This personage, whose real name was Muhammed bin Muhammed and who was known by the epithet Kutbüddîn and the attribution Alaşarlı, is counted among the foremost of the saints (evliya). The date of his birth is not stated in the sources. The principal places he lived were Tabriz, Maragha, and Shirvan. After his pilgrimage journey he went to Egypt, from there crossed over to Anatolia, and met Kara Yusuf Bey, the ruler of Ganja. Later he settled in İznik and occupied himself with worship and the training of students. He was a student of Muhammed Harezmî. In addition to the works he composed in Turkish entitled 'Râhat-ül-kulûb' and 'Mukaddimet-üs-salât', he has a work of Quranic exegesis (tefsir) and other works. According to the sources, a legend (menkıbe) concerning the withdrawal of Timur Khan's army from Anatolia is attributed to him. There are two separate accounts regarding his death: according to one account he died in the year 1415 (AH 818) in İznik, while according to another account he died in 1418. His noble grave (kabr-i şerîf) is in İznik.
Differing Scholarly Views
Most sources state that Kutbüddin İznikî died in 821 AH (1418 CE) at İznik, though some record the year with reservation. Because his son Kutbüddinzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed (d. 885/1480) was also catalogued in libraries as "Kutbeddin İznikî," father and son—and the works attributed to them—have at times been confused in the sources. The Mukaddime, regarded as the first Turkish catechism, is his; while some sources consider it a translation of Abū al-Layth al-Samarqandī's Arabic treatise, the Encyclopaedia of Islam (TDV) treats this as a confusion and holds the work to be an original Turkish composition.
Sources
- İslâm Âlimleri Ansiklopedisi
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · entry “KUTBÜDDİN İZNİKΔ
- Evliyalar Ansiklopedisi · entry “Bursa Evliyâları”
- KUTBÜDDİN İZNİKÎ — Reşat Öngören
- İslâm Ahlâkı (Cennet Yolu İlmihâli)
- Lemezat
- Tam İlmihâl Seâdet-i Ebediyye
- Rehber Ansiklopedisi
- Mu'cem-ül-Müellifîn
- Şakâyik-ı Nu'mâniyye tercümesi (Mecdî Efendi)
Every record is sourced (Mandatory Sources).