Theologian and poet (b. 1272, Kırşehir
- d. 1333). He was a member of a family that migrated from Horasan to Anatolia
in the 13th century and was the grandson of Baba İlyas, a theologian who was
the Emir of Konya in the late period of the Seljukians. The title Paşa means
“the first”. He was brought up with the strong influence of theosophical
culture, with lessons from his father Muhlis Paşa. He spoke Armenian, besides
Arabic, Persian and Hebrew. He wrote his work Garibname (Book of the
Poor) which influenced Süleyman Çelebi, the writer of memorial chants, in order
to inform society about tradition through theology. Besides this didactic
mesnevi* (rhymed couplet poem) of twelve thousand couplets, he wrote hymns and
odes influenced by Yunus Emre, applying syllabic and prosodic meters
successfully. He was said to be read avidly by members of the Bayrami tarikat*.
His four mesnevi*s, Fakrnâme (The Book of Poverty), Vasf-ı Hal (Characteristics of the
Current Situation), Kimya Risalesi
(Booklet of Chemistry) and Hikâye
(Story) were published by Agâh Sırrı Levend (1953, 1954). His other poems were
published in Türkiyat Mecmuası
(volume 5, 1935) by Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı. His hymns and odes, which sum up to
sixty-seven, were collected in the book Yunus
Emre ve Tasavvuf (Yunus Emre and Theosophy, 1961) by Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı.