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- Title
RİSĀLE-İ EHL-İ DERVİŞ.
- Authors
EKER, Ümit; ZAL, Ünal
- Abstract
There are valuable collections composed of Turkish manuscripts and printed works in research and missionary centres and in Swedish Uppsala and Lund Universities, which are significant centres in terms of science of Turkishness. One of those collections exists in the library of Lund University which have an important place in Turcology studies. Among the works regarded as the third largest collection in the world are biographies written in Chagatai and Uyghur Turkish. One of these biographies is Risāle-i Ehl-i Dervįş registered to Prov. 7 in the library of Lund Univesity. It is rich in terms of phonetical properties of Chagatai Turkish, and sufism and sufi teaching. Throughout history various movements of thought and interpretation have appeared in the societies which have adopted Islam as religion due to political, social, economic reasons. After the adoption of Islam among Turks, sufism and sufi schools based on tolerance and human love have grown in the Turkish world. Quite a few works are written about sufi teaching in the Eastern Turkestan where Turco-Islamic thought, still prevalent at the present time, began to develop. Risāle-i Ehl-i Dervįş is one of the important works of this thought. This work, 20 by 16,5 cm in dimension, in the Gunnar Jarring collection in Lund University was dublicated by Swedish missionary Gunnar Hermansson in 1920. Also, the number of page lines of the biography taken under preservation by Gunnar Jarring in 1929 varies between ten and eleven. This biography on which there has been no study so far is composed of sixteen leaves (31 pages). Although most of words in the work are Turkish, there are also a lot of borrowed Arabic and Persian words due to its subject. In the biography starting with 'bismillah (in the name Allah)' and continuing with the narratives by Hodja Ahmet Yesevi, the gates of sharia, sect, attainment, reality and their lower ranks are described as follows: There will be sheiks in doomsday who will misuse religion and piousness. They will not be away from bodily pleasures. They will regard what is contrary to Islam as good, and will not act in accordance with sharia law. They will favour what is forbidden by Islam, will scorn what honest people do, and will not abandon hope to be forgiven by Allah. Though such sheiks' followers will reject their wishes, those sheiks who reject Islam will keep their followers within their path through a number of promises. When such people eat from what their followers produce, they will feel as if they ate dog flesh; when they wear clothes, their prayers will not be accepted by Allah. Also, they will demand unrest within the society. They will consider the good as the evil, their deeds will be wrong, their egos will be betrayal, their secrets will be complaint, and ritual ablution of the whole body will be unclean. Then, the sufis living in such an age will not have the desire to abandon the world, the poor will not be contented, the rich will not be generous, and the dervishes will not possess the fear of doomsday. In order to prevent and eradicate such problems, the following solution proposals within the sufi tradition are offered: "Dervish! Just so you know the first word is shariah, second word is sect, the third word is attainment, and the fourth word is reality. A person who is called sufi cannot be called a real sufi unless he is aware of these. The word of shariah is 'lailahe illallah', the word of sect is 'lailahe illallah and Prophet Muhammed is the last prophet of Allah'. The word of attainment is 'lailahe illallah and Prophet Muhammed is the most exalted of the created'. The word of reality is 'lailahe illallah and Prophet Muhammed is sent by Allah almighty.' Dervish! Those sheiks adopt poverty, keep their promises, and act according to the provisions and rules; they struggle with their egos and subdue them; they bow to what is predestined; they are contented with what they have, and are grateful for blessings. Provided that they practice what is told in this booklet, and follow Allah's orders, they will be good dervishes. Unless they practice these, and declare themselves as sheiks, they will be in trouble and in shame on the Day of Judgement." Then, the following information is provided about lower orders in sufi tradition: "He is clean unless otherwise he learns this the order of dervish is forbidden for him. He is not granted that rank. He is an ignorant person. Ten of the mentioned forty orders is in shariah, ten in sect, ten in attainment, and ten in reality. The ranks in shariah are as follows: 1. believing firmly in Allah's existence, names and attributes 2. establishment of daily prayers, 3. fasting, 4. concern for and almsgiving to the needy, 5. the pilgrimage to Makkah 6. being kind while speaking 7. engaging in learning 8.following the Prophet's tradition 9. encouraging what is good 10. staying away from evil. The ranks of sect are as follows: 1. abjuration 2. lending hand to the founder of the order 3. being in fear 4. being hopeful 5. carrying out special daily prayers 6. serving his sheik 7. speaking upon permission by sheik 8. listening 9. İsolation 10. retiring into seclusion. The ranks of attainment are as follows: 1. poverty 2. living as a dervish 3. enduring everything 4. demanding legitimate earnings 5. possession of religion knowledge 6. following the path of shariah 7. abandoning the world 8. prefering afterlife 9. being aware of the rank of existence 10. being aware of the secrets of reality. The ranks of reality are as follows: 1. being in the right way 2. being aware of the good and the evil 3. welcoming the guests in the best way 4. being contented with what he has 5. bowing to predestination 6. being away from profanity 7. keeping away from the forbidden 8. following the path of sect 9. keeping his secrets 10. being aware of the ranks of shariah, sect, attainment and reality and act accordingly." In the following chapters, there is information about the ten ranks of poverty that Prophet Muhammed was shown by Allah when He ascended to heaven, ten divine lights, ten ways, ten places, and forty ranks. Also, the person who adopted Sufism is advised to bear hardships, not to ask for anything from the people in terms of eating and clothing, to fast during the day and do night prayer, to be humble and to be away from worldly goods. And it is noted that he will be a real sufi if he realizes these, his prayers will be accepted, he will not die before hearing from Allah, and he will not feel frightened of Munkar and Nekir Angels when he dies. In the last part, the things mentioned above are the ranks of prophets, and the views of poverty by prominent sufis such as Hodjaa Ahmet Yesevi, Cuneyd-i Bagdadi, Hz. Seyyid-i Ahmed-i Kubra, Sheik Ahmet, Sheik Şakik-i Belhi, Sheik Ahmedi Cay, Sheik Kutbettin Haydari, Hodja Abdullah Haydari, Sheik Mansur-ı Hallacı and Sheik Lokman Serhati are provided. In the last part, the concepts of heart, soul, sirr, khafi, and akhfa are explained through various pictures, and their places in the body, and to which prophets they belong to are shown. The people who have acquired these characteristics will belong to those prophets' spirit. In terms of language properties, this text possesses the qualities of Chagatai Turkish after Classics Period, and it is rich in Turkish, Arabic and Persian words. In the 1920s, scientific studies on this work which was duplicated by missionary Gunnar Hermansson, and brought to Sweden, and similar works will help us obtain reliable information about the essence of sufi thought which has a significant place in turko-islamic thought, and about the historical development of Turkish language. In this study, the translation named Risāle-i Ehl-i Dervįş duplicated by missionary Gunnar Hermansson in 1920, and donated to the library of Lund University will be elaborated in terms of subject, language properties and vocabulary, and some assessments will be made.
- Subjects
TURKISH manuscripts; BIOGRAPHY (Literary form); ISLAM; ECONOMIC impact; PHONETICS; TURKISH studies
- Publication
Electronic Turkish Studies, 2015, Vol 10, Issue 2, p283
- ISSN
1308-2140
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.7827/TurkishStudies.7964