An evaluation on the Chagatai translation of Muhammad Sâdiq Shihâbī Sa’dî Qâdirî’s Menâkıb-ı Ghavsiyya

Abstract

This study is about the manâqib of Abdulqâdir Gaylânî, which was written in Persian in Turkestan in the XVIIIth century and translated into Chagatai by a person named Molla Yusuf in the XIXth century. The source of the study is the Menâqib-i Ghavsiyya of Muhammad Sâdiq Shihâbî Sa’dî Qâdirî, which was transcribed and translated by Mullah Yusuf b. Mullah Rahman/Rahim, and the scope of the study is limited to this work. Prof. Dr. Abdullah Gündoğdu took the copy in his personal collection as a basis for the study. Menâqib-i Ghavsiyya is a translation of the work written in Persian by Muhammad Sâdık Shihâbî Sa’dî Qâdirî. As Abdülqâdir Gaylânî, his science, preaching, lineage and activities spread to a very wide geography, especially his menâqib was also written or translated in Turkistan. Considering the high number and widespread use of the Menâqibnamas of Abdulqâdir Gaylânî, it is understood that Qâdirîyya was influential in Turkestan. Qâdirîyya, which is divided into approximately fifty branches, still exists in India, Turkestan, Anatolia and the Balkans, Africa, the Middle East, the whole of Asia, Europe, America, Australia: it is still active and widespread everywhere. The silsilas of the Qâdirî branches spreading in Turkistan are based on Abdurrazzâk Gaylânî. Considering that Abdurrazzâq Gaylânî lived in the XIIth and XIIIth centuries (v. 1207), it is understood that Qâdirîyya reached Turkestan at an early date and continued its existence for many years. Menâqib-i Ghavsiyya, translated by Molla Yusuf, indicates that the Qâdirî Order continued its activities and existence in Turkestan in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and has reached to the present day.