Ismail Hakki Bursevi RA (1652-1725)- Ottoman Scholar, Jalveti Sufi Author & Guide

Ismail Hakkı Bursevî (Turkish: Bursalı İsmail Hakkı, Arabic: إسماعيل حقي البروسوي‎, Persian: Esmā’īl Ḥaqqī Borsavī) was a 17th-century Ottoman Turkish Muslim scholar, a Jelveti Sufi author on mystical experience and the esoteric interpretation of the Quran; also a poet and musical composer.^[1] İsmail Hakkı Bursevî influenced many parts the Ottoman Empire but primarily Turkey. To this day he is revered as one of the Büyükler, the great saints of Anatolia.

He is regarded as an eminent literary figure in the Turkish language, having authored more than a hundred works.^[2] Translations of some of his works are now available for the English-speaking world.^[3][4]

As a Sufi of Jelveti order, Ismail Hakki Bursevi put all his energy and resilience into being of ‘bearer of light’. The plaque on his tomb says:

"If you want to be a pure servant in everlasting salvation, hold onto the hem of Ahmad’s Sharia with love.

If you want to drink from the cup of the effusion of essential Unity, then become the unique human in the most beautiful realm.

Don’t let the Lote-tree or Ṭūbā captivate your soul and occupy the moment, reach up to the world of spirits, with all of yourself.

Never look at a lover with the eye of an ascetic, never think of a child learning their ABC as equal to a wise man of knowledge.

Whoever has lit the fire of Tawhid in their heart, O Hakki, their grave shall be illumined with the light of the Ḥaqq."

Major works

İsmail Hakkı was one of the most prolific Ottoman scholars, with 106 books and pamphlets: 46 in Arabic. and 60 in Turkish^[6] To this day he is revered as an eminent literary figure in the Turkish language.^[2] He wrote on Islamic sciences, Sufism, Tasawuf, Islamic philosophy, morality and tafsir in a style avoiding the flowery style of many contemporaries,^[6] resembling the style of Yunus Emre.^[2]

The most famous of his published works are:

Rūḥ al-bayān ("The Spirit of Elucidation"), a voluminous esoteric interpretation of the Quran, combining the ideas of the author, Ibn Arabi and Al-Ghazali, written in a Persian poetic form.^[8] (4637 pages, 4 vols. Boulaq, 1859)
Rūḥ al-Mathnawī, a commentary on verses of the Masnavi (Istanbul, 1870–1872)
A commentary on the Fusus al-Hikam by ibn ʻArabi, translated into English (Oxford, 1985–1991)^[3]
Lübb’ül-Lüb (Kernel of the Kernel), translated into English (Cheltenham, 1980)^[4]
Šarḥ-e pand-nāma-ye ʿAṭṭār, a translation of ʿAṭṭār’s Pand-nāma (Istanbul, 1772)
Šarḥ-e Būstān; and a dīvān in Turkish (Cairo, 1841)
Commentary on Najm al-Din Kubra's al-Uṣūl al-ʿašara (Istanbul, 1874)^[1]
Wikipedia:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ismail_Haqqi_Bursevi

Ismail Hakki BurseviBiographical Notes on Ismail Hakki Bursevi collected and translated by Christopher Ryan

https://www.chisholme.org/resources/overview/ismail-hakki-bursevi-extended-version.html

Mystical Philosophy as the source of Ottoman Tolerance : The case of Ismail Hakki Bursevi's Doctrine of Being. PDF:http://www.asianpa.net/assets/upload/articles/UwrmgBh9N62LphoW.pdf

Ismail Hakki Bursevi's Translation & Commentary on Fusus al-Hikm

https://www.amazon.com/Ismail-Bursevis-Translation-Commentary-al-Hikam/dp/0954405706

Kernel of the Kernel ,Translated by Ismail Hakki Bursevi

http://sufibooks.com.au/product/kernel-of-the-kernel-translated-by-ismail-hakki-bursevi/