Mystics, intellectual
(B. 1151, Belh- D. February 23, 1231, Konya).
He is the father of Mevlana Celaleddin. He is the child of an intellectual
family with Sufi origins. He was known with the nickname Baha-yi Veled. Most of
the information about his life depends on stories. He lost his father Huseyin
Hatibi when he was three. There is no information about his education life, it
can be understood from his works and his title Sultanu’l-Ulema (Sultan of the
Intellectuals) that he has received a fine education with a rich knowledge and
deep spiritual world. It is reported that he was interested in Mysticism since
he was a child, spent his time with invocation and asceticism, that he wanted
to go Harezm and learn medicine but then he worked as preacher, he taught gloss
and caliphate, he taught his lectures in Persian, that he had a good financial
situation and joined Kubreviye order and received caliphate from Ahmed Gazzali.
He had a daughter named Fatma Hatun and two sons, Alaeddin Muhammed and Celaleddin
Muhammed.
It is understood that
Bahaeddin Veled resided at Belh with his family between the years 1203-1210.
When Khwarazmshah Alaeddin Muhammed Tekis captured Samarkand, Bahaeddin Veled was living in
there. But as he criticized Alaeddin Muhammed tekis, kadis of Belh and Vahs and
Fahreddin Razi in his orations, he had problems with these people. It is
rumored that he went to Anatolia with his
family or went for hajj. His departure is referred as 1212, 1213 and 1219 in
other sources. They have stopped at Nigabur on their road and hosted by
Feriduddin Attar. According to Eflaki; Bahaeedin Veled and his family were
welcomed by people lead by the famous mystic Ebu Hafs Omer Suhrevard in Baghdad. But he could not
stay in Baghdad for a long time, he returned the
gifts sent from The Caliph and stayed at a madrasah in Baghdad with his family. He offended the
Caliph because of his criticism at a Friday sermon. He left Baghdad,
went to Mecca via Kufe; and to Anatolia via Damascus after Hajj. But,
the name of first city he stopped by in Anatolia
differs according to different sources. His grandson Sultan Veled only mentions
Konya; Sipehsalar says that Bahaeddin Veled went to Aksehir from Syria and
stayed at the dervish convent built by Ismet Hatun, wife of Fahreddin Behram Sah
from Mengucekogulları. On the other hand, Eflaki says that he first went to Malatya, stopped at
Erzincan and ended at Akşehir. According to the general view, Bahaeddin Veled
and his family stayed in Akşehir for four years and then settled in Karaman
(Larende), where they stayed for seven years. His son Celalledin married to
Gevher Hatun in here (1224/5). His first two grandsons Sultan Veled and
Alaeddin Çelebi were born in Karaman.
His reputation was very
wide during those years. They went to Konya
as Sultan of Seljuks, Alaeddin Keykubat invited them. He spent the last two
years of his life while teaching and guiding his followers, providing public
lectures on Fridays and Mondays and working on his book named Maarif. His tomb
is within Mevlana Shrine, next to Mevlana’s coffin. Bahaeddin Veled was a
mystic bound with the rules of Shariah. Even though he was a member of Kubrevi
order, it is said that he never acted like a sheikh. He wrote his book Maarif
in Persian and used some Arabic terms in it. He focused on subjects like
goodness, wrongdoing, Allah as the only
doer, love and friendship is not single sided, intention and purpose are main
objects , as the dominance of unity on soul and meaning.
REFERENCE: Abdulbaki Gölpınarlı / Mevlânâ Celâleddin (1952), TDE
Ansiklopedisi (vol. 1, 1976), TDOE –
TDE Ansiklopedisi 2 (2002), İhsan Işık (TEKAA, 2009).
