The Abdâlân-ı Rûm (Abdâls of Rûm) are a loosely-affiliated group of antinomian Sufis who were part of a new movement of renunciation which emerged in the Later Middle Period (ca. 600—900/1200-1500) in the Islamic lands. Gradually submerged into the official Bektâşîye order in the 17th century, the doctrine, literature and practices of this movement became one of the major building blocks in the formation of Bektashism and Alevism. In this paper, I will attempt to analyze the doctrine of the Abdâlân-ı Rûm through the works of its most prominent and prolific representative Kaygusuz Abdâl, who lived in the second half of the 14th and first quarter of the 15th centuries. An analysis of the doctrinal elements of Kaygusuz Abdâl’s works and other works produced by the Abdâlân-ı Rûm, which consist of the hagiographies of prominent masters, poems in cönk and mecmû‘a as well as individual works such as Yemînî’s Fazîletnâme, offers us a two-fold path for evaluation. On the one hand, there are the references to rituals and exoteric doctrinal elements, which allow us to trace the evolution of this dervish group as well as the doctrinal and ritual formation of Alevism and Bektashism. On the other hand is the esoteric material, such as the notion of man as the microcosmos and the Ka‘ba of the spiritual world, the dual aspects of divinity represented by Muhammad and ‘Alî and symbolic exegesis of Qur’anic episodes. While the first path of investigation exposes the facet of evolution and change, the second path traces that of continuity, whereby the defining core of a mode of religiosity is formed. As part of the interpretation of this core, I will trace the role of renunciatory doctrines such as those of the Malâmatî and Qalandarî in the works of Kaygusuz Abdâl, and will thus put his hatred of hypocrisy and constant vigilance over his self into a broader historical context. I will show that it is possible to read the different layers of thinking in the work of Kaygusuz Abdâl in terms of an oscillation between a tendency to blend in, which characterizes the Malâmatî doctrines and accounts for Kaygusuz’s this-worldly moral teachings, and a propensity for radical renunciation, which culminates in a total rejection of society.

The Ottomans have conventionally been labeled staunch Sunnis. Indeed, considering the fetvās, or legal opinions, and treatises of Ottoman Şeyhülislams Ebu’s-Su‘ud (1490-1574) and Ibn Kemāl (1468/9-1534) denouncing various sects and beliefs that they considered outside the realm of ahl al-sunnah wa-al-jamā‘ah, and the religious persecution of the Qizilbash, it seems impossible to think otherwise. Ottoman Sunnism was defined for the most part by jurists, such as Ebu’s-Su‘ud and Ibn Kemāl, who were in the service of the Ottoman state, who naturally played a role in the justification of the Ottoman political position and in asserting Ottoman legitimacy vis-à-vis the Safavids. This juristic interpretation of Ottoman Sunnism has become the dominant explanation of Ottoman religious identity; however, it does not withstand serious scrutiny, first and foremost because of its limited application to the broader intellectual scene. Were, for example, Ottoman littérateurs and historians similarly staunch Sunnis? In this paper, I will attempt to define Ottoman Sunnism in a manner subtly different from that of the jurists by looking at the views of Ottoman historians on the issues that divided the original Muslim community, ultimately resulting in the schism between Sunnis and Shiites. These issues include the murder of the third caliph ‘Uthmān ibn Affān, in 656 C.E.; the conflict over the caliphate between ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭalīb and Mu‘āwiyah ibn Abī Sufyān; and the massacre of ‘Alī’s son Husayn by the forces of Mu‘āwiyah’s son Yazīd at Karbala in Iraq in 680. I argue that the example of the Ottoman historians shows that Ottoman Sunnism was far from being monolithic. Ottoman intellectuals, among them historians, circulated a broad spectrum of approaches on these subjects, ranging from intense identification with the family of the Prophet Muhammad, known as ahl al-bayt, including ‘Alī ibn Abī Tālib and the line of Shiite imams descended from him, to zealous Sunnism. Intriguingly, the pendulum swung towards ahl al-baytism more frequently than it did toward fanatic Sunnism. The sources of the study include Ottoman Turkish and Arabic universal histories, literary and religious narratives and cover a wide range of historians, from the earliest representatives of Ottoman universal history-writers, such as Ahmedī (1334-1412), Enverī (d, 1460), and Şükrullah (1388-1461), to comparatively well-known later intellectual luminaries such as Mustafa ‘Ālī (1541-1600) and Katip Çelebi (1609-57), and lesser-known figures such as Mustafa Cenabī (d. 1590) and Muslihuddin Lārī (d. 1572).

Over the past decades, sectarian conflicts in the Islamic world escalated to primary factor shaping not only international policies but also domestic politics of many Islamic countries. Likewise, scholarly interest in sectarian aspects of Islam and Islamic societies, especially in Shi’ism and Iran, is growing. As a matter of fact, rising Sunni-Shi’ite confrontation may potentially dominate the future of the Middle East, as well as of the other parts of the Islamdom. In this sectarian bipartition, the common wisdom habitually deems the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey within the fold of Sunni sphere. With respect to majority and state character, such an acceptance seems no wrong. Nonetheless, a significant proportion of Turkish society (like 15%), i.e. Alevis, pursue a Shi’ite oriented faith, which painstakingly situates itself outside the Sunni perimeters. In this respect, neither the Ottoman nor the Turkish population has been Sunni in its entirety. The entrance of Shi’ism into Anatolia and the Ottoman realm has not been subject of a thorough examination, albeit the question of Shi’ite beliefs in medieval Anatolia has been addressed by several scholars. On the other hand, studies on Alevi-Bektashi history and faith usually take Shi’ite elements as given. This paper aspires to investigate the penetration of Shi’ite ideals into the religious landscape of the Ottoman Empire. It argues that the infiltration of Shi’ism first in medieval Anatolia and then in the greater Ottoman realm occurred as three consecutive stages. 1) Ahl al-Bayt-centered popular Islam: As earliest sources divulge, medieval Anatolian Muslims considered themselves Sunni. However, unlike the legalist Sunnism, this was rather saturated with the love for the Ahl al-Bayt or the Prophetic Household, as well as an overstress on the event of Karbala. 2) Sufi-Alevism: The infiltration of philo-Alid beliefs in especially certain Sufi movements further escalated and assumed distinct Shi’ite tinge in the fifteenth century. This “Alevi Sufism” was distinguished with a belief in the ontological superiority of the Ahl al-Bayt, which was then considered as part of the Light of Muhammad. 3) Political and Legal Shi’ism: The last stage of “Shi’itization” was dominated by the Safavid propaganda in the sixteenth century. The Qizilbash/Alevi and Bektashi traditions emerged as a result of this three-stage “Shi’itization” process. Consulting mainly to primary sources, some of which are not published, my paper aims to delineate the landmarks of this long process.

In his monumental Passion of al-Hallaj Louis Massignon discussed the survival, in Turkish speaking lands, of the memory of Husayn b. Mansur, martyred in 922 in Baghdad. Among several others, Massignon called particular attention to two men, "Ahmedi" and "Müridi", who had composed narrative poems on the subject of Hallaj's martyrdom. He speculated on the relationship of the two poems and noted, also, a third poet, "Niyazi", perhaps involved in perpetuating the tradition. More recent research in Turkey has focused on the obscure Niyazi as the originator of that tradition. Scholars have failed to notice a long poem by the prominent 15th century Anatolian Turkish mystic Eşrefoğlu Rumi, a poem whose text is the likely source for the others. His Nasa'ih ["Counsels"], should now be recognized as the earliest Ottoman Turkish accounting of the last years of Hallaj's life. Eşrefoğlu's mesnevi underscores his apparent self-identification with Hallaj, already clear from well known passages in his Divan. Since Eşrefoğlu was himself said to have been killed, the Nasa'ih prompts speculation as to the circumstances and agency of his death This paper briefly reviews the Turkish tradition of Mansurnames, identifies previously ignored manuscript sources (besides the Nasa'ih), and considers the implications of the perpetuation of a particular memory of Hallaj at the height of the Ottoman Empire. I will also consider the seeming paradox presented by the apparent anonymity of Eşrefoğlu's composition (and the scarcity of copies of his work) in contrast to the later multiple authorship (and wide diffusion) of subsequent narratives.

Muhammad ‘Abduh (1849-1905) is mostly considered a modernist or reformist (salafi) Muslim thinker as opposed to being traditionalist or conservative. However, it is not easy to categorize him, as his work presents signs of both modern and traditional genealogies. He lived in a high period of reform in both the Ottoman Empire and Egypt. He joined struggles to combine European modernity with Islamic tradition. In order to demonstrate his struggle, I focus on Abduh’s ideas in his book Risalat al-Tawhid (Treatise of Unity), which was published in 1897 (two years before he became Mufti of Egypt). While it is a treatise on systematic theology, it has a somewhat different content compared to traditional theological works. He argues that contemporaneous ilm al-tawhīd (theology) books did not meet the expectations of students of the time. Thus, he saw a need to rearticulate theological issues using terms familiar to that level of students and he united thoughts both from classical theological scholars as well as modern thinkers. By analyzing Muhammad Abduh’s ideas in this book, I compare his views on religion, first with a European intellectual, Auguste Comte (1798-1859), and then with a thinker from Islamic tradition, namely Sa’ad al-Din al-Taftazani (1322-1390) in his Sharh al-‘Aqaid. In Risalat al-Tawhid, ‘Abduh seems to have benefited from Enlightenment ideas about history. Like Comte, ‘Abduh sees a progress in human civilization, from the primitive to a rational and modern society. In other words, religious development parallels human progress. On the other hand, both ‘Abduh and al-Taftazani have the same kind of modalities in their classification of existence and knowledge. In short, comparing Abduh’s views together with those, we can better understand his approach in relation to classical and modern conceptions of religion. Therefore, I interpret his Risalat al-Tawhid as a way of reformulating classical understanding of theology while experiencing modernity under the colonial rule.

The region from Turkestan to Sindh in the late 18th and early 19th centuries underwent two parallel process: the consolidation of weak, decentralized states, and the gradual encroachment of Imperial China, Britain, and Russia. Most subsequent historiography, largely based on Great Game narratives and colonial archives – has viewed the emergent polities as politically fragmented, and culturally and intellectually isolated. This paper, focusing on Hazrat Fazl Ahmad Mujaddidi, one of the principal Sufi scholar-saints in the region, concludes that amidst the political crises, new, dynamic sources of authority emerged from within Sufi networks which transcended the state and forged transregional linkages throughout South and Central Asia. Hazrat Fazl Ahmad was a descendant of the north Indian Naqshbandi Sufi, Shaykh Ahmed Sirhindi (known as the Mujaddid, or reviver, of the Second Millennium), and had arrived in Peshawar from north India in the late 18th century. From here, he forged a network of institutions which spanned from the Punjab and Ghazni to Khoqand and Bukhara, attracting a range of adherents from ascetics and celebrated ulama, to local rulers (including Zaman Shah and Mahmud Shah Durrani, the Akhund of Swat, and the rulers of at least five khanates in Turkestan). It is often argued that Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis like Hazrat Fazl Ahmad were among the principal carriers of Sirhindi’s revivalist teachings into Central Asia, and transformed religious practice and identity in the region. However, their popular appeal and the structure of their networks are not well understood. I argue that the half century of urban renewal under the Afghan Durranis, within a decentralized and informal imperial structure, created a space which facilitated an academic and spiritual revival from Khoqand to Kazan. Through figures like Fazl Ahmad, the religio-academic milieu of Mughal Hindustan mediated through Durrani Afghanistan injected Central Asia with a new corpus of literature, epistemologies, and practices, and in the case of Bukhara, even helped engender a new model of governance and kingship reflecting Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi ethics.