MA'RİFA AND ARĪFS IN THE SŪFĪ THOUGHT OF HACI BEKTAS VELI

Abstract

Hacı Bektaş Veli is a person who had important effects on the formation of the religious and mystical thought of Anatolia. Understanding his sūfī thought and mission is important for analyzing the Turkish-Islamic thought. The concept of ma'rifa (interior knowledge) forms the basis of Hacı Bektaş’s sūfī thought. In this context, the present study focuses on the emphasis on adherence to Sharia on the way to ma'rifa in his sūfī thought, the sect and ma'rifa maqāms obtained with the implementation of the Sharia, then the heart as a mean of attaining ma'rifa, and finally the 'arīfs as a class that has attained ma'rifa. Thus, the place and importance of ma'rifa in the epistemology of Hacı Bektaş Veli was determined. It was also possible to compare him with the sūfī tradition he was attached. Ma'rifa, which is more valuable than the knowledge obtained by reason and transmission in sūfism, is the key concept of Hacı Bektaş Veli’s sūfī thought and epistemology. Hacı Bektaş Veli designed the sūfī education system in line with the idea of four doors and forty-maqāms. The murīd (disciple), who started his sūfī progress with the Sharia gate, reaches the ma'rifa maqāms after the tarīqa gate. Thus, while educating his nafs (soul), he also finds the opportunity to open the curtains of the ghayb (unknown) world by purifying his nafs. In this process, a murīd who follows the path of sūfism acquires the qualifications of being an 'ābid (worshipper), zāhid (renunciant), 'arīf (wise) and muhib (admirer). In this context, the 'arīf is in a position ahead of the 'ābids and zāhids in terms of the distance he has covered in reaching the ma'rifatullah. According to Hacı Bektaş Veli, God created people only so that they could know themselves. In terms of reaching this goal, the 'arīfs are superior to the 'ālims (religious scholar), just as they are superior to the 'ābids and zāhids. In other words, the knowledge of ma'rifatullah is superior to the knowledge obtained through the mind, and the 'arīfs who have this knowledge are also in a superior position to the 'ālims. According to Hacı Bektaş, Veli attaining ma'rifa is only possible through having a life in line with Allah’s will. In this context, it is possible to say that Hacı Bektaş Veli is a representative of the Sunni sūfī tradition in Anatolia, based on the understanding of ma'rifa shaped by the transfer of Sharia to life.