Shaban-i Wali : An Awliya from Kastamonu
He was an important figure of during the 16th century Ottomans and was born in the city of Kastamonu. His birth year is unknown and he passed away in 1568.
At an early age, he went to Istanbul to study Islamic disciplines like tafsir, hadith and fiqh. On his way back to Kastamonu after he completed his “zahir” studies, in other words formal education, he stopped by the city of Bolu where he met Hayraddeen Tokhadi, who was known to be great scholar of tasawwuf and he was a follower of the Halwati sufi order. Under his spiritual guidance, Shaban-i Wali studied tasawwuf and due his teacher “barakah”, in other words educational prosperity, he reached important stages in the field of tasawwuf.
When he returned to Kastamonu he buried himself with the tasks of sharing his knowledge about everything related to Islamic studies and principals of Sufism. For instance, when he received any kind of gift, he immediately distributed them to the poor and the needy, despite the fact that he himself was very poor.
One day a town folk came to his dergah to ask for help. He claimed that he was very poor and cried that he had a mule to help to earn his daily living but said that the mule had died. Shaban Wali started praying for him and there appeared a horseman along with a mule. He came nearby and presented the mule to Shaban Wali and said “I’ve been planning to visit you, please accept this mule” Shaban Wali turned to the man who just lost his mule and told him “Here, Allah-u Teala(j.j) has granted you a better mule, take it and use iğt but do not ever forget to be thankful to Allah(j.j).” The horseman who brought the mule was surprised and when the town folks asked him why he was surprised he said “I have been long planning this trip to visit Shaban Wali but suddenly I had urge to do it now and bring him a mule”
Here, this kind of short “anecdote” is called “manqeebe” meaning “inspirational short story containing religious tone and content. Here the importance lies under the message Shaban Wali gave to the poor man while presenting him his new mule, saying that “be thankful to Allah(j.j).”
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