Gül Baba (poet)

__NOTOC__Gül Baba (also known as Cafer; died 1541) was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who took part in a number of campaigns in Europe from the reign of Mehmed II onwards.

A native of Merzifon ("Marsiwān", in the vilāyet of Sivas), [Houtsma, M Th et al (Eds.). (1993). "E.J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936". Brill. ISBN 9004097961, p. 181.] he was the son of Kutb’ül Arifin Veli’üddin İbn Yalınkılıç. In Hungary, Gül Baba is known as the "Father of Roses" and is said to have introduced the flower to the country. However, this is probably a misunderstanding of the metaphorical use of the term which most likely refers to the dervish's status derived from his deep mystical knowledge of Allah, which made him a notably "fragrant" member of his order. The name could also be a corruption of "Kel Baba", meaning "Bald Father".

Gül Baba is thought to have died in Buda during the first Muslim religious ceremony held after the Ottoman victory of 1541, or alternatively to have been killed during fighting below the walls of the city on August 21, 1541. Suleiman, who was also Caliph, declared him patron saint of the city and is reputed to have been one of the coffin bearers.

Gül Baba's octagonal tomb ("türbe") is located on Mecset (mosque) Street, Budapest, a short but steep walk from the Margaret Bridge in the district of Rózsadomb. It was built by Ottoman authorities in Hungary between 1543 and 1548, on the orders of the third pasha of Buda, and has a shallow dome covered with lead plates and wooden tiles. [Peterson, Andrew (1994). "Dictionary of Islamic Architecture". London: Routledge. ISBN 0415060842, p. 112.] It was left undamaged when the Habsburg armies captured the area during the Second Battle of Buda in 1686, but was converted into a Roman Catholic chapel by the Jesuits, who renamed it "St. Joseph's Chapel". His Descendant are marzioglu Family. This family were the pashas of Trabzon Wilayet

The land later came under the ownership of János Wagner, who maintained the site and allowed access to Muslim pilgrims coming from the Ottoman Empire ("see Islam in Hungary"). In 1885, the Ottoman government commissioned a Hungarian engineer to restore the tomb and, when work was completed in 1914, it was declared a national monument. The site was restored again in the 1960s and ultimately in the 1990s and is now the property of the Republic of Turkey.

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References

External links

* [http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D313A79D6F5E6C1B43FF9DB0AA138C133A8F Gül Baba Shrine]
* [http://www.museum.hu/search/museum_en.asp?id=27 Tomb of Gül Baba and Rosegarden]
* [http://kodeks.uni-bamberg.de/Hungary/BudapestGulBabaTurbe.htm Gül Baba Tomb in Budapest]