Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi (Dec 2023)
EHLÎ’NİN DÜVÂZ-NÂME TEMALI ELİF-NÂME’Sİ
Abstract
Alif-nâmes mean poems written following the order of alifbâî from the letter alif to the letter yâ or from the letter yâ to the alif when the first letters of the verse, couplet or bent are listed one under the other. Among them, alifname poems with the theme of duvaz-name were written in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt, The Twelve Imams and especially caliph Ali. Alif-nâme, which is the subject of this study, was written by a poet with the pseudonym Ahlî in the style of duvaz-name. Alif-nâme is registered in the Topkapı Palace Museum Library between the pages 52v-53v of Mecmû’a-ı Eş’âr registered at the Hazine Library number 1067. Although it is written in the biographies of Tayyib-zâde Ehlî (d. 1600-1601), who is known to have worked as a professor and judge in various provinces of the Ottoman Empire, that he had a sufistic tendency, but no information is given. Scans were made in various magazines and jonks in order to track down his tendency. As a result, it was seen that Ahlî wrote mostly lyrical poems. Although a definite judgment is not reached, there is a possibility that the Alif-nâme maybe belongs to another poet with the same pseudonym, whose name is not mentioned in the biographical sources, but who is likely to be affiliated with the Alevi and Bektashi belief system. In the introductory part of the article, after briefly mentioning the letter mysticism in Judaism and Islam since the invention of letters, the alif-names in Turkish literature are emphasized, and then the evaluations made on the life of Ahlî and his literary personality in biographical sources are presented. Finally, the transliterated text of the Alif-nâme, which was examined in terms of form and content, are introduced.
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