Inaugural Lecture MARTINVANBRUINESSEN Transformations of Heterodoxy On 21 November 2000, Martin van Bruinessen, ISIM lama, the guardians of orthodoxy, is chal- several have their own sacred scripture. destroyed after the military coup of 1980; Chair at Utrecht University, delivered his inaugural lenged by other categories of learned men Reading and studying these texts became and in an attempt to pre-empt radical Islam, lecture entitled ‘Muslims, Minorities and Modernity: (and women). part of the practice of kebatinan adepts Ð the new regime embraced a conservative The Restructuring of Heterodoxy in the Middle East Some Muslim communities have rejected something I like to think of as the scriptural- brand of Sunni Islam which it imposed Ð and Southeast Asia’. The lecture compared Alevism not only the authority of the culama but or- ization of kebatinan. though unsuccessfully Ð even on Alevi citi- in Turkey with kebatinan in Indonesia, where adher- thodoxy as such, in the name of a deviant, After independence, most kebatinan zens. ents of heterodox folk belief and practice Ð rather esoteric interpretation of Islam. Alevism in movements joined in a confederation that In response to this, a new type of organi- than gradually shifting towards scripturalist, shari ca- Turkey and kebatinan mysticism in Java, In- lobbied for official recognition with a status zation emerged: the Alevi cultural associa- oriented Islam Ð were transformed into distinct reli- donesia, represent two varieties of ‘folk’ comparable to religion. In the context of the tion, spearheaded by intellectuals of Alevi gious minorities deliberately distancing themselves Islam that, under the influence of political political struggle between the Muslim par- background and financed by Alevi business- from orthodox Islam. The following is composed of developments, reversed an earlier shift to- ties and the Communists and Nationalists, men. It was these associations that reinvent- excerpts from the lecture. wards scripturalist Islam and defined a the boundaries separating kebatinan from ed Alevi ritual in the new urban context. The sharp boundary to separate themselves Sunni Islam were sharpened, most kebati- Alevis’ traditional religious authorities, a from it. Both have fought for recognition as nan movements affiliating themselves with caste of holy men whose status was inherit- distinct religious minorities on equal the Communist or Nationalist parties. The ed, were involved in the process but no grounds with Sunni Islam. Both have been Islamic element in their belief system, which longer in leading roles. Lay intellectuals seen as potential allies against the rise of had always existed, was often deliberately published numerous books and articles political Islam by the secular nationalist played down. defining what Alevism was and what Alevis elites of their countries and have been Thename Aleviisa blanketterm for avari- believed, interpreting their rituals, develop- praised as representing an authentic na- ety of heterodox communities, formerly rel- ing something of an Alevi theology. From a tional tradition. At the same time, however, atively isolated one from the other, that are largely orally transmitted folk religion, Ale- they both have been politically suspect be- found all over present-day Turkey. Islam has vism appears to be developing into a scrip- cause of their perceived predilection for the strongly marked their belief system, but turalist version of itself, a distinctly modern left and extreme left. Heterodoxy, after all, is theyhave distinctive rituals that are verydif- phenomenon. always potentially subversive. ferent from those of Sunni Islam. A long his- The cases of Alevism and kebatinan repre- In the early 20t h century, Java witnessed tory of oppression made Alevi identity a sent an interesting variation on the gradual the appearance of the first kebatinan move- stigma that many wished to conceal. Some but inexorable shift from folk Islam to scrip- ments. Mystical teachers with a smaller or communities assimilated, at least formally, turalist Islam predicted by, for instance, larger following had been a common phe- to Sunni Islam; most Alevis enthusiastically Gellner’s well-known model of Muslim soci- The related processes of urbanization, mass nomenon, but now several such followings embraced Turkey’s secularism that ap- ety. The emergence of a learned variety of education and the rapid development of were organized into formal associations peared to give them equal rights. the local tradition appears to be an alterna- print and electronic media have completely that outlived their founders. They estab- It was as recently as the late 1980s that tive. In both cases, political developments changed the structures of authority and be- lished rules for membership, regular meet- there suddenly emerged a strong and suc- were of crucial importance in the process. lief in the Muslim world. Among the believ- ings at set times, and standardized medita- cessful movement to redefine, reconstruct Under other circumstances, it may not have ers, there appears to be a general trend tion exercises. Some movements estab- and perhaps reinvent Alevism as a religious occurred. And even in establishing this al- away from various heterodox beliefs and lished chapters in other towns and even vil- identity. This movement may be seen as a ternative, the communities concerned had practices and towards conformity with lages, organized by a mystical bureaucracy response to two developments that deeply to engage scripturalist Islam and were to a scripturalist Islam, although scriptural au- that institutionalized itself. The teachings affected the Alevis: the radical left, in which large degree shaped by it. ◆ thority is contested. The authority of the cu- were Ð and this is another novelty Ð written; many Alevishad found a political home, was.