The Description of Paradise in Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Rida's Genc al-Esrar

Abstract

In Turkish-Islamic literature, many copyright or translation nasihat-nama with religious-mystical content have been written. In these works written in verse or prose form, information about the principles of Islamic belief and worship is given; people are advised to be moral, faithful, observant of the orders and prohibitions of religion, prioritizing the hadiths of the Prophet, benevolent and tolerant. One of these nasihat-namas is Genc al-Esrar, in which verses consisting of different verse forms are connected to each other with instrumental couplets. As can be understood from the types and contents of the works he copyrighted, Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Rida from Gaziantep, a sufi poet, was affiliated with Shaykh 'Othman 'Avni Baba from 'Urfa., one of the caliphs of the Khaliisiya branch of the Qadiri sect, and Shaykh Mustafa Baba from Gaziantep, who was his caliph. In Genc al-Esrar, which was written on 22 Rebiulahir (Raba II) 1342/December 2, 1923, the concept of heaven was discussed from various aspects. The poet who uses the Esrari pseudonym in the poem, sometimes by quoting verses and hadiths, he used argument and proof to make his word trustworthy, sometimes by embellishing his personal imagination of heaven with the opportunity provided by literary arts, he depicted and narrated the lofty place that the reader would like to reach. After integrating the imagination of the poet with the description, it was narrated, and an effect on the reader was tried to be achieved with the atmosphere created by the story. In these sections, where the narration comes to the fore, Muhammad 'Ali Rida presented the concept of heaven, which he created in his own imagination, by blending it with the Qur'an and hadith. In our study, it is aimed to reveal in which dimensions and forms the notion of heaven is depicted in Genc al-Esrar. For this purpose, first of all, data about the paradise in Genc al-Esrar were determined by using the scanning model, which is one of the research methods. All kinds of information, comments, and narratives that can help us to make an inference about Sayyid Muhammad 'Ali Riga's vision and description of heaven has been studied under four headings: Physical Description of Paradise, Description of Names, Types and Doors of Paradise, Description of the Inhabitants of Paradise and Mysterious Expression of His Desire to Reach Paradise. This study, which reveals that heaven is handled in detail and artistically in Genc al-Esrar, which was written in 1923 by adhering to the tradition of divan literature, is important in terms of shedding light on the existence of Islamic literature in the 20th century. As a result of the research, it is seen that Esrari depicts the physical features of heaven with words, based on the verses and hadith about heaven. Esrari said that heaven is composed of musq, saffron, qafiur and 'amber; he stated that there are vineyards and gardens of unmatched beauty in heaven. Describing countless cities that are a thousand times the size of this world and the thousands of doors, tents, pavilions and cells in these cities, the poet wrote that there is a throne in front of the cells in heaven. He also mentioned that there was a mattress on these thrones and that a funnel was sitting on this mattress. After stating that there are milk, honey, wine and kevser rivers in heaven, Muhammad Ali Riza, who explained the characteristics of these rivers, also described the selsebil spring with kafir and tesnim drinks. The poet, who physically described the Buraqs in heaven, narrated their behavior. Esrari also described the birds of paradise with their various characteristics and stated that there are blessings in paradise that no one can imagine. Stating that a large number of houris, each of which will be 16 years old, will be given to the people of heaven, Esrari has described the houris physically. He also explained in an exaggerated style the attitude and behavior of the houris towards the people of heaven. It is seen that the poet, who also described and narrated the gilman and wildans in heaven, divided the heaven into two as the ordinary ('awam) and elite (khwas). Esrari mentioned the names of the gates of heaven as Dar al-Celal, Dar es-Selam, Dar al-Me'va, Dar al-Khuld, Dar al-Firdevs, Dar al-Uarar and Dar al-'Adn and wrote down their physical structures. After stating that Hasan, Huseyin and 'Omer reside in heaven, Esrari stated that those who love Abu Bakr will reach paradise. He made physical descriptions of the inhabitants of heaven and explained in detail the transfer of people to paradise who passed the as-Shat on the day of judgment. Esrari stated that on Saturday Adam would have a banquet in the Khuld; on Sunday Suleyman would have a banquet in the Na'im, on Monday Ibrahim would have a banquet in the Firdevs; on Tuesday Musa would have a banquet in the Me'va.; on Wednesday Isa would have a banquet in the 'Adn and on Thursday Prophet Muhammad would have a banquet in the Vesile. It is seen that Esrari narrates those who will be honored by ru'yat Allah in Dar al-Celal on Friday.