Abdulbaqi Golpınarli's thoughts on the literary personality of the Great Sufi poet Imadeddin Nasimi

The spirit of struggle in the poet's poems was connected with the socio-political events of the time he lived. Shortly after Azerbaijan was liberated from the Mongol invasion, it was subjected to the plundering and arduous attack of the Teymurid state, which also shook its culture. Nasimi lived and created in such a historical environment and was able to gain worldwide fame. His literary creativity, works rich in worldly feelings, high artistic qualities, means of artistic thinking, the motifs he influenced, the solution of the theme he wrote, etc. influenced and made his open-minded contemporaries think even during the poet's lifetime. (1)

Nasimi is a talented artist who laid the foundation for a new stage in the history of Azerbaijani literature and continued the tradition of ancient and medieval literary monuments created in Turkic languages. Many studies have been conducted on the poet's work, and valuable ideas have been expressed about his literary views. One of them is Abdulbaqi Gölpınarli, who lived in Turkey and was originally an Azerbaijani. When analyzing his research on Azerbaijani literature, we see that the literature of the people he belongs to, which has a centuries-old history, covers only the medieval period. He almost did not conduct any research on the period of the 18th-20th centuries. Although the real reason is unknown to us, this can be attributed to the researcher's greater attention to the study of classical literature. However, it is regrettable that Abdulbaqi Gölpınarli, who is quite appreciated in the literary and scientific environment of Turkey and is known as an original researcher, does not have any research on Azerbaijani literature from the 18th-20th centuries. Because Azerbaijan, which has been subjected to foreign interventions throughout history due to its strategic location and abundance of underground and surface resources, is located in a geography that is as rich as it is contradictory. These events did not remain without an impact on the epic and lyrical styles that attract attention in literary studies. Azerbaijani literature occupies an important place among the areas where the socio-psychological situation that emerged as the cause of these events has influenced cultural events. Especially at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, we see that the literary environment here gained a more active and dynamic position. The influence of the ideals of independence that took place in South Azerbaijan under the leadership of Sattar Khan in 1906-1911 on the literary field can be mentioned as an example of this.

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As a result of the Transcaucasian policy pursued by Russia since the beginning of the 19th century, with the division of Azerbaijan into two based on the treaties of Gulustan (1813) and Turkmenchay (1828), social, political and cultural life in the north continued to be more under the influence of the West through Russia, and in the south under the influence of Iran. We know that the relationship between political and social events and literature does not need to be discussed. This relationship provides literary historians and critics with important materials in the study of literary trends, directions and the process of schooling, and in classification studies. Azerbaijani literature has the opportunity to have these materials to a large extent. The period of Azerbaijan in the 19th-20th centuries is full of upheavals, contrasts and tragedies in the socio-political, historical-cultural and literary fields. Turkish researcher Yavuz Akpınar simply notes that the works of Mirza Alakbar Sabir and Jalil Mammadguluzade are a great source in terms of reflecting these events. (2). The events that gained strength from the freedom struggle that began with Sattarkhan and continued with Sheikh Muhammad Khiyabani gave a noticeable dynamic to literature. In the south, artists such as Mirzali Mojuz, Seyid Rza Sarraf, Mirza Jabbar, Zeynalabdin Giyami, Seyid Ahmad Kasravi, and Karim Tahirzade also did great work in this field.

XIX a srd a Qafqazda ba ^ layan rus istilasinin n a tic a si olaraq Az a rbaycan a d a biyyati iki yer a ayrilir: § imali While literature in Azerbaijan entered modern life, literature in South Azerbaijan remained within classical traditions and became a literature of imitation and contemplation. While modern Azerbaijani literature, which was founded in the second half of the 19th century, began to make its first contribution in the North at the end of the century, in the South it manifested itself in the years after the Second World War, also in the field of poetry. Among the personalities who laid the foundation of modern literature in South

Azerbaijan, Habib Sahir, Javad Heyat and Shahriyar have made exceptional contributions (Yüksel, M. (2014).

Some researchers write that modern literature began in North Azerbaijan and South Azerbaijan at the same time - with the Turkmenchay Treaty. Yavuz Akpınar and Javad Heyat also share this opinion. The attitude of Gölpınarly, one of the researchers of the Universal Turkish literature, to these issues would be a service to science in terms of evaluating the literature of the 19th-20th centuries of the people he belongs to. His lack of comment on the work of the representatives of literary thought of Northern Azerbaijan in connection with a very turbulent and sensitive period of Azerbaijani history can undoubtedly be explained not by his indifference, but by the lack of scientific and cultural relations between Turkey and Azerbaijan during the years of Soviet rule. It is difficult to comment on the reason for the lack of research on that period of South Azerbaijani literature. However, the researcher's scientific research and books on the work of prominent figures of Azerbaijani literature, especially the 14th-16th centuries, can be evaluated as proof of his national fanaticism. One of such researches is about the Azerbaijani philosopher-poet I. Nasimi. This work, first published in 1953 and secondly in 2014 in Istanbul, discusses the life and work of Nasimi, Usuli and Ruhi, and gives examples of their poems. Gölpınarlı notes in this book that Nasimi is one of the famous figures of Turkish divan literature.

Representatives of different generations of Azerbaijani literary critics have conducted research on Nasimi and expressed valuable opinions about the content of the creative work of the thinker poet, his ideological and artistic features, and his lyricism. This trend continues even now. The unanimous opinion is that, as well as his skill in poetry, his preference for his native language in his creative work is one of the features that distinguishes the poet from others.

Expressing new ideas in science about an outstanding representative of our literary and philosophical thought requires a great responsibility from the researcher. Considering the seriousness of this responsibility, Gölpınarlı tried to express original ideas about the creative work of the thinker and master of words. He notes that the poet had a strong influence on the development of native-language literature after him, that theorists expressed valuable opinions about his creative work during his lifetime and in subsequent centuries, and that his works were translated into many languages (Usluer, F. (2020).

In the scholar's book "Nasimi, Usuli, Ruhi", the innovations brought by the poet to the ghazal genre, the beauties of expression he achieved, and the influence of his creative style on the development of lyric poetry after him are examined. However, he states that there is little information about Nasimi. In fact, his conclusion can also be attributed to his ignorance of the research conducted by Azerbaijani scholars on the philosopher-poet. This is also evident from the information he gave about Nasimi's birthplace. He notes that, according to legend, the poet took the pseudonym Nasimi because he was born in a district of Baghdad called Nasim. Of course, one cannot agree with this scholar's opinion in any way. This is because the vast majority of researchers have confirmed that his real name, Seyid Ali Seyid Muhammad oglu Imadeddin Nasimi, was born in the city of Shamakhi, the ancient cradle of Azerbaijani culture. True, some researchers write that he was born in Bursa, Tabriz, Baku, Diyarbakir, and even Shiraz. The idea that he was born in Baghdad belongs to Gölpınarlı. (3)

Based on the “Sohbetname” of Qaybi Sunullah, who was known for his views on Hurufiyyah and Sufism in the 17th century Ottoman Empire, the researcher notes that Nasimi came to Ankara during the time of Murad the Ottoman Sultan and wanted to meet Haji Bayram. This meeting did not take place because a dervish informed Haji Bayram that Nasimi claimed to be a god. In fact, Nasimi was killed when he went to Aleppo because of Haji Bayram’s resentment. (4)

One of the notable points is that the work does not contain any information about Nasimi's date of birth. He stated that there are various sources regarding the date of death, and justified the version he considered most acceptable as follows: “Sources indicate the dates of Nasimi’s death as 807 (1404), 820 (1417), 821 (1418) AH. If we did not have Rafi’s work, we would not have been able to correct this historical error as well as his name. Because while some sources mention his name as

Imadaddin, there are others that mention him as Nasimiddin. Rafi’s “Basharatname” at the end of his “Basharatname” which contains the basics of Hurufism and is written in the style of a masnavi, says about him:

May the mercy of the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, the Secret of Imamaddin, the Murtaza…

May the martyr of love, the Most Gracious, the Most Glorious, the Most Merciful who does not hide…

Because who told me the secret-truth,

The curtain opened and the plate appeared…

At the end of the work:

I have completed this Basharatname,

The first Friday of Sawm, and that is it.

The date is like “rahu-Khuda”,

Sarbser abyati oldu rahnuma.

He states that he finished his poem with his verses on the date of “rahu-Khuda”, that is, on the first Friday of Ramadan in the year 811 AH (1409).

Since he said to Nasimi on this date,

“Be a martyr of love, Fazli zuljalal,

Since he was imprisoned in prisons, it is certain that he was killed before this date. From this point of view, it would be correct to accept the date of 807 (1404) as the date of Nasimi’s death.” (4). Apparently, Azerbaijani researchers, since they do not have information about Gölpınarli’s creativity, have not commented on his opinion regarding the date of Nasimi’s death (Djavadi, A. (1990).

Those who adopt Alawism and Malamism accept him as a martyr and call him the second Hussein-al-Hallaj (Hallaj Mansur), one of the famous Sufis of the Islamic world. In the early stages of his creativity, we see that Nasimi, like his master Naimi, stood on the position of Sufism. What endeared Hallaj Mansur to Nasimi was not only his teachings, but also his selflessness for the sake of his faith. However, gradually the Sufi view was replaced by Hurufiism, which is based on letter and mind. Even after accepting Hurufi teachings, we see in Nasimi's poems his admiration for Mansur. Those who hold this opinion base their argument on the fact that Nasimi, like Hallaj Mansur, who was hanged in Baghdad in the 10th century, spoke of the truth in his poems:

I always speak of the truth, because I became Mansur,

Who is it that made me a mansur, I became a mansur in this city.

I am the Qibla of the faithful, the beloved of the lovers, the guide of the worthy, I have become an official of the house.

When he began writing such poems, his brother Shah Khandan told him not to tear stones from the wall of Sharia, and Nasimi wrote a masnavi in response to his brother's words, starting with the couplet,

The sea became agitated,

The place became agitated.

In order to understand the poems of Nasimi, who was the successor of Fazlullah, the founder of the Gölpınarlı Hurufi school, it is important to first understand the basics of Hurufism. In this school, which believes in the wisdom and mystery of letters and numbers in particular, there is a strong belief that the basis of man and the universe is matter, not spirit. He is against going to extremes in religious beliefs and taking a spontaneous approach to events. He expresses various ideas to logically justify his thoughts. Gölpınarlı comments on one of them as follows: “Nasimi said that the dead would not be resurrected in the grave, that such words had a figurative meaning, and to prove his point, he expressed his readiness for an experiment, albeit surprising. He said that he would accept that a dead person be sprinkled with wheat after being placed in the grave, that the grave be opened the next day and that if the dead person rose, he would be unjust because of the wheat grains spilling out. This proposal did nothing but hasten his punishment.” (4). Some of Nasimi’s ghazals that we know from Azerbaijani literature are given in Gölpınarlı’s research with different renditions for reasons unknown to us. It is known from the poet’s biography that the religious figure who issued the fatwa for his skinning shook the index finger of his right hand and said: “This blood is also forbidden. Wherever it falls, it must be cut off and thrown away.” At that moment, Nasimi’s blood fell on his index finger. One of the bystanders watching this horror in the square says: “According to the fatwa you have given, your finger is cut off.” When the cleric says: “It will be cleaned with a little water,” Nasimi recites the ghazal: “If you cut off a finger of Zahid, you will turn away from the truth,

See this true lover, they will tear him apart, he will not cry.”

Gölpınarlı, while discussing this point, presents the ghazal in the following form: “If you cut off a finger of Zahid, you will turn away from the truth,

See this poor lover, they will tear him apart, he will not cry.” (4). Two points are particularly noteworthy here. First, the researcher presents the ghazal with the syllogism “A g lamaz” (He will not cry), unlike the Azerbaijani version. The second is that he writes “miskin asıg” (poor lover) instead of “real lover.” In the explanatory dictionary of the Azerbaijani language, we read about the meaning of the word “miskin”: poor, helpless, miserable. Doesn't the word "miskin" better fit Nasimi's situation?

Are these differences a coincidence? We think not. Because even if a researcher who knows Arabic and Persian perfectly and translates the Quran into Turkish reads Nasimi's works from Arabic or Persian sources, he will write them in an uncorrupted, correct version. And which of these versions reflects the truth can only be determined by looking at the original.

Gölpınarlı's thoughts on the events following Nasimi's execution scene are also interesting. He writes: “After Nasimi was skinned, they saw him bend down, pick up his skin, and walk away. No one dared to follow him. The gatekeepers and the people who were there at the twelve gates of Aleppo saw that he had gone out of the gate and it became a mystery. When the gatekeepers and the people gathered together, everyone said that he had gone out of one gate, and it became clear that he had gone out of all the gates. The current tomb was built not where he was buried, but where he was skinned. (4). The scholar does not provide information about the source of this information.

Therefore, it is doubtful whether it reflects the truth.

Gölpınarlı notes that Nasimi’s tragic fate immortalizes his personality and creativity. Just as we read in the “Sohbetname” that Sheikh Ibrahim of the Boys said, “Mansur and Nasimi are the wanderers of the Aryans,” we also see that he is highly regarded in memoirs. Sufi poets have described his truly tragic fate in various ways. and he was always considered the second Mansur. The researcher notes that the true essence of Nasimi's personality is revealed in a couplet whose author's name has been forgotten:

I asked Nasimi about Sirri Selhin, and he said:

Rehnaverdi-Kabeyi ishkız, this is our report.

Then he explains the same couplet: “During the Hajj ceremony, pilgrims would wrap a seamless cloth around their waists, and put a cloth around their backs, with their right arms outside, and throw it over their left shoulder and wrap themselves in it. This covering, which is required to be seamless, is called ihram. After learning this, we can turn the verse into prose: I asked Nasimi the secret of his skinning, and he said, “We are the pilgrims of the Kaaba of love, this is our ihram.” (4). This approach is characteristic of Gölpınarlı’s work.

Nasimi is the successor of Naimi, who created the doctrine of Hurufiyyah. We see confirmation of this in his divan, Rafi’s work, and other sources related to Hurufiyyah. In order to understand his poems, it is necessary to correctly assess the basic principles and basic beliefs of this doctrine. The ideas about the relationship between letters and numbers and the metaphysical nature of letters have long existed. It is known that in Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam, special importance is given to letters and numbers, and that letters and numbers play a major role in claims that do not reflect reality, such as achieving a wish or foreseeing future events. Naimi benefited from these ideas and used these criteria when creating Hurufiyyah. In Gölpınarlı’s research, it is stated that Hurufiyyah is a sect. and confirms that its creator was Fazlullah Naimi. He writes that he was born in the city of Astrabad in Azerbaijan and was of the Muhammadan lineage. However, the information he gives about the date of death and the place of his execution is controversial. He writes: “...Fazlullah was killed in 1394 in the settlement of Alincag, also called Sanjariye, near Tabriz, when he was fifty-five years old.” (4). He does not provide information about the source from which he obtained this information.

From Azerbaijani literature, we know that Naimi was arrested in the city of Shirvan in 1394 and wrote his works “Javidanname” (“Book of Literature”) and “Javidani-Kabir” (“Great Literature”) while in prison there. In 1401, he was executed in the Alinca fortress in Nakhchivan by order of Miranshah, the son of Temurlang, and was buried there. It is also known from historical sources that Temur deliberately chose this fortress for Naimi’s execution. Because this fortress He became famous for his serious struggle against the Timurids (Kurin, G. (2021).

Gölpınarlı notes that the Hurufis were later subjected to severe persecution for being involved in politics, and therefore did not operate independently, but rather mingled with sects with Alevi beliefs, as was the main element of Bektashi, and thus spread. The researcher, who also conducts original research on the history, formation, philosophical and religious views of sects and sects in Turkey, writes: “According to Hurufism, the basis of the universe and man is not spirit, but matter. Spirit is a description and meaning of matter. Existence itself is in sound. Sound becomes word in man. Word is formed from letters. Muhammad, the last of the prophets, spoke with twenty-eight letters, in other words, there are twenty-eight letters in Arabic. Fazl (Fazlullah Naimi – N.M) spoke with thirty-two letters in Persian. He also wrote his book “Cavidan” with thirty-two letters. There are seven lines on a person’s face, called “mother lines” because they are born with them from their mother: two eyebrows, four eyelashes, and one hair. Since each of these is formed from four elements, water, fire, air and earth, each is counted as four and makes twenty-eight. When the hair is divided in two in the middle, the seven lines become eight, and the sum of the four elements is thirty-two. The seven lines that appear in a person during puberty There is a “father line”: two beards on the right and left sides of the face, two mustaches, two nose hairs, and a line on the lower lip. These are also counted in the same way as twenty-eight and thirty-two.

There are seventeen rak’ahs of obligatory prayer per day, and fifteen rak’ahs on Friday. There are thirty-two in total. Local people pray seventeen rak’ahs of obligatory prayer per day, and travelers eleven rak’ahs. There are twenty-eight in total. Thus, the Hurufis interpret ablution, hajj, zakat, all the Sharia rules, and the narrations of the prophets by applying them to twenty-eight and thirty-two.” (4). This explanation by Gölpınarli, which helps to reveal the essence of the ideas of Hurufism, is similar to the explanations in Azerbaijani sources, but not the same. One point that attracts attention here is that the title of Naimi’s work is given as “Javidan” instead of “Javidannameh”. Is it a coincidence that the creator of the Huruf doctrine gave the name of his work in a distorted form by a prominent researcher of the history of Turkish literature? Is the original of the work familiar to the scholar or how the name of the work is written in Turkish sources? We consider it more appropriate to answer such questions after completing our research in this area.

According to Gölpınarlı, Nasimi has faith enough to sacrifice his life for his beliefs. Although most of his poems are didactic in nature, they are also lyrical. He is such a poet in love that one does not think about the essence of his beliefs and the ideas he instills when reading his poems. He substantiates his idea with a verse of the poet:

Since then, there has been a failure of prayer and prayer,

The time that has passed without you is no failure of life.

(The scholar also gives an interpretation of this couplet: Come and come, because both fasting and prayer have their due dates, but the age of life that passes without you has no due date) or the poet of a ghazal composed of an address from beginning to end, which was composed in a very dull manner by the Caliph Suleyman the Magnificent much later (the ghazal beginning with the couplet Nigarım, dilbarim, jalım, nadimim, munisim, janim, Rafigim, hamdamim, ommirim, ravanim, darde daqamim) is undoubtedly a very powerful poet. (4). In Gölpınarlı's work "Nasimi,

Usuli, Ruhi" we read: Nasimi is a poet who has read all the Iranian poets and is knowledgeable enough to recite poems freely in Persian and Arabic, but we would not be exaggerating if we say that there is no trace of any poet other than Mevlana in him. This is also a great proof of his power. It is his faith that gives him a human vision enough to recite the verse "They were afraid to say 'Truth', they turned and said 'Man'" when he saw you with this beauty and grace.

Nasimi's works were appreciated since his time, and tributes and takhmis were written to his poems. We also read in Gölpınarli's work that Huseyn Baygara devoted a chapter of his work called "Majalis-ul-Ushshak" to Nasimi. The scholar notes that the style of Nasimi, a prominent representative of Azerbaijani literature, is clearly visible in the work of Fuzuli. In this sense, Nasimi played an exceptional role in the development of Azerbaijani literature on the one hand, and on the other hand, he is an important stage in the divan literature written in the Western Oghuz dialect. The Alevi-Bektashis considered him one of the seven great and divine poets, including Khatai, Fuzuli, Pir Sultan, Gul Hummet, Virani and Yamini. (4). In this sense, Nasimi gained great fame not only among the divan poets, but also among the folk poets who adopted Sufism. After providing information about Nasimi in his book, the researcher presents twenty ghazals and eight tuyugu of the poet to the readers in Turkish and interprets each verse by turning it into prose. This method is one of the main features of Gölpınarli's creativity.

Conclusion

At first glance, it may seem surprising that Gölpınarli does not refer to the works of Azerbaijani scholars in his research on Nasimi, Fuzuli and Khatai, prominent representatives of classical Azerbaijani literature. However, if we take into account that during the period when he lived and worked (1900-1982), Azerbaijan had no connection with Turkey due to its being part of the Soviet Empire, then the essence of the issue becomes clear. On the other hand, it is regrettable that the great scholar A. Gölpınarli, who adorned the science of literary criticism with his invaluable works and is our national pride, remains out of the attention of researchers of the people to whom he belongs, and that information about his life and work is not provided in our pedagogically oriented higher education institutions and relevant textbooks.

The general conclusion of Turkish researchers is as follows: Abdulbaqi Gölpınarlı was a rare person who had a very perfect memory, Islamic knowledge necessary for Divan literature and Sufism, and knew the Quran by heart. He is considered the most powerful person of his time in the field of Sufism. He had a spirit that surged and then calmed down like the waves of the sea. His rich vocabulary creates the basis for reading all his translations with a pleasure close to the original. This quality is not available to every researcher. (5).