ʿABD-AL-QĀDER BALḴĪ

 

ʿABD-AL-QĀDER BALḴĪ (1839-1923), an Ottoman Sufi and poet who came originally from Balḵ. He was born at Ḵānqāh, one of the villages of the city of Qondoz. His father was Sayyed Solaymān Ḥosaynī, an important personage of the sādāt-e Ḥosaynīya (sayyeds descending from Ḥosayn). In 1272/1855-56 ʿAbd-al-Qāder went to Konya together with his father. After staying there for a time he went first to Bursa and then to Istanbul upon the invitation of the Ottoman sultan, ʿAbd-al-ʿAzīz. In Istanbul he was given the position of shaikh in a tekye. After occupying this position for ten years he died on 23 Raǰab 1341/15 March 1923.

Works: Seven maṯnavīs of a mystical character are all written in Persian; the Persian and Turkish poems of ʿAbd-al-Qāder Balḵī are contained in a dīvān. 1. Yanābīʿ al-ḥekam. This maṯnavī was modeled on one by his father, Shaikh Solaymān, named Yanābīʿ al-mawadda; it consists of 11,000 lines (bayts). 2. Golšan-e asrār, 6,876 lines, written in hazaǰ meter. 3. Konūz al-ʿārefīn fī asrār al-tawḥīd, 5,453 lines. 4. Asrār al-tawḥīd, 232 lines; it was published in Istanbul in 1325/1907-08 and was translated into Turkish as a poem by the vali of Salonica, Nāẓem Pāšā. This translation was also published in Istanbul in 1331/1913. 5. Šams-e raḵšān, a maṯnavī of 7,777 lines. 6. Sonūḥāt, 2,260 lines. 7. Elhāmāt-e rabbānīya. 8. The Dīvān, which is rather large in size, contains his Turkish and Persian poems. All of these works are much more important from the point of view of mysticism than for their literary value.

Bibliography:

Ibnüʾlemin Mahmut Kemal, Son asir Türk şâirleri, I, p. 26.

A. Gölpınarlı, Melâmilik ve malâmiler, Istanbul, 1931, pp. 181-89.

S. Nüzhet Ergun, Türk şâirleri, Istanbul, n.d., I, fols. 229b-33a.

(T. Yazici)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 14, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, pp. 131-132

Cite this entry:

T. Yazici, “'Abd-Al-Qader Balki,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, pp. 131-132; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abd-al-qader-balki-1839-1923-ottoman-sufi-and-poet (accessed on 16 January 2014).