Ismail Hakki Bursevi

Life

İsmail Hakkı was the son of Muṣṭafā, who was in turn son of Bayram Čawush, who was in turn son of Shah Ḵhudā-bende. İsmail Hakkı was born in 1652 or 1653 in Aytos, Thrace although his parents came from Aksaray, Istanbul. His mother died when he was aged seven and on the suggestion of Shaykh Osman Fazli he was sent to c.1663 Edirne (Adrinaople), to receive traditional education under the scholar ʿAbd-al-Baki, a relative of the Shaykh

In 1673, age 21, he went to Istanbul to the public classes of Osman Fazli, the head Sheykh, of the Jelveti (Djilwatiyya) order, who initiated him into that discipline. İsmail Hakkı also attended the lectures of other scholars, learnt Persian to study Attar, Rumi, Ḥāfiẓ and Jami. He also studied Islamic calligraphy and music and set to music many hymns of the 17th century mystic Hudāyī, founder of the Jelveti order.

In 1675, age 23, Osman Fazli sent him, with three assistant dervishes, to Skopje (Üsküb), Macedonia, to establish a ṭarīqah (a monastery)for teaching Jelveti philosophy). Some welcomed them and İsmail Hakkı married the daughter of Sheikh Muṣṭafā ʿUshshāḳī. Encouraged by his master’s letters he wrote his most brilliant sermons. However he offended the townsfolk by overly-berating them for what he considered loose behaviour. Despite Osman Fazli explaining to him that censure was not the Jelveti way he did not rein in his zeal and his antagonists forced them to leave, which greatly displeased his wife, it being her home town.

In 1682 he was invited to Strumica, Macedonia to teach public classes. He also wrote books.

So as not to be confused with the author Ismail Hakki Ankaravi, a famous commentator on the Mathnawi, he came to be always given a suffix, such as Hâlvetî, Bursevi, or Üsküdari

In 1685 the Sheykh of Bursa died and Fasli appointed Ismail Hakki the new Sheykh. Unfortunately his first years in Bursa coincided with the difficult period after the Ottoman Empire' disastrous loss at the Battle of Vienna and the Holy League's invasion of the Ottoman Balkans, the economy was in abject misery and Ismāʿīl Ḥaḳḳī had to sell his books to survive.

1690 he journeyed to Cyprus to visit his master Osman Farsli who was in exile for his insistent criticism of Ottoman foreign policy, and on his death Ismail Hakki succeeded him as the head of the order.

In 1695–1697 Sultan Mustafa II requested Ismail Hakki accompany his military campaigns against the Habsburg Empire. Ismail Hakki was in several battles until severely wounded. Osman Farsli foresaw the end of the Ottoman line and Bursevi defined the reason for its decline as the estrangement of spiritual and political powers, represented in his discourses by the Sheikh and the Sultan, thus formulating a Sufi interpretation of the decline paradigm.

In 1700 Ismail Hakki performed the Hajj, the pilgrimage, but on returning from Mecca the caravan was slaughtered by Bedouin brigands. Ismail was left to die but managed to reach Damascus.

In 1700 he returned to Bursa

In 1717 he returned to Damascus and wrote twelve more books

In 1720 he returned to Üsküdar, the Anatolian part of Istanbul, where he began teaching again. However he was twice attacked by fanatical mobs and decided to return to Bursa.

In 1722, at Bursa he bequeathed his books to public libraries, left all his money for the construction of a small mosque and entered into retreat. That mosque is now within the Ismail Hakki Kur’an Kursu.

In July 1724 or 1725 he died in serenity. His tomb is at the rear of the same mosque.

Major Works

İsmail Hakkı was one of the most prolific Ottoman scholars, with 106 books and pamphlets: 46 in Arabic. and 60 in Turkish To this day he is revered as an eminent literary figure in the Turkish language. He wrote on Islamic sciences, Sufism, Tasawuf, Islamic philosophy, morality and tefsir in a style avoiding the flowery style of many contemporaries, resembling the style of Yunus Emre.

The most famous of his published works are:

Teachings

As a Sufi of Jelveti order, Ismail Hakki Bursevi put all his energy and resilience into being of ‘bearer of light’.

The plaque on his tomb says:

"If you want to be a pure servant in everlasting salvation, hold onto the hem of Ahmad’s Law (sharʿ) with love.

If you want to drink from the cup of the effusion of essential Unity, then become the unique human in the most beautiful realm.

Don’t let the Lote-tree or Tūbā captivate your soul and occupy the moment, reach up to the world of spirits, with all of yourself.

Never look at a lover with the eye of an ascetic, never think of a child learning their ABC as equal to a wise man of knowledge.

Whoever has lit the fire of tawḥīd in their heart, O Hakki! their grave shall be illumined with the light of the Ḥaqq."