Saints and Tombs of Karaman

Qutb al-Aqtab Sheikh Ahmed Efendi

An Ottoman-era Sufi sheikh who lived in the Kirazlıyayla (formerly Lafsa) quarter of Başyayla; his tomb inscription names him 'Qutb al-Arifin Sheikh Ahmed Efendi' and he is buried beside the Kirazlıyayla Mosque he himself built. Per the inscription he died in 1101 AH (1690); local tradition traces his lineage to Imam Muhammed Bağevi of Bukhara (flagged as traditional). (Sources: Başyayla District Governorate; kulturenvanteri.com KE No.4626; Karamandan.com)

Muhammed Alaeddin Çelebi (elder brother of Mawlana)

The elder brother of Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi; he died young in Larende (Karaman) during the family's migration and was buried there together with their mother Mümine Hatun. The Karaman Mevlevihane (Aktekke / Mâder-i Mevlânâ) was founded on the site of these graves; no firm death year is recorded (undated), and he must not be confused with Mawlana's same-named son Alaeddin Çelebi (d.1262, buried in Konya). (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Karaman Mevlevîhânesi'; Dünya Bizim)

Sheikh Mehmed Kudsi Efendi

A Naqshbandi sheikh, khalifa of Sheikh Hacı Muhammed Bahaeddin Efendi of the Memiş Efendi lineage, appointed mufti of Karaman in 1919. He died in 1962 and was buried, like Hasan Kudsi Efendi, in the precinct of the Kethâne (Ketenci) Mosque in the Sekiçeşme quarter. (Sources: Karamandan.com; tarihgezisi.com; evliyalar.net)

Hasan Kudsi Efendi of Ödemiş

A Naqshbandi-Khalidi scholar and sheikh, khalifa of Mawlana Khalid al-Baghdadi; nicknamed 'Kudsi' because his retreat was in Jerusalem, he guided disciples at the Ketenci Baba lodge in Karaman. He died in 1254 AH (1834) and was buried in the precinct of the Kethâne (Ketenci) Mosque in the Sekiçeşme quarter of Karaman. (Sources: Konyapedia; evliyalar.net; Karamandan.com)

Mumine Hatun (Mother of Mawlana)

(the venerable mother)

The mother of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî; in the sources she is called Mâder-i Mevlânâ and Vâlide Sultan . 🔴 This record rests on an indirect source : she has no independent encyclopaedia article; what follows is what the article on the Karaman Mevlevîhâne, where her grave is, gives. The Mevlevî lodge at Karaman is, in the words of the source, the lodge "where the mother and the elder brother of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî are buried" . Her Tomb and Complex — The mevlevîhâne was established around the years 1310-1320 at the place where her grave and the tomb of her son Muhammed Alâeddin stand; it thus became an important centre of visitation on the Mevlevî path. According to the source's description, "the sarcophagus of Mevlânâ's mother stands immediately before the qibla wall and is surrounded by a tall gilded wooden cage in the empire style."

Yunus Emre

(may his soul be sanctified)

A mystic poet regarded, for the hymns he sang in Anatolian Turkish, as the founding name of Turkish Sufi poetry. His life rests on a ground where historical record and legend are interwoven. According to a document found by Adnan Erzi in the Beyazit State Library, "Yûnus Emre was born in 638 (1240-41), lived eighty-two years, and died in 720 (1320)." The most comprehensive legendary account of him is in the Vilâyetnâme-i Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî , attributed to Uzun Firdevsî (d. 918/1512). According to this account Yûnus, a poor farmer from Sarıköy, first went to Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî to ask for wheat, in the end preferred the nefes (spiritual breath) to the wheat, and was directed to his real master Tapduk Emre . He served forty years at Tapduk Emre's lodge and performed the most menial tasks. It is related that when Tapduk played the şeştâ Yûnus fell into ecstasy, abandoned his craft and became a dervish. He later married his sheikh's daughter. His chain is said to run through Tapduk Emre, Barak Baba and Sarı Saltuk. He died in 720 (1320); the source gives this date with a question mark. His Circle of Influence — He shaped the development of Anatolian Turkish literature at the root. His accessible language, his poetic innovations such as adapting the ghazal to the syllabic metre, and his spiritual depth influenced generations of Sufi poets after him. His hymns spread from Anatolia to the Balkans by way of the abdalân-ı Rûm and became one of the founding texts of Islamic Turkish culture. His Poetry and Sufi Line — At the centre of his line stand the perfect human being attained through divine love and the stripping away of self-attachment ( fenâfillâh ). The source states that his thought remained within the Qur'anic frame and that, while carrying a call to universal compassion and brotherhood, it rejects both pantheism and mere humanitarianism : for him divine love is the path of moral transformation. His Works — 1. Risâletü'n-nushiyye (707/1307). An ethical treatise of 600 couplets in mesnevî form offering guidance to seekers. 2. Dîvan. It consists of about 417 poems in which the aruz and the syllabic metre are used together; 138 of them are in classical prosody and the rest in syllabic verse. His Tomb and Complex — More than one place is claimed for his grave: Sarıköy (Eskişehir), Karaman, Aksaray, Bursa, Erzurum, Sivas and Gâh in Azerbaijan. The grave at Sarıköy was opened on 6 May 1946 during railway construction, and a monument was built there in 1970. Köprülü, Gölpınarlı and Timurtaş accept this identification.