TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

Ali bin Abdülkerim Halife’s attitude towards the qizilbashes is, on the other
hand, quite fanatical. He recites a fabricated statement attributed to the Prophet that ‘At
the end of time, Persia will be full of fitne and become infidel.’ 1705 According to Ali bin
Abdülkerim Halife, the Safavids were those infidels filled Persia with fitne as foresaid
by the Prophet. Consequently, he deems the qizilbashes of Anatolia, who adhered to
Safavid Order, as infidels too. After referring to their insults to Kur’an by stomping on it
and hanging it on the necks of dogs, he renounces the ‘soft’ policy of the government
and provokes the sultan to extirpate the qizilbashes. He says,
... üşde bir zaman geldi ki Rum memleketinin halkının çoğu Erdevil [sic] olub
kāfir oldu. ... Erdevil gelürse hep uyarız, tābi oluruz didiler, nice fāsid fikirlere
meşgul oldılar. ... ah kanı gayret-i Đslam? Bu mel’unlar ‘Şah, Şah!’ dirler, niçin
mü’minler ‘Allah, Allah!’ dimezler? Ve bunlara kılıç çalmazlar? ... Ey güzel
Sultan Selim! Heman gayret-i Đslam sizde kalmışdır. Bu kāfirleri hep kırmak
gerekdir. Zira bular [bunlar] münkir-i kelamullahdır, cāhid-i dinullahdır, hādim-i
şer’ullahdır. ... 1706
Ali bin Abdülkerim Halife’s apparent hatred of the qizilbashes reaches such a
degree that he even declares the color of kızıl (red) as a symbol of infidelity. He
compares this color with blue and yellow which were attributed to Christians and Jews,
and argues to ban the clothes and hats bearing red colors for Muslims. He goes further
asserting that according to some books of religious law and sanction, the testimony of
those men who wear red and yellow clothes is not acceptable. These colors are, to him,
the ornament of Satan.
... Zīrā bir zālim kāfir-i bī-din zāhir olub kızıl şapka giyüb ehl-i ilme ve ehl-i
tevhide ve ehl-i Đslam ve sünnilere adüvv olub, darb urub azīm cidāl kıtāl idüb
bed fiīl itdi. Adını kızıl şapkanın tāc kodı, hāşā ki tāc ola! ... bize dā’vā-yı fāsid
etti, cihan halkını dalālete bırakdı. Hidāyet-i ehl-i imanı inkar-ı küllī eylediler.
Öyle olsa kızıl renkden gāyet hazer ihtirāz itmek gerekdir. Nitekim gök renkle
1705 TSA, document 3192, cited in TNSS, p. 28.
1706 Quoted in TNSS, p. 28.
505