Research Information System
Darulfunun Ilahiyat, vol.37, no.1, pp.319-343, 2026 (Scopus, TRDizin)
The Sufi tradition, which has influenced Islamic civilization on both intellectual and practical levels, has significantly contributed to Turkish-Islamic culture through a corpus of works reflecting its worldview. One of these contributions is silsilanāmas (genealogies), which constitute some of the most important written documents of the Sufi heritage. Composed in either verse or prose, these works trace the spiritual lineages of Sufi shaykhs back to the Prophet Muhammad, constituting valuable sources for the study of Sufi literature and history. The silsilanāma entitled Silsile-i Meşāyikh-i Ṭarīq-i Khalwatiyya, which forms the subject of this study, represents a notable example of this genre. Composed in the mathnawi form, this work delineates the spiritual genealogy of the Khalwati shaykhs. Its authorship, however, has been a matter of debate in dissertations and other academic studies. Based on a separate and comprehensive investigation that identified additional manuscript copies, this study concludes that the text was produced within the framework of a zeyl (supplementary) tradition among Khalwati shaykhs, whereby each shaykh expanded and enriched the work in his own period. An examination of the extant manuscripts demonstrates that the work was initially authored by Shams al-Dīn Sivāsī and subsequently extended by ͑Abd al-Majīd Sīvāsī, ͑Abd al-Aḥad Nūrī Sīvāsī, and Shaykh ͑Abd al-Bāqī.