Gülbābā

According to the entry on Gül-bābā in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, First Edition, Gül-bābā was the proper name of "a Bektās̲h̲ī dervish, a native of Marzifūn (Marsiwān in Asia Minor in the wilāyet of Sīwās) [who] took part in several wars waged by the Turks in the reigns of Sulṭāns Meḥemmed II, Bāyazīd II, Selīm I and Sulaimān II and fell during the siege of Buda (Ofen) in a skirmish below the walls of the city on the 29th Rabīʿ II 948 = 21st August 1541 (Pečewī, i. 227). After he had been buried on the spot where he had fallen, Sulaimān II declared him the patron saint of the city."

In the Second Edition of that prestigious publication, Gülbābā has become, instead of an historical individual, "... a Turkish title. It is only on the evidence of Ewliyā Čelebi that Gülbaba would seem to be a personal name, referring to a historical personage. Ewliyā Čelebi remarks (vi, 225) that Gülbaba died at the Ottoman conquest of Buda and that Sultan Süleymān had his corpse laid to rest and commended the fortress of Buda to his protection. Of such an important event no trace is to be found in other sources. It is mentioned neither by Pećewī (the reference to Pećewī given by CI. Huart in EI 1, s.v. Gül-Bābā, is the result of an error), nor by Ḏj̲alāl-zāde, the official historian of the campaign. We have therefore to accept that there was never a person with the name Gülbaba in the time of the Turks, and in particular no historical personage of this name, but that on the other hand there existed at all times one or more Gülbaba in charge of a tekke."

I find this latter explanation more satisfying, even if it means that the moving painting by Eisenhut (1886, above) of the death of Gül-bābā is now the illustration of a mythic tale rather than a depiction of an historical fact.

It also means that this fine statue outside of Gülbābā's turbe in Budapest:

is also a fiction. Such trifles ought not to disturb our sleep anymore than the question, "Who is buried in Gülbābā's tomb?"

What matters is that Gülbābā is the fragrance of the rose when it opens to the sun.