Or 16142

This volume contains an account of the teachings of Şeyh Safi, or Safiyyüddin-i Erdebili (died 735 AH/1334 CE), founder of the Safavi Sufi order and hence regarded as that of the Safavid dynasty of Iran. The author, whose identity is unknown, states in his introduction that his intention was to benefit readers of Ottoman Turkish by translating from Persian sources relating to Şeyh Safi.

The teachings in the present manuscript include commentaries on numerous Qura’nic verses and many lines of Persian poetry. Authors mentioned in this Menakıb, whose Persian verses are expounded here, include Mevlana Rumi (f 121v, 129r, and more), Evhad ed-din Kirmani (123r), and Ahmed-i Cami (actual or attributed, 149r).

The present work appears to differ in character from the possibly more structured Menakıb-ı Şeyh Safi in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek (MS. Or. quart. 2134), which contains the rules and teachings of the Order, named as the Ahmediye, in the form of a dialogue between Safi and his son Sadreddin.

The British Turcologist C.S. Mundy recorded in his notes that he never found any other manuscript of this compilation, although the present copy was certainly made from an early one, which may have been dated 891 AH/1486 CE. According to Mundy, the orthography, although it includes occasional lapses, ‘confirms the claim of the book to belong to the 15th century’. Errors in the Persian verses suggest that the copyist and/or his sources were not well-versed in Persian. Mundy also suspected that ‘a deliberate attempt has been made to fake the appearance of an old book.’ There are a number of lacunae, and one folio has been lost altogether but for a stub.

Begins:

(Besmele) Sipas-i bi-hadd şol Mevcudat (sic) üzerine olsunkim enva‘-i kâinat halk etti ve sana-yı bi-‘add şol Ma‘buda ki esnaf-i mahlukat-i alem vücuda getirdi ... Amma ba‘d Bu zayıf-i nahif bazı eshab iltimas ettilerin ... Şeyh Safi ... menakıbını kim lisan-i Farisi üzerine ki telif etmişler imiş onu tercüme idem Türkiye döndürdüm ve teshil idem ta ki faydası ‘âmm ola

Ends:

Müstakim ve müstakil olur ve kayıttan halas bulur yani ehl-i dünyanın bendidir (sic) ve hicap dur Beyit Her geh ki tekye kerd ber dünya-yı dun * hun-sitaneş best üftend nigun Ve yek (sic) ez dünya bi-zindan ayed u * çün güşayendeş bi-cevlan ayed u

The colophon on f 198 appears to refer to the completion of copying (tahrir) by Hacı Lütfullah ibn-i Hasan. It gives the date as midday on an unspecified Friday of Şevval 891 AH/October 1486 CE. Such a date cannot possibly apply to the present copy, but may apply to the original. Instead, this manuscript probably dates from the 12th century AH/18th century CE or later.