NİYAZĺ-İ MISRĺ

Theosophy poet (b. 8 February 1618, Malatya – d. 16 March 1694, Limni Island). He became a follower of the order of Halvetiye dervishes and went to Malatya, Diyarbekir (1638), Mardin, Baghdad and Kerbela. He went to Egypt and studied at the Ezher Mosque. He came to İstanbul and worked as a teacher at Madrasah Muslim School (1646). On founding the Egyptian Halvetiye branch of dervishes, he continued teaching and guidance work in Bursa, Uşak, Elmalı and Kütahya. He became the Şeyh of the monastery in Bursa (1670) and settled there.

He was exiled to Rhodes because some of his declarations were against Islamic law (1673) and then he was exiled to Limni Island (1676). On being forgiven, he came back and he declared that he was going to join the Austrian campaign with his followers. Due to this he was again exiled to Limni because of the fear of him and his followers rebelling against the state (1694). He died there.

MAIN WORKS:

Divan (Divan*, first edition: Bulak, 1843, last edition in 1974 with the name Tam ve Tekmil Niyazi Divanı – The Whole and Perfect Divan* of Niyazi; The Explanation of the Divan of Niyazi by İbrahim Turdören 1966), Risaletü’l Tevhid (Booklet on God’s Unity, prose), Mevaidü’l-İrfan (Tables of Knowledge, translated by Süleyman Ateş, 1971), Şerh-i Esmai’l Hüsna (Commentary on Beautiful Names, prose), Es’ile Ecuibe-i Musavvıfâne (Questions and Answers on Theosophy, prose), Şerh-i Nutk-i Yunus Emre (Commentary on the Address of Yunus Emre, commentary of the satire that starts “I Climbed the Branch of a Plum Tree and Ate Grapes There” which is thought to be by Yunus Emre), Risale-i Eşref Saat (Booklet on the Auspicious Moment, Doomsday).