TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

creed was a syncretism composed of several distinguishable elements. 217 First of all the
Islamized shamanism of ancient Turks and elements from some other Asian religions
that Turks had already incorporated constituted the base of this creed. To give an
example, the dogma of the three prohibitions - that is saving the hand, the tongue, and
the sexual desires - is obviously a survival of Manichaeism. 218 In the fourteenth century
craft corporations, or ahilik and futuwwa, exercised certain influence, especially by
introducing shi’ite elements, upon this creed. Later in the fifteenth century the cabalistic
and anthropomorphic doctrine of Hurufism, principally through the works and the
propaganda of Seyyid Nesimi and Ala al-A’la, seriously influenced it. And finally in the
sixteenth century the extremist shi’ite elements dominated through the intervention of
the Safavids. 219 Local beliefs and customs were also absorbed to certain extent. 220
The Safavid connection is the main subject of this study. Here a brief reference
to the Hurufī influence should be made. After the execution of Fazlullah Esterābādī 221 ,
217
Irène Mélikoff, “L’Ordre Bektaşis et les groupes relevant de Hacı Bektaş: survol du problème”, in her
Sur les traces du soufisme turc. Recherches sur l’Islam populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1992,
p. 8.
218
Irène Mélikoff, “Recherches sur les composantes du syncrétisme Bektachi-Alevi”, in her Sur les traces
du soufisme turc. Recherches sur l’Islam populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1992, pp. 56-7; “Un
Islam en merge de l’Islam : L’Alevisme”, in her Au banquet des quarante. Exploration au coeur du
Bektachisme-Alevisme, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 2001, p. 17 ; “Universalisme et gnosticisme dans les
hétérodoxies du proche et du moyen-orient”, in her Au banquet des quarante. Exploration au coeur du
Bektachisme-Alevisme, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 2001, p.136.
219
Irène Mélikoff, Irène Mélikoff, “Le Problème Kızılbaş”, in her Sur les traces du soufisme turc.
Recherches sur l’Islam populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1992, pp. 42-3; “L’Ordre Bektaşis et
les groupes relevant de Hacı Bektaş: survol du problème”, pp. 6-7; “Recherches sur les composantes du
syncrétisme Bektachi-Alevi”, pp. 46-7, 56-9; “Les Fondements de l’Alevisme”, in her Au banquet des
quarante. Exploration au coeur du Bektachisme-Alevisme, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 2001, pp. 18-20; “La
divinisation de l’Ali chez les Bektachis-Alevis”, in her Au banquet des quarante. Exploration au coeur du
Bektachisme-Alevisme, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 2001, pp. 100-118; “L’Origine sociale des premiers
ottomans”, in her Sur les traces du soufisme turc. Recherches sur l’Islam populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul:
ISIS Press, 1992, pp. 131-2; “Un Islam en merge de l’Islam : L’Alevisme”, p. 17. Also consider her “Le
problème Bektaşi-Alevi: Quelaues dernières considérations”, in her Au banquet des quarante. Exploration
au coeur du Bektachisme-Alevisme, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 2001, pp. 69-71, 78-9.
220
Mélikoff, “Le Problème Kızılbaş”, pp. 42-3; “L’Ordre Bektaşis et les groupes relevant de Hacı Bektaş:
survol du problème”, p. 7.
221
See Abdülbaki Gölpınarlı, “Fadl Allah Hurūfī”, EI2.
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