ABDULBÂKİ GÖLPINARLI A LIFE WITH MAWLANA
Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı who said, “I wrote what I read and experienced…” lived a life engaged in sufism.
Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı who said, “I wrote what I read and experienced…” lived a life engaged in sufism.
Even though Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı, who was born in Dizdariye, Sultanahmet, was first named Mustafa İzzet after his grandfather, he was later called Abdülbâki (meaning “Servant of the Immortal God”) so he may have a long life. The surname he chose was Gölpınarlı, which originates from his family’s village, Gölpınar. The environment Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı was raised in was tightly knit with Islamic culture and Sufism. His father Ahmed Agâh Efendi had embraced Bektashism during the time he was in Ruse, and then Nakshism when he came to Istanbul. Besides being tutored by his father, Gölpınarlı, who grew up surrounded by a profound culture and attended the Bahariye Mawlawi Lodge at the age of 7-8, was also involved with mysticism and sect culture. Starting to be versed in the path of Bektashism, Nakshism, and Mawlawiyah, Gölpınarlı starts his studies at Yusuf Pasha Primary School, located in the Hoca Tahsin Madrasah on Babıali Street. Then, he attends the private Menbau’lIrfan Rüşdiyesi (Wisdom Spring Junior High School) and the Gelenbevi High
School. After losing his father in 1916, whilst still studying at Gelenbevi High School, he drops out and starts to work. Taking up a position as a teacher of geography and Persian in the Menbau’l-Irfan Rüşdiyesi, the school from which he graduated, Gölpınarlı also worked as a stationery seller and bookseller in Vezneciler. In the years to follow, suffering bad straits, he accepts the invitation
of his friends and starts to work as head adjutant and teacher in 1919 at Kenzu’lIrfan (Treasure of Wisdom) Primary School in the Alaca county of Çorum. During his three to four years working in Alaca, he becomes committed to the Hüseyin Dede Dervish Lodge. When he returns to Istanbul, he sells his paternal house and allocates some of the money to his education. In 1924, after being admitted to the senior class of the Istanbul Teachers Training School for Boys, Gölpınarlı first graduates from the Istiklal High School in 1926, and then gets his bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Literature in 1930. Following his life at university, he teaches literature in high schools in Konya, Kayseri, Kastamonu, and Balıkesir. During Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı’s tenure in Balıkesir, the future erudite Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık becomes his student. While he holds this teaching post, he also visits Istanbul and teaches at Istanbul University Library, Vefa High School, and Haydarpaşa High School. When the students of the Haydarpaşa High School start to only attend Gölpınarlı’s classes, this becomes an issue -every other teacher says, “They are all ditching our classes and attending Bâki’s.” In response to this Gölpınarlı says, “There are no lazy students, but teachers who can’t make their course endearing.”
Growing up in a culturally
abundant family, Gölpınarlı was versed in Sufism through the tutelage first of his father Ahmed Agâh Efendi, and then Bahariye Mawlawi Lodge Sheikh Hüseyin Fahreddin Dede and Hoylu Hacı Şeyh Ali Efendi. Gathering resources for his studies that ensued, Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı was tutored by İsmail Saib Sencer, Ömer Ferid Kam, Ahmed Naib Bey, Ahmed İzzet Efendi, and Fuad Köprülü. Even though, he fell out with Fuad Köprülü in the following years, Gölpınarlı always mentioned that he had learned methodology from him.
Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı, who was a lecturer at the time, took a step into the life of academia in 1939, as an associate professor when he was granted a PhD for his work “The Life of Yunus Emre” by the Faculty of Language, History and Geography of
Ankara University. In 1942, transferring to the Faculty of Literature at Istanbul University, he lectures in Islamic Turkish Sufism
History and Literature. In 1945, Gölpınarlı is arrested on the claims of being associated with a communist organization and is incarcerated for 318 days. He is taken under custody for reading the “Regulations of the Progressivist Youth Union” to his friends. In the court, where he is later acquitted, maintaining he is not related to the materialist doctrine in any way, he reads out a 24-page written statement. Ord. Prof. Dr. A. Süheyl Ünver defends Gölpınarlı. Ünver says that on that day, none of Gölpınarlı’s friends were present, and only an associate professor from the Faculty of Law and himself were there to defend Bâki. Acquitted in
1946, Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı voluntarily retires from Istanbul University in 1949. Passing away on August 25, 1982, in Istanbul, Gölpınarlı is buried in the Seyitahmet Deresi Cemetery. The epitaph which he penned himself, is inscribed on his tombstone in the Melami style by Prof. Dr. Ali Alparslan, a student of Gölpınarlı who was one of the last great masters of the art of Islamic calligraphy.
Despite being quick-tempered and prone to expounding an opinion in complete contrast to one he might have advocated earlier, he was devoted to
Shiah and Mawlawiyah all his life. Besides around 114 books, both complete and in progress, and over 400 academic papers, he also wrote textbooks for primary schools in his youth. Saying, “I write not solely what I have read but also experienced,” Gölpınarlı was a prolific figure who appended signature to significant works. Besides his original works, he also authored translations to which he contributed greatly with his footnotes. He translated the “Al-Quran Al-Kerim” and “Mathnawi.” His work on old Turkish literature and Sufism was widely published and frequently cited. Besides many reference books such as “The Life of Yunus Emre,” “Melamiyah and Melamis,” “Mawlawiyah after Mawlana,” “Simavna Kadısıoğlu Şeyh Bedreddin,” “The Ca’feri Sect and its Principles,” “Islamic Sects Throughout History,” and “Shiah, The Hadith of His Holiness Mouhammed,” and “Al-Quran Al-Kerim and Its Interpretation,” Gölpınarlı also penned poems (diwan) from the days of his youth and throughout the duration of his life.