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Osmanlı'da ilm-i Tasawuf

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The City, the State, and the Sufi: Isınail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725)

as a Teacher of Akbarian Metaphysics

Kameliya Atanasova Doç. Dr., Washington and Lee University.

In December, 2014, w hile doing manuscript research at the Rare Book Library

at Istanbul University, I came across a diagram. I found it ina collected volum e

that contained excerpts from unidentified works composed by Isınail Hakki

Bursevi. The manuscript indicates that it was compiled in 1725, the year ofBur­

sevi's death, and appell!s to be an autograph, that is to say, Bursevi wrote it in

his own hand. Anather no te in the colophon dated at 1828 places it in the pos­

session of a certain Mustafa Veli, who lived in Alexandria.

In terms ofits content, the circular diagram isa visual representation of the Ot­

toman political hierarchy asa series of celestial bodies that revolve around the

central figure of the Sultan. To the sides of the Sultan, we see the positions of

the Grand Vizier (sadrazam), and of the Grand Mufti ofistanbul (şeyhülislam),

represented by sınaller circles. Other medallions include local govemors, and

different corps in the Ottoman army. What makes this representation of an

otherwise secular hierarchy notable is its rendering in religious terms. The

title of the Sultan, for example, is deseribed with the terms "Shadow of God"

(zillullah), "the World" (el-alem), "the Sun" (şems), "Praise be to God" (the jirst

line of sura Fatiha), the divine name "The Visible" (zahir), "the [divine] Throne"

(erş), and the invocation "God, place a light in my heart" (Sahih Bukhari 3291).

To the right side of the Sultan, the position of the Grand Vizier is depicted

through the terms "Lord of the two worlds" (rabbi'l-'alemfn), the divine name

"The Hidden" (batin), "the Moon" (kamer), "the divine Footstool" (kursi), and

the continuation of the prophetic invocation, reading "and [place a light] in

Osmanlı'da ilm-i Tasavvuf ~ 767

my hearing." The corps in the Ottoman army are depicted as the four pillars

of the House of Power (beyit e/-sultanat) but als o through Qur' ani c verses. For

example, in the medallian of the infantry (yeniçeri), Qur'an 37:173: Wa inna

jundana lahumaü al-ghalibün .

• ,- ,•,;J, - : .. ·'.-'- .::~· ... .;;.· f' ,_- .·.·-:~:, ~·' . ... -·--::;=---: _··-. ~,:.:_· __ .)')7--~---/,.0-l'f-'\--.....-~---''<.·.:--- ----"c.::· ~

-..

.ı

Figure. fvfecmua-i Eşar ve fvfakalat-i /smail Hakki, Istanbul University Ra re Book Library,

Manuscript 482, fols. 39a-b.

After examining a selection ofBursevi's works dedicated to high-ranking Ot­

toman officials, I established that the above diagram represents a well-worked

out system of metaphysics that he deploys throughout his writings. The afore­

mentioned hierarchy, for example, receives a comprehensive treatment in his

treatise the Imperial Bodyguard (serhaseki), Tübazade Mehmed, which envi­

sions key positions in the Ottoman state as the loci of manifestation of differ­

ent names of God. The idea of God's manifestation through the names also

finds an expressian in Bursevi's treatise for the Govemor of Damascus, Recep

Pasha, which characterizes major landmarks in the Ottoman domain through

referenc~s to divine names. The no tion of God's manifestation (tecelli) through

the names is a hallmark of Akbarian metaphysics, and a comerston e of Bur­

sevi's thought Through the aforementioned references to the structure of the

768 r Osmanlı'da ilm- i Tasavvuf

Ottoman polity and its geography, I argue, Bursevi aimed to educate his read­

ers about what he considered to be a central theme in Sufi metaphysics. The

edifying nature ofBursevi's writings to officials has been explored at length by

Merve Tabur in her master's thesis, "Isınail Hakki and the Politics of Balance"

where she states:

Bursevi's tuhfes wer~ first of all educational tracts which aimed not only to in­

forriı. the reader about the basic tenets of Celveti Sufism but alsa to offer a

roadmap to live one's life within the acceptable limits of sunna and sharia as

a responsible member of the community. Through these texts Bursevi par­

took in the consolidation of orthodoxy and orthopraxy and regarded it as his

responsibility to provide religious education to more people as a response to

w hat he conceived as decline in all aspects of society du e to impiety!

In this article, I confinn and expand on Tabur's work to illuminate the ~ays in

which Bursevi - who viewed himselfas a conduit for divinely inspired knowl­

edge - sought to instill in officials an appreciation for Sufism. He did this by

marrying his audience's underlying interesrs in Ottomarr state affairs with his

own expertise in Sufi metaphysics, to argue that the Ottomarr empire did not

arigina te du e to the need for a temporal government but that it was, in both i ts

ruling elite and geography, a reflection of a divine ord er.

I. Divine marrifestation through the beautiful names ( esrna-i hüsna)

To deseribe this process of divine manifestation, Bursevi uses the term locus

(mazhar). lt refers to the "place in which sornetlung appears." The notian of

God's marrifestation through His names has its rootsin the Qur'an, where we

find a verse often quoted by Sufis: He is the First and the Last, the Visible, and the

H id den, and He knows of all tlıings. (Q 57:3)

Here, the First, the Last, the Visible, and the Hidden are all taken to refer to God's

nam es. The generally accepted view in Islamic theology, based on a prophetic

hadith, is that God has 99 beautiful names. Same of them express His kind­

ness towards Creation (for example, al-Riiziq [the Sustainer] and al-Waliy [the

Friend]), while atlıers highlight His power (such as al-Qiidir, the All-Powerful,

and al-Mımtaqim, the Avenger). Anather Qur'anic verse commonly used by

proponents of the idea of divine marrifestation is Wlıerever you turn, there is the

1 Tabur, "i smail Hakki Bursevi and the politics of balance", p. 64.

Osmanlı'da İl m-i Tasavvuf ~ 769

Fa ce of God (Q 2:rı5), which is believed to portray Go d as an ever-present force

in the world.2

The concept of God's manifestation was developed at length by Ibn 1\rabi

(II65-1240), whose work Fuşüş a/-Hikam Bursevi mentions reading from cover

to cover. He stated that while God's essence is beyond the limits of human un­

derstanding, aspects of Him can be known through His manifestation in the

world. God's self-manifestation, lbn 1\rabi points out, is the crucial force that

brings ençities in to existence:

[ ... ) there is no one thing whose Being is Necessary through ltself except

the Real. The existence of the possible thing is necessary through Him,

since it is His lo c us of manifestation, and He is manifest within it3

The divine names play a central role in this process, as the identifiers enabling

the differentiation of one reality from another:

[ ... ] God is many in His properties. He possesses the Most Beautiful Names,

and each name is a mark ('alaiima) u po n an intelligible reality w hi ch is dif­

ferent from other realities. When the cosmos comes from nonexistence

into existence, its faces are many, and these seek thenames - I mean the

objects named - even though the Emity is One. In the same way, the cos­

mos, in respect ofbeing a cosmos, is one, but it is many through i ts proper­

ties and individuals . .ı

More broadly, the idea of divine manifestation allows for the continuous in­

volvement ofGod in the world- an importanr principle for ·Sufis who sought

proximity to the divine during their lifetime. Furthermore, the notion ofGod's

manifestation effectively reconciles the tension between divine transcendence

and immanence by enabling God's proximity to creation while simultaneous­

ly affirming His d ivine sovereignty.

In Bursevi's metaphysical system, as I show below, the notion of God's mani­

festation through the names also serves two addirional goals: First, it provides

legitirnation for the Onoman establishment by drawing a direct lin k between

2 The Qur'on, translated into English by Alan Jones (Exeter: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2007).

3 Chittick, TheSufi PothofKnowledge, p. 16. At the same time,lbn 'Arabi iscareful to note that

God is distinct from the loci in which He manifests: "[ ... ] Know that the Manifest in the loci

of manifestatlon - which a re the entities - is the Real Being, and that lt is not lt, because of

the shapes and attributes which are t hose of the possible entites through which lt became

manifest." {lbid., p. 116)

4 Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, p. 41.

770 r Osmanlı'da lım-i Tasan•uf

the temporal world of Ottoman statesmen, on one han d, and a divine realm,

on the other. Second, through a depiction of key !and marks in the eınpire as

the Ioci of individual divine nam es, it maps a sacred geography onto the Ot­

roman territories. In both of these cas es, Bursevi creatively adapts Alebarian

notions of divine manifestation to give them a uniquely Ottoman flavor and

relevance, which he tailors to his specific audience.

Il. Isınail Hakki Bursevi: Life and works

With over a Jıundred penned works, Bursevi ranks as one of the most pro­

lific Ottoman authors of all time. He is particularly well known for his ten­

volume commentary on the Qur'an, Riib al-bayan, in which he intertwines

canonical sources of Qur'anic scriptural interpretation with Persian Sufi

poetry and prose in way that was novel for his time. Bursevi also composed

the only known biography of several generations of Celveti Sufi masters, the

Silsileniime-i Celvetiye.

Bursevi's importance in the Ottoman literary landscape as well as the larger

Islaınic incelleetual tradition is indicated by the accolades he received from

both his contemporaries and later authors. For example, in his appendix to

Taşkoprizade's Şakaik-i Nu'marıiyye, Nakşibendi Şey hi Mehmed Efendi (1668-

1731) notes that Bursevi's Qur'anic exegesis was superior to that of other schol­

ars, and his metaphysical speculation - unparalleled among Sufis.5 Kazasker

Mehmet Emin Salim (1688-1743) deseribes Bursevi as an outstanding poet

who wrote in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, and an expert in Sufi interprera­

tion of the Qur'an and Had ith. 6 Nineteenth-century literary eritic and author,

Muallim Naci (1849-1893) writes that Hakki's writing in Otroman Turkish was

extraordinary for his time, and Sufi histarian Mehmed Şemseddin (ı86-1936)

no tes that Bursevi's mirades were so numerous that listing all of the m tran­

scends the abilities of a human being.7

Bursev:i was bom on the Black Sea coastal town of Aydos, in present-day Bul­

garia, and received his early educat:ion in the imperial centers of Edirne and

Istanbul. After completing his studies and iniciation imv the Celveti order

he taught and preached in several Balkan cities in what is no\,. !vlacedonia.

Like many im panant scholars of the medieval Islamic world, Bursevi rraveled

5 Şeyhi, Şakaik-i Nu'maniyye ve Zeyilleri, p. 683.

6 Salim Efendi, Tezkire-i Sö/im, p. 228.

7 Muallim Naci, Esômi, p. 59; Mehmet Şemseddin, Yadigar-ı Şemsi, p. 128.

Osmanlı"da ilm-i Tasavvuf , 771

widely: he performed the pilgrimage to Mecca twice and lived in Damascus for several years where he frequented the tomb oflbn kabi On one of his re­

tum trips from Mecca, he was invited to teach atAl-Azhar University in Cairo.

Bursevi was very well connected to the Ottoman ruling elite. On at least two oc­

casions (1695 and 1696), he accompanied Sultan Mustafa the Second- famous

for leading the Second Siege of Vienna in ı683 - on his military campaigns against the Hapsburgs with the task ofboosting the morale of the troops. Bur­

sevi'S p,opularity among the ruling elite was not limited to the Sultan; he was

also a close friend of two Ottoman Grand Viı.iers. To one of thern, Çariulu hl Pasha, he dedicated a treatise on the connection between governance and

spirituality (Tuhfe-i :Aliye).

Bursevi's relationship to other religious figures (of all ranks), however, seems

to have been uneasy. Early in his career, while teaching in Skopje, he was em­

broiled in a seven-year trial for physically punishing a student who dared to

question his authority. Members of the local religious elite indicted Bursevi and sought his expulsion from the town. Over the course of the seven-year

long trial, which he recounts in his autobiographical writings, Bursevi ap­

pealed to several high Ottoman officials for help, including the Grand Mufti of Istanbul and the Grand Vizier.

Bursevi never held an official position in the Ottoman court and on multiple

occasions advocated against direct involvement in politics on the part of Sufis. His writings, however reveal that he was keenly interested in providing Orto­

man officials with spiritual education, as evidenced by the dozen (or so) works

he dedicated to men in power, in the form of gift trearises (tuiife).

Figure. A list of Bursevi's tuhfe works (arranged in chronological ord er}

1

Sülükü'/-mülük (Tuhfe-i Bursevi wrote this work for the Grand Vizier Çorlu lu Ali 'Aliye) (1121/1709}. Pas ha. In it he discusses the various spiritual stations of

the vizierate (vezirlik mertebeleri}, the Mahdi (mehdi-yi muntazar), 'Aii's supplication, and the travel-prayer.s

Tuhfe-i Recebiye The work is dedicated to the Governor of Damascus, Recep (1131/1719). Pas ha} and discusses the twelve n ames of God, central to

Celveti doctrine.9

8 Nam lı, i smail Hakkı Bvrsevi, p. 183.

9 Namlı, ismai/ Hakkı Bvrsevi, p. 192. For a non-critica/ edition, see ismiiii Hakkı Bvrsevi, ilahi

isimler (Tvhfe-i Recebiyye), ed. Selim Çakıroğlu (istanbul, 2008), and Zübeyir Akçe, "ismiiii

Hakkı Bvrsevi'nin Tvhfe-1 Recebiyye Adlı Eseri (inceleme- Metin)." Ph.D. Dissertation, Harran

University, 2008.

772 ~ Osmanlı 'da ilnı -i Tasavvuf

i

Tuhfe-i lsmailiye This treatise was written at the request of Bursevi's travel (1132/1720). companion (on the way to Austria and Transylvania as part

of the Ottoman military campaigns against the Hapsburgs), LefkevTzade Haci ısmail Piyade. lt isa catechism-type book (ilmihöJ) explaining the principles of lslam.10

Tuhfe-i Hali/iye. Bursevi wrote this work for his elder brother, Halil Çelebi (1133/1720). lt isa catechism, covering topicson fa ith, ritual purity, Qur'anic recitation, asceticism, etc.11

Tuhfe-i Ataiye Written at the request of Bursevi's follower in Tekirdağ (1133/1721). Ha ci Mehmed Ata i, this treat ise covers a number of Sufi

topics such as sainthood, prophecy, annihilation in God (fanaa'), oneness of being, the Celveti ord er, the cosmic axes (qutb), lbn 'Arabi.12

Kitöbü's-Sülük (Tuhfe-i Bursevi wrote the work for the Palace Eunuch Seyyid Vesimiye) (1133/1721). Ahmed! Vesim Aga, u po n the latter's request. The treatise

dea ls with the process of initiation ina Sufi ord er, dhikr, etiquette in the ord er, and other topics.13

Tuhfe-i Bahriye The treatise is dedicated to the Superintendant of the· (1133!1721). lmperial Gardens ( hasbahçeler müfettişi) Bahri Hüseyin

Efendi, who w asa follower of Sursev i. lt dea ls with topics such as God's unicity (tawtıid) among others.14

Risa/e-i Hüseyniye A second treatise which Bursevi dedicated to Bahri Hüse-(1133/1721). yi n. lt dea ls with the name Hüseyin anda discussion of its

significance in Sufi metaphysics.1S

Tuhfe-i Hasekiye . A work dedicated to Tüübazade Mehmed Ağa, the serhase-(1134!1722). ki of the palace. The treatise features sections on God's

unicity, lslamic prophets, and an exposition of so me of the main Ottoman imperial offices, which are presented in the work as manifestations of ce rta in divine names.16

Risöle-i Bahöiye A treatise Bursevi wrote for his son Bahaeddin Mu-(1134/1722). hammed, on Celveti ideology, the n ames of God, and

prayers, among other topics.17

Tuhfe-i Ömeriye A treatise Bursevi dedicated to his disciple Derviş Ömer (1134!1722). NevalL lt dea ls with topics such as sainthood, prophecy,

belief, and dhikr.18

10 Namlı, i smail Hakk1 Bursevl, p. 194.

ll Nam lı, i smail Hakki Bursevl, p. 195.

12 Nam lı, ismai/ Hakki Bursevl, p.195. For o non-critica/ edition, see ismiiii Hakk1 Bursev/, Köbe ve

insan (Tuhfe-i Atöiye), ed. Veysel Akkaya (Istanbul, 2000).

13 Namlı, ismail Hakkı Bursevi, p. 197. For a non-critical edition, see ı smail Hakk1 Bursevi, Üç Tuhfe/Seyr-i Süluk, ed. Şeyda Öztürk (Istanbul, 2000).

14 Namlı, ismai.L Hakk1 Bursev/, p. 198.

ıs Nam lı, i smail Hakk1 Bursevl, p. 198.

16 Nam lı, i smail Hakki Bursev/, p. 200.

17 Namlı, ismail Hakk1 Bursevi, p. 200.

18 Namlı, ismail Hakkı Bursevi, p. 207; See al so Öztürk, Üç Tu h fe.

1 Osmanlı'da ilm-i Tasav\'uf ~ 773

Tuhfe-i Şeybiye. Lost.19

Risöle-i Hayriye. Lost.20

III. Bursevi's tu h fes as textbooks on Akbarian metaphysics

Bursevi's dedicatory works exhibit a remarkable variety in terms of content

and organization, which has led some scholars to hesitate about classifying

themas l:ı~longing to the same genre.2' I have argued elsewhere about the ben­

efits of considering these works as representative of the genre of advice writing

(nasihiit).l2 Here, I will focus on the edifying role that his gift trearises to of­

ficials play in their engagement v.rith Akbarian metaphysics, and particularly,

the notian of God's manifestation through the N ames.

The didactic role of Bursevi's writings to officials is evident in the introduc­

tions to his tuhfes. There, he specifies that his choice of Ottoman Turkish as

the language of the treatİses is motivated by a wish to make their content com­

prehensible to readers. In his treatise to the Grand Vizier, Çorlulu ~i Pasha, Bursevi explains:

It is necessary that the fo lk of the imamate follows the wisdom [laid out in this

bo o k]. For this reason, I wrote this book in Turkish, the language of the Turk­

ish lands, so that the minds can easily comprehend [it].23

One notices a similar theme in the tuhfe Bursevi dedicated to the Provincial

Governor ofSyria, Recep Pasha, where he also defends the use of simpler lit­

erary style:

Every narion's language is to its ovm [denizens] delecrable, and i ts expressions - dear.

In the course of writing, the reason for avoiding an awkward [!it., cumber­soıne] sryle is apparenr. The cumbersome word is casteless (tatsız), and the one

thatusesir - wicked.2~

Her kavmi n lügati kendilerine leziz ve itibarlarında azizdir.

Yazma esnasında, çok külferli ve doğru yoldan sapma tarzının alınmaması-

19 Namlı, i smail Hakkı Bursevi. p. 209.

20 Namlı, i smail Hakkı Bursevi, p. 209.

21 See Tabur, "Politics of Balance", p. 61, 219.

22 Atanasova, "The 5ufi as the Axis of the World", p. 54.

23 Bursevi, Tuhfe-1 'Aliye, 198.

24 Bursevi, Tuhfe-1 Recebiye, 25.

774 r Osmanlı'da ilm-i Tasavvuf

nın sım açık ve sebebi bellidir. Çünkü külfet ile olan kelam tatsız ve hatta

salıibi günahkar olur.

By choosing a language and style that his audience would easily under­

stand, Bursevi signals his goal in writing is to educare and inforrn, to serve

asa source of knowledge for the officials he addresses directly.

The cancem w ith rendering his work comprehensible is also noticeable in the

content ofBursevi's tııltfes. Namely, he outlines the mechanism of divine mani­

festation through specific exam.ples that his target audience would unders tand.

For example, in his treatise dedicated to the seritaseki of the palace-Tübaüide

Mehmed- Bursevi deseribes the positions of several Ottoman officials as the

loci of manifestation of divine names. Thus, God's name "The Knower (al­

~Hm), is manifested in the position of the Shaykh al-Islam; the name "The

Magnificent (al-falil) is manifested in the position of the Kazasker of the Bal­

kans, "The Beautiful" (al-famtil) in the Kazasker of Anatolia, "The Most Per­

fect'' (al-Kiimil) in that ofMecca and Medina.

To explain how divine manifestation works in practice, Bursevi links an at­

tribute of the political post with the divine name which manifests in it. For

instance, in the aforementioned treatise, Bursevi no tes that the position of the

Shaykh al-İslam is the visible (ziihir) locus of manifestation of the name che

Knower, w hile the position of the Sufi shaykh is the invisible, or hidden (bii tm)

lo c us of the same name.

The shaykh of the sultan is the locus of the invisible (bıitın) of the name

Knower (ism-i 'a/imiyye). [This is because] the one regarded the master

(iisttiz) of the visible (zcilıir) is the mufti, and the leamed decrees (te'al/iim

ettiği i/ıkiim) are also vis i b le. The shaykh, through the transformatian of the

morals, and the purification (tezkiye) of the soul, instills good manners and

provides guidance.2.5

Bursevi notes that Sufis and ulema &ffer in their approach to knowledge:

Knowledge is thus of two kinds. One is knowledge from studies (dirciscit),

such as when the scholars of custom derive benefit from each other and it

is similar to when they benefit from the full moon. Anather is knowledge

by heirship (veraset) such as when the scholars of reality obtain blessing

directly from the Real, as ifbeing blessed by the light of the sun.

25 Bursevi, Tuhfe·i Hosekiye, MS Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, Mihrişah Sultan 164, fols.

224"-22Sb.

Osmanlı "da ilm-i Tasav,·uf ~ 775

And the lig ht of the sun, with respect to the light of the stars, is the origin

(aş/), !ike the lig ht of the Essen ce is the origin.

Because of this, in the light of the sun the re is not much fluctuation (ziyade

ve nu~iinla tegayyür yoktur). The moon is unlike it (böyle değildir). For this

reason, the traditional sciences are not safe (lıaliiş olmaz) from the changing

(tegayyür) of their masters. The hidden (bii tm) masters of sciences of reality,

however,like the throne (arş gibı) are safeguarded from tremor (tezelzülden

mabfü?dıtr).26

He is nevertheless careful to emphasize that despite these differences, the two

types of knowledge are complementary:

[Whether] visible or hidden, knowledge is in the same manner perfect

(kemiil) ( ... ] Whoever perforrns a [religious] deed on the basis ofknowledge,

God will confer u po n him knowledge of w hat he di d not know.27

In order to teach Akbarian metaphysics to Ottoman officials, Bursevi employs

specific references of political nature, whlch, I argue, would have resonated

with the statesmen in question. According to Ibn ~abi, the divine essence

(zat) is inaccessible to human knowledge. Bursevi explains this concept to the

serhaseki by drawing a parallel to the Sultan: "God's Essence cannot be known,

just as the Sultan's body cannot be scrutinized."28 Just as the Sultan's body is

inaccessible to his subjects, Bursevi suggests, so is the divine Essence offlimits

for Muslims.

The aforementioned presentation of the Ottoman hierarchy.is noteworthy for

several reasons. At the time when Bursevi was wriring, the Ottonian state had

a largely secular bureaucracy; w hile the sultan claimed spiritual authority as

the caliph of the Muslim world, the majority of the offices Bursevi outlines

- such as courtiers, governors, and military officers - were not religious in

nature. By establishing a direct link between the Ottoman polity, on the one

hand, and the divine names, on the other, Bursevi lends significant spiı;tual

legitirnacy to the Onoman Empire, suggesting that it came about not simply

du e to a temporal need for a govemme m, but by a divine ord er.

Bursevi employs the notion of God's manifestation to not only depict the Ot­

toman political hierarchy but also Ottoman geography. In his treatise to the

26 Bursevi, Tlthfe-i Hosekiye, fol. 223°.

27 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Hosekiye, fol. 223°.

28 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 299.

776 ~ Osmanlı'da lim-i Tasavvuf

Governor of Syria, where he expounds on twelve of God's nam es, he depicts

major tandmarks in the Onoman Empire as the loci of divine manifestation.

Featured locations include sites considered holy by Muslims at large. For ex­

ample, the Ka'ba is depicted as the locus of manifestation of the name the

First (evvel) and the Merciful (rahman). To illustrate this point, Bursevi appeals

to Qur'anic verses, which specifically refer to the names which he deploys,

providing a direct scriptural justification for his use of divine manifestation:

Say, 'Cal/ to God or cal/ to the Merciful. Whichever you cal/ to is passessed of the

fa i rest n ames.' (Q 17:no). ı9 And, The first house foımded for the people was at Bakka

[Mecca]. A blessed [place] anda guidance for created beings. (Q 3=96).3°

Bursevi continues this word play in mapping out the rest of the tandmarks in

this sacred geography. Al-Aqsa Mosque is the locus of manifestation of the

name the Holy (kuddüs) and the Glorious (subbüh), because, as the author

points out, "righteous souls (kudsi nefisler) find calmin sacred places (mukaddes

topraklarda), and particularly in the Holy Land, and are blessed and purified

outwardly and inwardly."31

Other cities in the Onoman domain follow su it, in whose descriptions Bursevi

links physical characteristics of these landmarks with specific divine names.

Baghdad is thus the expressian of the name the Visible (zahir), due to being

the largest of the eastern cities (doğu beldelerinin en büyüğüdür) and having the

most perfect hadith transmitters (harika hadisiere sahip ricalin zııhuru orada en

mükemmeldir).32 Egypt (Mısır) is by contrast the locus of the name the H id den,

because ofits locationin the west, away from Sufis' preferred locale:

The sunset is the setring of the sun after having been visible (zulıunındaıı

sonra). lt is for this reason that the Seal of the Saints emigrated from the

Maghrib to Syria, so that the seeret of being the seal, having been hidden

(batm), becomes apparent (zuhura gelsin)}3

Bursevi's descriptions of Egypt and Syria rely on a play of words and geog­

raphy: batı, or west, in Turkish, is merely a lener short from the Arabic, and

Turkish biitın (hidden), the very divine nam.e which the author argues mani­

feses in the lan d of Egypt.

29 The Qur'on, translated into English by Alan Jones (Exeter: Gibb Memorial Trust, 2007).

30 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 299.

31 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 214.

32 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 214.

33 Bursevi, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 214.

Osmanlı'da Ilm-i Tasavvuf , 777

Alongside well-known Islamic landmarks, Bursevi also depicts a number of

Ottoman cities as the loci of manifestation of divine nam es. For exaınple, he portrays Bursa as the locus of the name King of Kings, Master of Glory and

Honor (Malike'l-Miilk zii'l-Celiil ve'l-İkriim) because "five among the descen­

dants of Osman Ghazi, the progenitor of the Ottoman rulers, di ed there. "34 He

deseribes Edirne as the locus of the name the Guardian (hajız) due to being the

fortress (kale) protecting the borders ofislam in the past, and Istanbul - as that

of the name the Great (ciimi1 du e to being the seat of power (saltanatın yeri) . ..

The reference to geographicallandmarks in addressing the Govemor of Syria

is deliberate. S imilar to his portrayal of the Ottoman political hierarchy in de­scribing divine manifestation to Tü bazade Mehmed, Bursevi employs a vocab­

ulary and po in ts of reference that would have been familiar to Recep Pas ha.

While he relies on existing Ottoman landmarks to render divine manifesta­

tion understandable to the Governor, Bursevi simultaneously maps a sacred

geography onto the rerritories of the Ottoman Empire, inciurling long-time

Islamic cities and stıictly Ottoman la.ndmarks alike. In doing so, he implies

that the physical realm of the Ottoman polity isitselfa macrocosmic represen­

tation of a divine realm.

Co ncluding Remarks

As I demonstrated above, a recurrent theme throughout Isınail Hakki Bur­

sevi's writings to Ottoman oflicials is an exposition of the Akbarian notion of divine manifestation. \Vhen introducing his works, Burseyi is unequivocal

about his rhetorical and ideological goals: to render his ideas in an under­

standable fashion and simple language. To do so, he employs concepts and points of reference with w hi ch his select audience would have been familiar:

to the lmperial Bodyguard, Bursevi explains the notion of God's manifesta­

tion through His N ames with reference to key positions in the Ottoman ruling

hierarchy. In addressing the Govemor of Syria, he ftırther reveals the nature

of divine names which manifest in major cities in the Ottoman Empire. In

each of these examples, Bursevi carefully employs relevant Qur'anic verses

and linguistic s kil! to link a specific divine name to a particular position in the

Ottoman hierarchy or a notable landmark. As he seeks to inform and edify,

Bursevi simultaneously argues for the otherworldly origin of the Onoman

Empire through depictions of its political and geographicallandscape as re­

flections of a divine ord er - an example of the complex intersections between

34 Sursev i, Tuhfe-i Recebiye, 214.

778 ~ Osmanlı'da ilm-i Tasavvuf

politics and Sufism in the early-modem Ottoman literary context that merit

further scholarly research.

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Osmanlı 'da ilm-i Tasavvuf , 779