Sheikh Bedreddin

Sheikh Bedrettin (1359-1420) was a revolutionary theologian and charismatic preacher who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in 1416.

Born of mixed Muslim and Christian parentage in the Anatolian city of Simav, 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 he went to Bursa and then to Cairo, where he heard lectures on astronomy, mathematics, logic, and philosophy. He studied law and other Islamic subjects. While in Cairo, he was tutor to the son of the Mamluk Berkuk, the first sultan of the Burji dynasty. He married Cazibe Hatun, a Mamluk princess.

Amid the dynastic struggles following the Battle of Ankara and the death of Sultan Bayezid I, Musa Çelebi appointed Bedreddin chief military judge (قاضسکر kazasker). When in 1413 Musa's brother and chief rival Mehmet Çelebi became sultan, Bedreddin was exiled to Iznik.

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

In 1416 he led the revolt against the sultan in the Aegean coastal region of Anatolia. The main uprising theme of Bedrettin and his companions (Torlak Kemal and Börklüce Mustafa)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, 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. A final battle took place in the Valley of the Torment (located 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 the end of a remarkable uprising.

After the revolt was put down, Bedreddin was hanged in 1420 at Serez and buried there. In 1961 Sheikh Bedrettin's remains were transferred from Greece to the mausoleum of Sultan Mahmud in Divanyolu, Istanbul.

His writings were condemned by a number of Ottoman religious scholars such as Ismail Hakki Bursevi. Others instead praise the Sheikh. He is a popular figure among Turkey's left. Nazim Hikmet was jailed for inciting rebellion after encouraging military cadets to read Bedreddin's work. The musicians Cem Karaca and Zulfu Livaneli composed a song based on a Hikmet's epic poem, the Şeyh Bedrettin Destanı. In Hikmet's work, Bedrettin and his companions emphasize that all things must be shared "except the lips of the beloved."

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.

External links

* [http://www.osmanlimedeniyeti.com/makaleler/tarih/Simavna-Kadisi-Seyh-Bedreddin.html Şeyh Bedrettin, Turkish article]
* [http://www.bartleby.com/67/312.html#c3p00404 Bartleby.com]
* [http://www.irfanokulu.net/ http://www.irfanokulu.net/] Şeyh Bedreddin
* [http://www.kimkimdir.gen.tr Kim Kimdir?]

References

* Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı, Melâmilik ve Melâmîler, Gri Yayın, İstanbul, 1992.
* Dr. Mesut Keskin : Das Toleranzverständnis der anatolischen Heterodoxie am Beispiel Scheich Bedreddin Mahmud Israils, 2 cilt, Berlin 1999
* [http://books.google.com/books?id=SuEOpLarmMQC&pg=PA127&dq=bedreddin&output=html&sig=EA3uROWlzxuwMJ6132ActKsGOYg&hl=en Romantic Communist: The Life and Work of Nazım Hikmet By Edward Timms, Saime Göksu ,1999 ISBN 1-85065-371-2]