Transforming Muslim Mystical Thought in the Ottoman Empire: the Case of the Ôa)Bân ¤Yye Order in Kastamonu and Beyond
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TRANSFORMING MUSLIM MYSTICAL THOUGHT IN THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: THE CASE OF THE ÔA)BÂN ¤YYE ORDER IN KASTAMONU AND BEYOND DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By John J. Curry, M.A. * * * * * The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Professor Jane Hathaway, Adviser Professor Carter Findley _______________________ Adviser Professor Stephen Dale Graduate Program in History ABSTRACT This dissertation represents an attempt to fill a troubling gap in the secondary scholarship on Islamic, and more specifically, Ottoman intellectual history. It examines the role of a prominent Islamic religio-mystical (Sufi) order, known from the fourteenth century onward as the Halveti, in the religious and intellectual life of the Ottoman Empire during the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Initially famed for their extended periods of ascetic withdrawal into remote areas for the purpose of breaking their carnal desires and engaging in undistracted worship of God, the Halvetis proved to be one of the more durable and influential Sufi brotherhoods in Anatolia, the Balkans, and the Arab lands. Despite its popularity, however, the order has attracted attention in only three isolated cases in the secondary literature. The first of these was during the fifteenth century, when the founding fathers of several branches of the order brought it to both Mamluk Egypt and the nascent Ottoman Empire. Scholarly attention then lapses until the seventeenth century, when prominent Halveti leaders clashed with the puritanical Kad 2zadeli movement for position and influence in Istanbul during a period of economic and political crisis. Finally, attention has been focused on the later eighteenth century, when Halvetis in Egypt, the Arabian peninsula, and North Africa became exponents of a newly activist and supposedly more “orthodox” mysticism that has been labeled “neo-sufism.” Unfortunately, the existing scholarship on the Halvetis is limited to specific geographical regions and/or to one of these three periods ii of Halveti prominence. In addition, scholars of the Halvetis have used hagiographical and biographical sources produced within the order without adequate contextualization. As a result, existing scholarship incorporates erroneous assumptions about the order’s practices and the nature of its social and political role throughout the Ottoman Empire. Compounding the problem is the fact that religio-intellectual history has until recently been regarded as marginal to broad social, economic and political developments in Ottoman society. Since Ottoman scholars rarely receive a thorough training in this aspect of Islamic civilization, they tend to avoid intensive discussions of the topic, and are content to fall back on the body of secondary literature focusing on the early appearance and development of the Sufi mystical orders in the medieval period of Islamic history during the eight through the fourteenth centuries, or they focus on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Yet within the broader realm of Islamic religio-intellectual history, the Ottoman period is widely viewed as an unproductive era, featuring unoriginal religious works that are derivative of earlier prototypes from Islam’s “classical” period in medieval times. In order to challenge the received wisdom about the Halveti order and the history of Islamic mystical thought as a whole, this study tracks the consolidation and development of the Halveti order from the end of the fifteenth century through the first half of the eighteenth century, focusing in particular on a provincial sub-branch of the order known as the Sha )baniyye. The development of this sub-order serves as a window onto developments among the Halvetis as a whole, since each Halveti sub-branch remained autonomous and incubated its own peculiar practices and traditions. Founded in the city of Kastamonu, a venerable Islamic center in northern Anatolia, and centered on the historical figure of Sha )ban-i Veli, the Sha )baniyye were seldom recognized by the more influential Halveti iii shaykhs and intellectuals of Istanbul over the course of the 16 th century, even though Sultan Murad III (r. 1574-1595) took on a Sha )baniyye shaykh as his personal confidant. Nevertheless, the power and influence of the Sha )baniyye had spread throughout the Islamic world, from the Balkans to Egypt. The dissertation is divided into three parts. The first part examines the life and career of the nominal founder of the order, Sha )ban-i Veli (d. 1569), along with the work of his immediate successors. Forged during a period of crisis for Ottoman Sufi orders during the first half of the sixteenth century, Sha )ban’s career evinced a politically quiescent and non- confrontational tone that would prove ill-suited to the challenges facing the order after his death. The second part examines the career of )Ömer el-Fu’âdî (d. 1636), a critical figure who extended the order beyond its provincial base to encompass a wider audience throughout the Ottoman domains. By writing an influential hagiography about the founder of the order, along with a number of letters and tracts aimed at consolidating the order’s ritual, practice and philosophy, Fu’âdî offered a cogent defense of the order’s place within the Islamic tradition against puritanical elements in Ottoman society who sought to abolish it. In addition, he succeeded in transforming the order into a more activist force in Ottoman political, social and intellectual life. In contrast, the last section focuses on some of the seventeenth- and eighteenth- century inheritors of the Sha )baniyye tradition, and their struggles to maintain their own sub- branch of the Halveti order in the Ottoman capital of Istanbul, with little success. The growing prominence of women within this later sub-branch of the order also suggests the need to rethink the extent of women’s participation in religious life. iv This work is dedicated to: Professor Carl Petry for his support in introducing a young undergraduate student to the field of Near Eastern studies so many years ago and the late Professor Ôinasi Tekin for without his tireless endeavors to teach a generation of new scholars the secrets of Ottoman Turkish, this dissertation could never have been written rahmet olsun can 2na v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Much like the Muslim mystics that are the subject of this dissertation, I too have had to endure long years of struggle and have had recourse to many different guides in the course of its production. As with any endeavor that requires many years of research in primary sources, along with the necessary funding to carry it out, I have accumulated a long list of debts that I can probably never hope to repay in full. It would not be an understatement to say that without the support of my academic adviser throughout this process, Prof. Jane Hathaway, this work would never have seen the light of day. In addition to writing endless recommendation letters over the majority of the past decade to support this project and others, she has also been a constant source of constructive criticism in the writing and research processes. Indeed, it was she who first suggested that a study of the various branches of the Halveti order would be illuminating in filling the gaps in the literature on Ottoman religious and cultural history of the early modern period. I can only hope the present study can go some part of the way toward justifying the time and effort she expended on helping its author. My thanks must also go to Prof. Carter Findley for his comments on the dissertation as it evolved over time. Over the course of my career, his unwillingness to accept anything but the best work I was capable of has been an instrumental part of my success. I also must express my appreciation of his continued support of the project throughout the course of the vi research and writing process; even when he was overwhelmed by multiple projects toward the end of my career, he somehow found the time to provide the necessary suggestions and recommendations at the critical times. Prof. Stephen Dale also must have my thanks for reading and commenting on drafts of my dissertation chapters as they appeared over time. In addition, he cheerfully allowed me to use his seminars as a testing ground for a number of the arguments advanced in this dissertation. Without the insights I gained from him on Central Asian and Iranian history during the medieval and early modern periods, this dissertation would not have advanced beyond its provincial origins. Additional thanks must also go to Prof. Michael Zwettler of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures for help with challenging Arabic texts I encountered during the course of research and writing, and Prof. Alam Payind and the staff at the Middle East Studies Center, who provided important funding for the advancement of the project. In addition, the Graduate School provided me with a Presidential Fellowship for the academic year 2003-2004, which allowed me to complete a full draft of the dissertation. For assistance in this process, and a long tradition of support spanning many years, I must also thank my undergraduate adviser, Prof. Carl Petry of Northwestern University. It has been one of the great joys of this project that assistance has not been limited to just one side of the ocean. The American Research Institute in Turkey, along with its director, Tony Greenwood, provided essential funding and support for the project during my first year of research in Istanbul. I also owe a debt of gratitude to Dr. Nevzat Kaya and his staff at the Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul, Turkey, for their assistance in locating manuscripts and making the necessary copies to allow me to continue my writing after I had vii left Turkey.