Saints and Tombs of Nevşehir

Haji Bektash Veli

May his secret be sanctified

A Turkmen sheikh of thirteenth-century Anatolia; he is regarded as the patron saint of the Bektashi order and of Alevism. His given name was Bektaş, and he probably became famous as Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî only after his death. The source stresses that what is known of him rests on two separate planes. Since he left almost no trace in the sources of his own age, it may be said that he did not enjoy wide fame in his lifetime; on the other hand, his being regarded as the patron of the Janissary corps and of the Bektashi order, and his strong position as an article of faith among Alevi-Bektashi communities, make him — in the source's words — "a historical problem requiring resolution". The hagiographic Hacı Bektaş is the patron of the Abdals of Rûm and one of the great saints of the land of Rûm. He can be studied only through secondary sources written considerably after his own time: ① Elvan Çelebi's Menâkıbü'l-kudsiyye (fourteenth century; the earliest) ② Ahmed Eflâkî's Menâkıbü'l-ârifîn (about a century after his death; a short passage) ③ the Menâkıb-ı Hünkâr Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî , better known as the Vilâyetnâme (last quarter of the fifteenth century) — a book of semi-sacred character in those circles, since it forms the source of most of the beliefs present in Bektashism and Alevism today ④ Lâmiî Çelebi's Nefehât Tercümesi ⑤ Âşıkpaşazâde's Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân , containing oral information from within the family about Hacı Bektaş, who was the successor of the author's great-grandfather ⑥ Taşköprizâde's eş-Şekāiku'n-nu'mâniyye (sixteenth century). According to the source he was one of the Sufis belonging to the Qalandari current known as the "saints of Khurasan", and hence to the Khurasanian Malâmatî school; he must have come among the dervish migrations to Anatolia caused by the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century, as one of the Yasawi or, more probably, Haydari dervishes. Research based on Ottoman survey registers has shown the existence of a wide Bektaşlı tribal group attached to him. From Âşıkpaşazâde's record it is understood that Hacı Bektaş and his brother Menteş attached themselves to Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî , and from the statements of Elvan Çelebi and Eflâkî that he rose to the rank of successor. His brother Menteş took part in the Babaî revolt that began in 1239 and was killed in the battle with Seljuk forces at Sivas; that Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî did not join this revolt is learned both from Elvan Çelebi and from Âşıkpaşazâde. According to Âşıkpaşazâde he afterwards appeared at Karayol (then Sulucakarahöyük, today Hacıbektaş ); it may be estimated that this appearance came after Anatolia passed under Mongol domination, that is after about the 1250s. According to the Vilâyetnâme he led there a way of life resembling that of his master Baba İlyas, withdrawing from time to time into a nearby cave that is a place of visitation today, and at other times occupying himself with the daily work of his tribe, such as pasturing the village animals. While continuing his task of guidance within his own community, he also developed close relations with the Christians of the present-day Ürgüp region and sent his successors to every corner of Anatolia. The source notes that his method "gave rise to an important climate of rapprochement between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities of Anatolia"; indeed it is known that the Christians of the region felt a great closeness to him and venerated him under the name of Saint Charalambos . Since he is referred to as "the late" in an endowment record dated 691 (1292), he died before that date, probably in 669 (1271) . His Circle of Influence — The source records that the person who made this sheikh — little known in his own lifetime — known throughout central and western Anatolia was Abdal Mûsâ , buried at Tekkeköy near Antalya-Elmalı. Abdal Mûsâ, who became sheikh of the Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî lodge after the first quarter of the fourteenth century, played a great part in spreading this cult through the legends that were produced. Note: No section of "His Counsels and Teachings" has been opened in this record. That the works ascribed to him — foremost the Makālât — came from his own pen has, in the source's explicit words, not been proved historically ; to transmit counsel from a work of unproven attribution would be to ascribe that counsel to him.