Mawlid and Mi'raj Poems of Haja Muhammad Lutfi in Sirat Literature

Abstract

Over the years, the writing of sirat, which dates back to the earliest times of Islamic history, has made an enormous and varied body of literature available. This literature developed through commentary-hashiyas, critique, and transmission, and even continued with the addition of thematic sub-genres. The works written in prose form, have influenced sirat writing throughout history. During the Ottoman era, poetry gained prominence, with poetic sirat texts being widely utilized. The sources and the method of text generation, which had a certain continuity until the modernization era, underwent a significant in this period. This rupture affected the sirat texts of the Republic of Turkey period. A new age has been brought about by the criticism of the sirat literature that is currently in existence using new preferences for the utilization of sources. Texts produced in a literary manner are found in this new era when many aspects of traditional sirat writing have been abandoned. We are studying these texts authored by Alvarli Haja Muhammad Lutfi, who underwent classical education procedures and represented a tradition with a Sufi component. This study discusses two sections of Haja Muhammad Lutfi's Hulasat al-haqayiq, which is regarded as one of the literary texts of sirat writing: Miraj al-Nabi and Mawlid al-Nabi. The study begins with a brief history of the use of poetry as a writing form and source in sirat writing, then, it emphasizes the forms of text construction, and finally, it discusses the main themes, sources, preferences, and mi'rajiya and mawlid sections of Haja Muhammad Lutfi's work in sirat writing. In this way, it aimed to discuss the history of using poetry in sirat literature, to open the poetic texts in the sirat genre to the discussion, and for this purpose, the texts subject to the research were evaluated in terms of content, use of sources and style. As a result of the research, it has been seen that poetry, which has existed since the emergence of sirat literature, has turned into a unique form of text construction in time and fed this literature, and that the mawlid and mi'rajiyya of Haja Muhammad Lutfi are texts that continue the classical literature in the Republican period in terms of their sources and style.