ELĪF EFENDI, Ḥaṣīrīzāda

 

ELĪFEFENDI, Ḥaṣīrīzāda (b. in Sütlüce, Rajab 1266/May 1850; d. 28 Jomādā I 1345/4 December 1926), Turkish poet and scholar. He was the son of Aḥmad Moḵtār Efendi, the shaikh of the takīya (dervish lodge) at Sütlüce in Istanbul. On 1 Šawwāl 1280/10 March 1864 his father entrusted him to the Mawlawī reciter Ḥosām-al-Dīn Efendi. After his initial education, he studied Arabic with well-known scholars. In 1303/1885-86 he received his ejāza (q.v.), while also taking lessons in calligraphy and attending lessons in Rūmī’s Maṯònawī taught by Ṣalāḥ-al-Dīn Efendi, the shaikh of the Mawlawī lodge at Yenikapi. Elīf then began to teach the Maṯnawī, and in 1316/1898-99 he donned the Mawlawī turban and garment. When in 1297/1879-80 Aḥmad Moḵtār Efendi went on pilgrimage to Mecca, he placed his son in charge of the takīya during his absence. The shaikh resumed his post after his return, while Elīf Efendi remained his deputy (nāyeb) until his father’s death. At that point he succeeded his father as the takīya’s shaikh and devoted all his time to the teaching of the Maṯnawī. He also wrote poetry in Arabic and Persian. A considerable part of his Dīvān includes Persian qaṣīdas and ḡazals. His Dīvān has not yet been published. His prose works comprise a few resālas, including one called Moḵtār al-enbāʾ fi’l-ḥorūf wa’l rosūf wa baʿż al-asmāʾ in Turkish and a commentary (šarḥ) on Komayl b. Zīād’s Semerel al-ḥads fī mazīyat al-nafs, which consists of responses Komayl received from ʿAlī b. Abī Ṭāleb (q.v.) to questions about the soul(nafs).

 

Bibliography:

İ. M. Kemal İnal, Son asır Türk şairleri, Istanbul, 1969, I, p. 293 (examples of Elīf’s poetry).

Saʿd-al-Dīn Nüzhet Ergun, Türk şairleri, Istanbul, 1228/1813.

(Tahsin Yaziçi)

Originally Published: December 15, 1998

Last Updated: December 13, 2011

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