Mahmud Bayazidi

Who is Mahmoud Bayazidi?

If we wanted to summarize the importance of Mahmoud Bayazidi in one word, it would be: blogging. Before the era of audio recordings, photography, and modern archives, large parts of Kurdish culture were transmitted from person to person through oral narration. Stories are told. Songs are saved. Proverbs are passed down. People know customs because they practice them, not because they are in a book. Mahmut Bayazidi came in the nineteenth century and was involved in converting part of this world into written text. He wrote about the language, collected anecdotes and proverbs, described Kurdish life and customs, translated texts into Kurdish, and helped collect and reproduce ancient literary manuscripts that later became part of important St. Petersburg collections.

That is why the TDV Encyclopedia describes him as a scholar known for his works related to Kurdish folklore, history, and literature, and modern studies consider him one of the important figures in the emergence of prose written in Kurmanji.

Birth in Bayezid

Mahmut was born in Bayezid, the city known today as Doğubayazıt - Doğubayazıt in present-day Ağrı Province, Turkey. There is no birth certificate that specifies the exact year of his birth. But we have a very important piece of information: In September 1857, the Russian consul in Erzurum, Auguste Alexandre Jaba, wrote to St. Petersburg and stated that Bayezidi was about sixty years old. Hence, researchers conclude that he was born approximately in the year: 1797. Therefore, even the year of birth itself is a historical estimate and not a date documented by day and month.

From the Qur’an to languages

He began his religious education in his home country. Then he moved to Tabriz to complete his studies. There he expanded his knowledge of: Persian Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, in addition to his Kurdish language, and learned about the literature of these languages. This multilingual background would later become the key to understanding his production. Bayazidi was not just a person who was fluent in speaking several languages. He used it practically for: translating, reading manuscripts, studying history, collecting literature, and creating linguistic materials.

Mullah and teacher

After completing his studies, he worked in different areas: as an imam and a teacher in religious schools. Then he returned to Bayezid and taught at its school, and became known in his surroundings as a scholar with extensive knowledge. Here we understand why his name usually bears the title: Mela - Mullah. But the stage that will make his name important in the history of Kurdish literature has not yet begun.

Certificate from the year 1830

We have interesting historical testimony about his scientific standing. Between May and June 1830 the Polish missionary Felician Martin von Zaremba visited the Bayezid region. He met Mahmoud Bayazidi there. He described him as a highly regarded scholar, exchanged information with him, and even asked him to translate a selection of surahs from the Qur’an into Turkish. This testimony is important because it dates from a very early period in his life, decades before his famous collaboration with Jabba. This indicates that Bayazidi had already gained scientific status.

Moving to Erzurum

Bayazidi later moved to: Erzurum. In the nineteenth century, the city was an important center of trade, administration and science, and a strategic location between Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iran. Sources indicate that he became a prominent figure among the city’s scholars. But his life was not limited to books and schools. His knowledge of languages ​​and the region also made him involved in sensitive political and administrative events.

Mediator between the Ottoman Empire and the Kurdish princes

In 1846, when the Ottoman Empire was in conflict with Emir of Botan Badrakhan Bey, Mahmud Bayezidi was sent to him as an envoy. The following year, 1847, the governor of Erzurum sent him to Nurullah Bey in Hakkari on a similar mission. When Mahmut Bey, Badrakhan's brother, arrived in Erzurum, Bayazidi served as his translator. These details reveal an important aspect of his personality: he was not a scholar who knew Kurdish society from books only. Rather, he knew: languages, local leaders, Ottoman administration, geography and social relations.

This will make his later writings about Kurdish society particularly valuable, with the necessity of reading them, of course, in the context of their era.

August Gabba... the meeting that changed everything

The second character in Mahmoud Bayazidi’s story is: Auguste Alexandre Jaba. Auguste Alexandre Jaba is a diplomat and researcher of Polish origin who worked as a Russian consul in Erzurum between 1848 and 1866. Jaba was interested in the Kurdish language, literature, and history, and the scientific circles in St. Petersburg were interested at that time in collecting and studying the languages ​​and literature of the region. In 1856, intense cooperation began between the two men. Bayazidi became: Jaba's teacher of Kurdish + his scientific assistant + one of his most important sources on Kurdish literature and heritage. From here began one of the most important collections of Kurdish manuscripts in the nineteenth century.

The relationship was not merely “an orientalist and a local informant.”

This is a point worth clarifying. Sometimes the story is told as if Jabba was the researcher, and Bayezidi was merely someone who gave him information. But sources show a much larger role for Bayezidi. He: He wrote texts himself. Copying manuscripts. Collection of folklore materials. Translated from Persian and Turkish to Kurdish. Help collect ancient manuscripts. Jaba taught Kurdish. Contribute to lexicographic work. The TDV Encyclopedia says that Gaba himself considered Bayazidi among the best people who could help him, especially in dealing with Persian texts. So we are facing scientific cooperation in which Bayazidi played a pivotal role.

Saving a library from the past

This is perhaps one of his most important achievements ever. Bayezidi helped Jaba collect and reproduce a large collection of Kurdish manuscripts. These materials form an important part of the Kurdish collection that was moved to St. Petersburg and preserved there. TDV states that Jaba's collection included dozens of manuscripts, and that Bayazidi was his biggest assistant in obtaining Kurdish materials and copying some of them. Among the classic texts that arrived within this archival tradition are works associated with names such as: Ahmad Khani Malay Jaziri, Fiqh Tayaran, and other figures of classical Kurdish literature.

Here the value of his work clearly appears. The manuscript can be burned. It could be lost. It can remain in a house and then disappear after two generations. But when it is copied and stored in a large library, the chance of its survival increases greatly.

“Kurdish customs and customs”

Bayazidi's most famous work is: Âdât û Rusûmetnâme-i Ekrâdiye Customs and Fees/Traditions of the Kurds, written in 1858. This book is very important because the author did not write a poem about Kurdish society. Rather, he tried to describe society itself. He talked about aspects of: daily life, customs and traditions, tribal structure, economic and social life, folklore, popular beliefs, Bedouins and nomads, aghas, sheikhs, and mullahs, women and their place in nomadic societies. This makes the book closer to what we call today: an ethnographic study.

With an important difference: it was written in the nineteenth century, before modern anthropology was formed in its current form.

Why is the book exceptional?

Because most of the known Kurdish writings before that tended to a large degree to: poetry, religion, and classical literature. As for Bayazidi, he wrote Kurdish prose about the details of social life. The TDV Encyclopedia describes his book as one of the first and most important written sources on Kurdish social and economic life, folklore, and ethnography, and considers it among the oldest known examples of Kurdish prose. A recent academic study also describes Bayazidi as having an important role in the emergence of Kurmanji written prose. Directory of Open Access Journals

Here lies the importance of Episode 018: We are not just talking about the author of a book, but rather about a stage in which Kurdish prose began to take a wider space alongside poetry.

Which Kurdish language was written in?

Bayazidi wrote mainly in: Kurmanji. The TDV defines the Âdât û Rusûmetnâme language as Kurmanji with characteristics related to the Hakkari dialect. The book has not survived in its original manuscript. It was published by the Russian Kurdish researcher Margarita B. Rudenko in Moscow in 1963 with a Russian translation, and later editions and translations appeared into Sorani, Persian, Turkish, and Arabic. That is, a text written in the nineteenth century became, more than a century later, a material read by researchers in multiple languages.

Bayazidi and Sharaf Khan Al-Ballisi

Here we return to character No. 006 of our series: Sharaf Khan Al-Ballisi. His book: Şerefname – Sharafnameh was one of the most important historical sources about the Kurdish emirates and dynasties. But Sharaf Khan wrote it in Persian in the late sixteenth century. After more than two centuries, Mahmoud Bayazidi came. With Jaba's encouragement, Sharafnama was translated from Persian to Kurdish. The work was called: Tevârîx-i Qedîm-i Kurdistan “Histories of Ancient Kurdistan” and TDV places the translation in 1859.

Why is this translation important?

Because it is a clear example of Bayazidi’s project: returning knowledge related to the Kurds to the Kurdish language itself. The original book talks about the history of the Kurdish emirates, but it is written in Persian. Bayazidi translated it into Kurdish. The translation was not entirely literal; He simplified the style and shortened parts of the text, to the point that prompted researchers to wonder whether the version he adopted was shorter than the version known today. But the work remained an important milestone in the history of translation and historical writing in Kurdish.

The manuscript survived... and was printed more than a century later

The copy of the translation written in Bayazidi script is preserved in the St. Petersburg Library. Its scientific edition was only published in Moscow in 1986, edited by J. S. Musaelian and Kanadê Kurdo. Imagine the time distance: 1859 → 1986 More than a century between the writing of the text and the issuance of its printed scientific version. This is a vivid example of the importance of archives.

A huge book was lost

Perhaps the most unfortunate story in Bayezidi’s legacy is related to another work: Tevârîx-i Cedîd-i Kurdistan “The History of Modern Kurdistan.” Sources say that this work was huge, and according to the account it reached about a thousand pages. It was intended as a historical continuation after the Sharafnama, and Bayezidi completed it in 1858. Gaba translated his introduction into French and sent it to St. Petersburg in 1867. But the book itself: was lost. All that remains of it, according to what is known, is the information in the French introduction about its content.

This demonstrates something important: we know Bayezidi from the works that have survived. But his real production was probably broader than what has come down to us.

Kurdish tales

Bayazidi was also interested in folk tales. Collections and prose texts of Kurdish tales are attributed to him, and academic studies mention “Forty Tales” among his well-known works. Directory of Open Access Journals This material is very important. Because the folk tale is not just entertainment. Within it we find: ancient words, place names, social relations, popular imagination, humour, values, fears and heroes. When you write an oral story, you memorize more than one story. You are saving a piece of the society that produced it.

Proverbs

In 1856, Bayezidi prepared a work containing a large number of proverbs that he translated from Turkish to Kurdish: Tercüme-i Darb-ı Meselâne bi-Zimân-i Kurmancî. Proverbs are of exceptional linguistic value. Because the dictionary tells you the meaning of the word. But the proverb tells you: how people think with words. This is why proverbs are usually at the heart of the study of popular culture.

Layla and Majnun

Among his works is also a prose text by: Leylî û Mecnûn - Layla and Majnun, written in 1858. But the source of the text is a matter of debate among researchers; Jaba considered it a translation of Fuzuli, while Rudenko concluded that it was a prose translation of a Kurdish poetic version associated with Harith al-Ballisi. This is a good example of the need for caution when talking about ancient manuscripts: the presence of a text does not always mean that its chain of origin and authorship is settled.

Bayazidi and the grammar of the Kurdish language

His interest in language was not merely a literary practice. He also wrote on language and grammar. Among his works are: Risâle-i Tuhfetü’l-Hillân fî Zimân-i Kurdân. The TDV refers to a copy dated 1866, and states that it may be one of the oldest works written by a Kurdish scholar about the Kurdish language itself. There is also another study by him on some grammar and verb conjugation. A recent academic study devoted to the Tuhfatulkhulan manuscript confirms its importance for understanding Bayezidi's view of the Kurdish language and grammar. Directory of Open Access Journals

Here we come to important evidence about his death

Some old references say: 1859. Others say: 1860. But the problem is that we have works or manuscripts related to it that are dated after that. The TDV explicitly mentions the existence of a manuscript in his handwriting bearing the date 1867. Therefore, the reference records his death as: after 1867. This is an excellent example of how historical biography changes when manuscript evidence emerges stronger than the circulating accounts. Therefore, in designing Cord 24, I advise not to write: 1797–1859 in a final form. More precisely: about 1797 - after 1867, or simply: the nineteenth century.

Bayazidi and the Kurdish-French dictionary

There is another very important achievement that came out of Bayezidi and Jabba's collaboration: Dictionnaire kurde-français Kurdish-French dictionary. The edition was later published in Saint Petersburg in 1879, edited by Ferdinand Justi. TDV says that the dictionary contained about 15,000 words and that Bayezidi had a major contribution to its preparation. Here we must be precise: it is better not to say that “Bayazidi alone wrote the first Kurdish-French dictionary.” Rather, he contributed fundamentally to the material and work upon which Jaba relied in preparing his Kurdish-French dictionary. This is more historically accurate.

From Erzurum to Saint Petersburg

Bayazidi probably did not imagine that the papers he was collecting and copying in Erzurum would, more than a century later, become a global source for the study of Kurdish literature. But this is what happened. Gaba's group arrived in St. Petersburg. Then Russian researchers, such as Margarita Rudenko, came and studied the manuscripts, indexed them, and published a number of them. Among them are the works of Bayazidi himself, along with texts from the classical Kurdish heritage. Thus a strange and important chain was formed: a Kurdish poet or scholar writes a manuscript → Bayezidi collects or copies it → Gaba sends it to St. Petersburg → scholars catalog it → it is printed decades later → it reaches the modern reader.

Why is Bayazidi important for Kurdish prose?

Before the nineteenth century we had a very important Kurdish literary heritage. But the most famous part of it was: the poetry. Ahmed Khani is a poet. Malay Jaziri is a poet. Poet aviation jurisprudence. As for Bayazidi, he contributed to expanding the space: prose. Books about society. He wrote the story. Books about language. Translate history. Write down habits. This is the reason why modern academic studies link it to the emergence and development of written Kurmanji literary prose. Directory of Open Access Journals

Can we consider his book a modern anthropological study?

Not in the current academic sense. This is an important point. Bayazidi wrote before the emergence of many modern approaches to anthropology and ethnography. Therefore, every description he presented of society should not be read as an established fact that applies to all Kurds in all regions. He describes: societies and environments he knew in the nineteenth century, from the perspective of a man who lived in that era. Some of his rulings naturally reflect the concepts of his time. But the greatest value of the book is that it provides us with early written testimony from within the same linguistic and cultural environment.

This makes it an important historical source, although it must be read critically.

What would have happened if he hadn't worked with Jabba?

We can't know for sure. But we can say one thing: an important part of the manuscripts and materials collected by the two men has already reached the archive and remains. Researcher Rudenko, as quoted by TDV, believes that the works of Bayazidi and Gaba were of great importance in how much later became known about Kurdish literature and culture in previous eras. Therefore, the importance of Bayazidi is not only: “What did he write?” But also: “What helped not to be lost?”

Why do we remember Mahmoud Bayazidi?

Because the man lived in an era in which there were no cameras, audio recordings, digital archives, databases or electronic libraries. Oral culture was at risk of disappearing with its owners. So he did something simple in appearance, but massive in its impact: he wrote. Books about people. He wrote about their customs. Collect their stories. Memorize proverbs. He studied their language. Translate their history. And copy their manuscripts. When he cooperated with August Gaba, he helped transfer part of the Kurdish heritage from local memory and scattered manuscripts to an archive that researchers can refer to after more than a century and a half.

Therefore, Mahmoud Bayazidi is not just a name in the history of literature. He is one of the people who stood at the moment when an important part of Kurdish culture began to shift from: oral memory → to the written document.