Akhī Awrān (Ahi Evren), Abū al-Ḥaqāʾiq Naṣīr al-Dīn Maḥmūd b. Aḥmad (566–659/1171–1261), was the patron (pīr) of the Turkish guild of tanners (sing. dabbāgh) and founder of Akhīlīq (Ahilik, literally ‘brotherhood’), a guild and esoteric movement, in Anatolia (Majdī, 33; Çağatay, 41, 49).

Although he was undoubtedly a real historical figure and was referred to as a friend by Gulshahrī (Gülşehri), the author of a mathnawī in Turkish, Keramat-i Ahi Evran (‘The spiritual accomplishments of Akhī Awrān’) (Taeschner, ‘Beiträge’, 31, 34), his life is shrouded in myth and …