Amasyalıdır. Abdullah oğlu olup Baba İlyâs Horasânî [333] halîfesi ve yeğeni Behlül Baba hizmetinde tefeyyüz ederek Babazâde Muhlis Baba’dan sonra Mes’ûdiyye Hânkâhı şeyhi oldu. Baba İlyâs oğullarının mültezimi olduğundan meşihatı yıllarca devâm etdi.
701’de ba’zı ahvâlinden dolayı azledilip 705’de İbik Baba’nın mürîd-i hâsı olan Tokatlı Burak Baba’nın teşebbüsâtı sâyesinde sânîyen Mes’ûdiyye Hankâhı meşîhatına geçirildi. 711 senesi zilka’desinde vefât etdi. Âlim, ‘Arab ve Acem edebiyâtına vâkıf, lisânı düzgün, Babayî tarîkinin kutbu idi. Yerine “Âşık Paşa” demekle meşhûr eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Ali Âşık Baba geçti.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. The son of Abdullah, he received spiritual grace in the service of Behlül Baba, the deputy and nephew of Baba İlyâs Horasânî, and after Muhlis Baba, son of Baba İlyas, he became sheikh of the Mesudiye Hankah. Because he was attached to the sons of Baba İlyas and a supporter of them, his sheikhdom lasted for years.
In 701 [1301-02], on account of certain conduct of his, he was removed from his post; in 705 [1305-06], through the efforts of Burak Baba of Tokat, a favored disciple of İbik Baba, he was appointed sheikh of the Mesudiye Hankah for a second time. He died in Dhu'l-Qa'da 711 [March 1312]. He was a scholar, knew Arabic and Persian literature, spoke well, and was the pole (qutb) of the Babaî order. He was succeeded by eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Ali Âşık Baba, known as "Âşık Paşa."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- halîfe: a disciple authorized to succeed a sheikh and to give guidance in his name
- tefeyyüz: receiving spiritual grace, being trained
- hânkâh: a large lodge housing dervishes
- meşihat: sheikhdom
- mültezim: one who takes a side, a partisan
- mürîd-i hâs: the sheikh's closest, special disciple
- teşebbüsât: efforts, initiatives
- sânîyen: for the second time
- kutb: spiritual leader of an order, the sheikh of the highest rank
- 'Arab ve Acem: Arab and Iranian (Persian)
The Mesudiye Hankah and the Family of Baba İlyas
The Mesudiye Hankah, where Ahmed Baba was sheikh, was according to Hüsameddin in the Kübceğiz district of Amasya and was the center of Babaîsm, one of the most turbulent religious movements of thirteenth-century Anatolia. The founder of the order, Baba İlyas-ı Horasânî, according to the Menâkıbü'l-kudsiyye written by his great-grandson Elvan Çelebi, came from Khorasan and settled in Amasya, and his disciples were called Babaî. In the uprising begun by his deputy Baba İshak, which entered history as the Babaî revolt, Baba İlyas was captured and shut in the Amasya Fortress. The person Hüsameddin calls "Babazâde Muhlis Baba" is Muhlis Paşa, the youngest son of Baba İlyas. According to the hagiographies, Muhlis, who was an infant in swaddling clothes during the revolt, was saved by a man named Şerefeddin from the village of Çat, which had been set on fire, was taken to Egypt at the age of seven, and returned to Anatolia after staying there seven years. These sources also relate that Muhlis Paşa briefly seized Konya in 1273.
Burak Baba
"Burak Baba of Tokat," who reinstated Ahmed Baba as sheikh, is Barak Baba (d. 707/1307), one of the best-known ecstatic dervishes of Anatolia. According to most sources he was born in a village near Tokat and became a disciple of Sarı Saltuk from the Babaî circle. In present-day research Barak Baba's sheikh is given as Sarı Saltuk, not İbik Baba; Hüsameddin's record differs in this respect. Barak Baba's fame reached the Ilkhanid court; Ghazan Khan summoned him to Sultaniyya and took him among his intimates, and he kept his standing in the time of Öljeitü as well. It is possible that the reinstatement in 705 came about through this influence; but the event itself could not be verified in another source. That the treatise Kelimât-ı Barak Baba, attributed to Barak Baba and made up of hard-to-understand sayings, was copied in Amasya in 853 [1449] shows the long life of the Babaî tradition in the city.
Contradictions Concerning Âşık Paşa
Âşık Paşa, mentioned as Ahmed Baba's successor, is one of the great poets of early Turkish literature through his mesnevi Garibnâme. According to present-day research he was born in Kırşehir in 670 [1272], grew up in Kırşehir, and died there on 13 Safar 733 [3 November 1332]; these studies do not mention his serving as sheikh at the Mesudiye Hankah in Amasya. Hüsameddin, on the other hand, regards Âşık Paşa as born in Amasya.
Another noteworthy point is the difference of date within Hüsameddin's own work. In this entry Ahmed Baba is said to have died in Dhu'l-Qa'da 711; yet in the Âşık Ali Paşa entry reported by Metin Hakverdioğlu, Hüsameddin says that Âşık Paşa's sheikh Şemseddin Ahmed Baba died in 708 [1307] and that Âşık Paşa was at that date sheikh of the Mesudiye zawiya. Which of the two records is correct could not be determined.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 108–108. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies