Summary View

Country

Turkey

City

Konya

Institution

Mevlana Müzesi

Shelfmark

4937

Contents

el-Kitābu’l-Menāḳibu’l-ḳudsīyya fī menāṣibi’l-ünsiyye (Elvan Çelebi, active 14th century)

Author

Elvan Çelebi, active 14th century

الوان بن عشق باشا

Show other names

Elvān Çelebī b. ʿĀşık Paşa (d. after 1360)

Elvan Çelebi, active 14th century (authorised)

Elvan Çelebi, 14th cent (variant)

Elvan Çelebi, Aşık Paşa zade, active 14th century (variant)

Biographical notes

Although he only refers to himself as Elvān in his work, he is generally referred to as Elvān Çelebī in later Ottoman sources. A shaykh at zāwiya (Dervish convent) in the village named after him lying outside of the town of Mecidözü in the province of Çorum in north-central Anatolia, Elvān Çelebī hailed from an illustrious Sufi family. His father was ʿĀşık Paşa (عشق باشا), author of the well-known early Old Anatolian Turkish mystical mathnawī, the Ġarib-nāme (غريب نامه), and his great grandfather was the Şeyḫ Ilyās(شيخ الياس), who played a principal role in the Baba’i rebellion of 1239 [1239 CE]-1240 [1240 CE]. Elvan Çelebi informs us that he was elected by his father's disciples to succeed as his father's spiritual successor upon his death. Elvan Çelebi is believed to have been born in Kırşehir where his father lived and died, but apparently later established a zāwiya at Mecidözü (the sixteenth-century [1500-1599 CE] Ottoman author Mecdī Mehmed Efendi (مجدي محمد افندي ) dates this at 1326 [1326 CE]). His famous ancestor Şeyḫ Ilyās (T. Şeyḫ Ilyās; also known as Baba Ilyās (بابا الياس) in other sources) was the main disciple of Dede Ġarḳīn (دده غرقين) (or Şeyḫ Ġarḳīn, as he is also referred to in el-Kitābu’l-Menāḳib (الكتاب المناقب)), a Turkmen baba, or shaykh of the Wafā’iyya order. Dede Ġarḳīn is believed to have come to Anatolia with the Khwarazmians fleeing before the Mongols in the 1220 [1220 CE]-1230 [1230 CE]s and settled in the region of Elbistan. Dede Ġarḳīn sent his disciples into Anatolia, and his main disciple Ilyās settled in the region of Amasya at a village named Çat where he established a zāwiya.

Title

el-Kitābu’l-Menāḳibu’l-ḳudsīyya fī menāṣibi’l-ünsiyye

الكتاب مناقب القدسية في مناصب الانسية

Notes

Composed in 760 [1358-1359 CE] (dated by a chronogram), this Old Anatolian Turkish work exists in a unique undated manuscript. A sufi hagiography, or menāḳıb, in the format of a mathnawī of 2084 couplets, it relates events in the lives of the shaykh Ilyās and Ilyās's son, the shaykh Muḫliṣ (Mukhliṣ) or Şeyḫ Muḫliṣ Paşa ((شيخ مخلص باشا)) and Şeyh ʿOsmān (شيخ عثمان) (the author's maternal grandfather). The work constitutes a major source for the Baba’i rebellion of 1240 [1240 CE] against the Seljuks. Elvān Çelebī aims to clear his ancestor's name by proving false numerous rumours spread about Baba Ilyās (such as his supposed claim to prophethood) and establishing a more correct account of the events. Elvān Çelebī's work thus represents a sympathetic insider's view of the so-called Baba’i shaykhs as opposed to the hostile sources emanating from the Seljuk court, such as Ibn Bībī's account, and other contemporary or near-contemporary sources. The work also provides important commentary on other sufi orders in late thirteenth-century [1200-1299 CE] and early fourteenth-century [1300-1399 CE]Anatolia. The unique manuscript lacks several folios at the beginning of the work, including some sections on Dede Ġarḳīn, explaining his origins and how he came to Anatolia and settled in the region Elbistan. The work place of composition is the village of Mecidözü, Çorum province.

Necati Ergin discovered the unique manuscript in 1957 [1957 CE] in the town of Karaman and sold it to the Mevlana Museum in Konya.

Main language of text

Turkish

Bibliography

Editions

Elvan Çelebi, . Menâḳıbu’l-ḳudsiyye fî menâṣıbi’l-ünsiyye. Edited by Erünsal, İsmail E. and A. Yaşar Ocak. Istanbul: İstanbul Üniversitesi Edebiyat Fakültesi Matbaası, 1984.

Tulum, Mertol. Tarihi Metin Çalışmalarında Usul: Menâkıbu'l-Kudsiyye Üzerinde Bir Deneme. Istanbul: Deniz Kitabevi, 2000.

Studies

Ağırakça, Ahmet. "Menâkibül-kudsiyye’ye göre Babaî şeyhi Muhlis Paşa’nın Anadolu Selçuklu tahtına geçişi." Tarih Dergisi. 34 1983-84: 91-100.

Beldiceanu-Steinherr, Irene. "La <<révolte>> des Baba’î en 1240 visait--elle vraiment le renversement du pouvoir seldjoukide?" Turcica. 30 1998: 99-118.

Cahen, Claude. "Bābā’ī." EI. 1 1960: 843-844.

Cahen, Claude. "Baba Ishaq, Baba İlyās, Hadjdj Bektash et Quelques Autres." Turcica. 1 1969: 53-64.

Eyice, Semavi. "Çorum-Mecidözü’nde ʿĀşık Paşa oğlu Elvān Çelebi zaviyesi." Türkiyat Mecmuası. 15 1969.

Köksal, M. Fatih. "Elvan Çelebi’nin Şiirleri ve Şairlıği." In I. Kırşehir Kültür Araştırmaları Bilgi Şoleni (8-10 Ekim 2003). Bildiriler. Günşen, Ahmet, ed. Kırşehir: Gazi Üniversitesi Kırşehir Eğitim Fakültesi Yayınları, 2004, 347-370.

Ocak, Ahmet Yaşar. La révolte de Baba Resul ou la formation de l’hétérodoxie musulmane en Anatolie au XIIIe siècle. Ankara: Türk Tarih Kurumu, 1989.

Ocak, Ahmet Yaşar. "Elvan Çelebi." TDVİA. 11 1995: 63-65.

Taeschner, F.. "Das Heiligtum des Elvan Celebi in Anatolien." WZKM. 56 1960: 227-231.

Önder, Mehmet. "İlk Türkçecilerden Ahmed Fakih Hakkında Yeni Bilgiler." Türk Yurdu. 49, no. 276 1959: 51-51.

Physical Description

Number of folios

118 ff.

Dimensions of folio

width 14cm, height 21cm

Columns

1 2

Ruled lines

11

History

Date of copy

20th. century