Amasyalıdır. Baba İlyâs Horasânî hizmetinde tahsîl-i me’ârif ederek tefeyyuz edib şeyhinin hulefâsından oldu. 657’de şeyhinin vefâtı üzerine yeğeni Behlûl Baba Mes’ûdiye Hânkâhı Şeyhi olmuşdu. Muahharan Tatar Beyleri’nin gözüne girip Behlûl Baba’yı Suşehri’ne göndertip Mes’ûdiye Tekkesi Şeyhi oldu.
Gâyet açıkgöz ve harîs-i şöhret olduğundan hâkim-i bilâd-ı [380] Selçûkiyye olan Muîneddîn Süleyman Pervâne Bey’e mu’ârız bir meslek tutdu. Tatar Beyleri’ni elde ederek halk üzerinde icrâ-yı nüfûz etmeye başladı. Pervâne Bey buna karşı Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî hulefâsından eş-Şeyh Veliyyüddîn Ahmed Dedeyi Amasya’da yaptığı mevlevîhâne şeyhi olarak çıkardı.
İbik Baba, İshâk Baba’nın etvârını andırır bir tavır ve meslek tutup zâhiren müttakî ve mu’tekid göründüğü hâlde sohbet-i yârân esnâsında îrâd eylediği ba’zı hefevâtı şâyi’ olduğundan ulemânın teşebbüsâtıyla Amasya kâdı’l-kudâtı Sadreddîn Mehmed bin Hızır et-Tiflîsî tahkîkâta başladı.
670’de bunu haber alan İbik Baba Mısır’a gitdi. Sûret-i zâhirede firâr etdi. Hakîkat hâlde Pervâne Bey’le Mısır Hükûmeti arasında cereyân eden muhâberât-ı hafiyyeyi tahkîke me’mûren gitdi. Çünkü bu muhâberât-ı hafiyye Moğol Hükûmeti’ni kuşkulandırıyordu.
673’de Mısır’da ba’zı akvâl ve akâidi şâyi’ olduğundan Mısır Hükümdârı Melik Zâhir Baybars el-Bundukdârî tarafından habsedilerek ulemânın huzûrunda isticvâb [381] olundu. Verdiği cevaplardan sû-i akîdesi anlaşılmakla darb ve habsedildi.
Ba’dehû Moğol Hükümdârı Abaka Hân’ın şefâ’at ve iltimâsıyla ıtlâk edildiğinde Mısır’dan kalkıp Tebriz’e gitdi. Yediği dayağın acısını çıkarmak ve Pervâne Bey’den intikâmını almak için Abaka Hân’dan Bilâd-i Mısriyye’nin teshîrine teşvîk ve Pervâne Bey aleyhine tahrîk etmeye başladı.
675’de Abaka Hân ile Mısır Hükümdârı Barsbay Bey arasında çıkan muhârebede Abaka Hân’ın askeri mağlûb ve Moğol Beyleri maktûl oldukda Pervâne Bey’in hıyânetinden bahsederek bîçâreyi 676 senesi muharreminde i’dâm etdirip Amasya’ya avdet etdi. Müte’âkiben ikinci defa Mes’ûdiye Tekkesi Şeyhi oldu.
On iki yıl kadar devam eden bu meşîhâtı zamânında hayli Moğol Beyleri’ni ve Tatarları Müslümân ederek kendisine mürîd etdi. Bu yüzden mürîdânı ve nüfûzu fevkalâde artıp Babâiyye Tarîkati revâç buldu. 688 senesi evâsıtında vefât edib Tekkenin bahçesine [382] defnedildi.
İbik Baba, âlim, Arabî ve Fârisî lisanlarıyla mütekellim, gâyet natûk, son derece nâfizü’l-kelim, edîb, vakûr, bahs ü cidâle kâdir, uzun boylu, biraz mülâhham, uzun sakallı, gâyet müşekkel, nazîf, mehîb, hayr u şerre yarar bir kimse idi.
Moğol ve Tatarlar’ın kabûl-i İslâmında büyük himmetleri görüldü. Abaka Hân kendisine Amasya havâlîsinde büyük bir çiftlik temlîk etdi. Bu çiftlik el-yevm İbik Köyü demekle meşhûr olup evlâdının tasarrufunda bir asırdan ziyâde kaldı.
İbik Baba, Hacı Bektâş Velî akrânından bir zât olup hulefâsından Ahmed Baba, Alî Baba, Burak Baba, Saltuk Baba pek meşhûr idiler. Bunun hakkında ulemâ ve meşâyıh-ı asrı iki fırka olmuşdu. Bir kısmı tadlîl, diğer kısmı tebcîl etmişdi.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. Studying and drawing spiritual benefit in the service of Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî, he became one of his sheikh's deputies (halife). In 657 [1259], on the death of his sheikh, his nephew Behlûl Baba had become sheikh of the Mes'ûdiye Convent. Then he won the favour of the Tatar lords, sent Behlûl Baba off to Suşehri, and became sheikh of the Mes'ûdiye Lodge.
Being very shrewd and fond of fame, he took a course opposed to Muîneddîn Süleyman Pervâne Bey, ruler of the Seljuk lands. Winning over the Tatar lords, he began to exert influence over the people. In answer, Pervâne Bey installed Şeyh Veliyyüddîn Ahmed Dede, one of the deputies of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn-i Rûmî, as sheikh of the Mevlevi lodge he had built in Amasya.
İbik Baba adopted an attitude and conduct recalling those of İshâk Baba. Although outwardly he appeared pious and devout, some improper remarks that he made in the course of conversation with his friends spread, and at the initiative of the scholars the chief judge of Amasya, Sadreddîn Mehmed bin Hızır et-Tiflîsî, began an investigation.
Hearing of this in 670 [1272], İbik Baba went to Egypt. He had apparently fled; in reality he was charged with investigating the secret correspondence running between Pervâne Bey and the Egyptian government. For this secret correspondence was making the Mongol government suspicious.
In 673 [1274-75], because some of his words and beliefs had spread in Egypt, he was imprisoned by the Egyptian ruler Melik Zâhir Baybars el-Bundukdârî and questioned before the scholars. When his corrupt belief became clear from his answers, he was beaten and imprisoned.
Then, when he was released through the intercession and request of the Mongol ruler Abaka Khan, he left Egypt and went to Tabriz. To avenge the blows he had taken and to take revenge on Pervâne Bey, he began to urge Abaka Khan to seize the land of Egypt and to incite him against Pervâne Bey.
In 675 [1276-77], in the war between Abaka Khan and the Egyptian ruler Barsbay Bey, when Abaka Khan's army was defeated and the Mongol lords were killed, he spoke of Pervâne Bey's treachery, had the poor man executed in Muharram 676 [1277], and returned to Amasya. Immediately afterwards he became sheikh of the Mes'ûdiye Lodge for the second time.
During this sheikhdom, which lasted about twelve years, he made many Mongol lords and Tatars Muslims and took them as disciples. As a result his disciples and his influence grew extraordinarily, and the Babâiyye Order flourished. He died around the middle of the year 688 [1289] and was buried in the garden of the lodge.
İbik Baba was a scholar; he spoke Arabic and Persian, spoke very well, with a most persuasive tongue, was cultured and dignified, and capable of debate and disputation. He was tall, somewhat full-bodied, long-bearded, very well-formed, clean and imposing; a man who could serve both good and evil.
His great efforts were seen in the conversion of the Mongols and Tatars to Islam. Abaka Khan gave him a large farm in the vicinity of Amasya. This farm is famous today as İbik Village and remained in his children's hands for more than a century.
İbik Baba was a contemporary of Hacı Bektâş Velî; among his deputies Ahmed Baba, Alî Baba, Burak Baba and Saltuk Baba were very famous. Concerning him the scholars and sheikhs of the age had split into two groups. One part had condemned him, the other had extolled him.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- hânkâh: a lodge, a place where dervishes gathered and lodged
- halife: a disciple whom a sheikh trained and left as his deputy
- tefeyyüz: drawing spiritual benefit
- harîs-i şöhret: fond of fame
- mu'ârız: opposing
- mevlevîhâne: the lodge of the Mevlevi dervishes
- hefevât: lapses, improper remarks
- kâdı'l-kudât: chief judge
- muhâberât-ı hafiyye: secret correspondence
- isticvâb: interrogation
- sû-i akîde: corrupt belief
- ıtlâk: release
- mürîd: a dervish attached to a sheikh
- mülâhham: full-bodied, stout
- mehîb: imposing
- tadlîl: declaring someone astray, condemning
- tebcîl: extolling
Aybek Baba or İbik Baba
The identity of İbik Baba has been much debated on the basis of the biography Hüsameddin gives. In historical writing this sheikh is called Aybek Baba, Aybeği Şeyhi and İbik Baba; the only source for what is known of him is Hüsameddin's book. Mustafa Uyar's article, published in Belleten in 2014, argues that most of this biography was wrongly constructed. According to Uyar, because of a writing omission in a manuscript used by el-Aynî, Hüsameddin merged two different people. The man who took refuge with the Mongols from Egypt was the Mamluk emir İzz el-Dîn Aybek el-Şeyhî. "el-Şeyhî" is a nisba such as Mamluk emirs bore, that is, it points to the person or merchant from whom he was bought as a slave; but because the final "î" was not written in the manuscript, it was read "el-Şeyh", that is "the sheikh", and this emir was taken to be a sheikh of an order.
According to Uyar, this emir was with the Mamluk sultan Baybars returning from Kayseri to Damascus after the Battle of Elbistan (15 April 1277) when the sultan had him beaten for disregarding rank; unable to accept the punishment, he fled and took refuge with Abaka Khan. The exposure to the Ilkhanid ruler of the letters that Pervâne and other Anatolian emirs had written to Baybars also concerns this emir. Emir Aybek el-Şeyhî died about three years after these events, in Zilhicce 678 [April 1280]. The narrative that Hüsameddin writes for İbik Baba, of imprisonment and beating in Egypt, refuge with Abaka Khan, denunciation of the correspondence between Pervâne and Baybars and bringing about Pervâne's death, belongs, according to Uyar, to this emir. The conclusion of the article is this: there is no evidence with which to deny that an Aybek Baba existed in Amasya, a sheikh of the Mes'ûdiye lodge with heterodox beliefs; but in Ilkhanid and Mamluk sources there is no record that he fled Egypt, drew close to the Ilkhanids or brought the Mongols to Islam. His name should therefore no longer be mentioned among the Anatolian-born sheikhs who turned the Ilkhanid rulers and emirs to Islam.
Ahmet Yaşar Ocak states that he tried to use Hüsameddin's information "with caution" and assesses Aybek Baba as an ambitious man concerned with politics more than with his mystical standing. Uyar's article also questions the chain of sources on which this interpretation rests. Fuad Köprülü, for his part, writes that Burak (Barak) Baba was Aybek Baba's successor; this agrees with Hüsameddin's "Burak Baba among his deputies". So the body of the entry holds two stories blended together: that of the sheikh in Amasya and that of the Mamluk emir who fled Egypt. For this reason it cannot safely be said that the events narrated for the years 670-676 belong to İbik Baba; according to Uyar, in this section the emir's life has been blended into the sheikh's. The date of Pervâne's execution in Muharram 676 [1277] agrees with the date of death (1277) in Uyar's article.
One name in the text also draws attention: Hüsameddin calls the Egyptian ruler "Melik Zâhir Baybars" in one place and "Barsbay Bey" further down. Since the war is between Abaka Khan and Baybars, "Barsbay" is most probably a confusion; this is an inference.
Baba İlyas and the Mes'ûdiye Convent
The "sheikh" in the entry is Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî. Baba İlyas settled in the village of Çat (today İlyas) near Amasya and lived in the zâviye he founded there. The Babaî Revolt is named after him; the year it broke out is 637 [1240], and Baba İlyas was besieged and captured at Amasya by Seljuk forces and executed. Hüsameddin, however, gives Baba İlyas's death as 657 [1259]; this date comes twenty years after the date 637 [1240] known for the Babaî Revolt, and there is a disagreement of detail. The twenty-year difference may be an error of date in the book or its source; no firm judgment is possible. Ahmet Yaşar Ocak writes that Hüsameddin is one of the authors who accepted "babaî" as the name of an order, whereas the term was used only for those who took part in the revolt, and that Baba İlyas may never have founded such an order. The phrase "Babâiyye Order" in the text falls within the scope of this criticism.
On the Mes'ûdiye Convent, the sources read give Hüsameddin's information that it was built around 1150 by Sultan Rükneddin Mes'ud I (1116-1156) and that Baba İlyas headed this lodge from 1230. The building's present state is not stated in the sources read.
İbik Village
The farm that Hüsameddin says Abaka Khan gave is today called "İbik Village". There is a village named İbecik in Amasya district; its population in 2021 is 280. Whether the names İbik and İbecik denote the same settlement is not stated in the sources read; the similarity of the names is striking, but this is only a possibility. In the next entry (439) Hüsameddin says that the farm of İbecik Bey is today a village called "İbecük"; the relationship between the farm names in the two entries (İbik and İbecük) is not explained.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 379-382. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources