The Lineage of A. Metin Saruhan, Author of Asr-ı Saadet

About 38 years before Sultan ALPARSLAN’s conquest of Kars, ES-Seyyid ALPERAN, our pir and master EBÜ’L HASAN HARAKANİ, a grandson of Hazrat İMAM CAFER-İ SIDDIK, came to Kars to accomplish the spiritual conquest of Anatolia. Together with him, and after him with the conquest of Anatolia, the Seyyids, Alperens, the revered great sheikhs (Meşayih-i İzam Hazeratı) and dervishes who came to Anatolia from the east and from the west spread Islam in this land.

A. METİN SARUHAN comes from the Vaizzades, an enlightened family who were the first to settle in Kars. He descends from the oldest native of Kars, a müderris (madrasa teacher), great scholar and poet, one of the renowned ulema and a man of profound learning: he is one of the grandchildren of the scholar ES-Seyyid HAMİT El-Kars’i. His forefather is H. İBRAHİM HALİL Efendi of the VAİZZADELER family.

H. İBRAHİM HALİL Efendi was the trustee (mütevelli) of a large külliye (mosque complex) known by the name Vaizzade inside Kars Castle (the outer castle), in the Kale içi neighbourhood. The VAİZZADELER lineage served humanity and the blessed Ummah, spread knowledge, propagated good morals and raised scholars for the various centres of learning in the Islamic lands. Because this family’s lineage reaches Hazrat HÜSEYİN, from him our master Hazrat ALİ, the gate of knowledge, and from him the Master of the worlds, our master Hazrat RESULULLAH (pbuh), this lineage has always been known among the people by the epithet “HALİFE”.

Hacı İBRAHİM HALİL Efendi of the VAİZZADELER family founded the külliye in the Kale içi neighbourhood in the year 1056 AH. The forefathers of A. METİN SARUHAN (Vaizzade) Efendi who served there are the following esteemed persons: the mosque preacher (hatib) Es-Seyyid HASAN HAMİT halife, the muezzin and trustee Es-Seyyid HÜSEYİN HAMİT, and Es-Seyyid MUHAMMED HAMİT halife.

The father of A. METİN SARUHAN (VAİZZADE) Efendi is Es-Seyyid YUSUF; his father is Hacı İBRAHİM HALİL; his father is Es-Seyyid Hacı HAMİD halife; and their forefathers are listed above.

In the War of ’93 (1877), Kars suffered the catastrophe of falling into the hands of Tsarist Russia, and ninety per cent of the city’s people left as refugees for Erzurum and further inland. At that time, in the face of these hardships, the relatives and lineage of Es-Seyyid MUHAMMED HAMİT El Arif Bi-Vaizzade El Kars’i first migrated to Bayburt, and from there some of the relatives moved on to Samsun and its surroundings.

HALİL İBRAHİM, who came to Samsun, and his son YUSUF took the epithet, that is the surname, SARUHAN in Bayburt. HALİL İBRAHİM passed away in Çarşamba, a district of Samsun. İBRAHİM HALİL’s son YUSUF grew up in Samsun and passed away on 18 May 1948. His son METİN SARUHAN also grew up in Samsun and lives in Istanbul.

METİN SARUHAN’s son is ATİLA SARUHAN, and his sons are: ABDUL METİN SARUHAN, AHMET SARUHAN and MEHDİ SARUHAN.

The stone mill and fields behind the castle, which still belong to the permanent endowment of the külliye in Kars, and the other endowed properties passed to private individuals after 1937; the madrasas around the mosque and the minaret were demolished by the Russians.

On his mother’s side, too, Seyyid Hacı A. METİN SARUHAN descends from our master Hazrat HASAN. His ancestors settled in Ahlat, which formerly belonged to Van and is now a district of Bitlis. The esteemed person who came to Ahlat, known by the name Şeyh HÜSEYİN, was a great scholar who rendered services to the religion of Islam. The Şeyh HÜSEYİN neighbourhood in Ahlat was named after this esteemed person.

His grave is in the tomb (kümbet) of Şeyh NEJMETTİN. Şeyh HÜSEYİN’s son SÜLEYMAN moved from Ahlat to Trabzon and from there to Rize. Being a scholar, he served the religion of Islam in Rize. HACI A. METİN SARUHAN is this person’s grandson.

The Asr-ı Saadet translation and tafsir of the Holy Quran were written by A. Metin Saruhan, who descends from the Vaizzades and is known by the name of the Halife sons.