Amasya‘da Hankâh-ı Mes’ûdî şeyhi Baba İlyâs Horasânî birâderi Hüseyin bin Ali Horasânî mahdûmudur. Birâderi Behlûl Baba’dır. Amcasının yanında oğul terbiyesi görüp maârif-i tahsîl etdi.
Baba İlyâs’ın vefâtında bir müddet münzevî yaşadı. Birâderi Behlül Baba ile ammizâdesi Muhlis Baba Amasya’dan çıkdıkları esnâda ihtifâ etdi. Baba İlyâs’ın halîfesi olan İbik Baba’nın Mısır’a azîmetinden sonra meydana çıktı. Moğol beyleri kendisine hüsn-i i’tikâd ve teba’iyyet ederek hankâh şeyhi oldu. 690 hudûdunda vefât etdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Hüseyin son of Ali Horasânî, brother of Baba İlyâs Horasânî, the sheikh of the Hankâh-ı Mes'ûdî in Amasya. His brother was Behlûl Baba. He was raised like a son in his uncle's house and acquired learning.
When Baba İlyâs died, he lived for a time in seclusion. When his brother Behlûl Baba and his cousin Muhlis Baba left Amasya, he went into hiding. He came out after İbik Baba, the successor (halîfe) of Baba İlyâs, went to Egypt. The Mongol begs conceived a strong faith in him and submitted to him, and he became sheikh of the hankah. He died around 690.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- hankâh: a building where dervishes lodge and where conversation and worship take place
- münzevî: one who withdraws from the world and lives alone
- ihtifâ: going into hiding
- halîfe: the disciple a sheikh leaves as deputy, who teaches in his name
- azîmet: setting out, going
- hüsn-i i'tikâd: strong belief, respect
- teba'iyyet: allegiance, submission
- ammizâde: son of a paternal uncle, cousin
Who Was Baba İlyas
The uncle in the text, Baba İlyas, appears in the sources as Ebü'l-Bekā Sheikh Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî. It is supposed that he came to Anatolia with Turkmens from the region of the Khwarazmshahs during the Mongol invasion; nothing at all is known of his life before his arrival. According to the Menâkıbü'l-kudsiyye, written in 1332-33 by his grandson Elvan Çelebi, he settled in the village of Çat near Amasya (today's İlyas village), opened a zawiya there, spread the Vefâiyye path, and gathered many disciples around him. That this lineage later entered a path of Sunnitization can also be seen in the works of his descendant Âşık Paşa.
İdris Baba's uncle Baba İlyas is the person who gave his name to the great uprising of 1240 against the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan II. Gıyâseddin Keyhusrev. He left the actual leadership of the uprising to his deputy Baba İshak; Baba İlyas, who had taken refuge in the Amasya fortress, was cornered and captured by the forces of Mübârizüddin Armağanşah and executed. Baba İshak was in turn defeated and killed on the plain of Malya near Kırşehir. There is a disagreement, described below, about the date of the event Hüsameddin refers to as "when Baba İlyâs died."
Family Ties in the Text
The cousin "Muhlis Baba" in the text may be the same person as Muhlis Paşa, the youngest son of Baba İlyas. According to the sources, Muhlis Paşa was still a baby in swaddling clothes during the uprising; he was rescued from the burning village of Çat by a man named Şerefeddin, taken to Egypt at the age of seven, and after staying there seven years returned to Anatolia. Muhlis Paşa's son Âşık Paşa was born in Kırşehir in 1272 and died there in 1332. I could not find the names Behlûl Baba and İbik Baba in modern encyclopedia entries; these names appear only in Hüsameddin's own account and in studies of it. There is also no record that would link the taking of Muhlis Paşa to Egypt as a child with İbik Baba's going to Egypt.
The Mesûdiye Hankah
In other places of Hüsameddin's own book this hankah is described in more detail; according to a researcher who examined them, the hankah is in the Kübceğiz quarter of Amasya, and Hüsameddin mentions it as a structure supposed to have been built around 540 (1145); although it was in ruins in the years the book was written, its foundation wall was still on the ground. According to the same account, Behlül Baba, the nephew of Baba İlyas, became sheikh of the hankah on his uncle's death in 657 (1258); later İbik Baba, having won the favor of the Tatar begs, had Behlül Baba sent to Suşehri and took his place, and in 670 (1271) went to Egypt. The sentence in the text, "he came out after İbik Baba, the successor of Baba İlyâs, went to Egypt," is tied to these events.
Here there is a disagreement in dates. In the account transmitted from Hüsameddin, Baba İlyas died in 1258; in Ahmet Yaşar Ocak and other modern sources, however, Baba İlyas is spoken of as having been captured and executed in the Amasya fortress in 1240, during the Babaî uprising. Whether the hankah sheikh Hüsameddin describes under the name "Baba İlyâs Horasânî" and the leader of the uprising are the same person, or separate sheikhs bearing the same epithet, I could not find a record that settles among the sources. İdris Baba's death around 690 (1291) and the allegiance of the Mongol begs to him also could not be verified in another source.
No information on İdris Baba himself was found in other sources.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 272–273. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- "Babaîlik", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/babailik).
- Ömer Çaycı, Babaî İsyanı'nda Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî'nin Amasya'da Yürüttüğü Faaliyetler, yüksek lisans tezi, Ondokuz Mayıs Üniversitesi, 2018 (özet).
- Metin Hakverdioğlu, "Hüseyin Hüsameddin Yasar'ın Amasya Tarihi'nde Elvan Çelebi ve Soyu", Elvan Çelebi Sempozyumu bildirisi, 2020.
- Tolga Aydın, Amasya Tekkeleri, yüksek lisans tezi, Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2019 (özet).