THE SUFI TREATISE ASCRIBED TO ISMĀʿĪL ATA: NOTES ON AN EARLY YASAVĪ SOURCE IN TURKIC

Abstract

This paper offers a brief assessment of a Turkic Sufi treatise ascribed to Ismāʿīl Ata, a prominent figure of the Yasavī tradition from the early 14th century; though its authenticity cannot be decisively demonstrated, there are several indications that it indeed goes back to an early phase of the Yasavī tradition, and may indeed preserve a version of a treatise reliably ascribable to Ismāʿīl Ata. One such indication is the work’s distinctive account of the transmission of the khirqa, or Sufi robe, received by Aḥmad Yasavī and passed on to his spiritual descendants; this account will be the focus of this presentation.

      The Turkic literary legacy of the Yasavī Sufi tradition includes a single work that can be dated as early as the middle of the 14th century, and a relatively small number of other works that might go back to that era, or perhaps even earlier, but cannot be unequivocally assigned to such an early date.  The one work I believe can clearly be shown to date to the mid-14th century is the extensive work of Khwāja Isḥāq, the son of Ismāʿīl Ata, which is known in two redactions, as outlined in a recent collaborative study involving myself, Professor Muminov, and other scholars from Uzbekistan and Russia; as discussed in that work, manuscripts of Khwāja Isḥāq’s work often include several supplementary texts, including the narrative of Islamization that was the central focus of that volume [1:44-50 (Russian), 74-80 (English)].  Another, longer supplementary text is the subject of this brief report.