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The Sufi As the Axis of the World University of Pennsylvania ScholarlyCommons Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations 2016 The Sufi As The Axis Of The orld:W Representations Of Religious Authority In The Works Of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725) Kameliya Atanasova University of Pennsylvania, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations Part of the History of Religion Commons, and the Islamic Studies Commons Recommended Citation Atanasova, Kameliya, "The Sufi As The Axis Of The orld:W Representations Of Religious Authority In The Works Of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725)" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertations. 2172. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2172 This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2172 For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Sufi As The Axis Of The orld:W Representations Of Religious Authority In The Works Of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725) Abstract The present study examines the ways in which Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725) d(re)defines and deploys Islamic discursive practices and institutions to assert his religious authority as the most influential Sufi master in the Celveti order after its founder. Through a literary analysis of Bursevi’s autobiographical notes and dedicatory treatises (tuhfe) to Ottoman officials, I examine how he uses the institutions of the Sufi master (shaykh), order (tarīqa), and the Celestial Axis (quṭb) to argue for his superior status vis-�-vis other members of the Ottoman religious and learned elite. I speculate argue that the particulars of Hakki’s self-representation can be viewed as early indications of institutional anxiety and contested leadership within the Celveti Sufi order, which split into subbranches in the latter part of the eighteenth century. My study situates Bursevi’s writings in the larger literary landscape through a review of the existing scholarship on autobiography and advice literature (naṣīḥāt) in the Middle Eastern literary context. In doing so, I identify the challenges and opportunities that his works pose to such a genric classification. Having established the ways in which each of these types of writing lends itself to a discourse on spiritual legitimacy, I examine how in his self-narrative in the Tamāmu’l-feyz, Bursevi uses the institution of the master, and the notion of “death before dying”, to claim authority as the spiritual heir to the most important Celveti Sufi at the time. I contrast Bursevi’s self-representation in this treatise with his autobiographical note in the Silsilenāme-yi Celvetiye, a biohagiographical work of the Celveti order, which he composed as an established Celveti Sufi shaykh. In the latter, I argue, Bursevi deploys the institution of the Sufi order, and accounts of dreams and visions, as sources of the spiritual legitimacy he seeks to assert. I conclude with an analysis of how Bursevi’s claim to religious authority manifests in gift treatises he composed for Ottoman officials. By focusing on the author’s conceptualization of himself as an Axis (quṭb), the Sufi at the opt of the spiritual hierarchy, I examine the broad social roles that Bursevi envisioned for Sufis as the pillars of Islamic orthodoxy and the integral part he envisioned for them in the historical legitimacy of the Ottoman state. Degree Type Dissertation Degree Name Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Graduate Group Religious Studies First Advisor Jamal J. Elias Keywords Islam on the Balkans, Ottoman intellectual history, Sufism Subject Categories History of Religion | Islamic Studies | Religion This dissertation is available at ScholarlyCommons: https://repository.upenn.edu/edissertations/2172 THE SUFI AS THE AXIS OF THE WORLD: REPRESENTATIONS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN THE WORKS OF ISMAIL HAKKI BURSEVI (1653-1725) Kameliya Atanasova A DISSERTATION in Religious Studies Presented to the Faculties of the University of Pennsylvania in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 2016 Supervisor of Dissertation ______________ Jamal Elias Walter H. Annenberg Professor in the Humanities Professor of Religious Studies and South Asia Studies Graduate Group Chairperson _________________ Annette Yoshiko Reed, Associate Professor of Religious Studies Dissertation Committee Joseph E. Lowry Associate Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Paul M. Cobb Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations . THE SUFI AS THE AXIS OF THE WORLD: REPRESENTATIONS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN THE WORKS OF ISMAIL HAKKI BURSEVI (1653-1725) COPYRIGHT 2016 Kameliya N. Atanasova This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us/ To Yavor iii ACKNOWLEDGMENT This work would not have been possible without the kind support of family, friends and colleagues. I would like to first thank my parents for never ceasing to believe in me and for being my intellectual inspiration and moral support whether from the adjacent room or thousands of miles away. It is to your love and faith in me that I owe any success. Second, I would like to express my enormous gratitude to my teachers and mentors – Amina Steinfels and Jamal Elias – who challenged me to pursue the uneasy but very rewarding path of academia. To you and to Joseph Lowry, Paul Cobb, Justin McDaniel, and Annette Reed, I thank for welcoming me to your guild with open arms and minds. My debt to my language teachers, Feride Hatiboğlu and Sevim Yılmaz Önder, is enormous: size çok teşekkür ederim! A special ‘thank you’ is reserved for Ernestine Williams, Linda Greene, and Katelyn Stoler, who saved the day and my sanity on innumerable occasions: I don’t know where I would be without you. The research conducted for this study could not have been carried out without the generous support from a number of sources. I would like to thank the Graduate Division at the School of Arts and Sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, Mount Holyoke College’s Alumnae Association, and The Manuscript Society, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for providing the means for archival research in the U.S., Germany, and beyond. I am also indebted to the staff at the Süleymaniye Manuscript Library, the Rare Book Library at Istanbul University, Millet Library, and iv Princeton University’s Rare Book and Manuscripts Department, for opening their collections to my study and supporting my archival work. I am also indebted to my colleagues at Haverford College, particularly Ken and Naomi Koltun-Fromm, who welcomed me and supported me throughout the finishing stages of writing. To my students at Haverford, I extend my deep gratitude for the informative questions and stimulating class discussions which helped me see this project with new eyes. A heartfelt word of thanks goes out to my friends, Samah, Shaudi, Anna, Louise, and Susanne, who spent numerous writing days and late meals with me: without your friendship, this path would not have been as rewarding. I thank Jeff and Nick for the feedback and conversations. To Beth, Jessica, Terry, and Fabrice and Dana, I thank for taking my mind off of the writing and back into the world. To Cory, Alice, and Debby, thank you for your care during the most difficult times and for sharing in the joyous ones, too. To all of you and Ryan, who saw this project from beginning to end, through all the late nights and hectic days, I am forever grateful. To Yavor, to whom this work is dedicated, I thank for the unsurmountable courage and strength. You are my inspiration. v ABSTRACT THE SUFI AS THE AXIS OF THE WORLD: REPRESENTATIONS OF RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY IN THE WORKS OF ISMAIL HAKKI BURSEVI (1653-1725) Kameliya Atanasova Jamal Elias The present study examines the ways in which Ismail Hakki Bursevi (1653-1725) defines and deploys Islamic discursive practices and institutions to assert his religious authority as the most influential Sufi master in the Celveti order after its founder. Through a literary analysis of Bursevi’s autobiographical notes and dedicatory treatises (tuhfe) to Ottoman officials, I examine how he uses the institutions of the Sufi master (shaykh), order (tarīqa), and the Celestial Axis (quṭb) to argue for his superior status vis- à-vis other members of the Ottoman religious and learned elite. I argue that the particulars of Hakki’s self-representation can be viewed as early indications of institutional anxiety and contested leadership within the Celveti Sufi order, which split into subbranches in the latter part of the eighteenth century. My study situates Bursevi’s writings in the larger literary landscape through a review of the existing scholarship on autobiography and advice literature (naṣīḥāt) in the Middle Eastern literary context. In doing so, I identify the challenges and opportunities that his works pose to such a genric classification. Having established the ways in which each of these types of writing lends itself to a discourse on spiritual legitimacy, I examine how in his self-narrative in the Tamāmu’l-feyz, Bursevi uses the institution of the master, vi and the notion of “death before dying”, to claim authority as the spiritual heir to the most important Celveti Sufi at the time. I contrast Bursevi’s self-representation in this treatise with his autobiographical note in the Silsilenāme-yi Celvetiye, a biohagiographical work of the Celveti order, which he composed as an established Celveti Sufi shaykh. In the latter, I argue, Bursevi deploys the institution of the Sufi order, and accounts of dreams and visions, as sources of the spiritual legitimacy he seeks to assert. I conclude with an analysis of how Bursevi’s claim to religious authority manifests in gift treatises he composed for Ottoman officials. By focusing on the author’s conceptualization of himself as an Axis (quṭb), the Sufi at the top of the spiritual hierarchy, I examine the broad social roles that Bursevi envisioned for Sufis as the pillars of Islamic orthodoxy and the integral part he envisioned for them in the historical legitimacy of the Ottoman state.
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