Saints and Tombs of Diyarbakır

Maqam of Prophet Harun al-Asafi

MAQAM (grave not certain). On Ziyaret Tepe in Eğil district, attributed to Prophet Harun al-Asafi, said to have assisted Prophet Solomon. The 1316/1898 Salname records his grave in Eğil. Owing to dam flooding it was relocated to the Nebi Harun Hill shrine in 1995; prophethood/grave attribution disputed. (Sources: Diyarbakır Salname 1316/1898; Eğil Prophet Tombs inventory)

Maqam of Harut (Nebi Harut)

MAQAM (grave not certain). Near the Hacıyan quarter of Eğil within the Tigris Dam basin, attributed to Harut (Nebi Harut). The 1316/1898 Salname records Harut's grave in Eğil alongside other prophet maqams. Eğil is traditionally linked to many prophet maqams; prophethood/grave disputed, transparently flagged. (Sources: Diyarbakır Salname 1316/1898; Eğil inventory)

Sheikh Abdurrahman Aktepe

A Naqshbandi-Khalidi shaykh, poet and scholar of Diyarbakır; his honorific was Shams al-Din and his pen name Ruhi . He was born in 1854 in the village of Aktepe in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır. He was the eldest of the four sons of the Naqshbandi-Khalidi shaykh Hasan-ı Nurani ; his grandfather was named Ishaq and his great-grandfather Ismail. His father, originally from Hakkari, had received his licence from Khalid al-Jaziri, one of the deputies of Khalid al-Baghdadi, and from Khalid's deputy Salih al-Sibki, and then settled in Aktepe, where he trained many students in the madrasa he opened; Sultan Abdülmecid had granted him, by decree, the village of Aktepe and a wide tract of land around it. He began his education in this village and received a licence from his father; he then continued his studies in various madrasas in Iraq and Syria. The source also gives his name as Aktepi . After his father's death (1863) he headed the madrasa for a time; but this did not last long, and he left the post to his brother Muhammad Can. He completed his spiritual training with his father's deputy Molla Muhammad and received his licence. He trained many disciples and students at the lodge in Aktepe. He died in Diyarbakır on 29 March 1910 and was buried in Aktepe, in the tomb where the graves of his father and of his brother Muhammad Can lie. His Poetry and Sufi Line — In his poems he used the pen name Ruhi ; in his works he combined Turkish, Persian, Kurdish and Arabic. According to the source he lived a life grounded in the Qur'an and the Sunna and made great efforts to keep the order free of innovations and superstitions. His Works — Most of his works are still in manuscript in his family's library; microfilms of these works and of about 250 manuscripts from that library are kept in the Aktepe section of the Ziya Gökalp Manuscript Library in Diyarbakır. ① Rawd al-na'im fi 'add shama'il al-nabi al-karim : a work of 4531 couplets in the masnavi form describing the Prophet's qualities and the Ascension, notable for its richness in Turkish, Persian, Kurdish and Arabic. It was published by Ahmad al-Kohi (Istanbul 1966) and Zeynelabidin Amedi (1986), and later transliterated into Latin script and published by Zeynelabidin Zinar and M. Emin Narozi (Stockholm 1988, 1991). ② Divan-i Ruhi : a divan of 471 couplets expressing divine love and various Sufi questions in four languages; Zeynelabidin Amedi published it in 1980, and Zinar and Narozi published it in Latin script (Uppsala 1988). His other main works: Risala (a Turkish mukhammas on a ghazal of Nabi, together with a poem of his own), Kitab al-tibb , Kitab al-mantiq , Risalat al-adab wa'l-adab , Risala-i rabita , Kitab al-ibriz fi ithbat qidam al-kalam al-'aziz , Kashf al-zalam fi 'aqa'id firaq al-Islam , Minhaj al-usul , Kitab al-sarf wa'l-nahw . He also took an interest in astronomy: he followed the movements of the moon, sun, stars and planets in and around Diyarbakır, and made a globe of walnut wood on which he placed the names of all the planets. He also prepared an eighteen-page calendar giving the prayer times for a full year for the village of Aktepe and the province and region of Diyarbakır.

Sheikh Hasan al-Nurani

A shaykh of the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandiyya, known for the madrasa and lodge he opened in the village of Aktepe in the Çınar district of Diyarbakır. There is no separate TDV article on him; what follows is the information given about him in the article on his son Abdurrahman Aktepe. He was originally from Hakkari. He studied in the madrasas of Diyarbakır and its surroundings, taking lessons from Salih al-Sibki and Molla Khalil al-Si'irdi. He received his licence from Khalid al-Jaziri , one of the deputies of Khalid al-Baghdadi, and from Khalid's deputy Salih al-Sibki . He then settled in Aktepe and trained many students in the madrasa he opened there. Because of his influence in the region, Sultan Abdülmecid sent him a decree granting him the village of Aktepe and a wide tract of land around it, so that he could better carry on the work of the lodge. He died in 1863. The eldest of his four sons was Abdurrahman Aktepe; after his death Abdurrahman headed the madrasa for a time and later left the post to his brother Muhammad Can. His Circle of Influence — Among his deputies the source names Molla Muhammad ; his son Abdurrahman Aktepe completed his spiritual training with him, received his licence and trained many disciples at the Aktepe lodge. His Tomb and Complex — His grave is in the tomb in the village of Aktepe; his sons Muhammad Can and Abdurrahman Aktepe were buried in the same tomb.

Shaykh Yusuf al-Hamadani

Shaykh

A saint believed to be buried in the tomb in the courtyard of the Tabakhane (Şeyh Yusuf) Mosque in Melikahmet neighbourhood, Sur, Diyarbakır, after whom the mosque is named. He is locally said to have been a shaykh who came from Hamadan and settled in the city in the Akkoyunlu period. (Venerated as a figure distinct from the celebrated Central Asian Sufi Yusuf al-Hamadani, teacher of Ahmad Yasawi, whose tomb is in Merv.)

Sarı Sadık (Shaykh Sadiq Ali Efendi)

Shaykh

A shaykh of the Gülşeniyye Sufi order believed to be buried in the tomb opposite the Urfa Gate, popularly known as the 'Sarı Saltuk Tomb'. Sources identify the interred figure as Shaykh Sadiq Ali Efendi (d. 961/1553), one of the caliphs of İbrahim Gülşenî, known by the epithet Sarı Sadık.

Prophet Elisha (Elyasa)

Prophet (peace be upon him)

One of the prophets named in two verses of the Qur'an. As the source notes, apart from his mention in these two verses and the genealogy given in Islamic sources, no information about him exists. There are differing views on the origin and pronunciation of his name. Some exegetes held that the word was originally Yasa' or Laysa' , the initial “al-” being the definite article. The common pronunciation is al-Yasa' , though some read the name as al-Laysa' (al-Qurtubi). In Surat al-An'am (6/86) it is said: “And Ishmael, al-Yasa', Jonah and Lot — each We favoured above the worlds”; and in Surat Sad (38/48): “And remember Ishmael, al-Yasa' and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the best.” In Islamic sources his genealogy is given as al-Yasa' b. Akhtub b. al-'Ajuz (al-Tabari, al-Tha'labi). According to the source, this prophet must be the prophet named Elisha in the Old Testament. The name Elisha, meaning “God is my salvation” in Hebrew, passed into Greek as Elisaios and into Latin as Elisaeus . According to the Old Testament, al-Yasa' was the son of Shaphat, who lived in the Kingdom of Israel in the VIII century BC, and was chosen by God's command as successor by the prophet Elijah (Ilyas). Elijah found him ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen and cast his mantle upon him, signifying that he had been chosen as a prophet. Elisha left his ploughing, slaughtered a yoke of the oxen for a farewell meal, and served Elijah, never leaving his side. According to the same narrative, when Elijah was to be taken up to heaven, Elisha refused to stop following him; together they reached Bethel, Jericho and the river Jordan, where Elijah struck the water with his mantle, parted it and they crossed over. When Elijah asked whether he had any wish, Elisha said: “Let a double portion of your spirit be mine”; then a chariot of fire and horses of fire came and took Elijah up to heaven. Seeing this, Elisha parted the waters again with his mantle, crossed the river and returned to Jericho (II Kings 2/1-18). The source relates, according to the Old Testament, that Elisha, who began his prophetic mission in Jericho, performed various miracles: casting salt into the spring of the city's water, unfit for irrigation, and making it usable; the filling with water of the ditches dug in the valley for the people left without water in the desert of Edom; multiplying the little olive oil of a poor woman whose husband had died and who could not pay her debt, until it filled the vessels borrowed from the neighbours; praying for an old woman who had no child, the woman's bearing a child, and that child's return to life after he died; removing the poison from a poisoned meal at Gilgal and feeding many people with a little food; the healing of a leper; and the rising to the surface of an axe head that had fallen into the river. According to the same narrative, the famine that began with the Aramean army's siege of Samaria ended through his intervention; and a man who had been killed and thrown into his grave came back to life on touching his bones. According to the Old Testament, Elisha fell ill and died in the time of Joash, king of Israel (II Kings 13/14, 20). The source does not state where he died or where he was buried.

Prophet Dhu'l-Kifl (Ezekiel)

Prophet (peace be upon him)

A figure named in two verses of the Qur'an and regarded as a prophet by the majority of Muslim scholars. His name combines dhu , “owner, possessor”, with kifl , which means “portion, lot; peer, likeness; surety”; Dhu al-Kifl thus means “the one of the portion, the lot, or the surety”. In Surat al-Anbiya (21/85) it is said: “And Ishmael, Idris and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the patient”; and in Surat Sad (38/48): “And remember Ishmael, al-Yasa' and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the best.” The Qur'an gives no further information about him. The source notes that his being mentioned alongside prophets in these verses shows that Dhu al-Kifl is neither an attribute nor an epithet but a prophet, and therefore a historical person. On these grounds Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Ibn Kathir concluded that he was a prophet. The view of the Successors 'Abd Allah b. al-Harith al-Hashimi and al-Hasan al-Basri, adopted by the majority, points the same way. There are many reports about his life and person, yet apart from al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal the reliable hadith collections contain nothing about him. Works of exegesis and of the stories of the prophets, by contrast, contain many differing reports, which tie the name Dhu al-Kifl to his faithfully fulfilling a charge he had taken upon himself. According to a report from Mujahid, when the prophet al-Yasa' grew old he sought a successor who would fast by day and pray by night for three days and not grow angry in disputed matters; each time a young man came forward saying he would meet these conditions, and he met them without yielding to Satan's temptation, thereby earning the name Dhu al-Kifl. In reports transmitted from Ibn 'Abbas the same succession is tied to a prophet of the Children of Israel who had also been given kingship, or to a king or judge who, shortly before his death, called out: “Who will take my place and never grow angry?”; the one who answered prayed by night, fasted by day, judged among the people with justice and was called Dhu al-Kifl. The atlas records these reports as “this is what the sources transmit”.

Sulayman ibn Khalid (ibn al-Walid) and the 27 Companions

Hazrat

According to tradition the son of the famous Companion-commander Khalid ibn al-Walid, said to have been martyred during the conquest of Diyarbakır (Amid) by the army of Iyad ibn Ghanm under Caliph Umar (c. 639 CE). He and the Companions martyred with him are buried in the tomb adjoining the western wall of the Hz. Süleyman (Kale/Nâsıriyye) Mosque in the inner citadel, also known as the 'Tomb of the 27 Companions'.