ALI DEDE BOŠNJAK (1540–1598)

Ali Dede Bošnjak (1540–1598), or Ali Dede al-Bosnawi, one of the best-known Bosniak authors, Sufis, mystics, Theosophists, teachers, thinkers and poets of the 16th century. By the number of works and popularity he ranks second, rights after Hasan Kafija Pruščak (1544–1615). Literature refers to the full name of Ali Dede Bošnjak as to Ali b. Mustafa al-Bosnawi. According to nicknames and adjectives he attributed to himself, literature refers to him as to al-Busnawī mawlidan (Bosnian by birth), Sigetwari (one who stayed under Szigeth as a sheikh and fighter), Halwatī (member of Khalwati Sufi order), Turbe-šeyhī (guard of Sultan Suleiman's tomb under Szigeth), Harimī (pen name), Nūrī (Enlightened), Rūmī (one who comes from the European part of the Ottoman State) and others.

With respect to the name Turbe Šeyhi which is often attributed to him, Ibrahim Alajbegović Pečevi (1574–1649) in his Historija (History) claims that Ali Dede Bošnjak got it because, in 1566, he became the sheikh of the tomb at the spot where Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent was killed under Szigeth.

Ali Dede Bošnjak was born in Mostar, in about 1540, as believed by Ismet Kasumović. On the other hand, hafiz Haso Popara believes that Ali Dede Bošnjak draws origin from Foča and provides convincing evidence of the fact. Besides, Haso Popara claims that Ali Dede Bošnjak was also the first known director of Gazi Husrev-beg's hanikah (dervish monastery) in Sarajevo. Ali Dede Bošnjak was educated and lived at big centers of the East of the time; he mastered traditional Islamic sciences and disciplines and was a brilliant expert in Sufism, philosophy, exoteric and esoteric sciences, theosophy, poetry, history, law and literature.

His best-known works include the following:

1. Muḥaḍarat al-awāʼil wa musāmarat al-awāḫir (Lectures on initial events and narrations of last happenings). This extensive work consists of two parts. After almost three hundred years of remaining in the manuscript form, it was published in Cairo in the late 19th century and experienced two editions. It deals with traditional cosmology, history of nature and society, minerals, vegetative and animal and human worlds. It also discusses the emergence of languages, scripts, sciences. In this work, the author is largely influenced by the famous Egyptian polyhistor Jalaluddin al-Suyuti (1445–1505).

2. Ḫawātim al-ḥikam (Stamps of Wisdom). This work is sometimes also called Ḥall al-rumūz wa kašf al-kunūz (Resolving symbols and opening treasuries). Besides, it is claimed that the work also appears under the title Asʼilat- l-ḥikam (Philosophical problems). Ali Dede Bošnjak wrote it during his stay in Hungary, and it ended up in Sultan Suleiman's tomb. Although manuscripts of the work appear under three different titles, researchers claim that it is one and the same work and that it contains almost four hundred questions and answers from different fields (tasawwuuf, law, dogmatics, theology, theosophy). Ḫawātim al-ḥikam can also be considered as a short and pertinent commentary of the Qur'an, which Ali Dede Bošnjak wrote under the influence of mystical views of Ibn Arebi.

3. Anwār al-mašārik (Lights of the East). The work probably deals with Sufi authorities.

4. Subāʻiyyāt fī al-furūʻi (Heptameter on some legal issues), a work dealing with Islamic law.

5. Al Risāla al intiṣāriyya (Triumphant Discussion), a work written as a collection of panegyrics in favor of the Ottoman line of rulers. Besides, as Hazim Šabanović claims, the work includes wise maxims of well-known people, parts about mystical inspirations and predictions. In general, Al Risāla al intiṣāriyya (Triumphant Discussion) does not hesitate to claim that the „Ottoman Empire will last forever ˮ.

6. Mawāqif al-āḫira wa l-laṭāʼif al-fāḫira (Scenes of afterlife and refined beauty) deals with the sublime aesthetics of Islamic eschatology.

7. Risāla fī bayān riǧāl al-gayb li šayḫ ʻAli al-mašhūr bi Turba šayḫi (Treatise on transcendental humanity, treatise on invisible people written by sheikh ʻAlī, known as a sheikh who guards the sultan's tomb). This work has been studied by Ismet Kasumović. The topic of the work focuses on metaphysical or transcendental humanity (riǧāl al-gayb).

8. Tarbīʻ al-marātib wa l-uṣūl li arbāb al-mawṣūl (A Sufi treatise on spiritual sations /squaring of degrees/ of mystics in Islam and reaching spiritual truths). According to Ismet Kasumović, the work essentially deals with Sufi stations on ladders of cognition and spiritual maturing achieved by mystics. Ibn Arebi's influence can be observed in the work.

9. Tarǧama-i kaṣīda rūḥāniyya (According to Šabanović, it is a “Turkish translation of a poem about the soul which was written in Arabic by Ibn Sina /Avicena/”).

10. Tamkīn al-makām fī masǧid al-ḥarām (Setting maqams of Ibrāhīm in Kaaba). The work was written on the occasion of the restoration of a part of the Sacred Mosque in Mecca, which was supervised by Ali Dede Bošnjak upon the order by sultan Murat III himself. Certainly, the work also has an esoteric dimension, since the author deals with mystic stations (maqām) which can be reached during stays in the Sacred Mosque of Mecca.  

Ali Dede Bošnjak is also known as a poet, and his verses are found quoted or briefly analyzed in many works. In general, his poetry has “contemplative-philosophical content”  (Kasumović).

According to Ismet Kasumović, manuscripts by Ali Dede Bošnjak are found in libraries of Vienna, Paris, Berlin, Istanbul, Cairo, Baghdad, Moscow and Zagreb. There are about or over a hundred and forty manuscripts of Ali Dede Bošnjak across the world.

Ali Dede Bošnjak dealt with natural history, history of countries and empires, human inventions, commenting the Qur'an, mysticism and tasawwuf, eschatology, symbolism of numbers, spiritual life of transcendental people, legends, sagas, holy geography of the Sacred Mosque, religious-law discussions in the form of questions and answers etc. Ali Dede Bošnjak certainly deserves credit for spreading and popularizing tasawwuf teachings and mystical views of Ibn Arebi in Bosnia.

References:

• Karić, Enes (2016), Tradicionalna Bosna, islamske teološke, filozofske i logičke rasprave, Sarajevo: Centar za napredne studije.

• Kasumović, Ismet (1994), Ali Dede Bošnjak i njegova filozofijsko sufijska misao, Sarajevo: El-Kalem.

• Mehmedović, Ahmed (2018), Leksikon bošnjačke uleme, Sarajevo: Gazi Husrev-begova biblioteka.

• Popara, Haso, Ali-Dede Bošnjak je bio Fočak i prvi poznati šejh Gazi Husrev-begova hanikaha u Sarajevu!, objav. u: Iz rukopisnog blaga Gazi Husrev-begove biblioteke, Gazi Husrev-begova biblioteka, Sarajevo, 2019.

• Šabanović, Hazim, Ali Dede Bošnjak, objav. u: Književnost Muslimana BiH na orijentalnim jezicima, Svjetlost, Sarajevo, 1973.