Defining Heresy in the Ottoman Empire: The Case of Bayrami-Malamis Bayrami-Malamis were an off-shoot from the Bayrami Sufi order founded by the Turkish mystic Haji Bayram Veli (d. 1429). After his death, there was a dispute between the sober, madrasa-educated disciples and the wandering charismatic dervishes. The later group distanced themselves from the well-established group of Bayramis and came to be known as Bayrami-Malamis. Bayrami-Melamis shared some common points with the Malami school of Khurasan which appeared around the ninth century. They were marked by a criticism of the established Sufi orders and practices: they denounced particular clothes and symbols worn by members of the Sufi orders and they did not follow a particular method of spiritual training (sayr suluk). However this second wave of Turkish Malamis were also influenced by the teachings of Ibn Arabi and by the idea of wahdat al-wujud. In risalas written by their exponents, the source of the label “malami” is attributed to Ibn Arabi and his classification of malamiyya as the highest degree of sufi accomplishment in Futuhat. Bayrami-Malamis also made his idea of the “qutb” their central doctrine and believed that the qutb, who was a tajalli of God on earth, was bound to appear amongst them. Due to their extreme interpretation of wahdat al-wujud, Bayrami-Malamis were kept under close scrunity by the Ottoman authorities for centuries. Some of their qutbs were executed in accordance with the fatwa of several Sheikh al-Islams who declared them heretics (zindiq). After the executions, the order went underground for extended periods of time. Research about Bayrami-Malamis in English language is almost non-existent. I am hoping to give some information about them in my presentation and discuss politics of heresy in the Ottoman Empire, mostly relying on the Turkish writings on them.