Awliyas:Mehmet Emeen Thokadee
Mehmet Emeen Thokadee was one of most the influential mutaṣawwufs of Ottoman empire during the 17th century. He was born in city of Tokad in the Anatolian peninsula in 1664 and passed away in 1745 in Istanbul. He is also considered as one of three grand awliyas of Istanbul.
He started studying “ilm” at early age in Tokad and arrived in Istanbul in 1698. He improved his education in Islamic Sciences from Sheikh-ul-Islam of that era, Mirzâzâde Mohammed Efendy and then travelled to Mecca to study tasawwuf from Ahmed Yekdest Juryânî. He was also interested in calligraphy and took lessons from Abdullah Efendy of Yedikule, in Istanbul
Mehmet Emeen Thokadee became popular among public but he has insisted in keeping low profile, concealing his inner reflections and his “hals”, which is divine states in tasawwuf. According to some mutasawwufs, a hal means state, and a sufi can obtain knowledge on religious matters, not from books and texts but from “personal experiences based on divine phases and states(Haller, plural of Hal) if Allah(j.j) grants upon them.
For instance, he always tried to wear clothes in such a way that he was seen like an ordinary folk among the public. He suggested the same mentality of keeping low profile to this students.
He wrote in a letter to one of his students:
“One should know why we are born in to this world, the real reason is to be worshipper to Allah-u Teala(j.j) One should seek marifatullah(the study of knowing Allah(j.j) with his full attributes) while being alive so to be granted both mundane and eternal happiness”
There are many friends of this world, friends of commodity, friends of beauty and other things. However being a friend of Allah very valuable and is like a grand elixir, which is very rarely sought and found.
He published many works, in Arabic, Turkish and Farsi. He’s known to recount many tafsir books and hadith books like Buhari and Muslim, from his memory during his meetings and classes.
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