Verrâk’ı Ararken Yakînî’ye Rastlamak: Ebû Bekir el-Verrâk’a (ö. 280/893) Nisbet Edilen Risâle-i Tasavvuf'un Aidiyeti ve Muhtevâsı
Encountering Yaqīnī While Searching for al-Warrāq: The Authorship and Content of the Risāla-i Taṣawwuf Attributed to Abū Bakr al-Warrāq (d. 280/893)

Summary/Abstract: Sūfī authors such as al-Kalābādhī (d. 380/990), al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021), al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072), and al-Hujwīrī (d. 465/1072[?]) mention Abū Bakr al-Warrāq (d. 280/893), a Sūfī who lived in Balkh in the third/ninth century, and record that he authored works on taṣawwuf. Based on this information, a Persian prose treatise titled Risāla-yi Taṣawwuf housed in the Süleymaniye Library, which is attributed to al-Warrāq, draws particular attention. While al-Warrāq’s origin from Tirmidh and his residence in Balkh make the possibility of his authorship of a Persian work plausible, the text—which lacks an author's name in the introduction—contains citations from Sūfīs such as Mawlānā Jalāl alDīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273) and Fakhr al-Dīn ‘Irāqī (d. 688/1289) in its very first pages. These citations definitively prove that the work does not belong to al-Warrāq. Furthermore, in the colophon (kataba) at the end of the treatise, the author’s name is explicitly recorded as "Kātibuhū Dervīsh Yūsufī-yi Ḥaydarī bi’l-mashhūr Yaqīnī." Additionally, within the treatise itself, Yaqīnī (d. 15th c.) explicitly records his name while referring to another treatise of his own, titled Bashāratnāma. Since the author is explicitly mentioned both within the text and at its conclusion, the issue of attribution is effectively resolved. It is understood that the attribution of the work to al-Warrāq stems from an error made during cataloging. The source of this error appears to be the inscription on the first page of the majmū‘a (anthology) containing the treatise, which reads "Risāla-yi taṣawwuf min ‘ilm al-akhlāq li’lShaykh Abī Bakr al-Warrāq." Consequently, it is evident that the treatise was cataloged under alWarrāq’s name without examination.This study examines the manuscript in question, which was inadvertently attributed to al-Warrāq, employing methods of historical and textual criticism. The attribution of the work has been re-determined through an analysis of the manuscript's physical characteristics, the colophon, and internal historical references (cited figures and terminology). The content of the work has been analyzed in terms of the history and doctrine of taṣawwuf, thereby establishing its place within Yaqīnī’s system of thought. The aim of this study is to correct the error regarding the work's attribution, to alert researchers to a hitherto unknown treatise by Yaqīnī—one of the prominent poets of Chaghatay literature—and to evaluate its content. Until now, it was assumed that only a small prose treatise titled Ok-yaynıng Munāẓarası, written in Chaghatay Turkish, had survived from Yaqīnī. With this article, a new treatise reflecting his intellectual structure comes to light for the first time; thus, this study opens a door to exploring Yaqīnī’s world of thought. Moreover, the content of the work provides an opportunity to discuss whether Yaqīnī can be associated with ibāḥa, ḥulūl, and even Ḥurūfism. This study will pave the way for new research in which this discussion is raised by experts in the field and Yaqīnī’s relationship with these circles is interrogated.

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