How Should Hacı Bektaş Veli’s Velâyet-Nâme and Kerâmet’s Be Interpreted?

Hacı Bektaş Veli Velâyet-Nâmesi ve Kerâmetleri Nasıl Yorumlanmalı?

Abstract

The way to understand the works, stories, proverbs, and poems correctly is possible by knowing the history, language, value judgments, problems, and symbolic expressions of the period. These stories, which are intended to teach people a lesson and make them think, are a short way of expressing impressive and thought-provoking. Especially in the 21st century, in the narration of miraculous legends, comparing the legends only in terms of known physical laws reduces the credibility of these stories. For seven centuries, the life and keramet of Hacı Bektaş Veli have occupied an extremely important place in the memory of the people. Explaining his keramet became a cure for heartaches and hope for despair. In the age we live in, quick and easy access to information has made people question these stories more. In this paper, we examined Hacı Bektaş Veli's views on many issues and what messages he gave us in the 13th century when he lived: Animal rights, what should be the place of women in society, that wisdom and spiritual greatness are not an exception only to men, how he treats people of other faiths, the sanctity of earning with one's own effort, how the perfect human being should behave in society, what should be the distance from politics, the limits of patience that a dervish should have, etc. Considering the language of expression of the period and the value judgments of the society, the keramet elements in the work called Velâyet-Nâme and the transcendent thoughts that are intended to be explained will be examined, and how they should be understood will be discussed.

Keywords: Hacı Bektaş Veli, Bektashism, Velâyet-Nâme, Keramet.