DISCIPLE AND MENTOR UNDERSTANDING OF EBU’L HASAN HARAKÂNI, HIS NIBS / EBU’L HASAN HARAKÂNÎ HAZRETLERİ’NDE MÜRİT, MÜRŞİT ANLAYIŞI

Discipleship and mentorship both have important places in İslam. Disciple is the one who adapts mentor, follows his way and shows a real devotion to him. Mentor is the advisor, sheikh of disciple. He brightens disciple; helps disciple proceed in mysticism and open out the doors to reach Allah. Harakânî, whose date of birth is unknown but died in the year 1033, did both discipleship and mentorship. He is the disciple of Hace Abdullah-ı Ensari. He negotiated with Ebu'l Abbas Kassab one to one and was enlightened by him; he was the spiritual disciple of Bâyezid- i Bistâmî, who had lived about two centuries ago. Harakânî, who got inspired from this important entity, expressed his opinions about mysticism and religion in the work, Nûru'l- Ulûm, which was written by Muhammed bin Ali bin Seleme about 266 years after his death. In this paper, the concepts of disciple and mentor, which are among the most important elements of sufism, are examined based on the questions and answers in Nûru'l- Ulûm and the studies titled anecdotes of sheikh Ebü'l- Hasan-i Harakânî. Emphasis has been put on the values attributed by Harakânî to the words of disciple and mentor and his understanding of sufism and the place of disciples and mentors in sufism. It is seen that the idea which is central to the value attributed by Harakânî to these concepts is that neither disciple not mentor needs anyone other than God himself.