Sheikh Hamid Kirimi's tefsiru Ayet-i er-rahmana Treatise on Ale'l-Arsi'stera

The issue of how to understand expressions such as yad, wajh, ‘arshi’stawā, which include in the nass and attribute bodily qualities to Allah, constitutes an important discussion in the history of İslāmic thought. Various opinions have been put forward on this subject under the heading of Khabarı� attributes. While sects such as Mujassimah and Mushabbihah defend that these attributes can be considered for God as well as in creatures, theological sects have claimed that these attributes should be interpreted in accodance with the glory of God, provided that they do not contradict linguistic and rational evidence. Among those defending the second view, some argue that the above-mentioned expressions cannot be fully known, therefore they should be accepted, without interpretation and their real meaning should be left to Allah.İnterpreters emphasize how to understand the verses about Allah is established on the throne, which are considered among khabarı� attributes. When looking at the works which are accepted as the main source in the tafs ı�r, it seems that in the aforementioned verses, the interpreters comment words “‘arsh” as the sovereignty through allegory and “istiwā” as the full implementation of the sovereignty. These verses attracted the attention of Ṣūf ı�s, and they interpreted these words and statements based on some spiritual signs. The risālah of Sheikh Ḥāmid Ḳırımı� (d. 1185/1771 or 1215/1800), who lived in the 18th century, named Tafsı�ru A�yah «Al-Raḥmānu ‘Ala’l-‘Arshi’stawā» is a product of the efforts of Ṣūfı�s and one of the important example of Ṣūfı� Tafs ı�r. İt seems that in his risālah, Ḳırımı� interprets the issue of God’s establishment on the throne as God’s manifestation of the spiritual throne in the heart after the nafs and spirit are purified in the spiritual journey/sayr u ṣulūk, His inspirations descend, and the sālik receives it. To attain these divine inspirations and manifestations, it is needed to reach the level of the purest soul by clearing up the spirit and purifying nafs. For this reason, the Ḳırımı� focuses on how to ensure refinement of the spirit and purification of the nafs in a significant part of risālah. According to Ḳırımı�, it is difficult for sālik to reach the aforementioned level alone. Therefore, a person must attach to a sheikh, who has completed his spiritual journey/sayr u ṣulūk and attained higher spiritual levels then must engage in dhikr in tekke. At the end of his risālah, it is understood that Ḳırımı� is an important Ṣūfı�, a member of the Theoretical Sufi School formed with İbn ‘Arabı � (d. 638/1240) since, he evaluates this issue in terms of wujud/existence levels and uses concepts such as kibrit ahmar, nuzūl-‘urūc, ‘aql al-maad and ‘aql al-meash.İn the introduction of the study, pointing out the lexical meaning of the concepts of “istiwā” and “‘arsh” and their usage in the verses, then opinions of the interpreters on this subject are included briefly. Later, based on the sources we could reach and the information contained in the copies we have, the life of Ḳırım ı� and his ṣūfı� environment is mentioned. Afterward, the works are written by Ḳırımı� such as Risālah fı� Ḥaḳḳi’ẕ-Dhikr, and the risālah of Ḳırımı� titled Nuṭuk Sharifs of Sheikh Ḥāmid Ḳırımı�, in which his son Sheikh Ḥasan al-Ḳırım ı� collected his own words, were analyzed in terms of their contents. Moreover, it was discussed about the belonging of the works named Eṭvār Seb‘a, Risāl of Tawḥı�d, Sharkh Öf Yunus Emre’s Couplet “İ Climbed The Plum Branch” and Mirḳāt al-ma’rifa, which are attributed to Ḳırımı� in various sources. A special section opened for the risālah of Ḳırımı� named “Tafsı�ru A�yah «Al-Raḥmānu ‘Ala’l-‘Arshi’stawā»”, which constitutes the main subject of this study. The name of the risālah, the reason for its copying, its style, and the outward and spiritual interpretation of the verse were discussed here. Also, the copies of the risālah in various libraries were included, and about them, detailed information was presented. İn the next section of the study, after giving the first and last pages of the manuscripts of the risālah, translation-writing is started. İn the meantime, four different copies of the risālah obtained from various libraries were compared and the closest one to the copy of the author was revealed. During the translation-writing, differences between copies are indicated in the footnote