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A Central Asian Sufi associated with the earliest phase of the Yasavi tradition; he is usually named as a direct disciple of Ahmad Yasavi and is known for his Turkic hikmats. In Khwarazm he has been remembered for centuries both through his shrine and through an oral tradition that keeps his name alive.
His full identity is not known for certain; the source gives nothing on his birth or education. Ali Shir Navai says his name was Sulayman and explains the epithet Hakim thus: alone among Yasavi's disciples he thought to wrap the firewood he had gathered inside his cloak to keep it dry, and Ahmad Yasavi praised him for acting wisely (hakimana).
Early references to him are sparse. He seems first to be mentioned in the earliest biography of Baha al-Din Naqshband, the Anis al-talibin, composed at the very beginning of the 15th century, in connection with a dream of Baha al-Din interpreted as predicting his association with the "Turkish shaykhs". A hagiography of the second half of the 15th century devoted to an Uwaysi saint (Hasht hadiqa) twice mentions a "Hakim Sulayman" linked with Ahmad Yasavi. The first extensive descriptions of him appear in Navai's (d. 906/1500) Nasaim al-mahabba and in the Rashahat-i ayn al-hayat, a Naqshbandi hagiography from the beginning of the 16th century. Both affirm that he was Yasavi's disciple and that he was famed for his verse aphorisms, the hikmats; on little else do they agree.
His initiation was to Ahmad Yasavi. The Rashahat counts him among Yasavi's successors, but its versions differ as to whether he was the third or the fourth (see Multiple Perspectives). Other early evidence favours the description of a "Hakim Sulayman" as Yasavi's fourth successor.
According to the combined account of the Rashahat, Hakim Ata lived in Khwarazm. The same work's section on Zangi Ata records his marriage to Anbar Ana, daughter of "Boraq Khan" (or, in another account, of "Bughra Khan").
The date 582/1186-87 mentioned for his death appears, according to the source, for the first time in the 19th-century work Khazinat al-asfiya and seems not to rest on any reliable information; a direct disciple of Yasavi would have lived in the early 13th century. He died in Khwarazm and was buried there. After his death his wife Anbar Ana married his disciple Zangi Ata.
His Circle of Influence — The Rashahat situates him quite precisely in the Yasavi chain: he is the master of Zangi Ata. Among Zangi Ata's four disciples was Sadr Ata, through whom the lineage of the entire Yasavi order was traced in the 15th to 18th centuries. That order, so far as the sources show, was most firmly established neither in Khwarazm nor in Yasavi's native Turkestan but in Transoxiana, where it left a hagiographical literature overwhelmingly in Persian. The popular Turkic hagiography Hakim Ata kitabi, on the other hand, implies that Zangi Ata never met Hakim Ata. In Khwarazm there are "descent groups" claiming him as an ancestor, and oral tradition focused on him continues to circulate. The late 16th-century Ottoman Turkish Jawahir al-abrar and the 17th-century Lamahat also contain narratives about him.
His Poetry and Sufi Line — Both Navai and the Rashahat affirm that he was renowned for his hikmats in Turkic, and each gives a different set of examples. Turkic poetry ascribed to him is attested at the same time, thus associating him with the composition of aphoristic sayings and verse in Turkic significantly earlier than Ahmad Yasavi himself. Separate narratives such as the story of the firewood were later combined with further narratives into the popular Turkic hagiography known as the Hakim Ata kitabi (published by Zaleman in 1898).
His Works — A collection of verse ascribed to him under the name "Sulayman Baqirghani" was in circulation at least by the later 18th century and has been printed several times as the Baqirghan kitabi. The source does not describe its contents; since the work was not read in this series, no section of teachings has been opened.
His Tomb and Complex — His shrine is in the Khwarazmian locality of Baqirghan (near the town of Qonghirat/Qoʻngʻirot in Uzbekistan) and is mentioned as a prominent pilgrimage place already at the beginning of the 16th century. The Rashahat, for its part, names his burial place "Aq Qurghan". The prominence of the shrine in Khwarazm is one of the grounds on which the source discusses the possibility that he was a local saint of the region.
Miracles
The following are narrations that appear in the source as REPORTS; the atlas records them not as 'this happened' but as 'the sources relate it thus'.
The story of the firewood — Navai relates that when Ahmad Yasavi's disciples went to gather firewood, he alone wrapped what he had gathered inside his cloak to protect it from the rain; his master praised this wise conduct, and the epithet Hakim remained from it. (Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica, ḤAKIM ATĀ)
His words to Anbar Ana — The Zangi Ata section of the Rashahat relates that his wife Anbar Ana disliked his dark skin; whereupon Hakim Ata predicted that after his death she would marry "one darker than me", a saying understood to refer to Zangi Ata. (Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica, ḤAKIM ATĀ)
The source further notes that the late 16th-century Jawahir al-abrar includes Hakim Ata in several miracle-stories about Ahmad Yasavi; it gives no details. (Source: Encyclopaedia Iranica, ḤAKIM ATĀ)
Differing Scholarly Views
Date of death — The commonly cited date 582/1186-87 appears, according to the source, for the first time in the 19th century in the Khazinat al-asfiya and seems to have no reliable basis. If he is accepted as a direct disciple of Yasavi, he would have lived in the early 13th century. The atlas keeps the date in the record but states the disagreement openly and takes no side.
His name and his place in the chain — Some versions of the Rashahat say his name was Sulayman and make him Yasavi's fourth successor (listing Sufi Muhammad Danishmand as the third); other versions, including quite early ones, distinguish a Sulayman Ata from Hakim Ata and present them as the third and fourth successors respectively. The source notes that this discrepancy remains unexplained, but that other early evidence favours the version naming "Hakim Sulayman" as the fourth successor.
The nature of his link with Yasavi — The source offers two readings. On the first, the prominence of his shrine in Khwarazm, the descent groups claiming him as ancestor, the minimal attention to chain relationships in the hagiography and his poorly developed saintly image in Yasavi hagiography suggest that he was a local saint of Khwarazm later grafted onto the Yasavi lineage. On the second, his relationship with Yasavi and Zangi Ata was authentic but simply less important in popular hagiography, genealogy and shrine traditions. The Hakim Ata kitabi's implication that Zangi Ata never met him also cautions against uncritical acceptance of the standard chain in the Rashahat. The atlas makes no choice between the two readings.
His wife's father — Anbar Ana's father is "Boraq Khan" in one account and "Bughra Khan" in another.
Location of the grave — The Rashahat says he was buried in Khwarazm at a place called "Aq Qurghan"; the source places the shrine in the locality of "Baqirghan" near Qonghirat. Both are in Khwarazm; the atlas pin points to the shrine near Qonghirat and records both names.
Sources
- Encyclopaedia Iranica — Devin DeWeese · vol. Vol. XI, Fasc. 6, pp. 573-574, entry “ḤAKIM ATĀ”
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · vol. 15, pp. 183-184, entry “HAKÎM ATA”
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