Süleyman Çelebi (1351 - 1422 AD) (pronounced Sulaiman Chalabi),

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

of the

Grand Mosque of Bursa The Grand Mosque of Bursa ( tr, Bursa Ulu Camii) is a historic mosque in Bursa, Turkey. It was commissioned by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I to commemorate his great victory at the Battle of Nicopolis and built between 1396 and 1399. The mosque i ...

during the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

, was a mystic and author of ''Wasilat al-Najat'', his only known work, the first and most famous of the Turkish-written

mawlid Mawlid, Mawlid an-Nabi ash-Sharif or Eid Milad un Nabi ( ar, المولد النبوي, translit=mawlid an-nabawī, lit=Birth of the Prophet, sometimes simply called in colloquial Arabic , , among other vernacular pronunciations; sometimes , ) ...

s, the nativity of the

Prophet Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monoth ...

. The work is commonly known as the ''Mevlidi Sherif - Süleyman Çelebi''. Sulaiman Chalabi was born sometime between 1346-1351 and his death date is 1422 AD.

Biography

He was born in the period of

Orhan Gazi Orhan Ghazi ( ota, اورخان غازی; tr, Orhan Gazi, also spelled Orkhan, 1281 – March 1362) was the second bey of the Ottoman Beylik from 1323/4 to 1362. He was born in Söğüt, as the son of Osman I. In the early stages of his re ...

. According to some sources, he is the son of Ahmed Pasha, one of the

vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...

s of the

Ottoman Sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...

Murad I Murad I ( ota, مراد اول; tr, I. Murad, Murad-ı Hüdavendigâr (nicknamed ''Hüdavendigâr'', from fa, خداوندگار, translit=Khodāvandgār, lit=the devotee of God – meaning "sovereign" in this context); 29 June 1326 – 15 Jun ...

, and the grandson of Sheikh Mahmud Efendi. His grandfather, aka Mahmud Bey, is the grandson of

Sheikh Edebali İmâdüddin Mustafa bin İbrâhim bin İnac al-Kırşehrî (1206-1326), often known as Sheikh Edebali ( tr, Şeyh Edebali), was an Ottoman Sunni Muslim Sheikh of the Ahi brotherhood, who helped shape and develop the policies of the growing Ot ...

and was one of those who sailed to

Rumelia Rumelia ( ota, روم ايلى, Rum İli; tr, Rumeli; el, Ρωμυλία), etymologically "Land of the Names of the Greeks#Romans (Ῥωμαῖοι), Romans", at the time meaning Eastern Orthodox Christians and more specifically Christians f ...

in 1338 under the leadership of Süleyman Pasha, son of Orhan. He received a good education in Bursa in his youth. At that time, the title of "Çelebi" was given to scholars and the elders of the

Mevlevi Order The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...

. However, there is no evidence that he was a Mevlevi. He attracted the attention of Sultan

Bayezid I Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted ...

with his knowledgeable attitude and was appointed as the imam of the Grand Mosque, whose construction was completed in 1399. He wrote his famous work ''Vesiletü'n Necat'' having been influenced by a mystical experience he had during this mission. According to legend, Süleyman Çelebi resented an Iranian preacher who said that Muhammad was not much different from other prophets and wrote his mawlid to express that he was superior to other prophets. During the Ottoman Interregnum, which was a weak phase of the Ottoman Empire and all kinds of turmoil prevailed in the

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n lands, Süleyman Çelebi was on the side of the Ahl as-Sunnah in the conflict between

Batiniyya Batiniyya ( ar, باطنية, Bāṭiniyyah) refers to groups that distinguish between an outer, exoteric ('' zāhir'') and an inner, esoteric ('' bāṭin'') meaning in Islamic scriptures. The term has been used in particular for an allegoristic ...

esoteric views and Sunnis. For this reason, it is stated that one of the reasons for writing the mawlid was to support the followers of the Ahl as-Sunnah. He completed his work in 1409 (approximately at the age of 60). While writing his work, the works he referenced were determined to be Âşık Paşa's ''Garibname'', Erzurumlu Darir's ''Siyerü'n Nebi'', Eb'ul Hasan Bekri's ''Siyer'' and Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi's ''Fusus''. The tomb of Süleyman Çelebi is on Çekirge Road in

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

Notes

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References

{{Reflist 1422 deaths 1351 births Poets from the Ottoman Empire Turkish poets Mawlid Imams People from Bursa 14th-century Muslim theologians 15th-century Muslim theologians Islamic scholars from the Ottoman Empire

Biography

See also

Notes

References