The Tomb of Yavuz Sultan Selim

Born in 1470, Yavuz Sultan Selim was the ninth Ottoman sultan. He was the son of Sultan Bayezid II and Gülbahar Hatun. Having received a good education in the palace, he engaged in struggles with his brothers, Şehzade Korkut and Şehzade Ahmet, during his father’s lifetime. Yavuz Sultan Selim ascended to the throne in 1512 and ruled for eight years. Seeing the Safavids as a threat to the Ottoman Empire, he engaged in a struggle against Iran and won the Battle of Çaldıran in 1514. Afterward, he annexed the Dulkadir Beylik to his territories and embarked on a campaign to Egypt in 1516. He won the Battle of Marj Dabiq against the Mamluk Sultan in Egypt, followed by the Battle of Ridaniya in 1517, and entered Cairo. As a result of this campaign, he took the title of Caliph and brought the holy relics of the Prophet Muhammad to Istanbul. Married to Ayşe Hafsa Sultan, Yavuz Sultan Selim fell ill on his last campaign towards Europe and passed away in Edirne on September 22, 1520. The sultan was buried in a tomb located in the courtyard of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Mosque.

The Mud Spattered on a Scholar’s Robe, a Matter of Honor

Yavuz Sultan Selim’s importance given to knowledge was evident not only in his words but also throughout his life. While traveling on a road turned into a mud pool due to rain near Adana, a piece of mud from the robe of Kemalpaşazade, one of the great scholars of the time, splattered on the sultan’s kaftan. Kemalpaşazade was extremely embarrassed. To avoid embarrassing this great scholar, Yavuz Sultan Selim requested a new kaftan from his entourage and made his famous will, saying, “Mud splattered from scholars is a source of adornment and a cause of pride. When I die, cover me with this kaftan.” As per his will, Yavuz Sultan Selim’s “muddy kaftan” was placed on his coffin.

The “Sin Shin” Stone

After winning the Battle of Marj Dabiq on August 24, 1516, Yavuz Sultan Selim entered the city of Aleppo and left two weeks later, reaching Damascus at the end of September. Before going to Egypt from there, he stayed in Damascus until December 15. During his stay in Damascus, he and the scholar and Anatolian Kazaskeri İbn-i Kemal Kemalpaşazade examined a statement in a book by Muhyiddin-i Arabi that said, “When you enter Sin Shin, the tomb of Mim will appear.” They concluded that “Sin” referred to Selim, “Shin” to Damascus, and “Mim” to Muhyiddin. The location of the tomb of Muhyiddin-i Arabi, where Yavuz Sultan Selim resided in Damascus, was unknown to anyone. One night, Yavuz Sultan Selim saw Muhyiddin-i Arabi in a dream and was told, “O Selim! I was waiting for you to come. Welcome. I give you the good news of your conquest of Egypt. In the morning, mount a black horse. It will bring you to me. Raise me from the earth and build me a tomb, a mosque, and an inn… Go, your work will be successful, the conquest of Egypt will be possible!” Upon waking up from this dream in the morning, Yavuz Sultan Selim immediately mounted a black horse in his service and rode in the direction it took him. The horse, carrying the sultan, went its own way and stopped to graze in a garbage dump in the Salihiye neighborhood of the city. Upon the order of Yavuz Sultan Selim, the place was cleaned and the ground began to be dug. When the ground was dug and they went down, a large stone was found. And it was written on it, “This is the tomb of Muhyiddin.” The place was cleaned and arranged, and the tomb was completely revealed. Yavuz Sultan Selim, nine months after the Battle of Ridaniya and the conquest of Egypt on January 22, 1517, came to Damascus again in October and resided there for more than four months, building a tomb over the tomb of Muhyiddin-i Arabi, and a mosque and inn adjacent to it. The complex was opened with the first Friday prayer on February 5, 1518. To commemorate the incident that led to the discovery of the tomb of Muhyiddin-i Arabi, Seyyid Derviş Hasan had a stone inscribed with the words “Iza dahela sini fi shin, zahera fikabrihi Muhiddin” written on it and placed in the sultan’s tomb after his death. This stone within the display case is the stone in question. It is known as the Sin Shin Stone.

Architecture

Built by Mimar Acem Ali in 1520 by the order of Kanuni Sultan Suleiman, the tomb is octagonal in plan and covered with a dome. The facades of the tomb are enlivened with interlaced rectangular moldings and colored stonework, and the dome is enlivened with a ribbed pattern. There is a three-bay loggia on the entrance facade, and there are 16th-century tile panels on the right and left sides of the loggia. These tile panels contain the construction inscription of the tomb and various verses. The tomb is lit by two rows of windows. The window borders and the dome cornice are decorated with 19th-century penwork decorations, and the center of the dome has the 3rd verse of the Thunder Surah. In the round medallions on the pendentives, there are the Names of Allah, the Prophet Muhammad, the Beloved Companions, and Hasan and Hussein.

Location

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