Hadji Bayram Wali : An Awliya from Ankara
Bayram is his nickname, his real name is Nûmân bin Ahmed bin Mahmood. He was born in Ankara in 1352 and passed away in the same city in 1429. His tomb is a popular destination today just near the Hadji Bayram mosque in Ulus district of Ankara.
He started studying Islamic disciplines as well as other sciences at early age and started working as a mudarris(teacher) at a madrasa in Ankara.
Although this occupation kept him busy in daily life, deep in his soul, he was searching for some answers to different questions. He lacked the need to attend the classes of some sufi-aleem but didn’t know whom to follow by then.
One day a visitor showed up at his madrasa and told him the news that some sheik from city of Kayseri by the name of Hameededdin Wali was expecting him. He regarded this invitation as a divine token and followed the call and travelled to the city of Kayseri.
There, he studied both in batine and zahire disciplines. These are two tasawwuf related terms and batin means hidden and inner, zahir means manifest and outer. Generally speaking batin courses are related to Sufism and secrets of tasawwuf and zahir courses are regular disciplines of Islam that are available to public while they study at a madrasa. To advance in batin courses one needs a “sufi teacher” usually. Here, in the case of Hadji Bayram Wali, the unexpected, or shall we say, serendipitous call from an unknown visitor led him to study “batin” courses during his close conversations with Hameededdin Wali in Kayseri.
He then went to pilgrimage with his teacher, and when he passed away he became his heir in the field of education and “irshad”, guiding the public to the path of Islam.
He foretold his students about harbinger of Sultan Mehmet’s conquest of Istanbul long before the incident.
He busied himself with Islamic education to many students of his era and especially kept himself and ardent follower of “taqwa lifestyle”
Here are some of his suggestions to his students:
*If you want to stay away from mundane conflicts generated by humans, try to stay away from shops and everything related to shopping.
*Wrath and rage will make your eyes blind, will deform your thinking abilities
*Remember death while living. Adjust yourself and manners according to this fact before it arrives.
*When you witness mischievous behaviors of your friends and neighbors, don’t publicize them, try to conceal them.
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