Saints

Prophet Dhu'l-Kifl (Ezekiel)

Prophet (peace be upon him)

A figure named in two verses of the Qur'an and regarded as a prophet by the majority of Muslim scholars. His name combines dhu , “owner, possessor”, with kifl , which means “portion, lot; peer, likeness; surety”; Dhu al-Kifl thus means “the one of the portion, the lot, or the surety”. In Surat al-Anbiya (21/85) it is said: “And Ishmael, Idris and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the patient”; and in Surat Sad (38/48): “And remember Ishmael, al-Yasa' and Dhu al-Kifl — all were of the best.” The Qur'an gives no further information about him. The source notes that his being mentioned alongside prophets in these verses shows that Dhu al-Kifl is neither an attribute nor an epithet but a prophet, and therefore a historical person. On these grounds Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Ibn Kathir concluded that he was a prophet. The view of the Successors 'Abd Allah b. al-Harith al-Hashimi and al-Hasan al-Basri, adopted by the majority, points the same way. There are many reports about his life and person, yet apart from al-Tirmidhi and Ahmad b. Hanbal the reliable hadith collections contain nothing about him. Works of exegesis and of the stories of the prophets, by contrast, contain many differing reports, which tie the name Dhu al-Kifl to his faithfully fulfilling a charge he had taken upon himself. According to a report from Mujahid, when the prophet al-Yasa' grew old he sought a successor who would fast by day and pray by night for three days and not grow angry in disputed matters; each time a young man came forward saying he would meet these conditions, and he met them without yielding to Satan's temptation, thereby earning the name Dhu al-Kifl. In reports transmitted from Ibn 'Abbas the same succession is tied to a prophet of the Children of Israel who had also been given kingship, or to a king or judge who, shortly before his death, called out: “Who will take my place and never grow angry?”; the one who answered prayed by night, fasted by day, judged among the people with justice and was called Dhu al-Kifl. The atlas records these reports as “this is what the sources transmit”.

Sulayman ibn Khalid (ibn al-Walid) and the 27 Companions

Hazrat

According to tradition the son of the famous Companion-commander Khalid ibn al-Walid, said to have been martyred during the conquest of Diyarbakır (Amid) by the army of Iyad ibn Ghanm under Caliph Umar (c. 639 CE). He and the Companions martyred with him are buried in the tomb adjoining the western wall of the Hz. Süleyman (Kale/Nâsıriyye) Mosque in the inner citadel, also known as the 'Tomb of the 27 Companions'.

Abdurrahim Karahisari

Hazrat

A Turkish Sufi and poet; the deputy of Akşemseddin and the author of the Vahdetnâme . His father was Alâeddîn-i Mısrî. From the endowments of his father and his relatives it is understood that he belonged to a wealthy and established family. He attached himself to Akşemseddin ; he received spiritual grace from him and later became his deputy. He passed the greater part of his life at his sheikh's side. The course of his life can be followed through the records that mention him: Beypazarı (1436), Edirne (1443), İznik (1457) and Göynük (1458). After an endowment deed dated 1483 there is no information about where he was. He died after 888 (1483) and before 1494. His Works — 1. Vahdetnâme. His most important work; a Sufi-ethical mesnevî of 4250 couplets, completed in 865 (1460). 2. Münyetü'l-ebrâr (1453). A Turkish translation of a Sufi work. 3. Tercüme-i Kasîde-i Bürde. A Turkish rendering of Būsīrī's Arabic ode. 4. Risâle fî eşrâti's-sâa (862/1457). An Arabic treatise on the signs of the Hour. His Tomb and Complex — His grave is at the Kasım Paşa Mosque in Karahisar.

Divane Mehmed Chelebi (Sultan Divani)

Hazrat

A Mevlevî sheikh and divan poet who played a decisive part in the spread of the Mevlevî order. He was born in the second half of the fifteenth century at Karahisar (Afyon). On his mother's side he belonged to the family of Mevlânâ: his descent reaches Mutahhara Hatun, the daughter of Sultan Veled. After his father Bâlî Çelebi he became sheikh of the Karahisar Mevlevîhâne and perceptibly widened the reach of the Mevlevî order. He made long journeys: he saw such Shi'ite places of pilgrimage as Najaf, Karbala and Mashhad; he met eminent Sufi leaders such as Ahmed es-Sâfî in Egypt and Ebû Bekir el-Vefâî in Aleppo. The source assesses these journeys as a reflection of his make-up, which combined Mevlevî, Kalenderî, Bektashi and Hurûfî influences. He died after 951 (1544). His Circle of Influence — He founded or supported lodges at Aleppo, Burdur, Eğridir, Sandıklı, Egypt, Algiers and Mytilene; Latakia is added to these. Because of this spread the source counts him, in the propagation of the Mevlevî order, as second only to Ulu Ârif Çelebi . Among his disciples are Şâhidî İbrâhim Dede and a great number of regional deputies who carried on the chain. His Poetry and Sufi Line — In his poems he used the pen names Divâne and Semâî . Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı counted one of his couplets among the finest verses of Turkish literature. To him belongs the first didactic poem explaining the symbolism of the Mevlevî ceremony; this poem, of fifty-two couplets, was written in the metre fâilâtün fâilâtün fâilât . His unconventional way of living — including the drinking of wine — and his adherence to Mevlevî discipline are found together in him; the epithet Divâne likewise comes from this unconventional bearing rather than from administrative achievements. His Works — No independent divan of his was compiled; his poems have remained scattered within anthologies. The best known of these poems is his didactic composition of fifty-two couplets on the symbolism of the Mevlevî ceremony.

Sakib Mustafa Dede

A Mevlevî sheikh and poet; the author of the Sefîne-i Nefîse-i Mevleviyân , one of the most important sources for Mevlevî history, and for forty-six years the postnishin of the Kütahya Mevlevîhâne. He was born in 1062 (1652) in Izmir. His given name was Mustafa, his father's name İsmâil and his mother's name Halime. He descended from a Sufi family reaching back to followers of Ibn al-'Arabî who had migrated from Andalusia to Izmir. After receiving his first education in Izmir he went to Istanbul at about the age of fifteen or sixteen; under the patronage of Mustafa Fâzıl Paşa he continued his studies at the Fâtih Medrese. In 1678 he took part in the Çehrin Campaign in the pasha's entourage; during this campaign he came under the influence of a Mevlevî dervish and grew interested in the Mevlevî order. Having completed his formal education he travelled to Bursa to learn Persian and studied with Ahmed Efendi, then went on to Konya where he read the Fusûs al-hikam with Köseç Ahmed Dede. On returning to Istanbul he lectured for some six months at the Fâtih Mosque. He then went to Edirne and, with Seyyid Mehmed Dede, a disciple of Neşâtî the sheikh of the Edirne Mevlevîhâne, completed his retreat (çile) and received the title of Dede. Back in Istanbul he attached himself to Gavsî Ahmed Dede, sheikh of the Galata Mevlevîhâne, with whom he read the Mesnevî for about a year. He afterwards travelled to Egypt together with Nesîb Dede, Hasîb Dede, Lebîb Dede, Vehbî Dede and Müneccimbaşı Ahmed Dede, served Siyâhî Dede for three months, and on his return continued in the service of Gavsî Dede at the Galata Mevlevîhâne. He took part in the ceremonial gatherings (mukabele) at the Beşiktaş Mevlevîhâne and from time to time conversed with Sultan Mehmed IV, who attended them. The closeness that grew up between him and the sultan provoked the jealousy of Müneccimbaşı Ahmed Dede; upon this he left Istanbul for Edirne. He then travelled through Rumelia, visiting Serez, Filibe, Selânik and Bosnia. It was during these journeys that he began to write the Sefîne-i Nefîse-i Mevleviyân . On his return he went to Konya with Sucu Mehmed Dede. There II. Bostan Çelebi, the postnishin of the Mevlânâ Lodge at Konya, appointed him sheikh of the Kütahya Mevlevîhâne in 1102 (1690), a post he held for forty-six years. He died in 1148 (1735). Şeyh Galib composed the following chronogram for his death: "Mâtemin güç eyleyip Gālib gürûh-ı âşıkān / Dediler târîh-i fevtin hay hatm-i Mevlevî." His Circle of Influence — In the course of his long tenure as sheikh he trained a great many dervishes. To the circle formed by the important figures he raised, Esrar Dede gave the name hânedân-ı Sâkıbiyye . Among his most significant disciples was Seyyid Ebûbekir Dede, founder of one of the most important sheikhly families of the Ottoman age of reform. A spiritual and intellectual bridge runs from Sâkıb Dede to Ali Nutkî Dede, son of Seyyid Ebûbekir Dede, and from him to Şeyh Galib. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He chose the Mevlevî path deliberately, after completing his madrasa education; here he parts company with other Mevlevî poets for whom the order was merely an influence or a source. For him Mevlevîism was a purposeful cause, and his art the means of pursuing it: he composed poems of extraordinary length, most of which end with a discussion of Mevlevîism and the Mevlevîs. His odes run to 164 verses; his ghazals average nineteen verses and the longest reaches fifty-one. In divan poetry he follows the hikemî (wisdom) line represented by Nâbî; some of his poems consist from beginning to end of counsel and wise sayings, and in many others treating various subjects he cannot refrain from instruction. His ode Hizmet , composed in this manner, was greatly admired in his day and entered almost every source that mentions him. Although his poetry is predominantly didactic, he sometimes succeeds in raising the idea to the plane of feeling. A striking feature of his literary personality is that he never wrote a panegyric for anyone and never presented a poem to a patron. Holding no state office whatever, he stressed in his verses that the benefit gained from such connections rests on hand-kissing and flattery, and maintained that every labour receives in the end the worth it deserves. His Works — 1. Dîvan. One of the most substantial divans devoted to Mevlevîism; it amounts to 5689 verses. Five manuscript copies are known. A critical edition was prepared by Ahmet Arı as a doctoral dissertation. This edition contains thirty-seven odes, two musemmens, five museddes, two tahmîs, 165 ghazals, one müstezad, twenty-two chronogram stanzas, forty-eight rubâîs, sixty-one independent stanzas, fifty-one other poems and one mülemma. 2. Sefîne-i Nefîse-i Mevleviyân (I-III, Cairo 1283/1866-67). A history of the Mevlevî order which he began to write during his travels. In the first volume he carries the biographical tradition on from the point where the Menâkıbü'l-ârifîn ends, treating the çelebis who served as postnishin at the Mevlânâ Lodge in Konya down to his own time; the volume opens with the biographies of the çelebis descended from Mevlânâ on the female side who founded the Karahisar (Afyon) and Kütahya mevlevîhânes, and closes with the biographies of women descended from Mevlânâ. The second volume is given over to sheikhs who served at various mevlevîhânes, and the third to seventy-eight biographies of renowned Mevlevîs. His Tomb and Complex — Although the records indicate that he was buried in the graveyard of the mevlevîhâne, no gravestone is visible there today. His sarcophagus stands in a part of the building separated by glass panels from the section that was converted into a mosque.

Sunullah Gaybi

One of the important representatives of Turkish Sufi poetry; a mystic poet who produced his works on the Bayramî-Melâmî line. He was born at Kütahya between 1624 and 1629. His father was Ahmed Efendi, known as Müftî Derviş , who served as mufti at Kütahya and was a disciple of Sinân-ı Ümmî of Elmalı. His descent reaches well-known Sufi figures: his grandfather was Şeyh Beşir Efendi, and the latter's father Pîr Ahmed was connected with the circle of Sünbül Sinan. In 1649, at about twenty-five years of age, he went to Istanbul to be trained under İbrâhim Efendi, known as Olanlar Şeyhi. On İbrâhim Efendi's death in 1655 he returned to Kütahya and there composed his works within the Bayramî-Melâmî tradition. He belonged to two separate paths: to the Bayramî-Melâmî through İbrâhim Efendi, and to the Halvetî chain through Muslihuddin Efendi of the Balıklı lodge at Kütahya. He died some time after 1676, the year in which he completed his last work. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He is one of the principal representatives of Turkish Sufi poetry; he treats such fundamental Sufi subjects as manifestation, the theory of the cycle, and the perfect human being. M. Fuad Köprülü counted him among the followers of Yûnus Emre . His poem Keşfü'l-gıtâ , of ninety-nine couplets, won a particular renown in Sufi circles. His Works — 1. Dîvan (115 poems in various verse forms: hymns, panegyrics and Sufi poems). 2. Sohbetnâme (a compilation of İbrâhim Efendi's discourses between 1649 and 1655). 3. Rûhu'l-hakîka (1661). 4. Bîatnâme (the relation of guide and disciple and the methods of remembrance). 5. Risâle-i Esmâ (1087/1676; the divine names and the spiritual path). 6. Risâle-i Halvetiyye ve Bayramiyye (1662). 7. Mekârimü'l-ahlâk fî tarîki'l-uşşâk (1661). He also has further treatises on belief, gnosis and practice. His Tomb and Complex — It is in the Musallâ Cemetery at Kütahya and continues to be an important place of visitation.

Ishaq Faqih

A scholar who served as judge during the period when Kütahya passed from the Germiyanids to the Ottomans; he was the founder of the complex that bears his name. In the source his full name appears as İshak Fakih Halil . The endowment deed of the complex he had built, drawn up in 825 (1422) , mentions a mosque and a medrese containing within it a cell for his tomb after his death, a fountain and a library. The inscription of the fountain, which no longer exists and is preserved in the Kütahya Museum, bears the date 823 (1420) ; at that time the Germiyanid Yâkub Bey II was at the head of the principality. The source records that its founder is understood to have served both sovereignties during the transition in which Yâkub Bey II handed over his principality to the Ottomans . Limit of this record: This record rests not on an article devoted to the man himself but on the article about the complex he built; the source gives no more about the person of İshak Fakih than the above. The architectural description of the complex is detailed; but that description has not been carried over here, because it belongs to the building , and has been left to the place record. His Tomb and Complex The complex stands in the İshak Fakih quarter, whose old name was Tabakhâne. The slightly extended section to the west of the mosque's porch is a tomb containing tiled cenotaphs, and this accords with the cell mentioned in the endowment deed. Above the door is an Arabic inscription of four lines in thuluth script dated 837 (1433-34) . The medrese whose details are indicated in the endowment deed was thought to have been demolished; but this building stands, as stated in the deed, together with the chamber (library) within the lecture-mosque set aside for keeping the books endowed for the teachers and students.

Jalal al-Din Ergun Chelebi

A Sufi who was the first postnishin (head sheikh) of the Kütahya Mevlevi lodge, and whose name is associated with the spread of the Mevlevi order in western Anatolia. He was born in Kütahya. The sole source for his life is the Sefîne-i Nefîse-i Mevleviyân of Sâkıb Dede (d. 1148/1735), one of the sheikhs of the Kütahya Mevlevi lodge, written some three and a half centuries after his death. According to this work he was the son of Burhâneddin İlyas Pasha and the grandson of Süleyman Pasha of the Germiyanids. Because Süleyman Pasha had married a daughter of Sultan Veled, he too was given the title Çelebi. He received spiritual grace from Ulu Ârif Çelebi (d. 719/1320), Emîr Âlim Çelebi (d. 739/1338) and Emîr Vâcid Çelebi (d. 742/1342). For a time he went to Bursa and attended the gatherings of Geyikli Baba. Sâkıb Dede states that Ahî Evran was his disciple, and that two futuwwa sheikhs, Ahî Mustafa and Ahî Erbasan, also attached themselves to him. He received his licence to guide at the Şems station in Konya, donning the seven-gored Şemsî cap. Some time later he became the first postnishin of the Mevlevi lodge built in Kütahya by İmâdüddin Hezâr. After a long tenure he died there and was buried in the lodge's burial enclosure. Before his death he left his office to his son Burhâneddin İlyas Çelebi; he in turn was succeeded by Zeynüddin Çelebi, a grandson of İlyas Pasha. The Kütahya Mevlevi lodge, known as the Erguniyye lodge, became the third most important Mevlevi centre after those of Konya and Karahisar (Afyon). His Works — The Gencnâme is a Turkish mesnevi of forty couplets expounding the concept of the "perfect human being"; Sâkıb Dede quoted it in his own book. The İşâretü'l-beşâre is a treatise on the features of the Mevlevi ceremony, divided into eighteen "subtleties"; Sâkıb Dede likewise transmitted it recast in his own style. Sâkıb Dede further renders and comments on some of his Arabic and Persian mystical-ethical sayings, and reports that he composed a prose work entitled Çihl Kelime-i Tayyibe .

Revak Sultan

(q.s.)

A sheikh of the Halwati order who lived in Manisa during the reign of Saruhanoglu Ishak Celebi. His lodge was established on land granted by Ishak Celebi, with an endowment deed (vakfiye) dated 773/1371; his tomb stands in the Sehzadeler district of Manisa, near the rock known as the 'weeping rock' (Niobe).

Ahmad Shamsuddin al-Marmaravi (Yigitbasi Veli)

(q.s.)

The founder of the Ahmediyye branch of the Halvetiyye; a Sufi and author known by the epithet Yiğitbaşı. He was born in 839 (1435) in a village near Akhisar. He received his first education from his father İsâ Halîfe, who was a Halvetî sheikh. After studying the exoteric sciences he drew benefit from Alâeddin Uşşâkī, a Halvetî guide living in the village of Kabaklı near Uşak. He afterwards settled at Manisa and began to train disciples there. When he went to Istanbul in order to settle the disputes between the orders and succeeded in doing so, he was given the epithet Yiğitbaşı (fatâ'l-fityân). After the death of his sheikh Alâeddin Uşşâkī he succeeded him and carried on the work of guidance at Manisa. He died in 910 (1504). His Circle of Influence — The Ahmediyye branch of the Halvetiyye is attributed to him. After him this branch divided into four sub-branches: Ramazâniyye , Sinâniyye , Uşşâkıyye and Mısriyye . His influence thus did not remain confined to a single lodge but became one of the principal channels of the spread of the Halvetiyye in Anatolia and Rumelia. His Poetry and Sufi Line — His treatises treat the theoretical and the practical sides of Sufism together: in verse he takes up such subjects as the divine attributes, the perfect guide, the love of God, the world, manifestation, the vision of God and the self; in prose, such subjects as belief, the sharia, instruction, remembrance, the divine unity and the realities of the human being. That he wrote a simplified text for disciples shows that he took care that what he wrote should be read. His Works — Eleven treatises of his have been identified. 1. Câmiu'l-esrâr (in verse; the divine attributes, the perfect guide, the love of God, the world, manifestation, the vision of God and the self). 2. Risâle-i Tevhîd (in prose; belief, the sharia, mâye, instruction, remembrance, the divine unity and the realities of the human being). 3. Keşfü'l-esrâr (a simplified prose text for disciples). 4. Ravzatü'l-vâsılîn (questions of the divine unity and the interpretation of dreams). 5. Atvâr-ı Seb'a (an exposition of the stages of the spiritual path). 6. Risâletü'l-hüdâ (Sufi counsels). 7. Kenzü'l-hakāyık (the attributes of God). 8. Hurde-i Tarîkat (the etiquette of the order). 9. Tabakātü'l-evliyâ (on the abdâl, the evtâd and the gawth). 10. Mukaddimetü's-sâliha (the people of the sunna, the godfearing, the ascetics, and the states of sheikh and disciple). 11. İrfânü'l-maârif (the methods of guidance of the scholars of the outward and the inward). His Tomb and Complex — It is in the Seyyid Hoca quarter of Manisa. Beside his tomb there was a lodge of his; in place of the ruined lodge a mosque was built by the Yiğitbaşı Foundation.

Dede Osman Avni Baba al-Urfawi

may his secret be sanctified

Born in Urfa in 1783, he became sheikh of the Haliliyya branch of the Qadiri order. He guided disciples for many years (about 70) at the lodge within the Mevlid-i Halil (Dergah) Mosque, dying in 1883. His tomb is in the enclosed graveyard in the courtyard of the Mevlid-i Halil Mosque, containing eight graves of him and his family.

Prophet Job (Ayyub)

peace be upon him

One of the prophets named in the Qur'an; in Islamic literature he is taken as the emblem of patience . The Qur'an states that revelation was given to him (al-Nisâ 4/163) and that he was guided to the right path (al-An'âm 6/84). Two principal accounts relate his trial: al-Anbiyâ 21/83-84 — he called upon his Lord, "Hardship has afflicted me" , and God removed his affliction, restored his family and doubled their number "as a mercy from Us and a reminder for worshippers" . Sâd 38/41-44 — his appeal to God about the suffering brought upon him by Satan, the command to strike the ground with his foot to obtain cool water for washing and drinking, the restoration of his family and possessions, and his being called "an excellent servant who constantly turned to God" . According to the Islamic sources his ancestor on the father's side was the prophet Isaac and on the mother's side the prophet Lot. His wife is said to have been either Leah, the daughter of Jacob, or Rahma, the daughter of Ephraim son of Joseph. He had seven sons and three daughters. His wealth before the trial is enumerated in the source thus: 7000 sheep, 3000 camels, 500 yoke of oxen, 500 female donkeys and numerous servants. His trial joined together the loss of wealth, of children and of bodily health; the report about the duration of his illness is eighteen years, while some records say three or seven. Through all of this he stood firm without rebelling against God; the verse says "Truly We found him patient" (Sâd 38/44). His Circle of Influence — In Islamic literature he is the emblem of patience and endurance. Şeyh Galib invoked him as an example of forbearance in adversity, and Yûnus Emre referred to the suffering he endured. The motif of striking the ground to bring forth healing water became a theme in its own right in the Eastern-Islamic literary tradition.

Yunus Emre

(may his soul be sanctified)

A mystic poet regarded, for the hymns he sang in Anatolian Turkish, as the founding name of Turkish Sufi poetry. His life rests on a ground where historical record and legend are interwoven. According to a document found by Adnan Erzi in the Beyazit State Library, "Yûnus Emre was born in 638 (1240-41), lived eighty-two years, and died in 720 (1320)." The most comprehensive legendary account of him is in the Vilâyetnâme-i Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî , attributed to Uzun Firdevsî (d. 918/1512). According to this account Yûnus, a poor farmer from Sarıköy, first went to Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî to ask for wheat, in the end preferred the nefes (spiritual breath) to the wheat, and was directed to his real master Tapduk Emre . He served forty years at Tapduk Emre's lodge and performed the most menial tasks. It is related that when Tapduk played the şeştâ Yûnus fell into ecstasy, abandoned his craft and became a dervish. He later married his sheikh's daughter. His chain is said to run through Tapduk Emre, Barak Baba and Sarı Saltuk. He died in 720 (1320); the source gives this date with a question mark. His Circle of Influence — He shaped the development of Anatolian Turkish literature at the root. His accessible language, his poetic innovations such as adapting the ghazal to the syllabic metre, and his spiritual depth influenced generations of Sufi poets after him. His hymns spread from Anatolia to the Balkans by way of the abdalân-ı Rûm and became one of the founding texts of Islamic Turkish culture. His Poetry and Sufi Line — At the centre of his line stand the perfect human being attained through divine love and the stripping away of self-attachment ( fenâfillâh ). The source states that his thought remained within the Qur'anic frame and that, while carrying a call to universal compassion and brotherhood, it rejects both pantheism and mere humanitarianism : for him divine love is the path of moral transformation. His Works — 1. Risâletü'n-nushiyye (707/1307). An ethical treatise of 600 couplets in mesnevî form offering guidance to seekers. 2. Dîvan. It consists of about 417 poems in which the aruz and the syllabic metre are used together; 138 of them are in classical prosody and the rest in syllabic verse. His Tomb and Complex — More than one place is claimed for his grave: Sarıköy (Eskişehir), Karaman, Aksaray, Bursa, Erzurum, Sivas and Gâh in Azerbaijan. The grave at Sarıköy was opened on 6 May 1946 during railway construction, and a monument was built there in 1970. Köprülü, Gölpınarlı and Timurtaş accept this identification.

Sayyid Battal Ghazi

(may God be pleased with him)

A historical commander of the Umayyad-Byzantine wars who became, in the Turkish epic tradition, a warrior-saint . His real name was Abdullah . Battal is not a name but an epithet denoting his martial prowess. The sources differ about his patronymic and the origin of his family: some say he was of Arab descent; Ibn al-Athīr, on the other hand, holds that he descended from manumitted clients attached to the Umayyads. He was active in the eighth century under Umayyad rule, and particularly between 717 and 740 , in the Umayyad-Byzantine conflicts in Anatolia. He is likely to have taken part in the siege of Constantinople of 717 under the command of Maslama b. Abd al-Malik. His campaigns are concentrated on Caesarea, Afyon and Eskişehir and on the regions of al-Jazīra and Syria — that is, in the places where Byzantine-Muslim warfare actually occurred. He fell a martyr around 740 at Akroinon, near present-day Seyitgazi (Eskişehir), fighting against Byzantine forces. His Circle of Influence — Turkish sources, and particularly the Battalnâme , thought to have been composed between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries, transformed this Arab commander into a classic Turkish epic hero . Kalenderî, Bektashi and Alevi circles venerated him as a warrior-saint . His Tomb and Complex — The "discovery" of his grave in the Seljuk period — attributed to a dream seen by the mother of Alâeddin Keykubad — set in motion the building of a shrine and a culture of pilgrimage, and in time the settlement of Seyitgazi grew up around this centre.

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.

Hadji Ahmed Efendi of Niksar

(q.s.)

Born in the village of Beyseki near the Melet River in the Ordu region, he received his first education from his learned father Yusuf Efendi. After studying under Sheikh Mustafa Rumi in Çorum and receiving his ijaza, he came to Niksar and founded a lodge in the Karşıbağ quarter, becoming known for his preaching and guidance. He died on 30 January 1937 at about ninety years of age and was buried in the Melik Gazi cemetery in Niksar.

Sheikh Nusreddin (Nasir al-Din b. Hamza)

(q.s.)

A Khorasan dervish whose complex of tomb, lodge and mosque stands in Şeyh Nusrettin (Tekke) village near Zile. His tombstone reads 'Sheikh Nasir al-Din'; popular usage turned it into Nusret/Nusreddin. Endowment records of his lodge dated 754 AH (1353), 770 AH (1368) and 792 AH (1389) survive and the square-planned domed tomb is dated to the 14th century. Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatname counts him among the deputies of Khwaja Ahmad Yasawi.

Sumbul Baba (Hadji Sunbul)

(q.s.)

A dervish who lived in Tokat at the end of the 13th century. He is reported to have been a freedman of Safiyeddin, daughter of the Seljuk statesman Muineddin Pervane. He had his lodge-mosque-tomb on present-day Gaziosmanpaşa Boulevard in central Tokat built in 691 AH (1291-92 CE); the crown-gate inscription names the building 'Dar al-suleha' (abode of the righteous). His grave lies inside the lodge.

Sayyid Mir Hamza Nigari

A Nakşibendî-Hâlidî sheikh and divan poet; his poems are read to this day in eastern Anatolia and northern Azerbaijan. He was born in the village of Cicimli in the district of Zangezur in the Karabakh region. The year of his birth is recorded in the sources in three separate ways: 1212 (1797), 1220 (1805) and 1230 (1815). His family were the Cicimli Seyyids , who trace themselves to Seyyid Muhammed Şemseddin Akabâlî, who migrated from Khorasan to Karabakh; his father was Seyyid Rükneddin Efendi, known as Mîr Paşa. After at first resisting formal education he studied with Mahmud Efendi at Karakaş and then with Şikest Abdullah Efendi at Sheki. He finally attached himself, upon a sign received in a dream, to the Nakşibendî-Hâlidî master İsmâil Sirâceddin Şirvânî (Kürdemirî). In 1839 he went to Mecca for the pilgrimage. Between 1841 and 1852 he was active as a guide in Karabakh; in this period he married and his son Sirâceddin was born. Between 1855 and 1858 he resided at Istanbul; it is related that the shaykhdom of the Emîr Buhârî lodge was offered to him. Between 1866 and 1883 he settled at Merzifon and gave instruction in the Qur'an and hadith. Political concern about the size of his following, together with his rhetoric criticising the treatment of the Ahl al-Bayt by the Umayyads, led to complaints, and in 1885 he was exiled to Harput. He died in September 1886; his body was brought to Amasya in accordance with his will and buried there. His Circle of Influence — Although his formal position was that of a Nakşibendî-Hâlidî sheikh, his followers regarded him as the founder of an order (pîr) . Among his principal deputies are Gazi Osman Efendi of Maraş and Hacı Zekeriyyâ Efendi of Tokat. His Poetry and Sufi Line — He wrote in the classical divan tradition rather than in the plain idiom of lodge poetry; he avoided the usual Sufi terminology and put forward instead divine love, love of the Ahl al-Bayt and melâmet . His works show the closest affinity with Fuzûlî . He composed in Azeri Turkish and in the aruz metre. His Works — 1. The Turkish Dîvan (1301/1884; 1326/1908). It contains 644 ghazals, 119 quatrains and other verse forms; the Çaynâme on tea, of 520 couplets, and a commentary on the Nigârnâme are also in this divan. 2. The Persian Dîvan (1329/1910). An organised collection. 3. Nigârnâme (1305/1887). A Sufi allegorical work in prose and verse treating divine love. His Tomb and Complex — His grave is at Amasya; in 1894 the Şirvanlı Mosque was built on the site of his tomb.

Ismail Siraceddin Shirvani

A Khalidi-Naqshbandi sheikh born in 1782 in Kürdemir village (Şamahı, Shirvan). A successor of Mevlana Halid al-Baghdadi, who gave him the title 'Siraceddin', he came to Amasya in 1828 and spent his final years there, dying in a cholera epidemic in 1847. He is buried in the Yukarı Türbe built by his son Şirvanizade Mehmed Rüştü Pasha.

Pir Ilyas (Shujaeddin Ilyas)

A Halveti sheikh born in Amasya, also known as Gümüşlüzâde. After joining the Halveti order in Shirvan under Sadreddin-i Hiyavi, he returned to Amasya in 1405 and worked to spread the Halvetiyya in Anatolia, his lodge (endowed in 1413 by Yakub Pasha) becoming the order's center. He died in 1433 and is buried in the Pir Ilyas (Yukarı Pirler) tomb near Çilehane Mosque.

Balim Sultan (Hızır Bali)

The second pîr

A sixteenth-century Sufi regarded as the second pîr of the Bektashi order; it is claimed that his real name was Hızır Balı. 🔴 The source lays down the ground of this record at the outset: since there exists no document at all relating directly to him from the period in which he lived, everything known about him rests upon the written and oral Bektashi tradition. What follows is what that tradition gives. There is no single record about his family. Some sources take him to be the son of Resul Balı; the Bektashi tradition says he was the son of Mürsel Balı; the Çelebi branch claims that he belonged to the lineage of Hacı Bektaş. Another claim presents him as the son of Sersem Ali Baba by a Serbian princess at Didymoteicho. He is stated to have been born at Didymoteicho. It was in this town too that his acquaintance with Bayezid II, who took an interest in the Seyyid Ali Sultan lodge there, came about. In 907 (1501) he was formally placed at the head of the Hacı Bektaş lodge by the sultan. The source records the reason for this appointment as well: to protect the lodge from Safavid propaganda . He died in 922 (1516); the source gives this date with a question mark. His Circle of Influence — Most of the observances known today in Bektashism are attributed to him: he systematised the Shi'ite and Hurûfî elements within the order and laid down as rules the cult of the twelve imams , the observance of celibacy and the observance of the twelve posts . His being counted the "second pîr" of Bektashism comes from this regulating role. His Tomb and Complex — His tomb stands beside the tomb of Hacı Bektaş.

Jamal al-Din al-Aqsarayi

One of the scholars who won fame in the religious, literary and rational sciences in the reign of Murad I; the professor of the Zincirli Medrese at Aksaray. His given name was Mehmed. His descent reaches, in the fourth generation, Fahreddin er-Râzî (d. 606/1210). There is no detailed information about the date of his birth. He passed his life and carried on his scholarly activity at Aksaray, where he taught at the Zincirli Medrese. The date of his death is disputed: Bursalı Mehmed Tâhir records the year 791 (1388-89), Brockelmann 1377, and Adnan Adıvar 1388. His Circle of Influence — In his lessons he divided his students into three groups: those who took the lesson while walking ( meşşâiyyûn ), those who studied in the portico ( revâkıyyûn ), and those who studied within the medrese. Among the students he trained are such renowned scholars as Molla Fenârî and Hasan Paşa Niksârî. His Works — He wrote numerous works in the fields of exegesis, hadith, jurisprudence, ethics, literature and medicine. The principal ones are Şerhu'l-Îzâh , Hâşiye ale'l-Keşşâf , Hallü'l-Mûcez , Keşfü'l-i'râb and Ahlâk-ı Cemâlî .