Or 15975

This volume contains a work on Sufism by Sarı Abdullah Efendi (died 1071 AH/1660 CE), Ottoman poet, scholar, and bureaucrat.

Born in Istanbul in around 992 AH/1584 CE, Sarı Abdullah lost his father at a young age. He was looked after by his maternal grandfather’s brother, the Grand Vizier Halil Pasha, and was educated in Üsküdar. He became involved in Sufism at a young age, later coming to be described as ‘originally Bayrami, Celveti by order, and Mevlevi by nurturing’ ('aslen Bayrami, tarikaten Celveti, terbiyeten Mevlevi.' See Azamat, ‘Sarı’). His career in the Ottoman bureaucracy began by serving as Halil Pasha’s tezkireci (private secretary) during the Persian campaign. He was Reisülküttab for a short time in 1037 AH/1627-8 CE, and following Khalil Pasha’s death in 1038 AH/1629 CE, remained out of office until 1040 AH/1638 CE. In this year, he was appointed to the imperial rikab, later becoming Reisülküttab for the second time. After holding a number of further positions, he retired from public life in 1065 AH/1655 CE. His remaining years were devoted to writing (Huart and Burrill, ‘Ṣari̊’ and Azamat, ‘Sarı’).

Sarı Abdullah composed the Cevheretü’l-bidaye in 1049 AH/1639 CE. He dedicated the work to Murad IV, specifically the Sultan’s recent conquest of Baghdad. Sarı Abdullah accompanied Murad IV on this campaign, and devoted the first section of his Cevheret to describing the Sultan’s victory. The main body of the text begins with discussions of subjects such as God’s being, the soul, the Truth of creation, predestination, the Ricalü’l-gayb (Men of the Unseen) and the Abdal, the zikir of the Nakşibendiye, Halvetiye, and Celvetiye, aspects from the lives Prophet Adam and Prophet Muhammad, and the division of the Ümmet into 73 parts. Following this are biographies of the four rightly-guided caliphs, Veysel Karani, the twelve imams, the four mezhep imams, the shaykhs in the chains (silsileler) of the Nakşibendiye, Halvetiye, and Celvetiye, and the spiritual poles (kutublar) of the Bayramîye-Melâmîye. The work includes some passages in verse.

Begins:

(Besmele) Rabbena la tuzig kulübena ba‘de iz hedeytena ve heb lena min ledünke rahme, cevahir-i hamt ü sıpas-ı la yu‘add ve zevahir-i şükr-i bi-kıyas u bi-hadd Hazret-i Vacibü’l-vücud u Müfizü’l-cudun dergâh-i ehadiyet ve bar-gah-ı Samediyetine nisar olsun…

Ends:

Bu risale-i cevheri makalede mestur olan sahba-nuşan-ı ‘aşḳ u muhabbet ve kaba-puşan-ı tur-i (sic, i.e. nur-ı) vilayetin meyl ü muhabbetleriyle pertev-i tecelli-i zatîden bir nur-ı huzuri ifaza buyur ki [...] Halife-i ekmel-i Seyyidü’l-Mürselin ve Sultan-i dünya ve din ola, Amin.

There is an illuminated unvan on 1v. The colophon on ff 230v-231r concerns only the date of the work’s composition. The copy itself probably dates from the late 12th century AH/18th century CE.