[5] Aziz ibn Ardashir Astrabadi (also known as Abdulaziz Baghdadi) served as the court poet of Qadi Burhan al-Din and authored the work Bazm wa Razm.
[23] The previous year, Karamanids captured Kayseri in a surprise attack with the help of the Mongol tribes of Samargar and Chaykazan, prompting Ala al-Din Ali to flee to Sivas.
In June of that year, Burhan al-Din was made vizier by Eretnid emirs in order to prevent a possible revolt of peasants disgruntled by Ali's incompetence.
[23] The sultanate Burhan al-Din usurped had a large Turkmen and Mongol population but also consisted of many of the older, established urban centers of the Seljuk and Ilkhanid Anatolia.
After eliminating the threats posed by the Turcomans and Mongols, he married off his sister to the lord of Tokat Fortress, and with their support, launched a campaign against Amasya, defeating its rulers consecutively (1384).
[5] Candaroglu Kötürüm Bayezid, aware of a potential Ottoman campaign led by Sultan Murad I against them, sent a message to Burhan al-Din, expressing his desire for an alliance.
When the threat of Timur subsided for a while, Qadi Burhan al-Din launched a campaign against Ahmad Bey, the Emir of Amasya, who had attacked his lands, and devastated the region.
[19] In his letter to Bayezid I, Timur also mentioned Burhan al-Din and his alliance with his former enemy, the Mamluk Sultan:[19] The wretched son of the judge of Sivas devises devilish schemes and seeks to cooperate with the Circassian youth.However, it is evident from one of Qadi Burhan al-Din's poems that he did not care for these threats and was not afraid of Timur:[35] When Sham and Rum submit to us, We are iron for the enemy, mildly for our friends.
Later, Burhan al-Din formed an alliance with Qara Yuluk Osman Bey of the Aq Qoyunlu and conducted campaigns against rebellious emirs in Amasya and Erzincan.
Valuable information about Qadi Burhan al-Din is also found in Ibn Ardashir’s Ajaib al-Maqdur, as well as in sources related to the Anatolian Seljuks, the Beyliks, the Timurid period, and the Aq Qoyunlu, alongside accounts from Arabic and Ottoman histories.
Chroniclers and historians such as Taşköprüzade in Shaqaiq al-Numaniyya, Khoja Sadeddin in Taj al-Tavarikh, and Katib Chelebi in Kashf al-Zunun discuss Burhan al-Din solely as a poet.
[43] The renowned British Orientalist H. Gibb introduced European readers to Qazi Burhaneddin’s life and creative work for the first time in his 1900 publication A History of Ottoman Literature.
Scholars such as Ş. Süleyman, M. F. Köprülü, Y. Kabaklı, N. S. Banarlı, A. Alpaslan, S. Nüzhet, and M. Ergin emphasized his unique position in the history of Turkic literature, characterizing him as a ruler-poet who wrote on worldly themes with an optimistic spirit.
In the preface to the 1924 publication Divan-i Fuzuli, Köprülü analyzed the stylistic and thematic features of Burhan al-Din’s poetry, stating:[45][46] Despite the primitiveness and vibrancy of its form and language, there is a sincere and vivid uniqueness in his works.
At the same time, his verses contain heartfelt national concepts derived from everyday life, and beneath these crude lines lies the spirit of a courageous warrior.According to Köprülü, the emotions and thoughts of ordinary people are vividly expressed in Burhan al-Din’s ghazals.
[47] The Turkish scholar Y. Yücel authored a fundamental work titled "Qazi Burhaneddin Ahmed and His State", focusing primarily on his socio-political and military activities as a ruler, with only passing references to his poetic endeavors.
Literary critic Y. Kabaklı described Burhaneddin as a “commander-poet who expressed heroism, love, and mysticism with fiery enthusiasm,” presenting his creative legacy as a new manifestation of national poetic traditions in the literature of Turkic peoples.
Although Köprülü briefly discussed the poet in "Studies in Azerbaijani Literature", I. Hikmət authored a comprehensive essay on him, analyzing Burhan al-Din’s life, creative work, themes, and linguistic features of his poetry.
[50] Burhan al-Din authored works on Islamic law and poetry, among which his most renowned piece is Tarjih al-Tawzih ("The Reiteration of Clarifications"), written in Arabic.
Remarkably, the work was written without referencing any other books, relying solely on logical reasoning, and it stands out as a significant intellectual contribution authored by a ruler.
The first folio includes the title of the work, the author's full name—al-Imam al-'Alim al-Allama al-Hibr al-Muhaqqiq Burhan al-Din al-Hakim al-Sivasi—and invocations for blessings.
[54] Following the opening Bismillah, praise, and salutations, Burhan al-Din notes in the treatise's introduction that the writing of the work was inspired by the path of kashf (spiritual unveiling) followed by saints.
"[57] After these introductions, Burhan al-Din elaborates on the seven attributes of humans and identifies seven obligatory forms of worship: faith (iman), prayer (salat), fasting (sawm), pilgrimage (hajj), almsgiving (zakat), jihad, and sacrifice (qurban).
According to Gibb, Burhan al-Din was the only poet among Western Turks to utilize the ancient poetic form tuyuq, which consists of four lines with the rhyme scheme a-a-b-a.
The manuscript, copied in 796 AH (1393–94) by Khalil ibn Ahmad, one of Burhan al-Din's calligraphers, is vowelized and written in a beautiful Seljuk naskh script.
Ali Alparslan's Selections from Qazi Burhan al-Din's Divan includes a comprehensive analysis of the poet's work, along with 100 ghazals, seven rubaiyat, and 18 tuyuqs.
Azerbaijani-origin Turkish linguist Ahmed Caferoğlu, in the Encyclopedia of Islam, highlights Burhan al-Din's and Nasimi's contributions to the development of Azerbaijani literature.
[79] Linguist Maharram Ergin, who published Burhan al-Din's divan, notes that Azerbaijani and Ottoman dialects had not yet distinctly formed during this period and that several centuries were still needed for this differentiation.
Ibn Arabshah wrote about him:[91] This young man was highly talented, so devoted to learning that he even forsook sleep, and within a short time, mastered various sciences profoundly...
[70][93] Burhan al-Din also holds an important place in Azerbaijan's cultural history and is regarded, alongside Nasimi, as a significant figure in the development of Azerbaijani literature.