Hacı Bektaş Veli, active 13th century

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Identifier (lccn)
n 88218443
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Hacı Bektaş Veli, active 13th century
Biographical notes
Eponym of the Bektāşīyye; most venerated saint of Alevism and Bektashism. In Manāqib al-‘ārifīn (مناقب العارفين) by Aflākī (افلاقي), the earliest work with information on Ḥacı Bektāş,Ḥacı Bektāş appears as a disciple of Baba Resūl (Baba İlyās) (d. 638/1240) ((بابا رسول (بابا اليا ), He is represented as a dervish who does not abide by the sharī‘a. ‘Āşıḳpaşazāde (عاشق پاشا زاده, on the other hand, states that Ḥacı Bektāş came to Sivas from Khurāsān with his brother Menteş. The two of them went to Kayseri, after which they parted and Menteş returned to Sivas, where he was soon killed. Ḥacı Bektāş settled down in the small village of Ḳarahöyük and adopted a women name Ḫātūn Ana (Ḳadıncıḳ Ana) ( (خاتون انا (قادنجق انا) as his spiritual daughter. Abdāl Mūsā (fl. 14th century) (ابدال موسى), a key figure in the dissemination of Ḥacı Bektāş's teaching, was Ḫātūn Ana's disciple. Several waqf records reported by scholars demonstrate that Ḥacı Bektāş was dead before 691 AH [1291-1292 CE]. Ḥacı Bektāş's date of death appears as 669 AH [1270-1271 CE] in collection of manuscripts bound in Sivas in 691 AH [1291 CE] as well as in a late copy of Ḥacı Bektāş's hagiography. Velāyet-nāme (ولايت نامه), Ḥacı Bektāş's legendary biography or hagiography, exists in both prose and verse versions. The earliest verse version is attributed to Firdevsī (فردوسي), mentioned in biographical dictionaries as Firdevsī-i Rūmī or Uzun Firdevsī (fl. 15th century) (فردوسي رومي/اوزن فردوسي). It can be deduced that both prose and verse versions of the Velāyet-nāme were written after the development of Bektāşī lore in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries [1300-1499 CE], but before the institutionalization of the order by Balım Sulṭān (d. possibly 922/1516) (بالم سلطان). Considering the fact that the historical personages mentioned in the Velāyet-nāme also lived in the thirteenth century [1200-1299 CE], we can say that Ḥacı Bektāş might have met Ṭapduḳ Emre (fl. 13th century) (طبدق امره), Seyyid Maḥmūd-ı Ḥayrānī (d. 655/1257-58) (سيد محمود حيراني), Ṣarı Ṣaltuḳ (d. shortly after 700/1300) (صري صلطق), Aḫī Evrān (اخي اوران) (d. during the reign of Orḫān Ġāzī (اورخان غازي)) and Emīrci Sulṭān(d. 637/1240)(اميرجي سلطان). It is also possible that he sent one of his disciples to Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d.672/1273)(جلال الدين رومي). A key figure in the Velāyet-nāme is Aḥmed Yesevī (d. first quarter of the 13th century) (احمد يسوي) , who appears to have close tie with Ḥacı Bektāş. Contrary to the studies by certain scholars, historical data indicates that Ḥacı Bektāş was not a direct disciple of either Aḥmed Yesevī, Baba İlyās (بابا الياس), or Quṭb al-Dīn Ḥaydar (fl. 12th century) (قطب الدين حيدر).Ḥacı Bektāş was not a Yesevī or Ḥaydarī dervish. He did, however, come to Anatolia from Khurāsān or Turkestan with strong Yesevī connections and led an independent path in this land.
Show variants
 
  • Bektach, Hadji, active 13th century
  • Bektaş Veli, Hacı, active 13th century
  • Bektās̲h̲ Walī, Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī, active 13th century
  • Ḥacī Bektaş-i Velī, active 13th century
  • Hacı Bektaş Veli, 13th cent
  • Hacibektaş Veli, active 13th century
  • Hacıbektaş Veli, d. ca. 1337
  • Ḥād̲j̲d̲j̲ī Bektās̲h̲ Walī, active 13th century
  • Hadji Bektach, active 13th century
  • Ḥajjī Bektāsh Walī, of Khorāsān, active 13th century
  • حاجى بكتاش ولى
Manuscripts by this author
Baḥru’l-ḥaḳā’iḳ
This work is a mathnawi of 1359 couplets based on a Turkish copy of the Maḳālāt attributed to Ḥacı Bektāş. In the beginning of the work, the author Ḥaṭīboġlı Muḥammed (d. after 838/1435) (حطيب اغلي محمد) states that the work is a verse translation of Ḥacı Bektāş's Maḳālāt. Ḥaṭīboġlı adds some stories to supplement the content of Maḳālāt. Show more
Date of composition: 812
Dedicatee: the Dhulkadirid ruler of Maraş and Elbistan, Naṣīrüddīn Meḥmed b. Ḫalīl Beg (1398-1443), ناصر الدين محمد ابن خليل بك, according to Ertaylan; Çandarlızāde II. Ḫalīl (Ḫalīl b. İbrāhīm) (چاندارليزاده ۲ خليل (خليل ابن ابراهيم according to Coşan (Coşan, 49-53). The name appears as Meḥemmed b. Ḫalīl in the work.
Fevāʾid
This work in Persian on several Sufi themes is certainly a misattribution. It includes references to personages who lived long after Ḥacı Bektāş. Sections of the work explain how Ḥacı Bektāş replied to certain questions. It may thus be considered to have originated in oral tradition.
Fātiḥa Tefsīri
Most probably a misattribution. This commentary on the soura al-Fatiha is attributed to Ḥacı Bektāş only because it is bound together with Maḳālāt in one of the manuscripts
Kitābu’l-Maḳāmāt
This work is an Arabic version of the second chapter of the Turkish Maḳālāt. In the manuscripts, it is attributed to Birgivī (d. 981/ 1573) (بركوي). According to secondary studies Birgivī cannot be the author of the work, due to mistakes in Arabic and errors in Islamic science which Birgivī would not have committed.
Maḳālāt
According to the Velāyet-nāme (ولايت نامه) of Ḥacı Bektāş, Maḳālāt was translated from Arabic to Turkish by Sa‘īd Emre. The work is a detailed account of the doctrine of the Four Gates and Foutry Stations (dört ḳapı ḳırḳ maḳām) The only known early manuscript is Manisa İl Halk Kütüphanesi, n. 3536, 827. None of the editions rely on this manuscript.
Maḳālāt-ı ġaybiyye ve kelimāt-ı ‘ayniyye
An introductory work in Persian on Sufi concepts. Although the name of Ḥacı Bektāş appears in the manuscripts, the lack of early manuscripts makes this attribution doubtful.
Poetry
Poems attributed to Ḥacı Bektāş appear in a number of mecmū‘a s. No studies have been done on the subject.
Risāle-i Ḥacı Bektāş-ı Velī
Tefsīr-i Besmele
Commentary on the Basmala in simple, spoken Turkish, intended for a general public. The only manuscript of the work is dated 827 , located at Manisa İl Halk Kütüphanesi, n. 3536 . The title of the work appears as "kitāb-ı tefsīr-i Besmele ma‘a Maḳālāt-ı Ḥacı Bektāş" in the manuscript, thus suggesting that this may in fact be an anonymous work bound together with Maḳālāt.
Ḥadīs̱-i Erba‘īn
Most probably a misattribution. This commentary on the 40 Hadith is attributed to Ḥacı Bektāş only because it is bound together with Maḳālāt in one of the manuscripts. The work is untitled in the manuscript.
Referring authors
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