Haji Bektash Veli

Who was Haji Bektash Veli?

Haji Bektash Veli or Hadji Baktāsh Wālī was a Muslim mystic, Sayyid, humanist and philosopher from Nishapur in Khorasan, Persia, who lived and taught from approximately 1209 to 1271 in Anatolia. His original name was "Sayyeed Muhammad ibn Sayyeed Ebrāheem Ātā", was one of the figures who flourished in the Sultanate of Rum and had an important influence on the Turkoman nomads of Asia Minor.

Not much is known about him, his origins are shrouded in mystery and much of his biography is based on legends. It is generally assumed that he was of Iranian descent, and belonged to a group of Iranian migrants in Anatolia who had left their homeland during the Mongol conquests. But some sources claim that he was Turkic. According to "The history of Āshikpāshāzādah", written by one of the grandsons of "Āshik Pāshā" who was the son of "Muhlis Paşa" who was the son of renowned Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī, "Sayyeed Muhammad ibn Sayyeed Ebrāheem Ātā" had come to Sivas, Anatolia from Khorasan with his brother “Menteş” to become affiliated with the tariqat of Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī. On the other hand, the famous reference book of Bāktāsh’īyyah tariqat, Valāyat-Nāma-i Hādjī Baktāsh-ī Wālī, claims that "Hajji Bāktāsh" was the murshid of Bābā Rāss’ūl-Allāh.