• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

doi: 10.26579/josress-3.2.15 Journal of Strategic Research in Social Science Year: 2017 (JoSReSS) Volume: 3 www.josress.com Issue: 2 ISSN: 2459-0029 Sultanahmet Arasta Dervish Lodge Fatih ELCİL1 Keywords Abstract Dervish, Lodges, Dervish lodges (Tekkes) generally adopts Islamic principles and They have been active Art. in this direction. Every order has its own set of rules and apply them with a form of worship called zikir or rite. These rules have been maintained for centuries and the general line remains the same. Thus, "tekke culture" was formed. In addition to worship, there are many different dimensions such as music, human relations and lifestyle. Every Tekke made a remark one day in a week and at the same hour. And also, In these structures, special ceremonies and rituals are performed during religious days and holidays. The parts of the structure in the architecture of Tekke are arranged to respond to different functions. It is functional. There is a connection and organization among human relations. In general, each tekke has three main architectural elements. These are the ancestral house, the service buildings and the tombs. The ancestral house (Tevhidhane) is the most important architectural section Article History of the tekke. The inscription was made here. The architectural elements that must be Received found in a ancestral house are the niche and the women's department. Sultanahmet 15 May, 2017 Arasta Dervish lodge (Arasta Tekke) has existed in the past as an important mystic Accepted structure. In my presentation; the Arasta Dervish lodge (Tekke), as a Rufai Tekke will 18 Jun, 2017 be tried to be introduced to the place of Istanbul Tekke life. Before talking about Sultanahmet Arasta Dervish Lodge, which I want to introduce in my presentation, I would like to provide brief information on Dervish Lodges and Fatih District, Sultanahmet Neighborhood where it is located. Fatih district is one of the European side districts of Istanbul. Its neighbors are Haliç and Eyüp in the north, Bosporus in the east, Zeytinburnu in the west and Marmara Sea in the south. The history of Fatih District is the same as the history of Old Istanbul, which was established in the area called “Walled City” (Suriçi). The findings reached in excavations carried out in the Port of Theodosios in Yenikapi in recent years point to the prehistoric Neolithic Age. Also, in the 7th century BC, a second settlement was established by the immigrants from Megara, Greece around today’s Sarayburnu. The construction of the first city walls coincides with these years (657 BC). This city was named Byzantion, after the founder, Byzas.2 Byzantine, encircled by the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus in 194 AC, was conquered in 194, following two years of siege. In the Constantine era, the Emperor II Theodosios(408-450) managed to expand the city walls which started from Samatya to the borders of today, which merged with the Golden Horn in Fener. The walls of the Golden Horn, which connects the sea and land walls of Istanbul from the north, were built in the VII century. In the following centuries and especially 1 Corresponding author. Assist. Prof., Istanbul University, Faculty of Letters, Department of Art History, Department of Turkish and Islamic Arts, [email protected] 2 Çeker, p.12. due to the Latin invasion, the city walls were raised and repaired in the XIII century, and in 1453, Byzantine carried out strengthening works due to Turkish siege. On May 29, 1453, Istanbul was conquered by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror and became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Fatih District, which covers the whole of the Historical Peninsula, is named after the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. After the conquest of Istanbul, Fatih, which began to develop around the Fatih Mosque built on the fourth hill of Istanbul on Sultan Mehmed Khan II’s order, quickly became a classical Ottoman-Turkish city. Fatih is also known as “First Istanbul” or “Original Istanbul” because of its features. Istanbul, which has always been a cultural and commercial center since the day it was established, has been kept alive and developed with various monumental constructions by the sultans after Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, and the historical “Walled City” region of today’s Fatih District also become the center of the Empire. Sultanahmet is one of 57 neighborhoods of Fatih district of Istanbul on the European side. Located at the farthest point of the historical peninsula, the neighborhood houses numerous historical works, especially the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. According to the administrative borders the district borders with Binbirdirek on the north; Küçükayasofya on the west; Cankurtaran neighborhoods on the east and the Marmara Sea on the south. Atmeydani, which has always been a center with its structures and historical importance, is also located here. In the Byzantine period, the square, located on the southwest of Hagia Sophia was called Hippodromos (hippodrome) and it was arranged as a car racing area, and the square has great importance since it was the place where certain uprisings began with various political events. After the conquest of Istanbul, the area in which the Hippodrome was located continued to exist as a place where horse races and javelin games were carried out, and it was named Atmeydanı (Horse Square). Moreover, due to its proximity to the Palace, its value rose, the square had a new appearance with the important structures built around it, and it became the center of city life with its feast festivals and palace weddings. Arasta Dervish Lodge, our main subject, is a Sufi structure. I will try to give some information on the place of Dervish Lodges in Ottoman culture; the dervish lodges were called tekye in the Old Turkish texts and they are called tekke today, but there is no certain information about the etymology of the term. Although its structure makes us think that the term comes from the root vekee meaning “to sit, to lean”, and despite the fact that the Arabic language has the word tükee meaning “baton, rest”, since the classical Arabic dictionaries does not contain the word “tekye”, the thought that it might be of Arabic origins is not strong. It is also claimed that the origin of the word comes from the Persian word “tekke”, which means “fur”. However, Persian texts do not contain the word “tekke”, but they call the same place as dergâh and hankah. The word, which is made plural as tekâyâ according to the grammatical rules of Arabic, mush have been used in Ottoman Turkish after XV century. The mosque, medrese and dervish lodge, which are the main institutions of the Islamic civilization, performed their functions under the Al-Masjid an-Nabawī (the Mosque of the Prophet) in the area of bliss, and the scientific, social and military functions in the Al-Masjid an-Nabawī became 232 Elcil, F. (2017). Sultanahmet Arasta Dervish Lodge. independent institutions in the historical process. There are different opinions as to where and when the first dervish lodge was established. According to some scholars, the first dervish lodge was built in the city of Remle in Palestine in the 8th century. Ibn Taymiyya argues that the first dervish lodge was built in Abadan district of Basra in the same century. While the Islamic world expanded its borders from Baghdad to Bukhara on one side and from Cairo to Cordoba on the other side, it has also shaped the scientific, intellectual and political structure according to the needs. The medreses taught many sciences from exegetics to philosophy, and the dervish lodges have focused more on principles for educating society in a spiritual and moral way. The first dervish lodges were constructed as simple rooms and small spaces. In time, the dervish lodges gained various architectural features and incorporated many different units. The dervish lodges were called “ribat, {sitâne, zayviye, hankah, dergâh, imaret, savmaa, harâtbat, mihrab, tevhidhâne” in different times and in various geographies. Sometimes, the term “âsitâne” was preferred for the central dervish lodge of the sect, but sometimes the big dervish lodges were called “âsitâne”, and small ones were called “zâviye” as in Mevleviyeh. There are also dervish lodges named after their sects, such as Kalenderhâne, Mevlevîhâne, Kadirîhâne, Gülşenîhâne. The dervish lodges established in the big cities and the caravan routes also provided inn, imaret, caravansary services along with Sufi education. Members of the dervish lodge strengthened social assistance and solidarity and established close relations with government officials. There is no illuminating information about the physical and financial structures of dervish lodges in court registers, foundations, history books, and especially travel books. The travel books of Ibn Cubayr and Ibn Battuta are two important sources of information written during the beginning of sects and providing information on dervish lodges. Evliya Celebi’s Seyahatname contains important information about Ottoman dervish lodges. The details we obtained from these sources suggests that the dervish lodges were established on vast farmlands, they were supported by rich foundations, and they contained units such as hall, rooms, small mosque, hammam, mill, ablution room, kitchen, warehouse, library, guest house, barn, vineyards, and orchards. Generally, the dervish lodges were built by sheiks and their followers or by the sultan and the rulers. Sometimes the dervish lodge established with the modest opportunities of the sheik was developed with the help of the followers and lovers and increased the service areas as the opportunities of the foundation extended. While many of the dervish lodges were closed due to inadequate financial means, the reputation of the sheik of the dervish lodge reputation was instrumental in the shining era of small dervish lodges. The dervish lodges established before the Seljuk period, when the sects emerged as a separate formation, did not belong to a certain sect.

Load more

  10

Copy Link