Further Notes on the Literature of the Hurufis and Their Connection With

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Further Notes on the Literature of the Hurufis and Their Connection With MAR 1 5 1967 ! ! II . TYOF F URTHER NOTES ON THE LITERATURE OF THE HURUFIS AND THEIR CONNECTION WITH THE B KTASH O D F D E I R ER O ERVISHES . A WN M . M . E W RD G . BRO . BY D . E A E , , , INE a a o fo r a ua 1 89 8 ye rs g , in the J n ry, , 6 1 —9 4 I ub lish e d an a S ome otes . N pp , p rticle entitled ' it rat ure a nd D octr ines o the H urt z ec o n the L e f gf S t . The m aterials fo r th at article were chiefly derived from a m anu ’ i - v- Ka bé r B 1 . 2 am s cript o i the Jdv ddn ( e . 7) in the C bridge ’ L a an d m a u A nerens F onds U niversity ibr ry , two n scripts ( Perso n 24 an d S a le/new Pe rso n 1 07 e u , , mp , ) in the Biblioth q e Nat io n ale at Pa o f f m ai 1 ris , which the or er cont ned ( ) the ' ’ s t aw - ndma o f Am Ghi é thu d- u am m a I d the ir y Din M h d b . M u am m a al- u a o f A a a u a . a m H s yn b h d H s yni , st r b d , co posed H 828 z A . D . 2 an a s hortly after A . ( ( ) llegorical ma t/m a wé m and 8 a a o f di a u poe , ( ) gloss ry the lect words sed ' in the Jdmddn - i- Ka bér ; while the latter contained another H ur fifi treatise which appeared to be that entitled the - / t w a a f m a M o b a bb a nd . Th nks to in or tion contributed by the I a W . G w s a a a E . a . l te Mr J ibb , lso ble to prove th t the a a a a P a sect , which ppe rs not to h ve t ken root in ersi , a o f a u au the l nd its birth , spre d into T rkey, where it c sed s m m m at a ff an d sufi e re d o e co otion sever l di erent periods , a u am m o f sever l fierce persec tions , ongst the victi s which D 1 4 1 7 — 1 8 w as ua e s im i H . 8 20 A . N A . (in ) the biling l poet , D é wdn u m m in m a u an d w as whose is not nco on n script , printed _ l a a H 1 29 8 A D at A e/w r P A . the ress in Const ntinople in . I w as a a at a m not , however, w re th t ti e how con siderable w as the extent o f the H ur ufi literature still x a I a H ur ufi are e t nt, nor did know th t the doctrines still 5 84 LI T ERAT URE or THE H U R U F I S . professed an d t au ght am ongst the m em bers o f the Bektashi of Order Dervishes . The connection o f the H ur iifis w ith t h e B e kt ash is first am n A u bec e k own to m e in the following m anner . bo t three y e ars after th e publication o f the article to which I h ave f a a a a a m a u re erred bove , cert in de ler in Orient l n scripts L a a o f a a fr m m I h ad a r a ondon , n tive B ghd d , o who l e dy u a m a a um o f MS S . e p rch sed consider ble n ber , invited to fu him a i o f m a a in a h e rnish with l st y desider t , order th t m m ight sub it the sam e to his correspondents in the E ast . ’ ' - I did an d m in m Ja rzddn n dma. an y so , entioned y list the or u F e — a H r ufi . Sh af a b other books ortly terw rds (in M rch , 1 9 01 ) he forwarded to m e a parcel o f m anu scripts in which w as included a copy o f this work (now in the British u um m a m o f M se , rked Or . besides so e other books 31 u 88 . the sect in q estion . The prices set on these were b ut m a f - z u am high , so e h l do en were sec red by the C bridge U L a y a a f- z u a niversity ibr r , while nother h l do en were p rch sed u um an d a a - m a by the British M se , now be r the cl ss rks — O r . Or . m a M The co par tively high prices re alised b v these SS . m a m u a a fo r m a see to h ve sti l ted the se rch other si il r ones , an d a ua a s th e u y u b ut in gr d lly , s pply not onl contin ed a am a a H ur iifi cre sed , it bec e cle r th t these books existed in a ua an d w ide lv a an d consider ble q ntities , were still re d copied P u f Ea a y u . in the st , especi ll in T rkey rices conseq ently ell a an d a y fe w o f 31 8 8 . a f m r pidly , l tterl these h ve etched ore th an £2 or £3 in the lim ited m arket where the dem and fo r N o r w as n f s a them existed . it lo g be ore we di covered th t w as f m th e a a y a m it ro Bekt shi dervishes th t the were , in l ost all a dire c tlv y d an d a w a s c ses , or indirectl derive , th t it ' am on gst the m em bers o f this Order that th e H ur ii fi doctrines flo urish at the present day . WVith this dervish order all who h ave visited Con s t a n t in o ple or other parts o f th e T urkish E m pire with open T w a s a s an d s a r fam a . eves a e ili r o rds Chri ti n , even Chri ti n m s n a t h e e o m m o n lv s a n u u ua f n i sio ries , y how n s l rie dliness , b ut am ongst the M uh a m m ad a n s th e v a re regarded with KT H RV H 5 85 THE BE A S I D E I S ES . ‘ a m u m u fa u a a M e v le v is Rufa ch ore n vo r ble eye th n the , is , é diris an d . a o f Q , other dervish orders The re son their ill repute I h ad hitherto been unable to a scertain : it w as ‘ generally asserted that they shared the Shi ite views o f the P a b ut a m ersi ns, this did not expl in why they were ore di sliked by the orthodox S unni Tu rks than were the heterodox Persians with whom they were supposed to b e m a . a a f u o f t h e in sy p thy Moreover , H jj i Bekt sh , the o nder u o f P a hi fa u i h order , tho gh ersi n origin , enjoyed gh vo r w t m a S u a da an d di ur the Otto n lt n in his y , lived ed in the odo o f a an d a s a i s nctity, is chiefly known in history h v ng conferred his blessing on the Janissary corps w hen it w as first form ed ; a blessing in m em ory of which the Janissarie s a - a a d u t o wore on their he d dresses white b n , s pposed represent the sleeve o f the saint as it rested in blessin g on ‘ a f a a a al the he d o their le ader . H jj i Bekt sh is s id by Mu lim ' A a 3 3 H . 7 8 A D . 1 3 N s mé 1 06 A . a a . 7 j i ( , p ) to h ve died in a u u y u sum o f th e which d te , c rio sl eno gh , coincides with the ' num erical values of the letters com posing the word Be/rtds/zzyy a f u by which the order which he o nded is known .
Recommended publications
  • Spiritual Surrender: from Companionship to Hierarchy in the History of Bektashism Albert Doja
    Spiritual surrender: from companionship to hierarchy in the history of Bektashism Albert Doja To cite this version: Albert Doja. Spiritual surrender: from companionship to hierarchy in the history of Bek- tashism. Numen: International Review for the History of Religions, 2006, 53 (4), pp.448-510. 10.1163/156852706778941996. halshs-00405963 HAL Id: halshs-00405963 https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00405963 Submitted on 21 Jul 2009 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. NUMEN 53,4_f3_448-510II 10/30/06 10:27 AM Page 448 Author manuscript, published in "Numen: International Review for the History of Religions 53, 4 (2006) 448–510" Numen: International Review for the History DOI of Religions, : 10.1163/156852706778941996 vol. 53, 2006, n° 4, pp 448–510 SPIRITUAL SURRENDER: FROM COMPANIONSHIP TO HIERARCHY IN THE HISTORY OF BEKTASHISM ALBERT DOJA Summary The system of beliefs and practices related to Bektashism seems to have cor- responded to a kind of liberation theology, whereas the structure of Bektashi groups corresponded more or less to the type of religious organization conven- tionally known as charismatic groups. It becomes understandable therefore that their spiritual tendency could at times connect with and meet social, cultural and national perspectives.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Heterodox and Sunni Orthodox Islam: the Bektaşi Order in the Nineteenth Century and Its Opponents
    turkish historical review 8 (2017) 203-218 brill.com/thr Between Heterodox and Sunni Orthodox Islam: The Bektaşi Order in the Nineteenth Century and Its Opponents Butrus Abu-Manneh University of Haifa, Israel [email protected] Abstract In the first quarter of the nineteenth century Ottoman society, especially in cities suffered from a dichotomy. On the one hand there existed for several centuries the Bektaşi which was heterodox order. But in the eighteenth century there started to ex- pand from India a new sufi order: the Naqshbandi – Mujaddidi order known to have been a shari’a minded and highly orthodox order. The result was a dichotomy between religious trends the clash between which reached a high level in 1826. Following the destruction of the janissaries, the Bektaşi order lost its traditional protector and few weeks later was abolished. But a generation later it started to experience a beginning of a revival and by the mid 1860s it started to practice unhindered. But after the rise of Sultan Abdülhamid ii (in 1876) the Bektaşis were again forced to practice clandes- tinely. However, they supported Mustafa Kemal in the national struggle. Keywords The Bektaşi order – Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi – Ali Paşa – Fuad Paşa – Sultan Abdulhamid ii – Bektaşi revival Throughout its long history the Bektaşi order contributed considerably to the Ottoman empire which was, as is known, a multi-national and multi- denominational state. It remained unchallenged by other orders for over three centuries. However, it started to encounter a socio-religious hostility of a newly expanded order which reached the Ottoman lands from India at about the end of the seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries, as we shall see hereafter.
    [Show full text]
  • Arab Scholars and Ottoman Sunnitization in the Sixteenth Century 31 Helen Pfeifer
    Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1450–c. 1750 Islamic History and Civilization Studies and Texts Editorial Board Hinrich Biesterfeldt Sebastian Günther Honorary Editor Wadad Kadi volume 177 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/ihc Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1450–c. 1750 Edited by Tijana Krstić Derin Terzioğlu LEIDEN | BOSTON This is an open access title distributed under the terms of the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license, which permits any non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided no alterations are made and the original author(s) and source are credited. Further information and the complete license text can be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ The terms of the CC license apply only to the original material. The use of material from other sources (indicated by a reference) such as diagrams, illustrations, photos and text samples may require further permission from the respective copyright holder. Cover illustration: “The Great Abu Sa’ud [Şeyhü’l-islām Ebū’s-suʿūd Efendi] Teaching Law,” Folio from a dīvān of Maḥmūd ‘Abd-al Bāqī (1526/7–1600), The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The image is available in Open Access at: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/447807 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Krstić, Tijana, editor. | Terzioğlu, Derin, 1969- editor. Title: Historicizing Sunni Islam in the Ottoman Empire, c. 1450–c. 1750 / edited by Tijana Krstić, Derin Terzioğlu. Description: Boston : Brill, 2020. | Series: Islamic history and civilization. studies and texts, 0929-2403 ; 177 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
    [Show full text]
  • The Alid Iconography Between Bektashi Claiming and Popular Piety in Contemporary Albania
    FOCUS 57 “I keep this image always with me, to bring me luck.” The Alid Iconography between (Interview with Ramisha).1 Bektashi Claiming and Popular Piety Introduction in Contemporary Albania This sentence synthetically expresses the intertwined factors and varied discourses about the veneration of Islamic Alid icons in contemporary Albania. The icono­ graphic cult of some figures related to Alid tradition seems to be absolutely sponta­ neous and integrated within the religious experience as an integral part of the living religions in Albania. In recent time, several works have ana­ lysed the institutional and political muta­ tions of Balkan Islam in the post­Commu­ nist era (Elbasani 2; Bougarel and Clayer 15). Less attention has been dedicated to Gianfranco Bria and Gustavo Mayerà the study of everyday­life Islamic transfor­ mations (Duijzings 157). Starting from this In this work, we analysed the intertwining could shape the cognitive perceptions point, this work analysed the iconographic of social transformations and evolution of and moral dispositions of believers who worship at the local and supra­local levels lived religion through the kaleidoscope partly play, critically and individually, their where it takes on several social and politi­ of Alid iconographic worship in a post- own religiosity. Finally, the spread of the cal connotations, composed within differ­ socialist context such as Albania. In this icons seems to indicate a marketization of ent discursive fields. This study is based on framework, the Bektashi community religious piety and a surfacing of public information collected during a year of eth­ restored and renewed Alid iconography, Islam, promoted by the Bektashiyya, in nographic research within the Albanian at first supported by transnational Iranian order to renegotiate power relations mystical networks in 2014.2 The general and Alevi networks, in order to hold social within Albanian society.
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on Contributors 
    Notes on Contributors Alberto Fabio Ambrosio read philosophy and theology at the Dominican College in Bologna and then undertook studies in Turkish language and civilization at Marc Bloch University in Strasbourg. In 2002 he completed an MA in Turkish, the subject of his thesis being the ritual of initiation into the Bektashi Order. In the same year he completed a second MA in theology with a paper on Hinduism and Sufism (the case of Bistami). In 2007 he finished his doctoral studies in modern history at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) on the subject of doctrines and practises of the Whirling Dervishes in the Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth century. His publications on Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes include: Les derviches tourneurs. Doctrine, histoire et pratiques (2006) with Eve Pierunek and Thierry Zarcone, some articles on Ismail Rusuhi Ankaravi, in Revue des mondes musulmans et de la Méditerranée (2006), as well as contributions to the Journal of the History of Sufism. An ordained Catholic priest, he is currently pursuing his research on Sufi culture and Rumi’s Order of the Whirling Dervishes in Istanbul where he has been residing since 2003. Stéphane Barsacq is a writer and essayist, who is currently literary director at Éditions Albin Michel in Paris. After finishing his studies at the Institut d’études politiques of Paris, he has obtained his MA in Modern Literature in 2003. He has contributed as a reporter to numerous news - papers and magazines, including Le Figaro, Le Figaro Magazine, and Quinzaine Littéraire. He is the author of Cioran, Ejaculations mystiques (Le Seuil 2011), Simone Weil, Le ravissement de la raison (Le Seuil 2009), François d’Assise, La Joie parfaite (Le Seuil 2009) and Johannes Brahms (Actes Sud 2008).
    [Show full text]
  • Alevi - Bektashi Belief in Balkans: a Historical Legacy
    Alevi - Bektashi Belief in Balkans: A Historical Legacy Didem DOGANYILMAZ DUMAN e-mail: [email protected] Abstract With increased immigration, Islam has become a considerable element affecting the relatively homogeneous religious structure of Europe. However, for the Balkan region, instead of immigration flows, historical legacy possessed an important role with respect to Islamic characteristic. With the rise of the Ottoman Empire, Islam spread to the Balkans with significant Alevi-Bektashi characteristics due to the important role of Janissaries who were associated with the Dervish Lodge of Haji Bektash Veli in Ottoman political and military structures. Therefore, it would not be wrong to claim that Alevi-Bektashi belief had pivotal role in the composition of the religious heritage of Islam in the Balkans; although, it is generally linked with Anatolian region. Today, this belief is being protected as one of the contributors to the historical legacy of religious diversity with functioning dervish lodges and shrines, or gatherings around ruins. This paper will examine the history and the role of Alevi- Bektashi belief within Islamic faith in and its reflections to Muslim societies of the Balkans in order to understand the contribution of this syncretic belief to religious diversity in Europe as a historical legacy. Keywords: Alevism, Bektashism, Balkans, Islam. Didem DOGANYILMAZ DUMAN Introduction Religion has always become an important component of life not only on the individual level but also in society as a whole. It will not be wrong to claim that belief in a creator or none form significant part of identity of a certain society. Christianity has had predominance over cultural, sociological, political and even in architectural structures in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Naqshbandi Sufi, Persian Poet
    ABD AL-RAHMAN JAMI: “NAQSHBANDI SUFI, PERSIAN POET A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for The Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of the Ohio State University By Farah Fatima Golparvaran Shadchehr, M.A. The Ohio State University 2008 Approved by Professor Stephen Dale, Advisor Professor Dick Davis Professor Joseph Zeidan ____________________ Advisor Graduate Program in History Copyright by Farah Shadchehr 2008 ABSTRACT The era of the Timurids, the dynasty that ruled Transoxiana, Iran, and Afghanistan from 1370 to 1506 had a profound cultural and artistic impact on the history of Central Asia, the Ottoman Empire, and Mughal India in the early modern era. While Timurid fine art such as miniature painting has been extensively studied, the literary production of the era has not been fully explored. Abd al-Rahman Jami (817/1414- 898/1492), the most renowned poet of the Timurids, is among those Timurid poets who have not been methodically studied in Iran and the West. Although, Jami was recognized by his contemporaries as a major authority in several disciplines, such as science, philosophy, astronomy, music, art, and most important of all poetry, he has yet not been entirely acknowledged in the post Timurid era. This dissertation highlights the significant contribution of Jami, the great poet and Sufi thinker of the fifteenth century, who is regarded as the last great classical poet of Persian literature. It discusses his influence on Persian literature, his central role in the Naqshbandi Order, and his input in clarifying Ibn Arabi's thought. Jami spent most of his life in Herat, the main center for artistic ability and aptitude in the fifteenth century; the city where Jami grew up, studied, flourished and produced a variety of prose and poetry.
    [Show full text]
  • Bektashi Order - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia Personal Tools Create Account Log In
    Bektashi Order - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Personal tools Create account Log in Namespaces Views Article Read Bektashi OrderTalk Edit From Wikipedia, the freeVariants encyclopedia View history Main page More TheContents Bektashi Order (Turkish: Bektaşi Tarikatı), or the ideology of Bektashism (Turkish: Bektaşilik), is a dervish order (tariqat) named after the 13th century Persian[1][2][3][4] Order of Bektashi dervishes AleviFeatured Wali content (saint) Haji Bektash Veli, but founded by Balim Sultan.[5] The order is mainly found throughout Anatolia and the Balkans, and was particularly strong in Albania, Search BulgariaCurrent events, and among Ottoman-era Greek Muslims from the regions of Epirus, Crete and Greek Macedonia. However, the Bektashi order does not seem to have attracted quite as BektaşiSearch Tarikatı manyRandom adherents article from among Bosnian Muslims, who tended to favor more mainstream Sunni orders such as the Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya. InDonate addition to Wikipedia to the spiritual teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, the Bektashi order was later significantly influenced during its formative period by the Hurufis (in the early 15th century),Wikipedia storethe Qalandariyya stream of Sufism, and to varying degrees the Shia beliefs circulating in Anatolia during the 14th to 16th centuries. The mystical practices and rituals of theInteraction Bektashi order were systematized and structured by Balım Sultan in the 16th century after which many of the order's distinct practices and beliefs took shape. A largeHelp number of academics consider Bektashism to have fused a number of Shia and Sufi concepts, although the order contains rituals and doctrines that are distinct unto itself.About Throughout Wikipedia its history Bektashis have always had wide appeal and influence among both the Ottoman intellectual elite as well as the peasantry.
    [Show full text]
  • Between Middle Eastern Heterodoxy, Indigenization and Modern Shi'ism: Competing Identities Among the Balkan Alevi and Bektashi Communities in the Post-Ottoman Period
    Between Middle Eastern Heterodoxy, Indigenization and Modern Shi'ism: Competing Identities among the Balkan Alevi and Bektashi Communities in the Post-Ottoman Period Yuri Stoyanov The post-Ottoman evolution, interchange and occasional contrariety between traditional (and/or inherited) and ascribed (in the modern period) Alevi and Bektashi identities in the Balkans is part of the larger process of the transformation, reform and ever-changing politics of identity of heterodox religious communities in the eastern Mediterranean and Middle East following the fragmentation and disestablishment of the Ottoman empire after World War 1. The phenomenon of the ongoing characteristic revival and re-conceptualizations of Alevism in Turkey and the Alevi diaspora in Western Europe since the late 1980s and their diverse religious, cultural and social manifestations has been explored by historians, political scientists, theologians, anthropologists, sociologists, ethnomusicologists and so on, and their respective perspectives and methodologies, with some of the research coming from within the Alevi community. This rediscovery of Anatolian Alevism (Alevilik) in the scholarly and public sphere has not been accompanied (with few exceptions) by a similarly pronounced interest (or comparable publications output) in the contemporaneous, if often differing processes among the existing ethno-religious Alevi groups in the Balkans and the (variously related to them) surviving or revived regional networks and lodges of the Bektashi dervish order. Hence the purpose of this article is to draw attention to these processes and the promising vistas for future research they offer.1 The fact that many of the Balkan Alevi and Bektashi groups have remained little-known, 'barely researched'2 communities is certainly regrettable.
    [Show full text]
  • Baba (Honorific) - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia
    Baba (honorific) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_(honorific) Baba (honorific) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Baba (Persian: : , Urdu: , Pashto: ; Sanskrit, Punjabi, Bengali, Hindi and Marathi: बाबा ; father; grandfather; wise old man; sir, [1]) is a Persian honorific term used in several West and South Asian cultures. It is used as a mark of respect to refer to Sufi saints. [citation needed ] The Bektashi Order, headquartered in Albania, use the term of baba for all its priesthood. [citation needed ] During the Muslim rule in South Asia it was also used for Hindu and Sikh ascetics (sannyasis) is also be used as a suffix or prefix to their names e.g.: Ramdev Baba, Baba Ramdevji, etc. [1][2] Baba is also a title accorded to the head of certain order of Sufi saints: Baba Bulleh Shah and Rehman Baba.[1] The Persian term was also adopted in Malaysia as an honorific of respect to address Chinese people born in British Straits Settlement.[3][4] In Shona, a language spoken in Zimbabwe, and also in Yoruba, a language spoken by the Yoruba culture in the south western part of Nigeria, Baba is an honorific for father, wise man or, simply, elderly man. It is also a term of respect used by wives, other women, children and other youth to an older man. [citation needed ] See also Baba (name) Indian honorifics References a b c 1. ^ Platts, John T. (John Thompson). A dictionary of Urdu, classical Hindi, and English. London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1884. 2. ^ Hunter, William Wilson; James Sutherland Cotton, Richard Burn, William Stevenson Meyer, Great Britain India Office (1908).
    [Show full text]
  • Muslim Identity and Islamic Faith in Sarajevo
    MUSLIM IDENTITY AND ISLAMIC FAITH IN SARAJEVO ICAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY -ý-j Cornelia Sorabji King's College Cambridge CB2 1ST Thesis submitted in candidature for the Ph.D. degree in Social Anthropology 'crnelia Katharine SORABJI Cornelia Sorabji MUSLIM IDENTITY AND ISLAMIC FAITH IN SARAJEVO Among the dominant themes in contemporary world affairs are the political role of Islam and the problem of national minorities in socialist states. The present thesis seeks to examine these issues through the anthropological investigation of a Muslim minority within a multi-national, federated socialist state - the Muslims of Bosnia-Hercegovina in Yugoslavia. The Yugoslav state is a constitutional federation of several diverse nationalities, all of which seek to preserve, assert and develop their distinct political identities within the fragile power balance system of Yugoslavia. The republic of Bosnia- Hercegovina is dominated by three such nationalities - the Serb, the Croat and the Muslim. These three correspond to three religious faiths; the Serbs are Orthodox, the Croats are Catholic and the Muslims are of the Islamic faith. Whilst the state does not officially recognise this correspondence, for ordinary Bosnians it is fundamental; national and religious identity are seen as inextricably linked. It is the nature of this link which forms the focus of my study, the fieldwork for which was carried out in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. For Sarajevo's Muslims Islam provides a "double identity", two ways of conceptualising collective identity. One the one hand Islam distinguishes Muslims from their Serb/Orthodox and Croat/Catholic neighbours, whilst on the other it gives them membership in a worldwide religious community transcending the bounds of Yuqoslavia.
    [Show full text]
  • Abstracts Alkan, Necati, Dr. (Bamberg): “The Ghuluww Concept
    Non-normative Communities in the Near East and the Levant: Islam, Christianity and Judaism December 6-7, 2018, Universität Koblenz-Landau Abstracts Alkan, Necati, Dr. (Bamberg): “The Ghuluww Concept in Historical Perspective: The case of the Nusayris/ʿAlawis” Within Islam, groups outside mainstream Sunnism, the “internal others”, are called “misguided sects” or “sectarians”; labels that refer to “deviant” conceptual trends or sects. Their conflicting viewpoints have been perceived as the origin of “sedition” (fitna) and hence as a threat to the unity of Islam. For Islam that bases its beliefs primarily on the Qur’an as a revealed holy text, the Word of God is the “true belief” and the “straight path” is the middle way; anything else outside it is excess or deficiency. Jews and Christians, who are among the recipients of the message of the Qur’an, are accused of corrupting their own teachings. They all had strayed from the “straight path”, not only disobeying the real commandments of God but also exceeded the limits of their religion. Qur’an 4:171 and 5:75-77 refers to the “wrong” beliefs of the Jews who called the prophet Ezra “son of God” and the Christians who regard Jesus also as the “son of God”. Taking lessons from this, Muhammad exhorted his followers not to be excessive in their beliefs and beware of exaggeration (ghuluww) in religion. The Qur’an calls the Muslims “midmost/moderate nation” or “community in the middle”, implying moderation in Muslim beliefs and affairs. Yet, there are examples of groups within the Muslim community who have been accused of exceeding the limits of their beliefs.
    [Show full text]