Among the foundational teachings of their order, the Halvetis included “voluntary hunger,” “silence,” “vigil,” “seclusion,” the devotional invocation and remembrance of God or zikr, “meditation,” “permanent ritual cleanness,” and “tying one’s heart to one’s shaykh,” (De Jong: 4:992). The order required periodic retreats for its initiates, or “seekers” (murids), with the shortest being three days and the longest forty days (De Jong: 4:992). Strict rules applied to the behavior and actions of the murid during his retreat and seclusion (De Jong: 4:992). A guide (murshid) closely supervised each murid who came into the order. The guide was present and actively involved in each of the seven stages the murid underwent to reach the status of a guide. In addition to his prescribed tasks, a murid could be required to fast and perform night vigils (De Jong: 4:992).
See also: Sultans: Bayezid II; Cem Sultan; Mehmed II; Selim I
Further Reading
De Jong, F. “Khalwatiyya.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat, and, J. Schacht, 4:991–993. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963.
Le Gall, Dina. A Culture of Sufism: Naqshbandis in the Ottoman World, 1450–1700. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
Kadiris
The mystical (Sufi) order of Kadiris traced its origins to the Iranian preacher, philosopher, teacher, and scholar Sheikh Abdul Qadir Gilani (Jilani) (1077/1078–1166). Sheikh Abdul Qadir was born in the Iranian province of Gilan on the southern shores of the Caspian Sea. His full name was Muhyi al-Din Abd ul-Qadir Gilani. At the age of 18 the sheikh left his birthplace for Baghdad, where he studied traditional Islamic sciences, including Islamic law and jurisprudence. He also studied mysticism and, under the influence of Sufi teachings, left Baghdad and adopted the life of a wanderer in the arid regions of southern Iraq. After 25 years of living as a wanderer, he returned to Baghdad and began to teach Islamic jurisprudence, exegesis of the Quran, and mysticism. His greatest contribution in the area of mystical thought and practice was to reconcile the teachings of Sufism (i.e., mysticism) with the demands and requirements of sharia or the Islamic law. Gilani defined mysticism (Sufism) as a holy war (jihad) that one waged inside oneself against one’s inner demons, including depravity, greed, selfishness, cruelty, and avarice. To achieve inner peace, one had to reject materialism and submit to the will of God. Sheikh Abdul Qadir died in Baghdad in 1166 and was buried in a shrine within the school where he had taught. His tomb became a shrine and a place of pilgrimage for many, particularly those who joined the Sufi order named after him. After the conquest of Iraq by Süleyman I (r. 1520–1566), the Sufi brotherhood established by Gilani’s disciples spread through Anatolia and from there to the four corners of the Ottoman Empire.
The Kadiris imposed strict rules for the training of the novices who joined their Sufi order. A novice who joined the Kadiri order began his training with intermittent periods of abstinence and fasting. Novices were given a small wooden cudgel made out of willow, which they were always to carry or hang at their girdles (Rycaut: 143). It was in accordance with the weight of the cudgel that they measured and ate their daily allowance of bread. As the wood dried, it lost its weight and became increasingly light. The proportion of the bread that each novice consumed also decreased accordingly (Rycaut: 143). Besides the required five prayers that all Muslims were obligated to perform daily, the Kadiri novices spent the best part of the night turning round to the sound of a little pipe while uttering “Hai,” which “signified Alive, being one of the attributes of God” (Rycaut: 143). Every Friday evening the Kadiris stood in a circle, held hands, and repeated “Hai” with such intensity and persistence that after a time, some of the participants fainted and fell on the ground. Those who were left standing lifted the fallen and carried them out of the hall to another room, where they recovered (Rycaut: 143). Every year, all members of the Kadiri order were required to retreat to small isolated cells, where they sat alone and meditated for 40 days (Rycaut: 143–144). During this period the seeker could not converse and interact with anyone, but he was taught to remember his dreams so that he could recount them later to his spiritual guide, who interpreted them for him (Rycaut: 144).
Despite the rigid rules and discipline they imposed on their members, the Kadiris did not require abstention from taking drugs such as opium or from drinking alcoholic beverages such as wine, which was used as a stimulant to prepare the members of the brotherhood for the dances they performed. Nor did the Kadiris prohibit their followers from sexual intercourse and even marriage, although those who married could not live in the convent. The married members of the order did not follow a dress code, but for the sake of distinguishing themselves from the unmarried members, they wore black buttons on their clothes. The unmarried members, who lived in the convent, dressed in a long simple dress made of coarse white wool. They shaved their heads and refused to wear a covering or a cap on their heads. They also walked barefoot and at all times kept their heads hanging down and their noses on their breasts, a posture they believed would prevent distracting thoughts and protect them from the vanities of satisfying their carnal appetites.
See also: Popular Culture: Bektaşi Order; Mevlana Celaledin Rumi and the Mevlevi Order
Further Reading
Lewis, Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
Lewis, Raphaela. Everyday Life in Ottoman Turkey. London: B. T. Batsford, 1971.
Rycaut, Paul. The Present State of the Ottoman Empire. New York: Arno Press, 1971.
Mevlana Celaledin Rumi and the Mevlevi Order
(Mevlevi Order of Dervishes)
The Mevlevi order traced its origins to the world-renowned Persian poet and Sufi master Mevlana Celaledin Rumi (Persian: Mowlana Jalal al-Din Mohmmad Balkhi, also known as Mowlawi or Rumi), who is regarded today as one of the most beloved Persian poets, mystics, teachers, and philosophers. Mevlana was born in Balkh in present-day northern Afghanistan in September 1207. His father, Baha al-Din Walad, a renowned scholar, theologian, and mystic, fled his home before the onset of the Mongol invasion in 1218 and eventually settled with his family in Konya in present-day central Turkey, which at the time served as the capital of the Seljuks of Rum (Anatolia). In Konya, Baha al-Din began to teach at a religious school. When Baha al-Din died in 1231, he was succeeded by his son, Jalal al-din.
Mevlevi dervishes during a sema ceremony, ca. 1915. (Garnett, Lucy Mary Jane. Turkey of the Ottomans, 1915)
Mevlana would have been an ordinary mystic had it not been for a fortuitous encounter in November 1244 with the wandering Persian Sufi master Shams, who hailed from Tabriz, one of the major urban centers of Iranian Azerbaijan. Awestruck by Shams, Rumi invited him to be his guest of honor. Shams quickly emerged as Rumi’s mystic mentor. The two men became inseparable companions, spending their days together in complete seclusion. Rumi’s intimate and loving relationship with Shams caused jealousy among members of Rumi’s family and entourage, who felt neglected by their father and spiritual master. Sensing the resentment and jealousy of Rumi’s family and followers, Shams left Konya for Syria in February 1246. The departure of Shams devastated Rumi, who became distraught over the loss of his spiritual teacher and source of inspiration. Seeing his father’s anguish and grief, Rumi’s oldest son, Sultan Walad, organized a search team, which located Shams. The Persian mystic was transported back to Konya with pomp and ceremony. Once again Rumi and Shams became the closest of companions, spending much of their time together. The members of Rumi’s family and his disciples could not, however, stomach the reunion between Rumi and Shams. One evening in 1247 Shams mysteriously disappeared, never to be found again. Some have suggested that Shams was murdered in a plot hatched by Rumi’s disciples and sanctioned by members of his family. Sometime after Shams’s death, Rumi handpicked the goldsmith, Salah al-Din Zarkub, as his spiritual love and companion. After Salah al-Din’s death, Husam al-Din Chelebi emerged as Rumi’s spiritual mentor and his source of in
spiration.
Shams-e Tabrizi, Rumi’s original mentor, inspired the Sufi master to compose one of the masterpieces of Persian poetry, Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (The collected poems of Shams of Tabriz), in which he expressed his deep love, admiration, and devotion for Shams, who had transformed his life and thought. The magnificently dynamic and rhythmic language of Rumi’s verses revolutionized Persian poetry. Some have maintained that much of Rumi’s poetry in the Divan of Shams was composed in a state of trance and ecstasy, prompted and impelled by music and a whirling dance.
Rumi’s magnum opus is his Masnavi-yi Ma’navi (Spiritual couplets) (Turkish: Mesnevi), a multivolume work of poetical genius and fantastic tales, fables, and personal reflections that Mevlana completed after the disappearance of Shams. Mevlana’s poetry transcends national, ethnic, and even religious boundaries, focusing primarily on the spiritual journey to seek union with God. Love for fellow human beings was presented in his poems as the essence of the mystical journey. Rumi’s main prose work is the Fihe mā fihe (There is in it what is in it), which was compiled from the notes of students at his teaching circle. These works, which represent the last two decades of his life, constitute the most substantial sources for his teachings.
Rumi lived, wrote, and taught in Konya until his death in 1273. His body was buried beside his father under a green tomb, which was constructed soon after his death. The mausoleum has served as a shrine for pilgrims from the four corners of the Islamic world, as well as those of other faiths who revere his mystical poetry. After Rumi’s death in 1273, his son, Sultan Walad, organized Rumi’s followers into a Sufi order called the Mawlawiyah (Turkish: Mevleviyya).
The Mevlevi Sufi order or the Mevleviyya enjoyed immense popularity among the members of the Ottoman ruling elite. It was distinguished from other Sufi orders by the significance it gave to sema, a music and whirling/dancing ritual performed in a circular hall called sema hane. Imitating their master’s love for the musical ceremony that inspired singing and dancing, Rumi’s followers employed spinning and whirling to reach a trance-like state. Although the majority of Muslims shunned singing and dancing, the Mevlevi dervishes made music and dancing the hallmark and central tenet of their order.
Because of its popularity, power, and influence, the Mevlevi order was subjected to frequent attacks and persecution from the ulema, who denounced its use of music and dancing as un-Islamic. Thus, in 1516 when the Ottoman sultan Selim I (r. 1512–1520) was moving against the Safavid dynasty in Iran, the şeyhülislam persuaded the sultan to order the destruction of Mevlana’s mausoleum in Konya, which served as the physical heart of the order. Fortunately for the Mevlevis, the order was repealed and the mausoleum and center were spared (Yazici: 6:887).
Despite numerous campaigns of harassment and intimidation by the conservative members of the ulema, Ottoman sultans and government officials continued to show their respect and reverence for the Mevlavi order by showering its leaders with gifts and favors. For example, in 1634 Murad IV (r. 1623–1640) assigned the poll tax paid by non-Muslims of Konya to the head of the Mevlevi order. In 1648 the chief of the Mevlevi order “officiated, for the first time, at the ceremony of the girding on of the sword of Osman, which marked the accession of a new sultan,” a privilege that remained with the order until the end of the Ottoman dynasty (Lewis: 157). The close relationship between Ottoman sultans and the leaders of the Mevlevi order continued into the 19th century. The reform-minded Selim III (r. 1789–1807) visited the Mevlevi tekkes so frequently that the musical ceremony, which had been performed only on Tuesdays and Fridays, was now performed in a different tekke on each day of the week. Outside Istanbul, however, the ceremony continued to be performed only on Fridays (Yazici: 885). This visible support allowed the order not only to survive attacks from the ulema, but also to grow and expand into the four corners of the Ottoman Empire. The Mevlevi order continued to play an important role in the cultural life of the Ottoman Empire until the establishment of the Turkish Republic in 1923.
SHAMS-I TABRIZI (1185–1248)
The teachings of the Persian mystic Shams-e Tabrizi had a transformative impact on the intellectual, philosophical, and literary development of the great Sufi leader, poet, and philosopher Mowlana Jalal al-Din Rumi, also known as Mowlana or Mevlana. Shams inspired Rumi to compose one of the masterpieces of Persian poetry, Divan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (The collected poems of Shams of Tabriz), in which he expressed his profound affection and intense devotion for Shams, his spiritual mentor and source of mystical and poetical inspiration. The magnificently dynamic and rhythmic language of Rumi’s verses is celebrated as the zenith of Persian mystical poetry.
See also: Popular Culture: Bektași Order
Further Reading
Alderson, A. D. The Structure of the Ottoman Dynasty. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1956.
Aščerić-Todd, Ines. Dervishes and Islam in Bosnia: Sufi Dimensions to the Formation of Bosnian Muslim Society. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 2015.
Faroqhi, Suraiya. Subjects of the Sultan: Culture and Daily Life in the Ottoman Empire. London: I. B. Tauris, 2000.
Inalcik, Halil. The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300–1600. Translated by Norman Itzkowitz and Colin Imber. New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973.
Le Gall, Dina. A Culture of Sufism: Naqshbandis in the Ottoman World, 1450–1700. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2005.
Lewis, Bernard. Istanbul and the Civilization of the Ottoman Empire. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1963.
Lewis, Raphaela. Everyday Life in Ottoman Turkey. London: B. T. Batsford, 1971.
Masters, Bruce. “Mevlevi Order (Mevlevi Order of Dervishes).” In Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire, edited by Gábor Ágoston and Bruce Masters, 377–378. New York: Facts On File, 2009.
Somel, Selçuk Akșin. Historical Dictionary of the Ottoman Empire. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2003.
Yazici, T. “Muwlawiyya.” In The Encyclopaedia of Islam, edited by B. Lewis, Ch. Pellat, and J. Schacht, 6:887. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1963.
Naqshbandiyya Order (Naqshbandiyyeh)
The Nakshbandi Sufi order arrived in the Ottoman Empire from Central Asia in the late 15th century. The order traced its origins to the Persian mystic and teacher Khawjah Bahauddin Naqshband (d. 1389), who lived and taught in Central Asia in the 14th century. The Nakshbandi order immediately attracted a large following. This may have been because, more than any other mystical brotherhood, its teachings and practices corresponded with those of Sunni Islam. Greatly influenced by the writings of the Persian mystic, theologian, philosopher, and jurist Ghazali (1058–1111), the Nakshbandis believed that mysticism could not refute or contradict anything that was taught by the Quran and the examples, deeds, sayings, and customary practices (Sunnah) of the prophet Muhammad (Masters: 419). Members of the order closely observed the rituals prescribed by Islamic law, such as daily prayers, fasts, and other observances.
Unlike other Sufi orders, the Nakshbandis did not perform dances, music, or other outward acts to engage in their zikr, that is, the act by which they meditated and sought union with God (Masters: 419). Instead, they performed what they called the silent zikr, because they believed that the physical activities used by other orders were a theatrical diversion from the true act of meditation (Masters: 419). Also unlike other Sufi orders, the Nakshbandis did not require their initiates to undergo a long process of spiritual internship under the guidance of a master before being judged worthy of membership in the order (Masters: 419). Instead, they believed that any person who approached the order already would have reached a sufficient level of enlightenment and thus know that he was ready for admittance (Masters: 419).
At times the enormous power and popularity of the Nakshbandi order aroused the jealousy and insecurity of Ottoman sultans. In 1639, for example, Murad IV ordered the execution of a şeyh of the Nakshbandi order simply because he had grown too influential (Inalcik: 99). Despite this sporadic persecution of the order, the Nakshbandis were able to continue with the
ir missionary activities, and they spread the teachings of the order throughout the Ottoman Empire. These efforts received a particular boost from the teachings of Sheikh Ziya al-Din Khalid (d. 1827), a Kurd from the Shahrizor district of today’s Iraq (Masters: 419–420). Sheikh Khalid rejected the anti-Sufi teachings of radical Muslim reformers such as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1791), the founder of the Wahhabi movement in Arabia, who considered all Sufis to be heretics. Sheikh Khalid, however, also criticized what he saw as a departure from the true Islam that most Sufi orders of his day represented (Masters: 420). Sheikh Khalid considered his mission to be nothing short of the revival of Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire through strict adherence to Islamic law, grounded in a certainty of purpose that could only come to the believer through a mystical experience such as that offered by Sufism (Masters: 420). His movement found considerable support among the empire’s general population. In particular, the Nakshbandi order played an important role in shaping the culture of the Kurdish-populated regions in southeastern Anatolia, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.
See also: Popular Culture: Bektaşi Order; Kadiris; Mevlana Celaledin Rumi and the Mevlevi Order
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