Browsing by Author "Cook, David B."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    The Making of a Sufi Order Between Heresy and Legitimacy: Bayrami-Malāmis in the Ottoman Empire
    (2013-09-16) Yavuz, Fatma; Cook, David B.; Kripal, Jeffrey J.; Balabanlilar, Lisa; Karamustafa, Ahmet
    Revolutionary currents with transformative ideals were part of the Sufi religious identity during the late medieval Islamic period. This dissertation tries to make sense of this phenomenon by focusing on the historical evolution of the Bayrami-Malāmi Sufi order within the Ottoman Empire. The scope of the study extends from the beginnings of the order during the ninth/ fifteenth century until its partial demise by the end of the eleventh/seventeenth century. The Bayrami-Malāmiyya was essentially marked by a reaction towards the established Sufi rituals of the time: its adherents refused to wear Sufi clothes, take part in gatherings of remembrance of God, or rely upon imperial endowments for their livelihood. I suggest in this study that Bayrami-Malāmis carried some of the distinguishing signs of religiosity belonging to the anarchic period between the Mongol attacks and the rise of the powerful Islamic Empires. During that time, many local forms of Sufism, which were tied to charismatic and independent communities that were quite prevalent and powerful in their own domains, had emerged. These communities often held a particular vision regarding the saint, whose persona came to be defined in terms exceeding that of a spiritual master, often taking the form of a community elder or a universal savior. Taking their inspiration from this period, Bayrami-Malāmis reconstructed their teachings and affiliations as the social and political conditions shifted in Anatolia. While several pīrs were executed for being heretics and making messianic claims in the sixteenth century, the Order was able to put together a more prudent vision based on the writings of Ibn Arabi (d. 638/1240) during the seventeenth century. After this, it became a secretive order that attracted the upper classes in the imperial city of Istanbul, and extended its influence to imminent poets, bureaucrats, and political figures. This study is essentially concerned with the dynamics of this evolution. It also tries to conceptualize how the teachings of the Order were rooted in the persona of the saint, who was regarded in divine terms and seen as the culmination point of creation. This worldview had the potential to lead to apocalyptic urges that did not harbor the immediate end of the world, but yearned for the beginning of a new era in which people would understand and experience divinity in its true monistic fashion.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Why Label Alevi Islam as Shi`ite?: A Comparative Inquiry into Alevi Identity Outside of the Sunni-Shi`ite Framework
    (2018-04-20) Erdogdu Basaran, Reyhan; Cook, David B.
    The Alevis represent the most significant minority religious group in Turkey and the Alevi question represents a unique ethnic and religious challenge for the Turkish state. Although the number of academic studies on Alevism have dramatically increased in the last three decades, the question of whether Alevism is a branch of Shi`ism still remains a neglected subject of the Alevi literature. The majority of recent works on Alevism have automatically and straightly classified Alevism as Shi`ite due to the shared religious elements by the two groups. They did not intend, however, to analyze, compare and contrast those Shi`ite currents as to how they are applied/perceived in Shi`ism and Alevism. By using a comparative study of religion methodology, this research seeks to provide an elaborative analysis on the distinguishing features of the Alevi belief system, in relation to the Alid cause. While analyzing the contemporary approaches and archival of the official and historical records on Alevi belief, the particular focus of this dissertation is to understand, decode, and theorize the status of Alevism in conjunction with and separate from Sunnism and Shi`ism. In doing so, this dissertation argues that most of the existing scholarship fails to conceive of the Alevi differences outside of the Sunni-Shi`ite framework.