Tosun Bayrak

Sheikh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti (January 21, 1926 – 15 February 2018) was an author, artist, translator and Sufi. He served as a government official in Ankara, Honorary Consul of Turkey in Morocco and was the Sheikh of the Jerrahi Order in America. He died on February 15, 2018.

Biography Early life Bayrak was born in Istanbul in 1926. During his childhood, he'd been raised without religion in the household, having rarely visited a mosque with his parents; his interest in Hindu and Buddhist philosopher during high school was one of his few experiences with religion. Early in life, his grandfather helped to spark his interest in art and poetry with trips to museums as well as Topkapı Palace. Bayrak became a Sheikh of the Halveti-Jerrahi order and resided near the Jerrahi Order of America mosque in Spring Valley, New York a few years later. He acted as the spiritual guide of the Jerrahi Order of the Americas starting from 1977, and he founded the official mosque of the Order's American branch in Chestnut Ridge, New York in 1990.

In response to the January 2015 Île-de-France attacks, which ended as Bayrak was planning a Friday sermon, he declared that the perpetrators were insane, not Muslims, and opposed the key teachings of Islam. Bayrak died in New York on 15 February 2018 at the age of 92. He retired from the art world in the 1970s and devoted his life to the study and teaching of Islam and Sufism.

Translation Bayrak translated dozens of books on Islamic spirituality, but he was particularly known for his efforts on the works of the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi. One of his best known works is Ibn Arabi: The Tree of Being. His translations of classic works of Sufism include Abdul Qadir Gilani's Secret of Secrets, Inspirations, al-Sulami's The Book of Sufi Chivalry, Futuwwah, and Suhrawardi: The Shape of Light. Also, compiled from texts of al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Djili, and Abdul Qadir Jilani, among others: The Name and the Named: Divine Attributes of God, and Imam Birgivi's The Path of Muhammad.