı Şeyh Mecdüddin, on the virtues of his father, a Bayrami shaykh, and above all on the section about himself appended to the end of that work by an unknown hand.

After completing his madrasa education he completed his spiritual training under his father Mecdüddin Isa and received his licence from him. His father had received his own licence first from Muhammad Çelebi, one of the Bayrami shaykhs, and later from Şeyh Kasım Efendi, son of İbrahim Tennuri, founder of the Tennuriyya branch of the Shamsiyya-Bayramiyya.

When his father settled in Aydın in 928 (1522), he took his father's place at the lodge in Akhisar. But as long as his father lived (d. 937/1530-31) he gave no licence to anyone, thinking it would be disrespectful towards him.

He died at Akhisar in 967 (1559-60) and was buried beside his father in the tomb adjoining the Şeyh Isa Mosque.

His Circle of Influence — His initiatic chain reaches İbrahim Tennuri through his father Mecdüddin Isa Saruhani and Şeyh Kasım, and from him Akşemseddin, founder of the Shamsiyya-Bayramiyya. The Isawiyya named after him did not long survive him. He is known to have given his licence to eight persons: Baba Ahmed Germiyani, Muslihuddin Germiyani, Muhammad Rumi, Kasım Malatyavi, Rûşen-i Rumi (Nuri Rûşeni), Abdi Halife Tirevi, Ömer Menteşevi and Dede Hasan Bayındıri. Of these, Kasım Malatyavi is said to have been sent to Amasya, and Muhammad Rumi to have founded his lodge somewhere near Istanbul.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — His poems on the unity of being draw attention for their literary side as much as for their Sufi content; his use of simile, metaphor, double meaning and paronomasia shows his mastery of the subtleties of Ottoman Turkish. The Menakıb-ı Şeyh Mecdüddin states that he had 10,000 hymns and ghazals, but these have not come down to us. A ghazal of his describing the shadow play was published by Hellmut Ritter. He was one of the best-known exponents of jafr in his time, and is reported to have been skilled in writing magic squares. Some sources also state that he was a physician and wrote a work on medicine.

His Works — ① Nutk-ı İbn Isa: twenty ghazals recorded under this title in a miscellany in the National Library. ② Menakıb-ı Şeyh Mecdüddin ve Adab-ı Salikin: on his father's virtues, completed in 961 (1554) when he was about sixty; it contains 150 anecdotes, the last three of which concern himself and were probably added by one of his disciples; among the anecdotes it also gives information on the rules and rites of the order and on the Bayrami chain. ③ Şerh-i Esma-i Hüsna: a verse work composed in 1541, of about 868 couplets. ④ Rumuz al-kunuz fi'l-jafr: in twelve chapters, completed in 965 (1557-58); it speaks of what is to happen from that date until the hijri year 2035. ⑤ Ferahname (Taskhir al-akbar fi ilm al-harf): on drawing meanings from letters. ⑥ Fusul-i Seb'a: on the seven stages. ⑦ Fusul-i Aşere: on the initiatic chain, the order's rules, the shaykh-disciple relationship, the stations, magic squares and the science of properties. ⑧ Kavaid al-taskhir. ⑨ Tabiatname. ⑩ Kıyafetname: thought to be a verse work linking bodily build and character. ⑪ Kıyametname: said to have consisted of 3000 couplets; it has not survived. ⑫ Risale-i Mukantarat: on the calendar. ⑬ Terceme-i Müfredat-ı İbn Isa. ⑭ Nuriyye: recorded as written in the name of Selim II and presented to him during his governorship of Manisa (1543-1558). The sources also name works titled Rumuz-ı Dilgüşa, Ebvab-ı Sitte and Kenz al-asrar.