A Self-Study of Sheikh-Alî from Bestâm and an Identity Independent of His Own Self: “Musannifek”
Abstract
Sheikh-Ali al-Bistami Musannifak belonged to a family from the Khorasan region that produced scholars who made significant contributions to the Islamic scientific tradition. He is one of the grandsons of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210), who is known for his competence in the fields of tafsir, usul al-fiqh, theology, and philosophy. It is also narrated that Musannifak was related to the founder of the Mevlevi order, the mystic and scholar Mawlana Calaluddin Rumi (d. 672/1273), and to Cemaleddin Aksarayî (d. 791/1388), who was prominent in the fields of tafsir, language, literature and medicine in the early Ottoman period. The author, who served in the Timurid Empire, Karamanid, and Ottoman Empires and served these three important dynasties, was one of the famous scholars of the period. His interest in reading and writing continued uninterruptedly until the end of his life, starting from his early twenties. The author, who traveled to many geographies and held high-level positions in the Timurid, Karamanid, and Ottoman dynasties, continued his intellectual activities and scientific studies such as book copyright, copying, purchasing, verification, technical, and proofreading without interruption despite his intensive workload. Many records belonging to the author have survived to the present day. Based on these records, comprehensive biographical and autobiographical studies have been conducted on his teachers, students, works, travels, occupations, duties, and the political and social contexts surrounding him. However, no comprehensive study has been carried out focusing specifically on the author’s identity and selfhood based on these records. The author’s contemporaries and later biographers also neglected this issue, but no satisfactory explanations were made on this subject, and generally, unverified memorized information was repeated. The author, whose real name was Sheikh Ali, became famous with the nickname “Musannifak”, which means “little writer” in Persian, rather than his name. It is noteworthy that he never used this nickname, which is probably an indication of his deep devotion and passion for reading and writing from a young age. The questions about the reason for the author's insistence on not using this nickname, who gave this nickname, where and when, whether he was aware of this nickname, and whether he was bothered by this nickname have not yet been answered. Another figure known by the nickname “Musannifak” during the Ottoman period is Bekir Ahmed Efendi. Bekir Ahmed, who lived in the 18th century, was a student of Mahmud Antâkî and is known for his commentary on the famous text al-ʿAlāqa, which deals with the science of rhetoric. Due to this similarity of nicknames, some contemporary research works, especially the Diyanet Islamic Encyclopedia, have confused Sheikh-Alî Musannifak with Bekir Ahmed Efendi Musannifak. In this study, based on the author’s own records—such as copyrights, transcriptions, ownership documents, endowments, authorizations, seals, and personal notes that have survived to the present day—it is explained who he is, his family tree, how he introduced himself, and how he wished to be known. Current information about him and his family is also presented, along with a table detailing the family tree to which he belongs. In addition, explanations have been given about when and why the nickname “Musannifak” was given. The nicknames, adjectives, titles, and nicknames mentioned by him and his biographers have been determined. An analysis of the author’s identity constructions regarding himself from the past to the present has been made. Attention has been drawn to the discussions and fictions arising from the narrations in secondary sources. Sheikh-Ali al-Bistami, one of the two “Musannifak” who were in the Ottoman world and served, is an interesting character who was interested in reading and writing from a young age and never gave up this passion under any circumstances and conditions until the end of his life. Probably in order to draw attention to this passion, he was called “musannifak” in the ulema circles of the period and the fact that the author, who gained such fame, never used this title shows that he had an identity independent of himself.
Keywords
Bestâmlı Şeyh-Alî’ye Dâir Bir Kendilik İncelemesi ve Kendi Ben’inden Bağımsız Bir Kimlik: “Musannifek"
Abstract
IX./XV. asır Timurlu/Karamanlı/Osmanlı ulemasından Şeyh-Alî el-Bestâmî’nin (ö. 875/1470) kendisine ait pek çok kayıt/derkenar notu günümüze kadar ulaşmıştır. Bu kayıtlardan hareketle kendisinin hocalarına, talebelerine, eserlerine, yolculuklarına, meşguliyetlerine, görevlerine, siyasi ve sosyal yönlerine dair kapsamlı çalışmalar yapılmıştır. Ancak bu kayıtlardan hareketle kendisiyle ilgili geniş çaplı bir kimlik araştırması yapılmamıştır. Müellifin kendi çağdaşları ve daha sonraki biyografi yazarlarının da ihmal ettiği bu konuda tatminkâr açıklamalar yapılmamış, genelde tahkik edilmemiş ezber bilgiler tekrar edilmiştir. Asıl ismi Şeyh-Alî olan müellif isminden ziyade Farsça “yazarcık” anlamına gelen “Musannifek” lakabıyla şöhret bulmuştur. Müellifin kendi “ben”ini tarif ederken “Musannifek” lakabını hiç kullanmamış olması dikkat çekici bir durumdur. Müellifin bu lakabı kullanmama konusundaki ısrarının sebebi, bu lakabın kim tarafından nerede ve ne zaman verildiği, bu lakaptan haberinin olup olmadığı, bu lakaptan rahatsızlık duyup duymadığı ile ilgili soruların cevabı henüz verilebilmiş değildir. Çalışmada müellifin günümüze ulaşan telif, istinsah, temellük, vakıf, icazet, mühür ve şahsî notları gibi kendi kayıtları esas alınarak kim olduğu, soy ağacı, kendini nasıl tanıttığı, nasıl tanınmak istediği açıklanmıştır. Kendisini ısrarla Şeyh-Alî eş-Şâhrûdî el-Bestâmî şeklinde tanıtan müellifin kullandığı sıfat ve nisbelerin analizi yapılmıştır. Ayrıca kendisi ile ilgili biyografik kaynaklarda zikredilen diğer ünvan, lakap, nisbe ve sıfatlar tahkik edilmiş, ikinci el kaynaklardan doğan tartışmalara ve kurgulara dikkat çekilmiştir. Osmanlı coğrafyasında bulunmuş ve hizmet etmiş iki “Musannifek”’ten biri olan Şeyh-Alî el-Bestâmî genç yaşlarından itibaren okuma-yazmaya merak duyan ve hayatının sonuna kadar her şart ve ortamda bu tutkusundan hiç vazgeçmeyen ilginç bir karakterdir. Muhtemelen bu tutkusuna dikkat çekmek için dönemin ulema meclislerinde kendisine “musannifek” denilen ve böyle şöhret bulan müellifin bu lakabı hiç kullanmamış olması kendisinden bağımsız bir kimliğe sahip olduğunu göstermektedir.
Keywords
This study was prepared by making use of our doctoral thesis titled “Commentary on ‘Avâmil-i Atîk’ Attributed to Musannifek (Investigation and Analysis)” which we completed in 2018 under the supervision of Dr. Musa Alak.
