City
10 sourced records · 7 verified locations
The atlas holds 10 sourced records for Amasya; every record is published with scholarly review and a citation chain. Breakdown: 9 Saints · 1 Scholar.
A Halvetî saint of Pîr İlyas's lineage; sources describe him as the grandson of Pîr İlyas and son of Pîr Hüsâmeddîn-i Halvetî. He was among the leading figures who sustained the Halvetiyye in Amasya. His tomb lies within the Çilehâne Mosque known as 'Aşağı Pirler' (Lower Saints); the mosque and retreat cells were built in 1412 by Yâkub Paşa. (Sources: 'Pîr Cemâleddîn Abdurrahmân', Evliyalar Ansiklopedisi; Metin Hakverdioğlu)
A saint whose real name was Ali, known as Sheikh Sayyiduddin Ali al-Khalwati, who guided disciples in the Amasya lodge for thirty-five years after Habîb-i Karâmânî. He was an ascetic. He died in 1533; his open-air grave lies west of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque in central Amasya. (Sources: Abdülhalim Durma, 'Evliyalar Şehri Amasya', 2003; Metin Hakverdioğlu)
A scholar known as the 'Akbilek Saint,' real name Dede Bahşî b. İbrâhim, born in Uluköy village (Taşova). After studies in Amasya he traveled to Egypt and studied under scholars such as al-Suyuti, Zakariyya al-Ansari and al-Sakhawi, mastering jurisprudence and exegesis. He died in 1523-24 in Amasya; his tomb, with a small mosque, stands on a hill near the Akbilek gardens in the Şeyhcui neighborhood. (Sources: Abdülhalim Durma, 'Evliyalar Şehri Amasya', 2003; Rahime Özdoğan, 2006)
A Qalandari dervish who lived at Merzifon in the XV century; he is known for the legends that grew up around his life and for his tomb at Merzifon. What is known of his life rests on the Menakıb-ı Piri Baba , written by one Hoca İbrahim, and on Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname . Hoca İbrahim says that he himself built the Piri Baba lodge mentioned in the land-survey register of 926 (1520). That Piri Baba's nephew Ali Dede was still alive when the work was written shows that not very long had passed since his death; on this basis it has been suggested that the work was composed in the reign of Selim I. Evliya Çelebi, who passed through Merzifon in 1057 (1647) and visited his tomb, says that he was one of the dervishes whom Ahmad Yasawi sent to Anatolia together with Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli. M. Fuad Köprülü, repeating Evliya Çelebi's view, likewise counts him, under the name Pir Dede , among Ahmad Yasawi's deputies in Anatolia. According to the Menakıbname he came from the village of Narince near Merzifon. At the age of seven or eight his mother apprenticed him to a master shoemaker in Merzifon. The work stresses that he attained sainthood at an early age, and relates that even at that age he was deeply devoted to worship. The main subject both of the Menakıbname and of Evliya Çelebi is his relationship with the Ottoman sultan of the day. According to the Menakıbname he lived in the furnace room of a bathhouse reserved for men in the morning and for women in the afternoon; when he stayed on in the bathhouse even when the women came, he provoked the scholars of Merzifon and was denounced to the sultan. The Menakıbname presents him as a saint who first wins the heart of the sultan who has come to punish him and then foretells the conquest of cities, raising him above the ruler of his time. According to the source this motif also appears in other hagiographies written in that period, such as the Vilayetname-i Otman Baba , and may be read as a reaction to the negative policy Mehmed the Conqueror pursued towards the dervishes. The legend also indicates that because of his Qalandari temperament he was not much liked by the scholars of his time. The date of his death is unknown. The Menakıbname states that after his death his fellow villagers from Narince wished to claim him, but the scholars of Merzifon would not allow it. Hoca İbrahim relates that he built a tomb for him and married a girl of his own family to Piri Baba's nephew Ali Dede; the source says that this last episode may also be seen as Hoca İbrahim's effort to establish a tie of kinship with Piri Baba. His Poetry and Sufi Line — This slot carries not his poetry but his Sufi line. The source lists the signs suggesting that he was a Qalandari dervish: his being called in the Seyahatname by the term "ışık", used around the XVI century for Qalandari dervishes; his going about naked; his conduct, according to the Menakıbname, when he met Mehmed the Conqueror; and his resemblance to Otman Baba. The miracle motifs related of him also resemble those of Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli: a miraculous journey to the Kaaba, ripening fruit out of season and taking the form of a dove are among them. The references to Karbala in his legends stand out as an emphasis on love for the Prophet's family. His Tomb and Complex — His tomb stands in the Tekke quarter of Merzifon; known to have been repaired several times, it was last restored in 1977 by the General Directorate of Pious Foundations. His lodge is recorded in the land-survey register of 926 (1520); at that time one Şahkulu Baba b. Bayezid was its shaykh, and the register of 982-983 (1574-1575) shows that he was still in office. Evliya Çelebi records that at the time of his visit a shaykh named Memi Dede Can served at the lodge, and that many visitors came and went to the lodge and to the bathhouse where Piri Baba was believed to have lived. In later periods many legends grew up around his person.
