Daily Life In The Ottoman Empire (27 page)

The Bektaşis absorbed certain pre-Islamic and
Christian practices and rituals, which explains their acceptance, popularity,
and success among many urban and rural communities of the Balkans, particularly
in Albania. Using Holy Communion as a model, they served wine, bread, and
cheese when new members joined the order. The members of the order also
confessed to their sins and sought absolution from their
murşid
(spiritual
guide). In sharp contrast to Muslims who prescribed strict separation between
the two sexes, Bektaşi women participated in the order’s rituals without
covering their faces. A small group within the order swore to celibacy and wore
earrings as a distinctive mark. Under Ottoman rule, Bektaşi leaders
introduced the teachings of their order to various regions of the Balkans,
Anatolia, and the Arab Middle East, including Egypt. As the convents of the
order spread throughout the Balkan region, many Christians in Albania, Kosovo,
and Macedonia converted to Islam through Bektaşi teachings and activities.
Evliya Çelebi wrote that the Muslims of Gjirokaster in southern Albania were so
devoted to the first Shia imam, Ali, that, when sitting down or standing up,
they uttered “
Ya Ali
” (“Oh Ali”). According to Evliya Çelebi, these
Albanians studied and read Persian and, in sharp contrast to Muslims who
shunned alcohol consumption and public demonstrations of physical intimacy with
the opposite sex, they “were very fond of pleasure and carousing” as well as “shamelessly”
drinking wine and other intoxicating beverages. The Bektaşis also
celebrated weddings and the two Muslim feasts of
bayrams,
as well as
Persian Zoroastrian and various Christian festivals, such as
Nevruz
(Persian
New Year) and the days of St. George, St. Nicholas, and St. Demetrius, by
dancing and drinking, a behavior that was denounced by the devout traveler and
writer as “shameless” and “characteristic of the infidels.”

In his
Book of Travels,
Çelebi left his readers with
a vivid description of a “love intoxicated” Bektaşi
derviş
:

Meanwhile I took a close look at this dervish. He was
barefooted and bareheaded and raggedy. But his face and his eyes gleamed with
light, and his speech sparkled with pearls of wit. He was extremely eloquent
and quick witted. On his head perched a “water pot” headgear, with the turban
awry and adorned with twelve ruby-colored brands, like appliqué roses, standing
for the twelve leaders of the
Bektaşi
order, and signifying his
love for the dynasty (of Ali) and his devotion to the twelve
imams.
. .
. On his shirtless and guileless pure and saintly chest were marks of
flagellation he had received in Tabriz [a city in northwestern Iran] during the
Aşura ceremonies marking the martyrdom of el-Huseyn. . .
He
removed the “water pot” from his head revealing, just above his forehead, a “brand
of submission” the size of a piaster [a coin]. His purpose in displaying it to
us was to demonstrate that he was an adept in the holy law (
şeriat)
,
in the mystic path (
tarikat)
, in the mystic truth (
hakikat)
, and
in Gnostic wisdom (
marifet)
, and that he had submitted to the way of
Truth (
tarik-i hak
). On both arms were wounds and gashes of the four
companions of the Prophet, and on his left arm were brands and lashes of the
plain of Kerbela. He was mad, pure, wild, and radiant, but not exactly naked.
He was shaven in the saintly “four strokes” manner to indicate that he was free
of all forbidden things—thus there was no trace of hair, whether on his head,
mustache, beard, brow, or eyelashes. But his face was shining. In short, the
apron round his waist, the staff in his hand, the words “Oh Beloved of hearts”
on his tongue, the sling of David in his waistband, the
palheng
-stone (“a
carved stone the size of a hand with twelve flutings worn at the waist”) of
Moses, pomp of Ali, the decorative plumes, bells, and other ornaments [all
these indicated that he was] a companion of the foot-travelers, they were the
outfittings and instruments of poverty of the noble dervishes, and he himself
was the perfect mystic.

MEVLEVIS

The greatest rival of the Bektaşis was the Mevlevi
order, which enjoyed immense popularity among the members of the Ottoman ruling
elite. The founder of the order, and one of the most beloved Persian poets, was
Mevlana Celaledin Rumi (Persian: Mowlana Jalaludin Mohammad Balkhi, also known
as Mowlavi), born in 1207 in Balkh in today’s northern Afghanistan. His father,
Bahauddin Walad, a renowned scholar, theologian, and mystic, fled his home
before the arrival of the Mongols in 1215 and took his family to Konya, the
capital of the Rum Seljuk state in central Anatolia. 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 teachings and mystical poetry.

Rumi would have been an ordinary mystic and poet had it not
been for an accidental encounter in 1244 with the wandering Persian Sufi master
Shams-i Tabrizi, who hailed from Tabriz, a city in northwestern Iran. Shams
inspired Rumi to compose one of the masterpieces of Persian poetry,
Divan-i
Shams-i Tabrizi
(The Divan of Shams of Tabriz), in which Rumi expresses his
deep love, admiration, and devotion for Shams, who had transformed his life.
This was followed by the
Masnavi
(Turkish:
Mesnevi)
, a
multivolume book of poetical genius and fantastic tales, fables, and personal
reflections that Rumi completed after the disappearance of Shams. Rumi’s poetry
transcends national, ethnic, and even religious boundaries, and focuses
primarily on the spiritual journey to seek union with God. Love for fellow
human beings is presented in his poems as the essence of the mystical journey.

The mystical order that was established during Rumi’s
lifetime (which came to be known as Mevleviyya) 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,
Mevlana’s followers employed spinning and whirling to reach a trance-like
state. While the majority of Muslims shunned singing and dancing, the Mevlevi
dervişes
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 their use of music and dancing as un-Islamic. Thus, in 1516, when
Selim I was moving against the Safavid dynasty in Iran, the
şeyhülislam
persuaded the sultan to order the destruction of Rumi’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.

Despite numerous campaigns of harassment by the members of
the religious establishment, 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 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. The close relationship between Ottoman sultans and the leaders of the
Mevlevi order continued into the 19th century. The reform-minded Selim III (1789–1807)
visited the Mevlevi
tekkes
so frequently that the musical ceremony,
which had been performed only on Tuesdays and Fridays, was performed daily in a
different
tekke
on each day of the week. Outside Istanbul, however, the
ceremony continued to be performed only on Fridays. This visible support
allowed the order not only to survive against attacks from the ulema but also
grow and expand into the four corners of the Ottoman Empire.

Dancing dervishes. Anonymous, c.
1810.

NAK
Ş
BANDIS

A latecomer among the Sufi orders in Istanbul was the
Nakşbandiyya
(Naqshbandiyya)
Sufi order, which 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 order immediately attracted a
large following because, more than any other mystical brotherhood, its
teachings and practices corresponded with the established rules and practices
of Sunni Islam. Greatly influenced by the writings of the Persian theologian, mystic,
philosopher, and jurist Ghazali (1058–1111), the Nakşbandis believed that
mysticism could not negate anything that was taught by the Quran and the
examples, deeds, sayings, and customary practices (
sunnah)
of the
prophet Muhammad. The members of the order closely observed the daily prayers,
fasts, and other observances prescribed by the Islamic law.

In sharp contrast to other Sufi orders, the Nakşbandis
did not “engage in any outward performance” of their
zikr,
“the act by
which” Sufis meditated and sought “a union with God.” Instead, they engaged in
what they called, the silent
zikr,
as they believed that “the sort of
physical exercise characteristic of other order’s practice” of
zikr
was “theatrical
diversion from the true purpose of the act.” Also unlike other Sufi orders, the
Nakşbandis did not “have a long process of spiritual internship that
required those seeking to join the order to pursue a series of stages under the
guidance of a master before being judged worthy of admittance.” They believed
that a person only approached the order for admittance if he had already
reached a sufficient level of religious enlightenment internally and thus knew
that he was ready.

At times, the enormous power and popularity of the Nakşbandiyya
order ignited the jealousy and insecurity of Ottoman sultans. For example, in
1639, Murad IV “executed a şeyh of the
Nakşbandi
order of
dervishes, called Mahmud, who had grown too influential.” Despite the sporadic
persecution of the order, the Nakşbandis continued with their missionary
activities and spread the teachings of the order to the four corners of the
Ottoman Empire. The order “received a major boost from the teachings of Sheikh
Ziya al-Din Khalid (d. 1827),” who “was a Kurd from the Shahrizor district in
present-day Iraq.” He “rejected the anti-Sufi stance” of radical Muslim
reformers such as Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703–1791), the founder of the
Wahhabi movement in Arabia, who “condemned all Sufis as heretics,” but the
sheikh also criticized “what he believed to be the divergence from ‘true’ Islam
that most Sufi orders of his day represented.” Sheikh Khaled “saw his mission
as 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 the mystical experience.” His movement gained
popular support among the masses. In particular, the order played an important
role in shaping the culture of the Kurdish-populated region in southeastern
Anatolia, northern Iraq, and northern Syria.

Many among the elite and the subject classes viewed the
Sufi masters as holy men who possessed miraculous powers. When a Sufi master of
great standing appeared in a town, townspeople rushed to touch or kiss the hem
of his mantle or skirt, or even his feet. The tombs of Sufi masters were places
of pilgrimage. When a Sufi
şeyh
passed away, the tomb would be
enclosed and a dome was built over it, attracting pilgrims from near and far
away lands. Cults and myths often arose around the tomb of a Sufi master who
was venerated for his spiritual purity and power. In order to attract the
attention and blessings of a saint or Sufi master buried in a tomb, pious
visitors, the sick, the ailing, impotent men, women unable to bear children,
pregnant women fearful of complications in childbirth, and mothers pleading for
a cure for their children’s infirmity offered prayers and supplications by
tying scraps of material, “shreds of cotton, woolen, and silk morsels of ribbon
and tape” to the railings of the mausoleum or the nearby bushes and trees. Many
lit candles as they pleaded for a cure, while others donated metal candelabra
or carpets for the floor of the mausoleum as a sign of their humility and
devotion. Some who could not find a remedy to their illness slept near or on a
tomb for a few hours or up to forty days if their ailment was serious. At
times, even trees, rocks, or fountains in the garden of the shrine became holy
objects with magical power.