About the Authenticity of Oral Tradition about the Sarajevo Sheikh Ayni Dede

Abstract

Oral tradition marks the year 866 A.H. (1461/62 A.D.) as the year of death of two dervishes from Sarajevo, Ayni Dede and Şemsi Dede. Based on the quotations from the work Silsiletü ʼl-muḳarrebīn ve menāḳıbu ʼl-mütteḳīn by Muniri- effendi, the Mufti of Belgrade, it can be ascertained that Ayni Dede passed away a whole century later, between 1563 and 1565. In his youth Ayni Dede worked as a tailor. From Sarajevo he went to Istanbul where he started to specialize in Sufism with the sheikh of dervishes Erdebili Sinan- effendi. During his stay in Istanbul, he had the opportunity to get close to the powerful Grand Vizier, Ibrahim Pasha. After his return to Sarajevo, he probably became the sheikh of Gazijska tekija (tekke). The latter dervish mentioned in oral tradition, Şemsi Dede, most likely did not exist.