Saints and Tombs of Sivas

Mustafa Taki Efendi

An Ottoman scholar (müderris/dersiâm) born in Sivas in 1873, expert in fiqh, hadith, tafsir and sira, and a Naqshbandi-Khalidi sheikh. He succeeded Mustafa Hâkî Efendi (d. 1920) — the silsile İhramcızâde İsmail Hakkı Toprak would later inherit. He served as a Sivas deputy in the First Grand National Assembly (1920-1923). He died in Gürün in 1925 and is buried beside the Abdülvehhâb Gazi tomb/cemetery in Sivas. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Toprak, İsmail Hakkı'; DergiPark 'Mustafa Takî Efendi'; TBMM Parliamentary History.)

Kadi Burhaneddin Ahmed

Born in 1345 (probably in Kayseri), a kadı, jurist and poet deeply learned in fiqh and the linguistic sciences. He first served as a judge, then became the ruler of a Sivas-centered state; he left a Divan and the legal works 'Tercîhu't-tavzîh' and 'İksîrü's-saâdât'. In 800/1398 he was captured by the Akkoyunlu ruler Karayülük Osman Bey and killed before the walls of Sivas. According to TDV the location of his grave is not certain in the sources; by tradition he is thought to be buried at the place called 'Kadı Burhâneddin Tomb' in central Sivas (the present structure was renewed in 1965-66). (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Kadı Burhâneddin'; Kültür Portalı; Sivas Kültür Envanteri.)

Sheikh Coban Veli

A Sufi sheikh nicknamed 'Çoban' (the shepherd, râî) for tending his father's herds, said by tradition to belong to the Vefâiyye line attached to Ebü'l-Vefâ; he is held to have lived around the 12th-13th century. His death date is uncertain (some records give 772/1371); the fountain inscription of his complex (tomb, mosque, fountain, zaviye) is dated 723/1323. His tomb stands in the Kaleardı quarter of central Sivas, a single-domed cut-stone structure in the Ilkhanid style. (Sources: Kültür Portalı; Kültür Envanteri; S. Gülten, 'Şeyh Çoban ve Evladına Dair', isamveri.org.)

Sheikh Erzurumi

A dervish of Erzurum origin who lived in the 13th-14th century; sources describe him as a 'Rum Abdalı' of Melâmî/Kalenderî disposition. He is mentioned in the Mevlevi hagiography Menâkıbü'l-Ârifîn in connection with Ulu Ârif Çelebi. His zaviye and tomb survive in central Sivas; the mausoleum's fountain inscription is dated 723/1323. His death date is uncertain (late 13th-early 14th century). (Sources: Kültür Portalı; D. Doğanyılmaz Duman, 'A Rum Abdal in Sivas: Şeyh Erzurûmî and his Zaviye'.)

Arap Şeyh (Sayyid Abdullah al-Hashimi)

A sayyid of the Hâşimî line and a Rifâî sheikh born in Mecca in 1829. After spreading the Rifâiyye in Afghanistan for some twenty years, he was honored by Sultan Abdülhamid II and settled in Sivas in 1876, founding a Rifâî lodge in Paşabey in 1884. He attended the 1919 Sivas Congress as a Sivas delegate, supported Mustafa Kemal and provisioned the delegates — a documented figure of the National Struggle period. He died in 1922 at about age 92; his tomb is in the Paşabey quarter of central Sivas. (Sources: F. Çınar, 'A Sayyid in the Sultan's City: Arap Şeyh'; Sivas Bülteni.)

Receb Sivasi

Nephew, son-in-law and khalifa of Şemseddîn-i Sivâsî, founder of the Halveti-Şemsi order, and son of his brother İbrâhîm-i Sivâsî. He served Şemseddin for some fifty years and, after the death of Şemseddin's son Pîr Mehmed Efendi, became head (postnişin) of the Şems lodge in Sivas and imam-hatip at the Meydan Mosque. He authored the 'Necmü'l-hüdâ', the principal first-hand hagiography of Şemseddin's life. He is buried in the Şemseddin Sivâsî tomb / Meydan Mosque cemetery in Sivas (death date given variously as 1013/1604 and 1008/1599). (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Şemseddin Sivâsî'; N. Çetin, 'Sivâsî Tekkesi', DergiPark.)

Ihramcizade Ismail Hakki Toprak

A Naqshbandi-Khâlidî sheikh of Sivas, known for continuing his work of spiritual guidance during the years when the activities of the Sufi orders were banned in the Republican period. He was born in the Sarışeyh (Nalbantlarbaşı) quarter of Sivas. His father Hüseyin Hüsnü Bey was a court clerk, his mother Ayşe Hanım was from Medina. Because his forebears had undertaken the care and renewal of the covering of the Kaaba they were called the "İhramcılar", and he himself became known by such by-names as Ehrâmî, İhrâmîzâde, İhramcıoğlu and İhramcızâde. He began his education at Zara in Sivas, where his father had been appointed chief court clerk, and continued it at the Çifte Minareli Medrese after his family returned to Sivas when he was ten; he then entered the military rüşdiye. He completed his studies at the Şifâiye Medrese and took up a post as a junior official at the Sivas courthouse. After his military service he worked for a time at Tokat in the Public Debt and Spirits administration; in 1908 he transferred to the Public Debt office in Sivas. When the Public Debt institutions were closed in 1928 he moved to the Sivas Monopoly Office, and in 1931 retired at his own request. In childhood he attended the gatherings of Mûr Ali Baba, one of the Qâdirî sheikhs; while studying at the rüşdiye he attached himself to the Meccan Rifâ'î sheikh Sayyid Abdullah al-Hâshimî and served him. Then, with his master's permission, he went to Tokat and became a disciple of the Naqshbandi-Khâlidî sheikh Mustafa Hâkī. On the latter's death in 1920 he completed his training with his successor Mustafa Takī of Sivas and received the licence to guide. In the first years of his guidance he suffered much in gathering and holding together his brethren, and being left alone he called himself "garîbullah" (a stranger to God), later changing this to "karîbullah" (near to God). On account of his activity he was arrested six times on various dates. In 1938 he intended to go on pilgrimage by way of İskenderun; unable to cross the border, he used the money set aside for the pilgrimage to bring water to the village of Cencin (Canova) at Zara. At that time, following a complaint, he was imprisoned with some of his brethren for thirty-eight days and then released. To protect himself from police raids he continued his guidance while working as a broker in the Çitilin Han, which he rented in 1941. From 1950 until his death he carried on in a room set aside for him by the owner on the upper floor of the Çorapçı Han; he also used a large two-storey house in the Örtülüpınar quarter as a lodge. Because he wore a cap on account of the Hat Law he was known as the "sheikh with the cap". He is said to have read and taught such works as the Divan of Hâfiz of Shiraz, the Bustân and Gulistân of Sa'dî of Shiraz and the Divan of Niyâzî-i Mısrî, and to have valued the Divan of Mısrî especially highly. He led such charitable works as the repair of the Great Mosque of Sivas, the building of the Sofu Yûsuf, Serçeli and Dikimevi mosques, the construction of various bridges, public fountains and springs, and the building and repair of the Sivas İmam-Hatip School. He died on 2 August 1969; after the funeral prayer at the Paşa Mosque in Sivas he was buried in the burial enclosure of the Great Mosque. His Works — The only work he composed, a mevlid entitled Yâre Yâdigâr , is a versification of his master Mustafa Takī's Târîh-i Nûr-ı Muhammedî and runs to 175 couplets. The work also contains a Turkish ode of eight couplets with the refrain "Muhammed" and an Arabic poem in praise of the Prophet in eight couplets. His poem in thirteen stanzas entitled "Katre İlâhisi" has also been published separately.

Abd al-Wahhab Ghazi

A warrior to whom one of the best known places of visitation in Sivas belongs. 🔴 This record rests on an indirect source : the figure has no independent encyclopaedia article; what follows are the sentences given by the article on the city of Sivas. In the source he is mentioned under the name Abdülvehhâb b. Buht . It is recorded that he took Sivas and its surroundings, but that the city was retaken by the Byzantines the following year and that he was martyred (113/731). His Tomb and Complex — The tomb of Abdülvehhâb Gazi stands inside the mosque on the hill of Akkaya, about one kilometre to the east of the city. From the endowment deed of Kemâleddin b. Râhat, dated 721 (1321), it is understood that a cemetery had formed around the tomb. The Abdülvehhâb Gazi quarter of the city is among the examples surviving to our day of the place this shrine holds in the life of the city.

Shams al-Din Sivasi

(Kara Shams)

The founder of the Şemsiyye branch of the Halvetiyye order; a scholar, poet and preacher. He was born in 926 (1520) in the district of Zile in Tokat. His father was Ebü'l-Berekât Muhammed Efendi, of a family that had migrated from Khorasan and who had received authorisation from Hacı Hızır Amasyalı. He had three brothers: Muharrem, İbrâhim and İsmâil. He began his first education in Zile and studied with his brothers in Tokat under Arakiyecizâde Şemseddin Mahvî Efendi; he completed his madrasa education in Istanbul and taught there for a time. He afterwards abandoned teaching and turned to Sufism. He performed the pilgrimage and occupied himself with the office of preacher. At Amasya he attached himself to Muslihuddin Efendi, the successor of his father's sheikh. He then remained about ten years in the service of Abdülmecid Şirvânî and received authorisation at around the age of thirty-five. The chain to which he belongs reaches the Halvetiyye by way of Seyyid Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî. At the invitation of Hasan Paşa, governor of Sivas, he took up the office of preacher at the Meydan Mosque (Yenicami); there he founded a lodge and carried on the work of spiritual guidance for many years. At the age of seventy-five he took part in the Eğri Campaign of 1005 (1596); during the campaign he met notable figures, among them Azîz Mahmûd Hüdâyî. He died in Rabî' I 1006 (October 1597) at Sivas and was buried in the graveyard of the Meydan Mosque. It is related that about sixty thousand people attended his funeral prayer. His Circle of Influence — It was his nephew Abdülmecid Sivâsî who carried the Şemsiyye branch he founded to Istanbul. He was succeeded by his son Pîr Mehmed Efendi and after him by his son-in-law Receb Efendi. The guidance activity of the branch continued until the year 1925. His Poetry and Sufi Line — In his poems he used the pen name Şemsî . Although he produced numerous works in verse, the source does not count him among poets of the first rank; for he preferred the didactic purpose to ornate expression and avoided heavy rhetorical embellishment. His mesnevîs and hymns, on the other hand, found a wide readership, and some of his hymns were set to music. His Works — In verse: Süleymâniyye (964/1557; 1684 couplets, on Solomon and the Queen of Sheba), İbretnümâ (983/1575; 100 stories, translated from 'Attâr's İlâhînâme ), Gülşen-âbâd (560 couplets; the divine unity by way of ten flowers), Mevlid (988/1580; 1217 couplets), Heşt Bihişt (four sections on justice, knowledge, generosity and poverty), Mir'âtü'l-ahlâk (Rajab 996/1588; a book of ethics in ten chapters), Dîvân-ı Şemsî (ghazals and hymns), Tercüme-i Kasîde-i Bürde (a translation of Būṣīrī's famous ode) and Menâkıb-ı İmâm-ı A'zam (Jumada I 1001/1593). In prose: Hallü meâkıdi'l-Kavâid (Dhu al-Qa'da 967/1560; a grammatical commentary), Zübdetü'l-esrâr (Sha'bân 974/1567), es-Safâyih (a translation from Mollâ Câmî), Menâzilü'l-ârifîn (Sufi counsels in four sections), Menâkıb-ı Çehâr Yâr-ı Güzîn (on the four caliphs, his most famous work), Umdetü'l-edîb (rules of Persian grammar), Emr-i İlâhî ve Hüccet-i İlâhî and Nakdü'l-hâtır (a commentary on Sûrat al-Kahf begun in 1003/1595). His Tomb and Complex — A tomb was built over his grave three years after his death, and it became an important place of visitation.