Merzifonludur. Orada medfûn ve Pîrî Baba demekle meşhûr eş-Şeyh Pîr Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Bahadır el-Buharî’nin ahfâdından olduğu iddi’â edilen Ali Baba bin Durmuş Baba bin Hacı Ali Dede’nin oğludur. Cedd be cedd Bektâşidir.
Pîrî Baba Tekkesi şeyhi Süleyman Baba’nın terbiyesini görüp halîfesi olarak 1223’de vefâtı üzerine Pîrî Baba Tekkesi şeyhi oldu. Yeniçeri elde ederek oldukça mühim bir nüfûz ve şöhret kazandı. 1230’da Amasya’da açdığı bir ocak sâyesinde nüfûzunu Amasya vilâyetinde tanıtdı.
1243’de bâ-fermân-ı âlî Pîrî Baba Tekkesi zâviyye-i Nakşibendiyye olduğundan Merzifon’dan ihrâc edildi.¹⁴ Bir müddet Kayseriye’de ikâmet edib sonra Hacı Bektâş nâhiyesine gitdi. 1250 senesinde Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî âsitânesi şeyhi, bütün Bektâşilerin muktedâsı olup 1253 senesi zilka’desinde dâr-ı ukbâya göçdü. Âlim, Umûr-ı dünyaya vâkıf, edîp, gâyet müşekkel, mehîb, vakûr idi. Bektâşî erenlerinin yegânesi sayılırdı. [211]
In Modern English
He is from Merzifon. He is the son of Ali Baba bin Durmuş Baba bin Hacı Ali Dede, who is claimed to be among the descendants of Şeyh Pîr Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Bahadır el-Buhârî, buried there and known as Pîrî Baba. He was a Bektashi from forefather to grandfather.
He was trained by Süleyman Baba, sheikh of the Pîrî Baba Lodge, became his khalifa, and when the sheikh died in 1223 [1808-09] he became sheikh of the Pîrî Baba Lodge. By drawing the Janissaries to his side he gained considerable influence and fame. Through an ocak he opened in Amasya in 1230 [1814-15] he made his influence felt in the province of Amasya too.
In 1243 [1827-28], by imperial decree, because the Pîrî Baba Lodge was made a Naqshbandi zawiya, he was expelled from Merzifon. After living for a time in Kayseri he went to the district of Hacı Bektaş. In 1250 [1834-35] he became sheikh of the âsitâne (the central lodge) of Hacı Bektâş-ı Velî and leader of all the Bektashis, and in Dhu al-Qa'da 1253 [January-February 1838] he passed to the hereafter. He was learned, versed in worldly affairs, understanding of literature, very handsome, imposing and dignified. He was reckoned the most select of the Bektashi eren.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ahfâd: grandsons, descendants
- cedd be cedd: from forefather to grandfather, through generations
- halîfe: the disciple authorized to succeed the sheikh
- ocak: here a Bektashi lodge, dergâh
- bâ-fermân-ı âlî: by imperial decree
- zâviye: a small lodge
- ihrâc: expelling, banishing
- âsitâne: the central lodge of an order
- muktedâ: a leader who is followed
- dâr-ı ukbâ: the hereafter
- edîp: one who understands literature and manners
- müşekkel: handsome, well-formed; mehîb: imposing; vakûr: dignified
- yegâne: unique, sole; here, one of the select few
- Cihât Defteri: the register recording appointments to waqf posts (sheikhship, imamate and so on)
Pîrî Baba and His Lodge
The lodge where İbrâhim Baba served as sheikh is the best-known spiritual place of Merzifon. Pîrî Baba was a Kalenderi dervish who most probably lived in the second half of the fifteenth century. Information about his life rests on the Menâkıb-ı Pîrî Baba written by a certain Hoca İbrâhim and on Evliya Çelebi's Seyahatnâme. According to the legend he was from the village of Narince in Merzifon; as a child he was apprenticed to a shoemaker, lived in the furnace room of the bathhouse, and impressed with his miracles the sultan who came to punish him after a complaint by the ulema of Merzifon. Evliya Çelebi says this sultan was Murad II and that 366 villages were endowed to the lodge. The name "Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Bahadır el-Buhârî" that Hüsameddin gives, and a Bukharan lineage, do not appear in present-day research; Evliya Çelebi counts him among the dervishes Ahmed Yesevî sent to Anatolia, while some researchers call him one of the "Khorasan erens".
The lodge's attachment to Bektashism is a later development. Evliya Çelebi saw the lodge in 1647 as a Bektashi zawiya and described it as a large lead-roofed building served by more than two hundred dervishes. The historian Suraiya Faroqhi notes that the lodge was under Bektashi control in the seventeenth century but that it is hard to say it was founded from the start as a Bektashi zawiya. A study based on archival documents lists the zaviyedars of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries one by one. In this list the name "Süleyman Dede" appears in a document of 1783; the Süleyman Baba whom Hüsameddin mentions as İbrâhim Baba's sheikh may be this person. According to the same study, that in 1823 an appointment of a zaviyedar was made on the proposal of Feyzullah, sheikh of the Hacı Bektaş Lodge, shows the close tie of the Pîrî Baba Lodge with the central lodge.
The Ban of 1826 and the Exile
When the Janissary corps was abolished in 1826, Bektashism, which had a close tie with it, was also banned. Some of the Bektashi lodges were demolished, some were closed or assigned to other uses such as mosques, madrasas and schools. Hüsameddin's resting İbrâhim Baba's power on the Janissaries explains why this ban targeted him directly.
Archival documents set out the implementation in Merzifon in detail. The order of Mehmed Pasha, governor of Sivas, was read in the Merzifon court in the presence of the ulema and the pious of the city, and a small commission formed by the court came to the lodge and recorded its land, goods and property. The zaviyedar İbrâhim Dede, because he was "of the Bektashi group" (gürûh-ı Bektâşî) and was not considered fit for the post, was removed from the lodge "in order to correct his belief"; the meydan room of the lodge was demolished and only the tomb site was left. Osman Efendi, from the ulema of Merzifon and of the Naqshbandi order, was appointed türbedar of the tomb, and the lodge's meager land, goods and waqf revenues were transferred to him. The document announcing this transfer is dated 16 Ramadan 1244 [March 1829]. Hüsameddin too writes in his footnote, relying on the Cihât Defteri, that on 24 Rajab 1244 [end of January 1829] the sheikhship of the zawiya was taken from İbrâhim Baba and given to Osman Efendi, one of the Naqshbandi scholars and sheikhs. This date is only a few weeks before that of the document; the phrase in the text, "because the Pîrî Baba Lodge became a Naqshbandi zawiya", describes this transfer.
The documents do not say where İbrâhim Dede was exiled. Among the places to which Bektashis were exiled in 1826, cities such as Amasya, Kütahya, Tire and Kayseri are listed; the researcher notes that İbrâhim Dede too may have been sent to one of them. Hüsameddin's record "he resided for a time in Kayseri" fills this gap and agrees with the exile list.
At the Head of the Hacı Bektaş Lodge
After 1826 Naqshbandi sheikhs were appointed to the sheikhship of the Hacı Bektaş Lodge, the Çelebi of the period was exiled to Amasya, and the lodge's dedebaba, Sivaslı Mehmed Nebi Dede, was left in the lodge on condition of accepting the supervision of the Naqshbandi sheikh. In a population register of 1831, together with "pîr-i fânî Seyyid Nebi Dede", shown as postnişin of the lodge at the age of 137, four Bektashi babas and eighteen dervishes are recorded. In time the actual administration of the lodge passed again into the hands of the dervishes of the Babagân branch.
In the lists in which the Bektashi dedebabas are ordered, "Merzifonlu Hacı İbrâhim Dedebaba" appears after Mehmed Nebi Dede, and his taking the seat is given as 1834 and his death as 1835. The year 1834 coincides with the date 1250 that Hüsameddin gives; so İbrâhim Baba took the head of the Babagân branch after Nebi Dede. The date of death differs in the sources: the lists speak of a term of one year, while Hüsameddin places his death in Dhu al-Qa'da 1253 [early 1838]. The beginning date of Vidinli Seyyid Hacı Mahmud Dedebaba, who took the seat after İbrâhim Dedebaba in the lists, is also given as 1835. This difference cannot be resolved with the sources at hand.
The Tomb of Pîrî Baba stands today in the Tekke quarter of Merzifon; it has been repaired several times, most recently in 1977 by the General Directorate of Foundations.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Haşim Şahin, "Pîrî Baba", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, XXXIV, Istanbul 2007, pp. 279-280. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/piri-baba
- Fahri Maden, "Merzifon'da Bir Erenler Ocağı: Piri Baba Tekkesi, Türbesi ve Vakfı", Alevilik Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 2, Ankara 2011, p. 245 ff. https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D04118/2011_2/2011_2_MADENF.pdf
- Fahri Maden, "Evliya Çelebi'nin Seyahatnâmesinde Bektaşi Tekke ve Türbeleri", Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, no. 68, 2013. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2580992
- "Hünkâr Hace Bektaş-ı Veli ve Menşei: Bektaşi Tarikatının Postnişinlerinin Cumhuriyet'e Kadar Seyri", Düşünüyorum Dergisi. https://www.dusunuyorumdergisi.com/hunkar-hace-bektas-i-veli-ve-mensei-bektasi-tarikatinin-postnisinlerinin-cumhuriyete-kadar-seyri/
Other sources