RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL IMAGINATION IN THE DIVANS OF SELIMÎ AND ḤATÂYÎ IN THE CONTEXT OF CALIPHATE AND POWER HİLAFET VE İKTİDAR BAĞLAMINDA SELİMÎ VE HATÂYÎ DIVANLARINDA DİNÎ - SİYASÎ İMGELEM
Turk Kulturu ve Haci Bektas Veli - Arastirma Dergisi, sa.119, ss.301-322, 2026 (Scopus, TRDizin)
- Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
- Basım Tarihi: 2026
- Doi Numarası: 10.60163/tkhcbva.1780187
- Dergi Adı: Turk Kulturu ve Haci Bektas Veli - Arastirma Dergisi
- Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Directory of Open Access Journals, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM), MLA International Bibliography
- Sayfa Sayıları: ss.301-322
- Anahtar Kelimeler: Caliphate, Divan Literature, Khatai, Qizilbash, Religious-Political Imagery, Selimi
- Açık Arşiv Koleksiyonu: AVESİS Açık Erişim Koleksiyonu
- Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet
Özet
The sixteenth century was a significant period in which the political and sectarian rivalry between the Ottoman and Safavid states was also reflected in literary texts. The Persian divan composed by Sultan Selim I of the Ottoman Empire under the pen name “Selimî” and the Turkish divan written by Shah Ismail, the founder of the Safavid state, under the pen name “Khatai” are among the most striking examples of this rivalry in terms of religious and political discourse. Although the poems of both rulers adhere to the classical tradition of verse, they carry an intense ideological discourse in terms of content. Khatai’s divan has a propagandistic character that grounds Shah Ismail’s political authority on a divine basis by centering Shi’i-sufi concepts such as the imamate and mahdi doctrine. In the poems of the divan, Shah Ismail is presented not merely as a ruler, but as a spiritual savior and a murshid-i kamil. In contrast, in Selimî’s poetry, political legitimacy is grounded not in institutional religious claims such as the Imamate or the Caliphate, but rather in conquest, military power, and the ruler’s personal competence. As a ruler within the Sunni tradition, Selim I constructs a conception of sultanate based on the principles of world order (niẓām al-‘ālam) and justice in response to Shah Ismail’s claim of Imamate. While making use of Sufi imagery, he primarily bases sovereignty on power acquired through conquest, military discipline, and leadership qualities. In this respect, Selimî’s poetry reflects a conception of rulership grounded in political and military reality, in contrast to the emphasis on divine mission found in Khatai’s verse. In this study, the divans of Selimî and Khatai are examined comparatively, and the sectarian tensions, conceptions of authority, and representations of power in the period are analyzed through literary texts. The findings show that these divans represent not only an aesthetic poetic tradition but also two different political and sectarian worldviews. In Khatai’s poetry, the concept of Imamate is politicized through a mystical and divine mission, whereas in Selimî’s divan, sovereignty is legitimized through Sufi imagery, military power, and leadership qualities. This situation demonstrates that the Ottoman-Safavid rivalry extended beyond military and political spheres into cultural, religious, and ideological dimensions. The divans of Selimî and Khatai thus constitute important sources that reveal how different conceptions of authority shaped around the Caliphate and the Imamate are represented through poetic language.