Saints and Tombs of Ankara

Tajeddin Sultan

Founder of the Tâceddin Lodge at Hamamönü in Ankara, Tâceddinzâde Mustafa Efendi ; he lived in the 17th century and is known among the people of Ankara as a Jalwati shaykh. In the literature about him he is called Tâceddin Sultan . The source states plainly that there is not enough information about the lodge's founder. He was the child of a family originally from Ankara; it is related that the family moved to Bursa and later returned to Ankara. This report about his name and Ankara origin suggests that he may have been the son of Tezkireci Tâceddin Efendi , who, while a professor at the Kaplıca Madrasa in Bursa, was appointed mufti of Ankara in 1010 (1601) and died there in 1018 (1609). His name is first met in 1075 (1664) at the head of the list of witnesses of the Aslanağa bin Muslu endowment deed drawn up in Ankara. It appears that he built a mosque together with the lodge; accordingly the Tâceddin Mosque and Lodge must have begun functioning in the middle of the 17th century. The inspection report of the Imperial Ministry of Endowments for the year 1270 (1853) records that he built the mosque and zawiya in the Tekke Ahmed quarter, on the site of the Şeyh Paşa Zawiya. The same report and an appointment register list him among the deputies of Aziz Mahmud Hüdayi ; these records agree with the report current among the people of Ankara that he was a Jalwati shaykh. Considering that Hüdayi came from Bursa to Istanbul in 992 (1584), served as shaykh at the Küçük Ayasofya Lodge and died there in 1038 (1628), it is, according to the source, highly probable that he reached him in his youth and received his licence from him. His date of death is not known. The inspection report of 1853 shows that he had no children. His Circle of Influence — After him the leadership of the lodge was held by Gizli Şeyh Mehmed Efendi and his descendants until Abdurrahman Efendi was appointed tomb-keeper in 1717. After Abdurrahman Efendi the office passed from father to son to Pir Mehmed, Şeyh Osman and Mustafa Efendi, in 1827 to Mustafa Efendi's brother Osman Vafi Efendi , and in 1853 to Osman Vafi's son Mehmed Şerif Galib (d. 1899). The lodge's last shaykh was Galib Efendi's son Mustafa Tâceddin Efendi (d. 1937). The source names Osman Vafi Efendi as the most powerful shaykh of the lodge after Tâceddinzâde. His Works — Enver Behnan Şapolyo states that a miscellany compiled by Şeyh Derviş Muslu Ankaravi in 1147 (1734-35) contained Tâceddinzâde's awrad (litanies), a list of the lodge's shaykhs, various legends and Tâceddinzâde's poems; this miscellany is lost today. The text of the litanies, which survives in several copies, was published by Sadi Bayram, and a treatise containing some of his poems by Mustafa Aşkar. His Tomb and Complex — The tomb west of the rectangular mosque and the minaret to its east are built of the red andesite stone peculiar to the Ankara region; the tomb has a Baghdadi dome. In 1892 it was decided to demolish the mosque, minaret and tomb and rebuild them with funds allotted by Abdülhamid II from the privy purse; the verse inscription over the tomb's entrance records that construction of the mosque was completed in 1319 (1901). Additions made in the 1970s to enclose the tomb were removed in the 2008 restoration. The Tâceddin Tomb remains today, as in the past, the most visited centre in Ankara after the tomb of Hacı Bayram-ı Veli. The lodge's surviving guest hall is where Mehmed Akif wrote the Turkish National Anthem on 17 February 1921.

Huseyin Gazi

Huseyin Gazi is a warrior-saint (gazi) believed to have been martyred fighting the Byzantines during the Islamization of Anatolia; folk tradition names him the father of Battal Gazi and a seyyid. His historicity is largely legendary and the sources conflict. His tomb atop Huseyingazi Hill in Mamak originated as a 13th-century lodge, was repaired in 1378 and again under Mehmed the Conqueror (1463). (Sources: Mamak District Governorate; Kultur Envanteri.)

Ahi Elvan

Ahi Elvan (Haci Elvan b. Mehmed Bey) was a figure of late-14th-century Ankara's Ahi (futuwwa) milieu. He built the Ahi Elvan Mosque (Samanpazari/Altindag); per the minbar inscription the mosque was renovated by him in 1413. Sources describe him primarily as the mosque's founder; his grave is associated with the mosque complex. His exact death date is unknown (late 14th century). (Sources: TDV Islamic Encyclopedia, 'Ahi Elvan Camii'; Kultur Envanteri.)

Sheikh Izzeddin

Sheikh Izzeddin was a 14th-century Sufi sheikh and teacher in Ankara whose students were largely within the Ahi organization; an Ottoman waqf document calls him a seyyid. His death date is disputed: the inscription is read either as 705/1306 or 752/1352. His tomb in Ulus/Haci Bayram is a reconstruction built on the foundations of the original demolished in the 1930s. (Sources: Kultur Envanteri, 'Seyh Izzettin Tomb/Mosque'; Konyali, History of Ankara.)

Bunyamin Ayashi

Bunyamin Ayashi (real name Mustafa) was a Sufi sheikh and a founding figure of the Bayrami-Melami branch. He is presented as a successor of either Omer Dede Sikkini or Haci Bayram-i Veli; the Melami line continued through his successor Pir Ali Aksarayi. His death date is disputed (c. 916/1510, 918/1512, or 926/1520). His tomb is in the Dervisimam quarter of Ayas district, Ankara, at the northeast corner of the mosque bearing his name. (Sources: TDV Islamic Encyclopedia, 'Bunyamin Ayasi'; Abdulkerim Erdogan, Ankara Velileri.)

Kara Davut Efendi

Kara Davut Efendi was a scholar and Sufi of the Bayramiyye order, one of the successors of Haci Bayram-i Veli. According to the inscription in his tomb he died in 1453. His grave is in the courtyard of the village mosque in Kuyumcutekke village, Beypazari district, Ankara, and remains an active site of visitation. (Sources: Kultur Envanteri, 'Kara Davut Tomb, Beypazari'; Beypazari Municipality.)

Tapduk Emre

A Baba'i-Haydari dervish who lived in the 13th century; he is known as the shaykh of the great Sufi poet Yunus Emre . He is thought to have come to Anatolia from Khurasan. Whether the word Tapduk was his name or his epithet is uncertain. Some of Yunus Emre's verses show that, like many dervishes of the Baba'i groups, he bore the title baba ; the existence of persons using this name in Anatolia in his time is also known. The sources give differing accounts of the period in which he lived; but if the periods of his disciple Yunus Emre and of his shaykh Barak Baba are taken into account, it can be said that he lived in the second half of the 13th century. Majdi states that he led a secluded life in his village near the Sakarya river; most sources agree that he lived in this village, which today bears his name. Like many dervishes of his time he is thought to have engaged in farming and in the training of his disciples. The sources differ on the identity of his spiritual guide. His disciple Yunus Emre himself, in the verse "Yunus's portion comes from Tapduk, Saltuk and Barak" , places him among the disciples of Barak Baba ; according to the source, these words establish conclusively that he was Barak Baba's disciple. Through Barak Baba his chain reaches Sarı Saltuk . Since Barak Baba is known to have been a Haydari dervish, Tapduk Emre too is thought likely to have been a Baba'i-Haydari dervish. According to M. Fuad Köprülü, because of his close ties with Baba'i circles he appears, like his shaykh, as a Turkmen baba; Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı holds that he belonged to the ta'ifa-i abdalan . What is told of his family is adorned with hagiographic reports. It is related that one of his daughters married Yunus Emre, but this report appears neither in Yunus's divan nor in other contemporary sources. Another daughter named Bacı Sultan , whose grave is in the village of Emre Sultan near Nallıhan, is also reported. Gölpınarlı further draws attention to the possibility that Yunus Emre may have been Tapduk Emre's son. His exact date of death is not known. It is highly probable that the guide whose death Yunus Emre announces in one of his poems died at the end of the 13th century. His Circle of Influence — The sources indicate that he had many disciples, known as the Tapduklular . His best-known disciple is Yunus Emre , who served him for many years: he spread his views in Anatolia and Syria, spoke of him with reverence and praise, and like his shaykh embraced Qalandari-Malamati thought, expressing this in the verse "We scattered Tapduk's meaning among the people, praise be to God" . Two further disciples, Shaykh Ömer and Shaykh Ja'far, are named in the sources. Village names show that his influence reached the Balkans as well: a village of the central district of Aksaray, one of the Havsa district of Edirne and one attached to Varna bear the name Tapduk. The source notes that even if this does not prove he went to these regions, it matters for estimating the spread of his disciples. His Tomb and Complex — According to the source, the most reliable view is that his grave lies in the village of Emresultan in the Nallıhan district of Ankara; this is recorded in many sources as well as in the Afyonkarahisar Sharia Court Registers. In the tomb in the village there are the graves of many other persons said to belong to his family.

Ahi Sharafaddin (Ahi Sharafaddin Mehmed)

One of the akhi notables of Ankara; his tomb stands beside the mosque that bears his name, popularly also known as the Arslanhane Mosque. The source records his death as 751 (1350-51) . Ahî Şerafeddin's father and uncle were, according to what most researchers accept, the two akhi brothers Hüsâmeddin and Hasan , who had the mosque repaired when it fell into ruin towards the end of the thirteenth century; the mihrab too is accepted to have been made at that time. The mosque stands in the Ahî Şerafeddin quarter on the Atpazarı slope, and is popularly also called the Arslanhane Mosque because many lion statues once stood before and around it. The first inscription on its wooden pulpit states that it was built in 689 (1290) by the akhi brethren in the time of the Seljuk sultan Mes'ûd b. Keykâvus (Mesud II). Outside the mosque are a burial enclosure and the tomb of Ahî Şerafeddin. Limit of this record: This record rests not on an article devoted to the man himself but on the article about the mosque that bears his name. The source gives no more about the person of Ahî Şerafeddin than the three pieces of information above (the year of his death, the identity of his father and uncle, and the site of his tomb). The architectural description of the mosque is rich; but that description has not been carried over here, because it belongs to the building , and has been left to the place record. To fill a person's record with the description of a building would be to make the record appear deeper than it is.

Haji Bayram-i Wali

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He is the patron saint of the Bayramiyye , the first order founded by a Turkish Sufi born and raised on Anatolian soil. He lived through the reigns of Orhan Gazi, Murad I, Bayezid I, Mehmed I and Murad II, and through the order he founded made great contributions to the shaping of the spiritual character of Anatolia. He was born at Ankara in the first half of the fourteenth century, in the reign of Orhan Gazi. The sources contain no information about his date of birth, his name, his family or the other phases of his life. His name heads the list of the eleven witnesses to the registration of the endowment deed of a foundation established at Ankara two years before his death, as "Model of the wayfarers, pole of the saints and the knowers… Hacı Bayram b. Ahmed b. Mahmûd …" (Ramadan 831 / June 1428); from this we learn both his genealogy and that he possessed very great spiritual authority while still alive. Lâmiî Çelebi, a sixteenth-century author, states that he was born in the village of Solfasol (Zülfazl) beside the river known as the Çubuk water at Ankara, that he studied the rational and religious sciences, and that he taught at Ankara. In the Mir'âtü'l-ışk of Abdurrahman al-Askerî, of the Bayramî-Melâmî tradition, it is stated that he was chief gatekeeper to Bayezid I and that his given name was Nûman . The same work relates his attachment in detail: on learning, after Timur had imprisoned Bayezid, that Somuncu Baba had migrated from Bursa and settled in a village near Adana, he exchanged the dress of the chief gatekeeper — an important protocol office at the palace — for that of a merchant and set out with five or six of his servants to find the master. When Şeyh Hamîd asked him, "What is your desire?" he said that he had come to serve him and had no other desire. Somuncu Baba advised him to satisfy his servants and companions and send them back, and to change his garments and return in a dervish's habit; when he came back to the village in the evening he said, "Let us change your name too", and since the Feast of Sacrifice fell a few days later he gave him the name "Hacı Bayram" . After the feast Somuncu Baba went with Hacı Bayram first to Damascus and shortly afterwards to the Hijaz; returning from the pilgrimage they came to Aksaray, and a year later Somuncu Baba sent Hacı Bayram to Ankara. In the light of this information it may be said that Hacı Bayram attached himself to Somuncu Baba about three and a half months after 13 Sha'bân 805 (8 March 1403), the date of Bayezid I's death — that is, in June 1403. There is no information to illuminate Hacı Bayram's activities in those years after his return to Ankara during the interregnum, when Anatolia experienced a vacuum of political authority. But his asking his guide as he took his leave, "My sultan, upon what work shall we be, I know no craft, what shall I do?" and receiving the answer " Sow the field, sow vetch ", and his sowing vetch on reaching Ankara, show that he built neither lodge nor cell but occupied himself with farming. It may be said that in those years his spiritual personality began increasingly to affect people and that a group of dervishes formed around him. Hacı Bayrâm-ı Velî died at Ankara; he was buried beside the mosque built a few years before his death and known by his name. The phrase " İrtihâlü'l-insân " was composed as a chronogram of his death; Mecdî sheds light on the date by saying, "In some books it was found stated that he passed away in the year 833 ." His Circle of Influence His influence must have widened further after the death of Somuncu Baba and the accession of Mehmed I to the Ottoman throne the following year, reaching in the reign of Murad II proportions large enough to disturb the state. Sarı Abdullah Efendi, a seventeenth-century author, says that he was denounced to the sultan on the allegation that he was leading the people into error and might rise in a claim to the sultanate. This affair ended with his being summoned by Murad II to Edirne, then the capital of the state; when Murad II met him at Edirne he realised that what had been said of him was calumny and gossip, begged his pardon, showed him great respect and even requested him to preach in the Old Mosque. His journey to Edirne probably took place in the first years of Murad II's reign (1421-1424). During this journey Yazıcızâde Mehmed, author of the Muhammediyye , attached himself to him at Gallipoli. There is no information about his relations with the state after his return to Ankara; but since the Bayramî dervishes were exempted from taxation, it may be said that the order continued its activities in greater security. In these years the Bayramiyye had spread widely in Ankara and its region. His initiatic chain reaches, through his guide Somuncu Baba, Ali Erdebîlî and Sadreddîn-i Erdebîlî, to Safiyyüddîn-i Erdebîlî, the founder of the Safavid order. Although the earliest sources say nothing of his appointing a successor, Enîsî, who wrote the hagiography of Akşemseddin, says that he gave him the licence to guide within a short time. Sarı Abdullah Efendi, on the other hand, writes that he gave the licence to no one during his lifetime and that after his death "six persons" appeared (İnce Bedreddin, Kızılca Bedreddin, Uzun Selâhaddin, Akbıyık, Akşemseddin, Ömer Dede Bursevî). To the disciples who asked as he lay dying whom they should follow, he advised them to keep the company of whomever the mysteries of gnosis and unity they had heard from him should manifest in with all their perfection. After his death some of his dervishes followed Emîr Sikkînî, who represented divine love, rapture and self-blame, while those inclined to asceticism, piety and discipline followed Akşemseddin. His Works Apart from four poems written in a plain style and in syllabic metre, voicing the joy of divine unity, no work of Hacı Bayram has come down to our day. His Tomb and Complex His grave lies beside the mosque built a few years before his death and known by his name. The tomb later erected over his grave is the most important place of visitation in Ankara.