Şayh Mahmud-i Şabistari ve Gulşan- Raz metni

Abstract

In the thirteenth century the town of Shabestar near Tabriz in Azarbaidjan was the birthplace of Sa'id ud-din Mahmud Shabe- stari, who was called simply Sheikh Shabestari. Sheikh Shabestari opened his eyes to the world during the reign of G-eikhâtu (690- 694/ 1291-1295), and. dur ing the : days of th* Sultanate %t Oljeitu and Abu Sa'id Bahadur Khan (716-736/ 1317-1336) became a great scholar and sheikh. There is little information available about the date of his birth, and apparently he spent his life at Tabriz or its environs in quiet and tranquility without any impoetant incident in contrast to his own troubled time and confused cen tury. And there he died around 720H (1321 AD). Nothing bulky or voluminous cf his writings remains» However, the rhymed «ouplets of his G-olshan-e Raz, nearly a thousand distiches, com prise one of the best and most comprehensive work written on the origins and bases of Sufism, and he has retained his fame until today among the high and low. Mr. Whinfield translated it into English and it was printed in London in 1880 with an introduc tion and critical apparatus. It has also been rendered into Turkish, Ordu and G-erman. This noble work has attracted the attention of European travellers since about 1700AD, and con sequently a number of manuscripts have found their way into the libraries of Europe, ^r. Thöluchıihıhis ^ırbrk^öf : the yBâr`3>820, entitled Sufism, made use of the couplets and later he trans lated into G-erman a portion of them in his work in the year 1825. Then, in the year 1835, Hammer Purgstallnrenderöâlall^the couplets into G-erman verse. These couplets which the writer himself indicates were put into verse in 717/ 1318 and which are in response to fifteen <?? ? ?. ? ? ' ?, ? questions which an individual named Amir Huseini asked of 'him,lb 8 deal with the origins of Sufi sm. In this poem, Sheikh Shabestari in addition to giving the answers to the questions of Amir Huseini, has discussed Sufism in detail. If we study the com mentary of Mohammad Lahiji on the G-olshen-e Raz. we will better understand the importance of his discussion of Sufism. About the Sheikh and spiritual leader Sheikh Shabestari there are differing opinions. Sheikh Mohammad Lâhiji, the elu- cidator of the, G-olshen-e Razt says that Shabestari f s guide and spiritual leader was Aminu'd-din, whose family name some consi der to have been Tabriz!. Rezagoli Elian Hedayet considers his sheikh to have been Baha'u'd-din Ya/jub Tabrizi, that is the sheikh who was buried next to the tomb of Shabestari. But Shabestari himself in his poem acknowledges his guide to have been Aminu'd-din. This short but meaningful work has attracted the interest of so many of the schooled and learned succeeding the Sheikh that more than forty commentaries, some long and some short, have been written on it. Of his other writings, `the Resala-ye Haqqu'I-yaqin, the Resala-ye Shahid and the 'Şahadet name, a translation of the Minhadju ' 1-Abidin by Mohammad Ohazali can be cited. Dr. Zabihu'llah Safa in the second section of the third volume of his Tarikh-e Adabiyat-e Iran says of the three dates 718/ 1319, 719/ 1320 and 720/ 1321 given for the death of + the Sheikh that of 720/ 1321 is probably correct, and he considers his age to have been 33 at the time of his death. This fact is also written on Shabestari' s tombstone. His tomb is in the village of Shabestar and is a popular pilgrimage site and in that grave has the Sheikh been committed to the ground beside his teacher Sheikh Baha'u'd-din Ya'qub. Dr. Zabihu* İlah Safa in connection with Amir Huseini says that because the questions of Amir Huseini were presented atthe assembly of Sheikh Baha'ud-din. Ya'qub, Shabestari, upon his signal in the assembly, answered every couplet and sent the answers to Amir HuseinJ,*, Later he added more couplets until the poem (xolshen-e Raz came into being. After the Grol shen-e Raz, the most famous of his works is the Sa'adetname. It is a poem in three thousand couplets which are in eight parts with each part consisting of sections of stories and proverbs. In these verses the Sheikh speaks of his own long journeys and of the pilgrimages of U^-a and sheikhs to him self as well as the entirety of their differing subjects. B. Şe$- rfcd-Nazari