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Sheikh Bedreddin

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Sheikh Bedrettin(1359-1420) was a revolutionary Ottoman theologian and philosopher.

Born in Simavne in Rumelia, Bedrettin's father was the great-great son of the Seljuk Sultan of Rum Kaykaus II and Kadı of the town. Bedreddin began his education in this town. Later went to Bursa and then to Cairo, where he heard lectures on astronomy, mathematics, logic, and philosophy. He studied Fıkıh and other Islamic subjects. While in Cairo, he was tutor to the son of Sultan Berkuk, the first sultan of the Mamluk Burji dynasty. He married Cazibe Hatun, a Mamluk princess.

After the Battle of Ankara, Musa Çelebi (son of the Sultan Bayezid I),acting as Sultan, appointed Bedreddin as chief military judge (قاضسکر kazasker), but the other son Mehmet Çelebi was acting as sultan also in this period. When Mehmet Çelebi overcame Musa, Bedreddin was deported to Iznik in 1413 with his family.

Sheikh Bedrettin insurrection which took place in the period after the Battle of Ankara, after which the Ottoman Empire had become unmanageable because of the fratricides between the sultans. During this period of great unrest the population suffered enormously from exaggeratedly high taxes and exploitation. who had a great feeling of social justice and freedom and who was an adherent of a democratically elected governing model, defended the oppressed Turkish, Greek and Jewish poor people and organized the biggest insurrection Anatolia ever saw. His device was: “Share all you have apart from the cheek of your beloved one”.

In 1416, he led an attempted revolt against the Ottoman Sultan in the aegean coast of Anatolia (today's coastal regions of Izmir, Turkey).The main uprising theme of Bedrettin and his comrades (Torlak Kemal and Börklüce Mustafa)and companions was to share the land equally among people of Karaburun and not to pay the high taxes demanded by the local representatives of the central Ottoman government.Börklüce Mustafa, who after a series of initial victories on the troops of the sultan, had to withdraw on the Karaburun Peninsula with 10,000 of his men. Finally an ultimate battle took place in the Valley of the Torment (which is 6 Km valley and lay down between Balıklıova village and Gerence bay) on the Karaburun Peninsula , where all his men were slaughtered. Börklüce Mustafa was crucified while Sheikh Bedrettin was taken to the city of Serez where he was hung. This was also the end of a remarkable uprising.

After the revolt was put down, Bedreddin was hanged in 1420 at Serez and buried there. In 1961 his grave transferred to the tomb of Sultan Mahmud in Divanyolu, Istanbul.

The main idea of Bedrettin and his companions was to share everything "except the lips of the beloved" (as stated in Nazim Hikmet's work) in an art of a commune.

His writings were condemned by a number of Ottoman religious scholars such as Ismail Hakki Bursevi. Others praise them and he is a popular figure amongst Turkey's left with even some such as Cem Karaca and Zulfu Livaneli composing a song based on a long epic poem (Saga of Sheikh Bedrettin - Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı) of Nazim Hikmet (Nazım Hikmet Ran) about him.

Nazim Hikmet was jailed for inciting rebellion after encouraging military cadets to read Bedreddin's work.

Books and writings

  • Cami’ü’l-fusuleyn
  • Letaifü’l-işarât
  • Varidat; (Inspirations)
  • Meserretü’l-kulûb
  • Ukudü’l-cevahir

Books on Sheikh Bedreddin in Turkish

  • Cemil Yener : Varidat, İstanbul : Elif Yayınları, 1970.
  • Vecihi Timuroğlu : Şeyh Bedrettin Varidat Ankara : Türkiye Yazıları Yayınları, 1979
  • İsmet Zeki Eyüboğlu : Şeyh Bedreddin Varidat, Derin Yayınları, 1980
  • Cengiz Ketene: Varidat: Simavna Kadısıoğlu Şeyh Bedreddin Simavi, 823/1420 ; trc. Cengiz Ketene, Ankara : Kültür Bakanlığı, 1990.
  • Seyyid Muhammed Nur : Varidat şerhi . Simavna Kadısıoğlu Şeyh Bedreddin Simavi, 823/1420 ; Haz. Mahmut Sadettin Bilginer, H. Mustafa Varlı, İstanbul : Esma Yayınları, 1994
  • Michel Balivet : Şeyh Bedreddin Tasavvuf ve İsyan Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2000.
  • Radi Fiş: Ben De Halimce Bedreddinem Evrensel Basım Yayın.
  • Nazım Hikmet: Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı YKY.

See also

References

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