Saints and Tombs of Sivas

Numan Sabit Efendi

A Sivas mufti, müderris and poet of the Sârıhatipzâde scholarly family, son of the mufti-poet Ahmed Hamdi Efendi. He wrote poetry under the pen name 'Sâbit' and was popularly called 'Yılancık Evliyâsı'; in 1758 he built a library and fountain beside the Grand Mosque (the present Numan Efendi Public Library bears his name). He died in 1182/1768-69 and is buried in central Sivas in his family cemetery (Sârıhatipzâde) west of the Grand Mosque. (Sources: TEİS 'SÂBİT, Nu'mân', Yesevi Univ.; H. Yekbaş, 'Sârıhatipzâdelerden Numan Sabit Efendi', Cumhuriyet Univ.)

Sheikh Merzuban al-Wali

A sayyid Sufi (of the Prophet's lineage) whose given name was Mahmûd b. Alî al-Husaynî al-Baghdâdî. Following the Vefâiyye tradition he came to Anatolia from Khorasan/Baghdad and settled in the Seljuk period at Tekke village near Zara; tradition holds that Sultan Alâeddin Keykubad granted him land for a madrasa. He is regarded as the spiritual patron of Zara and is said to have died in 1306. His tomb stands at Tekke village about 5 km from Zara and was restored in 2021. (Sources: Kültür Portalı; Kültür Envanteri; Doğan Kaya, 'Horasan Merkezli Anadolu Erenleri', Çukurova Univ.)

Ahi Emir Ahmed

A leading figure of the Ahi (futuwwa guild) organization in 13th-14th century Sivas; of Khorasani origin, he settled in Anatolia (first Bayburt, then Sivas). He was both an Ahi leader and a devotee of the Mevlevi path, with documented friendships with Mevlana's son Sultan Veled and grandson Ulu Ârif Çelebi. He is known as a wealthy benefactor whose endowment (waqf) is recorded; he died c. 1333 (734 AH). His tomb is an octagonal cut-stone mausoleum built c. 1332-33 in the Tokmakkapı quarter of central Sivas. (Sources: Kültür Portalı; Türkiye Turizm Ansiklopedisi; Visit 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.)

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.