Suleyman Celebi, Vesiletu'n-Necat and The Mawlid Tradition as a National

Abstract

This research paper aims to determine the opinions of Turkish university students about the tradition of mawlid literature, and in particular, Suleyman Celebi's Vesiletu'n-Necat, an important work in Islamic Turkish literature. The study group of the research consists of university students studying in different faculties in the 20212022 academic year. The research was designed as a phenomenological research. An interview form consisting of open-ended questions was used as a data collection tool in the research. The results show that the university students have a command of the mawlidt tradition, and in particular Suleyman Celebi and his work Vesiletu'n-Necat, and see them as holding an important status in Turkish culture. It can be said that students know Suleyman Celebi and his work in both literary and socio-cultural terms, are aware of the purpose of its writing, and see these two names as important in the Turkish-Islamic world. However, there were also students who had never encountered Suleyman Celebi, Vesiletu'n-Necat or attended a mawlid ceremony. Therefore, it is proposed to carry out various activities for the recognition, promotion and survival of Suleyman Celebi, the pioneer of this tradition, and his work Vesiletu'n-Necat.