avrat@caen.engin.umich.edu (Ali Kodal) (01/28/91)
In article <1991Jan27.122131.15984@nntp-server.caltech.edu> mh52+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mohamed Adzlee Harun) writes: > >Assalamualaikum, > > I came across an interesting article about Muslims in Albania. In the >article, the writer mentioned about a sect called the Bektasherish(?) . >This sect , he wrote, was very influential in the country. >Does anyone know about the history of this sect? >Does it exist only in Albania? or the Balkans state? or in other part >of the Muslim world? > >Wassalam, >Mohamad Adzlee Harun Aleykum Selam In Turkey ,in the past there was people called Bektashi.I am not sure if they still exist.And in Turkey they don't considered as strong muslim. I don't have much information, sorry. Ali Kodal
jsrobin@umiacs.umd.edu (02/02/91)
In article <1991Jan27.122131.15984@nntp-server.caltech.edu> mh52+@andrew.cmu.edu (Mohamed Adzlee Harun) writes: > >Assalamualaikum, > > I came across an interesting article about Muslims in Albania. In the >article, the writer mentioned about a sect called the Bektasherish(?) . >This sect , he wrote, was very influential in the country. >Does anyone know about the history of this sect? >Does it exist only in Albania? or the Balkans state? or in other part >of the Muslim world? > >Wassalam, >Mohamad Adzlee Harun In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Let me first say that I am probably the least qualified to answer this. I have no first hand knowledge. My understanding is primarily through the written sources sited. References are provided which will allow the reader to pursue the matter further. Having noted the the above disclaimer, I think the Bektashi or Bektashiyyah is a sufi order commonly found in Turkey. Sometime between 655 A.H. and 908 A.H the bektashiyyah established a network of khaniqahs among the western Turks in Anatolia and the Balkans. They were probably instrumental in transmitting the fundamentals of Islam into that region at the "grass roots" level of society. According to Marshal G.S. Hodgson, The Venture of Islam, Volume 2 and Volume 3, "The Bektashi tariqah ... appealed generally to the Turkic countryside as well as to the lower classes in the towns of Anatolia. This tariqah professed a Twelver Shi'i position ... but many other points of view were welcome among its ranks.... Later it became the official tariqah of the prime infantry force of the Ottomans, the Janissaries..." It of course should be noted that the Ottomans could be called Sunni in orientation. Although this dichotomy was noted by Hodgson he did not dwell on it at length. (In volume 3 he does briefly make a connection with shi'i and the Turkic countryside and lower classes whereas Sunni Islam was more associated with the Ottoman ruling classes.) I have already mentioned and quoted from Hodgson's text since I have it near. The first time in print that I encountered the Bektashi was in the book by John K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes (Hartford Seminary Press, 1937). It has been on the order of 10 years since I last saw this book, but the thing that I found most interesting was the authors claim that in excess of % 90 percent of the Turkish population was associated with a bektashiyyah khaniqah yet the culture of Turkey is often associated with Sunni Islam. The book seemed to represent the average Turk as outwardly Sunni and inwardly Shi'i.