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HARVARD UNIVERSITY Graduate School of Arts and Sciences mm. DISSERTATION ACCEPTANCE CERTIFICATE The undersigned, appointed by the Committee on Middle Eastern Studies have examined a dissertation entitled "Subjects of the Sultan, Disciples of the Shah: Formation and Transformation of the Kizilbash/Alevi Communities in Ottoman Anatolia" presented by Ayfer Karakaya Stump candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and hereby certify that it is worthy of acceptance. Signature Typed name: Prof. Cemal Kafadar Signature Typed name: Prof. Carter V. Findley Signature Typed name: Prof. Roy Mottahedeh Signature.-Vs-jJtfL - Typed name: Prof. Wheeler M. Thackston, Jr. Date: Subjects of the Sultan, Disciples of the Shah: Formation and Transformation of the Kizilbash/Alevi Communities in Ottoman Anatolia A dissertation presented by Ayfer Karakaya Stump to The Committee on Middle Eastern Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of History and Middle Eastern Studies Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts September 2008 UMI Number: 3334802 Copyright 2008 by Stump, Ayfer Karakaya All rights reserved. INFORMATION TO USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistinct print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleed-through, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ® UMI UMI Microform 3334802 Copyright 2008 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 E. Eisenhower Parkway PO Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ©2008 -Ayfer Karakaya Stump All rights reserved Advisor: Prof. Cemal Kafadar Author: Ayfer Karakaya Stump Subjects of the Sultan, Disciples of the Shah: Formation and Transformation of the Kizilbash/Alevi Communities in Ottoman Anatolia ABSTRACT This dissertation deals with the history of the Alevi communities historically known as the Kizilbash in Ottoman Anatolia. Scholars have typically treated Alevism as an undifferentiated strain within the hazy category of "heterodox folk Islam" and mostly in terms of the role these communities played in the sixteenth-century Ottoman-Safavid conflict. There has thus been little effort to explore Alevi history in its own right. This dissertation proposes to fill this gap by examining the development of the Alevis' socio-religious organization, which is centered around a number of charismatic family lines called ocaks. Drawing upon a group of newly available documents and manuscripts emanating from within the Alevi milieu itself, this dissertation traces the origins of the ocak system to the cosmopolitan Sufi milieu of late medieval Anatolia and accounts for the system's evolution up to the nineteenth century. Chapter one reveals the historical affinity of a number of prominent Alevi ocaks in eastern Anatolia with the WafaT order and shows how from the second half of the fifteenth century onwards the various branches of the Wafa'iyya came to merge with the Safavid-led Kizilbash movement, gradually evolving into distinct components of the Alevi ocak system. Chapters two and three deal with the trajectory of the Alevi-Bektashi symbiosis. Highlighting Alevis' historical ties to the Abdal/Bektashi convent in Karbala, iii these chapters propose looking beyond the central Bektashi convent in Kir§ehir for a fuller grasp of the issue. Chapter four, devoted to Alevi-Safavid relations, argues that the Alevis conceived of their bond with the Safavids primarily in Sufi terms and that they continued in their spiritual attachment to the shahs even after the revolutionary phase of the Kizilbash movement. Relations between the shahs and their Anatolian followers were maintained through the mediation of the Abdal/Bektashi convent in Karbala. Until the late seventeenth century, the Safavids also continued to bestow hildfetndm.es on members of Alevi ocaks and to dispatch religious treatises to Anatolia. The Safavid memory among the Alevis began to fade away following the demise of the dynasty around the mid-eighteenth century and the subsequent increase in influence of the £elebi Bektashis among them. IV TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv INTRODUCTION 1 i. Literature to Date . 7 ii. Conceptual Considerations 19 iii. Scope of the Study 22 iv. Sources 27 v. Organization of the Dissertation 33 CHAPTER ONE: The Forgotten Forefathers: The Wafaiyya Order and its Kizilbash Offshoots in Anatolia I-Introduction 36 II- Abu'1-Wafa' Taj al-'Arifin and the Wafa'iyya Order 38 i. Biography of Abu'1-Wafa 38 ii. Abu'1-Wafa and his Order 51 iii. Disciples and Successors of Abu'1-Wafa' 55 III- Wafaiyya in Anatolia 58 i. Wafa I Dervishes and Early Ottomans 58 ii. Early WafaT Presence in Eastern Anatolia 62 IV- WafaT cum Kizilbash Ocaks in Ottoman Anatolia 68 i. Major Sub-branches and their Geographical Distribution 68 ii.The silsila of WafaT cum Kizilbash ocaks according to Alevi documents. 77 V-Conclusion 82 CHAPTER TWO: The Contested Legacy of Had Bektas/. The Abdals of Rum, the Bektashi Order, and the Kizilbash Movement I-Introduction 84 II- The Historical Had Bektas 90 III- The Abdals of Rum and the early (or proto-)Bektashis 103 IV- The Ottoman State and the Bektashi Order 116 V- The Safavids, the Abdals of Rum, and the Legacy of HacT Bektas. 123 VI-Conclusion 128 v CHAPTER THREE: An Intricate Web of Relations: The Bektashi Convents in Iraq and their Kizilbash Visitors I-Introduction 130 II- Bektashi Presence in Iraq: Overview of the Sources 133 i. Literary Sources 133 ii. Archival Documents 136 iii. Alevi Documents 137 III- Bektashi Convents in Iraq 142 i. Convents Linked to Imams' Shrines 142 ii. Convents Independent from Shi'I Sanctuaries 154 iii. Convents of Imprecisely Known Location 160 IV- Assessing the Nature of Relations between the Kizilbash/Alevi Communities in Anatolia and the Bektashi Convents in Iraq 161 V-Conclusion 170 CHAPTER FOUR: Mysticism and Imperial Politics: The Safavids and the Kizilbash of Anatolia I-Introduction 171 II- The Making of the Safavids' Kizilbash Constituency in Anatolia 172 III- The Safavid Shahs and Their Anatolian Followers in the Post-Revolutionary Phase 181 i. Appointment of Safavi Khalifas/ Hallfes 184 ii. Dispatch of Religious Treatises: The Buyruk Manuscripts 194 IV-Conclusion 205 CONCLUSION 207 BIBLIOGRAPHY 213 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is a pleasure to thank the many individuals whose help this dissertation benefited from. Most of all I am grateful to my advisor, Professor Cemal Kafadar, who supervised my work at every step from its conception to its completion. His inspiring guidance, trust in my work and cheering words whenever I needed reassurance have been crucial in bringing this dissertation to its fruition. Professor Kafadar has profoundly shaped my thinking about history with his well-rounded erudition, inter disciplinary approach and nuanced understanding of the Ottoman world. I feel fortunate for having had the privilege of working with him. I am equally indebted to Professor Carter Findley, who was my first mentor in the field of Ottoman history. He patiently guided me during my initial years of graduate education at the Ohio State University, and continued to provide unwavering scholarly and friendly support from afar during my studies at Harvard. In his usual manner, he carefully read the entire dissertation, and provided valuable comments and suggestions. Professor Findley will always serve as a model of assiduousness and meticulous scholarship. A heartfelt thanks also goes to the late Professor SJnasi Tekin. The individualized Ottoman language classes that I took with him during the early stages of my research proved to be a lifesaver as I was entering the uncharted, polyglot territory of Alevi documents and manuscripts. He not only helped me decode and make sense of some of the most challenging documents, but as a philologist also instilled in me the important lesson of accounting fully for every word in the text of a document before proceeding with interpretation. I am also indebted to Professor Roy Mottahedeh and to Professor Wheeler Thackston, both of whom kindly agreed to be on my dissertation committee. I vii have greatly benefited from Professor Mottahedeh's teachings on early Islamic history, and from Professor Thackston's Persian classes at Harvard and at the Cunda summer school. This thesis would not have been possible in its current form were it not for the many Alevi dedes and ocakzades who opened to me their private archives, and imparted information and traditions concerning their family histories. I am eternally grateful to them, and to all other members of the Alevi community who hosted and guided my husband and me during my field trips, helped me acquire copies of documents and manuscripts, and generously shared with me their knowledge regarding various aspects of Alevi ocaks. Among them I should particularly note the late Hasan Cevik Dede, Bektas. Keskin Dede, Mehmet Ekber Cevik, Hiiseyin Keskin and Hiiseyin Cahit Kargmer from Antep; Hiiseyin Dogan Dede, Hayri Dogan Dede, Abuzer Giizel Dede, Mustafa Alkan (A§ik Ozeni), Kazim Acar from Adiyaman; the