Mullas, Sufis, and Heretics. The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society: Collected Articles 9781611431087, 1611431085

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Mullas, Sufis, and Heretics

Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies

44

A co-publication with The Isis Press, Istanbul, the series consists of collections of thematic essays focused on specific themes of Ottoman and Turkish studies. These scholarly volumes address important issues throughout Turkish history, offering in a single volume the accumulated insights of a single author over a career of research on the subject.

Mullas, Sufis, and Heretics

The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society: Collected Articles

Martin van Bruinessen

The Isis Press, Istanbul

0ór0ÍaS preSS 2011

Gorgias Press LLC, 954 River Road, Piscataway, NJ, 08854, USA www.gorgiaspress.com Copyright© 2011 by The Isis Press, Istanbul Originally published in 2000 All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Isis Press, Istanbul. 2011

ISBN 978-1-61143-108-7

Reprinted from the 2000 Istanbul edition.

Printed in the United States of America

Martin van Bruinessen t,h. 1946) studied theoretical physics and social anthropology at Utrecht University. A f t e r graduating in physics (1971) and teaching mathematics for two years, he m a d e a shift to anthropology and did two years fieldwork among the Kurds in Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria (197476). This resulted in a Ph.D. thesis (Agha, Shaikh and State: On the Social and Political Organization of Kurdistan) submitted to Utrecht University in 1978 (revised English version: 1992; translations appeared in G e r m a n , Turkish, Kurdish and Persian). After this fieldwork, he took up Ottoman Turkish and began work on Evliya Celebi's Seyahatname. Together with Hendrik Boeschoten and other colleagues he published a translation and analysis of Evliya's text on one particular part of northern Kurdistan: Evliya Qelebi in Diyarbekir (l.eiden 1988). M o r e c o n t e m p o r a r y matters w e r e discussed in Turkije in crisis: Een sociale, politieke en economische analyse (written with Wicher Smit and others, Bussum 1982) and Islam unci Politik in der TUrkei (co-edited with Jochen Blaschke, Berlin, 1984). After a brief intermezzo in Afghanistan, the focus of his research interests shifted to Indonesia, where he was to spend some nine years doing fieldwork and teaching. He published four books in Indonesian, including a monograph on the Naqshbandi Sufi order: Tarekat Naqsyabandiyah di Indonesia. Survei historis, geografis, dan sosiologis (1992) and a study of the large traditionalist organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama: NU: tradisi, relasi-relasi kuasa, pencarían wacana baru (1994). His stay in Indonesia included a year of fieldwork in a poor slum in the city of Bandung, four years as a consultant for field research methods at Indonesia's Institute of Sciences, supervising large research projects on Indonesia's ulama and on co-operatives in various parts of the country, and two and a half years as a lccturerof sociology of religion and related subjects at the State Institute of Islamic Studies in Yogyakarta. T h e s e activities resulted in n u m e r o u s publications, in English and Indonesian. Between his stays in Indonesia he returned several times to the Middle East on short research trips, focusing on Kurdish and Turkish politics and religious movements. His most recent research focuses on shifting ethnic and religious identities in Turkey and on developments in the Kurdish movement. Since 1994 van Bruinessen has taught Kurdish and Turkish studies at the Department of Arabic, Persian and Turkish Languages and Cultures of Utrecht University. During the course year 1996-97 he was a guest professor for Kurdish studies at the Institute of Ethnology of Berlin's Free University. He also taught, for shorter periods, at the Institut National des L a n g u e s et Civilisations Orientales ( I N A E C O ) in Paris. In 1999 he was appointed to the chair of comparative studies of modern Muslim societies at Utrecht University and the International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM). Besides the major West European languages, Van Bruinessen is fluent in, and has lectured in, Turkish and Indonesian, reads and speaks Kurdish and Persian, and has passive knowledge of Arabic and Javanese. He has made most of his scholarly work available to the people with w h o m it deals in the form of Indonesian, Turkish, Kurdish, Persian and Arabic translations.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

The religious mosaic 1. "Religion in Kurdistan", Kurdish Times (Brooklyn, New York), vol. 4 nos. 1-2, 1991, 5-27

13

2. "The Kurds and Islam", This chapter grew out of lectures I gave in Paris and Tokyo in the course of 1998. The present version was published as Working Paper No. 13, Islamic Area Studies Project, Tokyo, Japan, 1999. Another version appeared as the introduction to a special issue (titled "Islam des Kurdes") of the journal Les Annales de l'Autre Islam (No. 5, Paris, 1998) that I edited with Joyce Blau

37

3. "The Christians of Eastern Turkey, the state and the local power structure" This paper was originally written as an expert's report submitted to the Netherlands Council of State when this was reviewing the trial of a group of Syrian Orthodox asylum seekers, October 8, 1978. It was published in [CMC Migration News no. 3-4(1979), 40-46

59

Learning and mysticism in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries 4. "Religious life in Diyarbekir: religious learning and the role of the tariqats", Originally a section of the introduction to: Martin van Bruinessen and Hendrik Boeschoten, Evliya Qelebi in Diyarbekir, Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1988, pp. 45-52. I have made some additions to the original text to allow it to stand by itself

69

5. "The Naqshbandi order in 17th-century Kurdistan", First published in: Marc Gaborieau, Alexandre Popovic et Thierry Zarcone (ed), Naqshbandis: cheminements et situation actuelle d'un ordre mystique musulman. Istanbul-Paris: Editions Isis, 1990, 337-360

87

6

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"The impact of Kurdish 'ulama on Indonesian Islam", A revised version of "Kurdish 'ulama and their Indonesian students", in: De Turcicis aliisque rebus commentarii Henry Hofman dedicati [= Utrecht Turcological Series, vol. 3], Utrecht: lnstituul voor Oosterse Talen en Culturen, 1992, pp. 205-227. The present version was also published in Les Annates de I'Autre ¡slam 5 (1998), 83-106

7.

Ill

"A nineteenth century Kurdish scholar in South Africa", Revised version, with additional information, of a brief notice that was original I \ published as the final section of "Kurdish 'ulama and their Indonesian students" and that was left out in the later version of that paper

133

The social and politicai roles of sufi orders in Kurdistan 8.

"Popular Islam, Kurdish nationalism and rural revolt: T h e rebellion of Shaikh Said in Turkey (1925)", First published in: Jänos M. Bak and Gerhard Benecke (eds.), Religion and Rural Revolt. Manchester: Manchester University

9.

10.

Press, 1984, pp. 281-295

143

" V o m O s m a n i s m u s zum S e p a r a t i s m u s : R e l i g i o s e und ethnische Hintergründe der Rebellion des Scheich Said", First published in: Jochen Blaschke & Martin van Bruinessen ( H r s g ) , Islam und Politik in der Türkei. Berlin: E X p r e s s Edition, 1985 (Reprinted: Berlin: Parabolis, 1989), pp. 109165

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"The Sadate Nehri or Gilanizade of Central Kurdistan", Appeared in Journal for the History ofSufism 1 (1999)

199

11. "The Q a d i r i y y a and the l i n e a g e s of Qadiri

shaykhs

in

Kurdistan", Appeared in Journal for the History of Sufism 1 (1999) 12.

213

" S u f i s and sultans in S o u t h e a s t A s i a and Kurdistan: a comparative survev '', First published i n Studia (1996), 1-20

Islamika

(Jakarta), vol. 3, n o . 3 231

TABLE

7

CONTENTS

Heterodox religious formations in Kurdistan 13. "When Haji Bektash still bore the name of Sultan Sahak. Notes on the Ahl-i Haqq of the Guran district", First published in: Alexandre Popovic & Gilles Veinstein (eds), Bektachiyya: études sur l'ordre mystique des Bektachis et les groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach. Istanbul: Editions Isis, 1995, pp. 117-138

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14. "Haji Bektash, Sultan Sahak, Shah Mina Sahib and various avatars of a running wall", Revised version of an article that first appeared in

Turcica

XXI-XXIII, 1991,55-69

271

15. "The Shabak, a Kizilbash community in Iraqi Kurdistan", Les Annales de l'Autre Islam 5 ( 1998), 185-196

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16. General Bibliography

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PREFACE

The articles collected here are the result of a quarter century's involvement in and research on Kurdish society. They were conceived independently of one another and over a time period of two decades, but together they give what I believe is a coherent overview of the role of religion in Kurdish society. There is perhaps more on Sufis here than on either mullas or heretics; but then, many Kurdish mullas, especially the more learned 'ulama among them, are also Sufis, and the various heterodox communities of Kurdistan, even those ostensibly non-Islamic, appear to have historical connections with individual Sufis or Sufi orders. If the Sufi orders appear much in these pages, this reflects both the significant roles they have played in Kurdish society during the past few centuries and the autobiographical fortuities of my involvement with the Kurds.

Sufis I began my first fieldwork among the Kurds in 1974. It had been designed as a traditional anthropological study, in which 1 was to spend my entire research period in two or three Kurdish villages in west Iran. Circumstances — the Kurdish rebellion in northern Iraq and Iran's deep involvement in it — prevented me from carrying out that plan and resulted in my staying in many different parts of Kurdistan for shorter periods. Instead of an in-depth study of a small-scale society, my research became necessarily more comparative and wide-ranging in space (and later, in historical time as well). I focussed on changing patterns of social and political organisation, and Sufi orders constitute, besides the tribes, the most significant type of "traditional" association between the level of the individual family and that of the state. I was aware that many of the earliest Kurdish rebellions with a certain element of nationalism were led by Sufi shaykhs of the Naqshbandiyya or Qadiriyya orders — most prominently Shaykh 'Ubaydullah of Nehri, Shaykh Mahmud of Sulaymaniya and Shaykh Sa'id of Palu. Precisely because I was forced to move from place to place during my field research I met with many shaykhs and their disciples. A different sort of encounter, but one that also made a great impression on me, was my discovery of the seventeenth-century Turkish traveller Evliya Celebi and his Book of Travels, the Seyahatname. Evliya had travelled the length and width of Kurdistan and had taken notes on whatever he saw and experienced, without regard for the canon of what was considered worth

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knowing in his day. He is the only Ottoman author of his period who wrote about popular culture, including popular religious practices and pious legends. The wealth of fascinating information contained in the Seyahatname constituted a strong incentive to learn Ottoman Turkish. Like many of Evliya's readers, I became a great fan and spent many a pleasant evening deciphering his notes and imagining the world he had seen. With Evliya as my companion, I ventured into seventeenth-century social history of Kurdistan and the Ottoman Empire generally. Two of the articles here, dealing with Sufis and scholars of the seventeenth century, owe much to this encounter with Evliya. A number of other Evliya-inspired articles, dealing with different aspects of Kurdish culture, will be part of a second volume of my writings.

Mullas During my fieldwork of the mid-1970s I met quite a few mullas; those whom I still remember were respected community leaders in their villages, who spoke of the Kurdish nation as much as of the duties of Islam. It was only later that I became aware of the contributions of Kurdish 'ulama to Islamic learning. It was, surprisingly, in Indonesia (where I spent most of the 1980s and early 1990s) that I discovered how important a role Kurdish 'ulama had played in the transmission of learning between the great cultural regions of the Muslim world. This discovery resulted, besides the more general observations in the first two articles, in the survey of Kurdish influences in Indonesian Islam that is reprinted here. It is complemented by a brief study of one particular Kurdish scholar, who was sent to South Africa in the 1860s as a Muslim missionary (da'i) in the service of the Ottoman sultan.

Heretics Two of the important heterodox religions formations of the Middle East emerged in Kurdistan: Yezidism and the Ahl-i Haqq religion. There exists moreover a specifically Kurdish variety of Alevism (the Qizilbash religion), which shows up similarities with the other two religions. I visited the Ahl-i Haqq of Dalahu (west of Kermanshah) in 1975 and 1976 but have not been able to return to the region. In Turkey and Syria I met individual Yezidis, but it was only later, due to contacts with Yezidis who had migrated to Germany, that I did some research on their religion as such. Most of the Yezidis from Turkey have left that country because of various forms of oppression. Their situation is similar to that of the Syrian Christians described in an article in this book; both communities have by now virtually evacuated their regions of origin and are making efforts to reconstitute themselves on European soil. A high proportion of the Kurdish Alevis too have left their ancestral homes. I

PREFACE

11

have had many Alevi friends since the 1970s, but it was only in the late 1980s that Alevism became to them an important part of their identities. The three articles in the final section reflect my interest in these heterodox religious formations and the elusive relations existing between them.

Acknowledgements Rereading all these articles, I became aware again of how much I owe to others. One of the greatest pleasures of research consists in the friendships one makes in the process. Numerous Kurdish men and women helped me in the course of my fieldwork of the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Three Naqshbandi shaykhs need to be mentioned first. Shaykh Nurullah Varol of Cizre welcomed me in his home and taught me much about Islam and about his Sufi order; Shaykh Osman allowed me to stay as a guest in his village of Duru and to witness his interactions with disciples; Shaykh Muhammad 'Isa of Damascus took me under his protection and was an inexhaustible source of information on the politics of religion. Mela Hesen Hi§yar of Qamishliyya told me of his experiences with Shaykh Sa'id and the other Naqshbandi shaykhs taking part in the 1925 uprising. Abdiissettar Hayati Av§ar, Mehmet Emin Bozarslan, Zeynelabidin Zinar, Malmisanij M. Tayfun, Rohat Alakom, Miifid Yiiksel, Fadil Ahmad Karim and Mihemmedt Mela Kerim answered questions about traditional Islamic learning in Kurdistan. Fulya Atacan, Ru§en £akir and Lale YalijinHeckmann shared with me their relevant research findings. I would probably not have become acquainted with the Ahl-i Haqq of Dalahu if Ahmad Baba'i of Kermanshah had not taken me there and if he had not been such a good musician. Once there, Sayyid Nasruddin, the highest living religious authority of the community, invited me to stay in his house and gave the kalamkhan Ka Karim permission to discuss with me the esoteric meaning of the sacred songs of this branch of the Ahl-i Haqq. Of the many colleagues I met in Tehran between visits to Kurdistan, John O'Kane, Peter Wilson and Jean During did much to stimulate my interest in the learned variants of Islamic mysticism and esotericism. It was extremely helpful to discuss my observations with them; Peter and Jean, moreover, helped me with useful introductions to Sufi and Ahl-i Haqq circles in Tehran.

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My explorations in Kvliya felebi's Seyahatname were not solitary travels either. Henri Hofman introduced me to Ottoman Turkish and shared with me his vast knowledge of Evliana and related literature; Richard Kreutel generously gave me his microfilm of Evliya's Book IV and answered my queries from beleaguered Kabul, where he was the Austrian ambassador; and Rik Boeschoten, Machiel Kiel, Hanneke Lamers and Marc Vandamme were stimulating fellow "Evliologists". Alexandre Popo\ic, Gilles Veinstein and, somewhat later, Thierry Zarcone drew me into the Paris-based Sufi order studies network. Hamid Algar was always generous and very knowledgeable in answering queries concerning the Naqshbandi order. Irene Melikoff similarly shared her vast knowledge of the Bektashi order and popular Alevism. Fred de Jong, who probably was my first contact in this circle of tariqa scholars, helped me in various ways over the years, and invited me back to Utrecht University in 1994, when there was a possibility to develop Kurdish studies. The presence of Bernd Radtke and Machiel Kiel at the same Department of Oriental Studies (along with colleagues with whom I share other interests) has made this a very compatible environment to continue my studies of Islamic learning, Sufism and heterodox movements. I hope all these friends and colleagues have derived as much pleasure from our co-operation as I did.

Utrecht, February 2000 Martin van Bruinessen

RELIGION IN KURDISTAN

"Compared to the unbeliever, the Kurd is a Muslim" (li gora gawiri Kurd misilman e). I do not recall where I first heard or read this unflattering Kurdish saying, but it was uttered with a certain pride. 1 I suspect that it was originally a Turkish or Arabic saying; it is the sort of thing people who feel that they are better Muslims than the Kurds would say. In fact, one often comes across beliefs and practices in Kurdistan that are hard to reconcile with Islamic orthodoxy. Kurdish nationalists of the 1920s and 1930s were fascinated with, and took pride in, such deviations from Islam, "the Arabian religion," interpreting them as rebellions of the Kurdish spirit against Arab and Turkish domination. During its first years the nationalist cultural magazine Hawar, published in Syria from 1932 to 1943 by Djeladet and Kamran Bedir-Khan, showed a great interest in Zoroastrism as one of the sources of Kurdish cultural identity. With its Zoroastrian roots, the Yezidi religion, which had long been discriminated against and condemned as "devil worship," was idealised by some nationalists as the Kurdish religion par excellence. But these nationalists were a tiny minority, and the followers of all heterodox sects combined form only a small fraction of the Kurds. The vast majority are Muslims, and many of them take their religion very seriously. The editors of Hawar discovered that the journal had to change its tone in order to find a wider readership. From 1941 on, each issue opened with Kurdish translations from the Koran and Traditions of the Prophet. Many other Kurdish secularised nationalists, before as well as after them, made the same discovery that in order to gain influence among the Kurds they had to accommodate themselves to Islam. This was never an easy thing to do since most of these nationalists considered Islam as one of the major forces oppressing their people. The nationalist and poet Cigerxwin (1903-1984), who belonged to the circle around Hawar, toward the end of his life expressed his frustration with the Kurds' lasting attachment to Islam. Cigerxwin had himself in his youth pursued traditional religious studies at madrasas in various parts of Kurdistan. Later his Islamic piety gradually gave way to a strong emotional devotion to

' It is often quoted in the literature of the first half of this century, for instance by Kamran Bedir-Khan in an article on ancient customs of the Kurds, in the journal Hawar 26 (August 18, 1935), p. 12.

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the Kurdish nation and an increasing interest in Zoroastrianism. 'The first volume of his posthumous History

of Kurdistan,

which deals with the pre-

Islamic period, contains a short chapter on the religion of the Kurds today. Instead of the contented observation made by some of his friends a half century ago that the Kurds are M u s l i m s only by c o m p a r i s o n with unbelievers, Cigerxwin portrays them as pious but ignorant Muslims, exploited by greedy mullas and shaikhs: The majority of the Kurds are Muslims, and most of the Muslim Kurds are Sunnis. Each year thousands of them go on the hajj, throwing away thousands of gold pieces f o r the v o y a g e . In every village, little by little a mosque has been built, and the people support mullas and divines. They give a tenth of their income to the mullas and the poor, and the\ gather five times a day in the mosque and pray. Once a week, on Friday s, they perform a large prayer and listen to a sermon in Arabic, but the v illagers do not understand what the mulla says, they only bend their heads and daydream a little; and at times some of them cry. For the only thing that they know is that the words of the mulla are the words of God and the prophets. In every district there is also a shaikh or several shaikhs. The poor and destitute villagers become their disciples; they take their income out of |the villagers'! mouths; |the villagers] surrender t h e m s e l v e s entirely to their shaikhs and will d o nothing without them.... T h e shaikhs live in large mansions and palaces, while the villagers meet each other outside and shout and dance. They stay out in the sun, sitting against the wall, barefoot, hungry, naked, poor and destitute, and they work for the shaikh without payment. Very often they put their hopes for the hereafter in the shaikh, and they believe that when the Day of Reckoning arrives and God descends in Damascus, the shaikh will protect them from hellfire and open the gate of Paradise for them. 1 The relationship of religion and nationalism has often been strained and ambivalent in Kurdistan. Many leading nationalists were irreligious or at least dissatisfied with the strong hold of mullas and shaikhs on the people. It has, on the other hand, usually been the orthodox M u s l i m s w h o f o r m e d the b a c k b o n e of the Kurdish m o v e m e n t . In o r d e r to gain support f o r their nationalist objectives, secularist intellectuals have time and again had to reach an accommodation with religion, either by choosing a popular religious leader as the figurehead of the movement-as happened to Shaikh S a ' i d , who is still much better known than the political organisation that prepared the rebellion

1

Cigerxwin, Tarixa Kurdistan.

! (Stockholm: We§anèn R o j a N u , 1985), p. 17.

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IN

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with which his name has remained associated. 1 Religious Diversity in Kurdistan Perhaps two thirds or three quarters of the Kurds are, nominally at least orthodox Sunni Muslims. Most of them follow the Shafi'i mazhab (school of Islamic jurisprudence), which distinguishes them from their Turkish and Arab Sunni neighbours, who generally follow the Hanafi school. 2 To some Kurds therefore the Shafi'i mazhab has become one of the outward signs by which they assert their ethnic identity. Islamic law has rules for virtually all aspects of human behavior and the four mazhabs have slightly different interpretations of these rules. Shafi'is perform, for instance, the morning prayer at an earlier time than Hanafis, they keep their hands in a different position during prayer, and have different rules for what disturbs ritual purity. Such minor details in behaviour have at times been deliberately used by Kurds to distance themselves from Turks and Arabs. In Iran the difference between the Sunni Kurds and the Shiite Persians and Azerbaijanis is even more conspicuous. After the Iranian Revolution most of the Iranian Kurds opposed the idea of an Islamic Republic, and Sunni-Shiite antagonism played an important part here. 3 T h e southernmost part of Kurdistan, however, the province of Kirmanshah in Iran and the districts of Khanaqin and Mandali in Iraq, are predominantly Shiite. The Shiite Kurds of Iran have never taken part in the Kurdish national movement; in the first years after the Revolution the central government could easily recruit Kurds from Bakhtaran to fight against the rebellious Kurds further north. In Iraq, on the other hand, there has never been such a clear split between Sunni and Shiite Kurds. An interesting case is that of the Faylis, a Shiite community in Baghdad who are not recognized as Iraqi citizens because of their alleged or real Iranian descent. The Faylis are Arabic speakers, but they have gradually come to consider themselves as Kurds (and

See Martin van Bruinessen, "Von O s m a n i s m u s zum Separatismus: religiose und ethnische Hintergründe der Rebellion des Scheich Said," in: Jochen Blaschke and Martin van Bruinessen, eds., Islam und Politik in der Türkei (Berlin: Express Verlag, 1985), pp. 109-165. T h e name of the organization, Azadi ("Freedom"), is not even mentioned by most of the studies of the rebellion. Its leaders, mostly military men and civil servants, deliberately approached Shaikh Sa'id to become the formal leader because of his prestige and influence as a religious leader. 2

Four mazhabs are recognized as orthodox, namely the S h a f i ' i , H a n a f i , Maliki and Hanbali schools of jurisprudence. In the Ottoman Empire the Hanafi mazhab was the official one; the Shafi'i mazhab has its adherents, besides Kurdistan, in Egypt, H a d r a m a u t and especially Southeast Asia.

It would be an e x a g g e r a t i o n , however, to attribute the Kurdish resistance against the Khomeini regime simply to the Kurds' being Sunnis, as some journalists have done. For a detailed analysis of Sunn/'-Shii conflicts and their impact on political developments in the first year of the R e v o l u t i o n , see m y " N a t i o n a l i s m u s and religiöser K o n f l i k t : D e r k u r d i s c h e Widerstand im Iran," in Kurt Greussing, ed., Religion und Politik im Iran (Frankfurt am Main: Syndikat, 1981), pp. 372-409.

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are accepted by the Kurds as such); some Faylis have even played leading roles in the Kurdish movement. 1 Besides these two major varieties of orthodox Islam, we find various syncretistic sects among the Kurds, with beliefs and rituals that are clearly influenced by Islam but o w e more to other religions, notably old Iranian religion. The most celebrated of these is that of the Yezidis, who are often erroneously called "devil-worshippers." The Yezidi religion appears to have followers only among the Kurds. Another originally Kurdish religion, that of the Ahl-i-Haqq, has, on the other hand, spread from the Guran of southern Kurdistan to the Azerbaijanis and Persians and to some of the Iraqi Turcomans. The third important syncretistic sect of Kurdistan used to be called Qizilbash and is now euphemistically called Alevi ("devotees of Ali"). The Alevi Kurds live on the north-western edge of Kurdistan and number at least hundreds of thousands, perhaps even more than a million. Finally there are Christian minorities of various denominations living among the Kurds. Originally there were three communities, each with its own church, the Armenians and two groups speaking different Aramaic dialects. The Western Syrians, whose major centres were in the Tor Abdin mountains near Mardin, belonged to the Syrian Orthodox Church, while the Eastern Syrians (also known as Assyrians) of the mountains between Mosul and Urmia were Nestorians. Later new church denominations emerged under the i n f l u e n c e of foreign missionary activities so that there are now Syrian Catholics, Armenian Catholics and Chaldaeans (Assyrian Catholics) and an even larger variety of Protestant churches. Older sources occasionally mention also Christian K u r d s . 2 It remains unclear whether these were Kurds who had converted to Christianity or former m e m b e r s of Christian ethnic groups w h o had b e c o m e Kurdicised. M o s t present-day Christians, how ever, are ethnically different f r o m the Kurds. They consider themselves as being separate peoples, of different origins and with distinct histories of their own. S o m e , but by no means all, still speak Armenian or Aramaic. Most of the Western Syrians now speak Arabic as their mother tongue, while many members of each community living in villages are more fluent in Kurdish than any other language. In northern Iraq members On repeated occasions the Iraqi regime has expelled large numbers of Faylis to Iran on the pretext that they were foreign citizens, although their families had lived in Iraq for generations. Some Fayli families may originally have come from southern Kurdistan, but most appear to have originated in a region further lo the south, while others may have no Iranian c o n n e c t i o n whatsoever. On the background of the deportations of the Faylis, see Samir al-Khalil, Republic of Fear: The Politics of Modern Iraq (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1989), pp. 135-138. 2

The tenth-century geographer Mas'udi is said to have met Kurds w h o professed Christianity. See G. R. Driver, "The Religion of the Kurds." Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 2 ( 1 9 2 1 23): 197.

RELIGION

IN

KURDISTAN

17

of the Chaldaean and Nestorian communities have taken active part in the Kurdish struggle for autonomy. They identified themselves so much with the Kurdish cause that they did not protest when the Kurds called them "Christian Kurds." At present there is an Assyrian Democratic Party in Iraq, which cooperates with the Kurdish political parties in the Kurdistan Front. T h e Christians used to constitute a much higher proportion of the population of Kurdistan than they d o today. Massacres, flight, voluntary migration and conversions to Islam have seriously reduced their numbers. In various parts of Kurdistan (Siirt, Hakkari) I have met "crypto-Christians," people who were Kurdish speakers and who had outwardly become Muslims but still retained a vivid memory of having been Armenians or Nestorians. T h e relations between the remaining Christians and their Kurdish neighbours have often been less than cordial. The West Syrian Christians of Tor Abdin especially have often been subjected to brutal treatment by Kurdish tribal chieftains, who took their land, their property and even their daughters. Finally there also used to be a Jewish minority in many Kurdish towns and villages, but this has virtually disappeared. Most of them have migrated to Israel, where the Kurdistani Jews are a distinct, recognizable community. 1

The Yezidis Of all the different sects in Kurdistan the Yezidis have exerted the strongest romantic appeal on foreigners — and not on foreigners alone. As said above, the Kurdish nationalists of the 1920s and 1930s idealised Yezidi belief as the only properly Kurdish religion. This positive appreciation of Yezidis was, however, something new in the attitude of the other Kurds. Their heretical beliefs were a warrant for discrimination and oppression at the hands of both the Ottoman authorities and the M u s l i m Kurds. During the past centuries there have been numerous massacres of Yezidis. Conversions have further contributed to a steady dwindling of their numbers. A central element in the Yezidi religion is the belief in six (or seven) angels created by God and placed in charge of the affairs of the world. The first among them, of almost divine status himself, is the Peacock Angel, Malak T a w u s . H e was the angel who refused to obey God's order to kneel before Adam and who is therefore considered as the embodiment of evil by Muslims and Christians alike. Hence the accusation often made that the Yezidis are See Claudine Cohen, Grandir au quartier kurde: Rapports de générations et modèles culturels d'un groupe d'adolescents israéliens d'origine kurde ( P a r i s 1975), and Birgit A m m a n n , " K u r d i s c h e J u d e n in Israel," Jahrbuch für Vergleichende Sozialforschung 1987/88 (Berlin: Edition Parabolis, 1990), pp. 241-258.

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devil-worshippers. T o the Yezidis, however, Malak T a w u s is neither the lord of evil nor God's opponent in any other sense. Malak T a w u s and the other angels have all manifested themselves in the world as saintly human beings. Malak Tawus was incarnated in Shaikh Adi ibn Musafir, whom the Yezidis venerate as the greatest saint of their religion. The annual pilgrimage to his shrine at Lalish is one of the major rituals. Yezidi society has a caste-like stratification. The highest position is held by a princely f a m i l \ , which receives tribute from all Yezidis. Religious leadership is vested in a number of families of tribes of shaikhs,

while other

religious functions are held hereditarily by families of pirs and

qawwals.

T h e r e are even more specialised religious f u n c t i o n s , but these are not hereditary. This rigid stratification is perhaps made more palatable by the belief in reincarnation. Hveryone, saintly spirits as well as ordinary beings, travels through a chain of incarnations, not only in human but also in animal forms. A factor that has much hindered the Yezidis' individual progress but kept their traditions intact is the ban on literacy. There was a tradition that Shaikh Adi himself had forbidden his followers to learn to read and write. Until a generation ago even the elite of the Yezidi community was entirely illiterate. The recent, careful study by John Guest estimates the total number of Yezidis at 150,000, most of them living in Iraq. Some 40,000 of them live in the (former) Soviet republics of Armenia and Georgia, perhaps 10,000 in Turkey, while only 5,000 are said to live in Syria. 1 In Iraq there are two main geographical concentrations of Yezidis, in the Shaikhan district north of Mosul where their most important sanctuary, the shrine of Shaikh Adi at Lalish, is located, and on Mount Sinjar to the west of that city stretching into Syria. In the 1970s both regions were subjected to Iraq's policy of arabisation. Numerous villages were evacuated, and Arabs were later settled there. In Syria w e find Yezidis not o n h in the Syrian part of Mount Sinjar but also in the mountains north of Aleppo known as Kiirt Daglari ("the Kurdish Mountains"), as well as in a few villages in the upper M e s o p o t a m i a n plain w e s t of Qamishli. Many of the Kurdish tribes here and in the contiguous part of Turkey used to be Yezidis but have now become Muslims. In the nineteenth century, Turkish censuses still recorded Yezidis as far north-west as Sivas and in the Diyarbakir, Mardin and Siirt districts. Religious persecution has greatly reduced their numbers. Many were killed, numerous others converted either to Christianity or to Islam. Since the attitude of the

1 John S. Guest, The Yezidis: A Study in Survival (London and N e w York: KPI, 1987), p. 197. Guest's estimate of only 5,000 in Syria seems too low to me.

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Christian churches towards the Yezidis was more benevolent than that of most M u s l i m s , individual Yezidis preferred conversion to Christianity. A fair n u m b e r of the present West Syrian Christians are in all likelihood the descendants of converted Yezidis. More recently the continued existence of the West Syrian community itself has come under threat, making conversion to Islam a more secure alternative.' Several! tribes that were still reported to be in whole or in part Yezidis a century ago, such as the Milli, the Berazi and the Heverkan, are now entirely Muslim — at least in outward behaviour. T h e remaining Yezidis in Turkey live under great pressure of discrimination if not persecution. Many have left for Germany as workers; since work permits are no longer given, the remainder of the community is attempting to join them as refugees. 2 In the Trans-caucasian republics the Yezidis have been relatively free of persecution. They probably constitute the majority of the K u r d s in both Armenia and Georgia. As a result the studies of Kurdish folklore made by Soviet scholars concern specifically Yezidi folklore. In the recent ethnic upheavals in Armenia, Muslim Kurds have been expelled (fleeing to Central Asia), while the Yezidi Kurds were left in peace.

The Ahl-i-Haqq The religion of the Ahl-i-Haqq ("Devotees of Truth") is also closely associated with Kurdistan. It first emerged a m o n g the Guran of southern Kurdistan or in neighbouring Luristan, and its most sacred writings are all in the Gurani language. 3 Unlike the Yezidi religion, however, it spread f r o m Kurdistan to neighbouring areas and found followers a m o n g the Lur, the Azerbaijani Turks, the Persians in Iran and the Turcomans in Iraq. The French philosopher, the Comte de Gobineau, w h o spent several years in Iran in the mid-nineteenth century, was the first westerner to write extensively on this religion, which he considered as "the most important religion of Persia, be it for its dogmas, for the number of its adherents, or for their quality." 4

' In 1975 I met a person in Idil (near Cizre) w h o had been born a Yezidi, had converted to Christianily at a young age and had become a Muslim at a more recent date. ^ See Robin Schneider, ed., Die kurdischen Yezidi: Ein Volk auf dem Weg in den Untergang (Göttingen: Gesellschaft f ü r Bedrohte Völker, 1984). T h e Guran used to be a culturally distinct group a m o n g the Kurds, speaking a different language, Gurani. Most of the present Guran no longer speak Gurani but southern Kurdish dialects; Gurani has, however, remained the sacred language of the Ahl-i-Haqq, in which its most important religious texts are c o m p o s e d . See V. Minorsky, "The Guran", Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 11 (1943): 75-103; M. M. van Bruinessen, Agha, Shaikh and State: On the Social and Political Organization of Kurdistan (dissertation, Utrecht, 1978), chapter II. 1. 4

C o m t e de Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie (Paris: Grasset, 1923), vol. 2, p. 68.

20

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A m o n g the Kurds the Ahl-i-Haqq religion has at present followers in four distinct areas. The most important of these is the region west of Kirmanshah near the Iraqi border. This is where the Guran live now and where we also find the major shrines of the A h l - i - H a q q . A second zone of concentration is the Sahne district between Kirmanshah and Hamadan. Many of the Lur who live to the south of these two Kurdish Ahl-i-Haqq areas are also followers of this religion, and it is quite possible that in the past a significant portion of the inhabitants of the entire region were Ahl-i-Haqq. The third area consists of a string of Kurdish and Turcoman villages south of Kirkuk in Iraq, where the religion and its followers are called Kaka'i. The fourth consists of a cluster of villages near Mosul; this community goes by the name of Sarli. I do not dare to make an estimate as to the number of Ahl-iHaqq among the Kurds. In the Guran district west of Kirmanshah, which I know best, they number in the tens of thousands. A recent study estimates the total number of all Ahl-i-Haqq at half a million, but most of these are not Kurds. 1

The Ahl-i-Haqq believe that God and six or seven archangels, w h o represent various aspects of God's essence, have manifested themselves several times in the world in human form. One of these human incarnations of God himself was, according 10 their belief, A l i , the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad. The belief in Ali's divine nature is shared by a number of other Middle Eastern sects of extremist Shiite (ghulat)

origin, such as the

Nusayris (Alawis) in S\ria and the Qizilbash (Alevis) in Turkey. Their more orthodox neighbours often lump these sects together under the nickname "AliIlahis." T o the Ahl-i-Haqq, however God's most important incarnation was not A l i but Sultan Sahak, the reputed founder of their sect. The Ahl-i Haqq also attach

more

importance

than

other ghulat

sects to the

archangels

accompanying the deity in all his manifestations, known together as the Haft Tan, the Seven Persons. This resembles the Y e z i d i belief in seven angels who were incarnate in seven saints; and it is of course reminiscent of the seven "Bounteous Immortals" (amesha

spenta), angelic beings w h o play a similar

part in Zoroastrian doctrine. Like the Y e z i d i s too, the Ahl-i-Haqq believe in reincarnation of the ordinary human soul. Religious leadership is hereditary and exercised by a number of sayyid families descending from Ahl-i-Haqq saints, but there is not such an elaborate caste system as among the Yezidis.

Both sects emerged in a Muslim environment, as is clear from the names of their saints and religious leaders as well as from many of the terms in which their religious ideas are formulated. The Ahl-i-Haqq, however, appear to belong to the extremist Shia, whereas the Y e z i d i s may originally have been

' M. Reza Hamzeh'ee, The Yuresan (Berlin: Klaus Schwarz,1990), p. 39. T h e author, a Kurdish Ahl-i-Haqq himself, does not explain how he arrives at this estimate.

RELIGION

IN

KURDISTAN

21

an extremist anti-Shia Muslim sect. 1 Their similarities are due to the preIslamic background that the share. S o m e of the Ahl-i-Haqq stress, like the Yezidis again, that they are not Muslims but a separate religion, while others ( a m o n g the Kurds mainly those of the Sahne district) prefer to present themselves as an esoteric sect within orthodox Shiism.

The Alevis (Qizilbash) of Turkish Kurdistan The most numerous of the heterodox sects in Kurdistan are the Alevis, who live on the north-western periphery of Kurdistan in an arc that stretches f r o m Gaziantep to Bingol and w h o have as their major centre the Dersim district, which comprises the present province of Tunceli and parts of Sivas Erzincan and Elazig. The name Alevi is rather recent, and it is used in Turkey for a number of groups of Ali-worshippers not directly interrelated. The earlier name of Qizilbash given to these Kurdish as well as most Turkish Alevis has not yet entirely gone out of use but is rejected by most of the people concerned because it has become a term of abuse. Qizilbash, literally "redheads," was originally the n a m e given to the followers of the messianic Shah Ismail, a charismatic mystic and warrior who believed in his own divinity and who founded at the beginning of the 16th century the state that grew into modern Iran. Ismail drew his following chiefly f r o m among the poor and disaffected tribesmen (and perhaps also peasants) in Asia Minor. T h e red headgear of s o m e of his fighting forces gave the m o v e m e n t its name. Their beliefs were probably a mixture of shamanism, extremist Shiism (both Ali and Shah Ismail were considered as incarnations of God) and older Anatolian religions. M a n y of Ismail's followers joined him in Iran, but numerous others stayed behind in Anatolia. Several other Qizilbash rebellions followed, and all were bloodily quelled. The Qizilbash and related sects suffered severe repression during the following centuries at the hands of both the state, which always considered them as supporters of the enemy state of Iran, and their more orthodox neighbors, w h o objected to their laxity in religious duties and accused them of unspeakable sins, usually of a sexual nature. Persecution resulted in the Qizilbash's withdrawal to inaccessible mountainous areas. Dersim in north-western Kurdistan was one such area.

Some Yezidi leaders derive the name of their religion from that of the Umayyad Caliph Yazid b. Mu'awiya, who was responsible for the violent death of Ali's son Husayn, the third Imam of the Shia. T h i s derivation appears to be corroborated by the fact that we find in various early sources references to a strongly pro-Umayyad sect called Yazidis because of their sympathies for Yazid b. Mu'awiya. There is no evidence, however, as to whether the present Yezidis are the descendants of their medieval namesakes. (See Fritz Meier "Der N a m e der Yazidi's", in: Fritz Meier (ed.), Westostliche Abhandlungen Rudolph Tschudi zum siebzigslen Geburtstag, W i e s b a d e n : Harrassowitz, 1954). O t h e r s have claimed that the n a m e is derived f r o m the Iranian term Yazdan, "spiritual being".

22

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

In Iran the Shiite extremism of the Qizilbash gradually gave way to 'orthodox' (i.e., shari'a-based) T w e l v e r Shiism under the influence of the Shiite ulama Shah Ismail invited from southern Iraq, but there was no such development in Asia Minor. The Alevis of Turkey have little in common with present-day Iranian Shiites. They do not perform the canonical five daily prayers, do not make the pilgrimage to Mecca, and if they fast it is not in the month of Ramadan but in Muharram, and only for three days. Their moral code is not based on the Koran, and one of the striking facts about their religious rituals is that women also take part in them — which is one of the reasons why they have often been accused of ritual promiscuity. The Kurdish Qizilbash of Dersim were, if anything, even more heterodox than other groups. There are vigorous remnants of nature w o r s h i p (sun and moon, springs, rocks, trees), while the gradual assimilation of many local Armenians to the Kurds here has also left clear traces. T h e secularising r e f o r m s in Atatiirk's R e p u b l i c a n T u r k e y w e r e w e l c o m e d by the Alevis as a liberation and first step in their social emancipation. Not surprisingly the Kurdish rebellion of Shaikh Sa'id in 1925, with its strong Islamic overtones, was actively opposed by Kurdish Alevi tribes in the region.' This is not to say that Kurdish nationalism had made no inroads among the Alevis (it had), but that the fear of Sunni fanaticism was much stronger than any Kurdish national sentiment. Nationalist-inspired rebellions of Alevi Kurds (the first in 1920 involving only the Ko§giri tribe; the most important one later in 1937-38 involving large parts of Dersim), conversely received no support from Sunni Kurds. The Alevi Kurds were at most times much closer to Turkish Alevis than to the Sunni Kurds. When Turkey's politics gradually polarised from the 1960s on, the Alevis, and especially the Alevi Kurds tended to end up at the left end of the political spectrum. The old Sunni-Alevi antagonism was exacerbated by political rivalries between the left and the (religious and Turkish nationalist) right. Political agitation during the 1970s resulted in numerous violent clashes between Sunnis and Alev is, culminating in the riots of Kahramanmara§ in 1978, in which more than a hundred Alevis were killed by right-wing Sunni mobs. T h e military regime that took over in September 1980 attempted to deflate the tension between Sunnis and Alevis by organising reconciliation c e r e m o n i e s and suppressing c o m m u n a l friction. The d i f f e r e n c e s between Sunnis and Alevis were played down, and many Alevis complained of attempts at assimilation through building mosques and appointing Sunni imams to Alevi villages.

' On this rebellion and the role of religion as a factor motivating participants and opponents, see my "Von Osmanismus zum S e p a r a t i s m s . p p . 244-257.

RELIGION

IN

KURDISTAN

23

T h e suppression of Alevi identity was strongest in the Tunceli area. Since the Dersim rebellion of 1937-38, the government had always looked upon this province as the most unruly part of the country, not only Alevi but also a hotbed of Kurdish nationalism and later left-wing sympathies. Radical left parties and organisations, both Turkish and Kurdish, drew strong support here. Tunceli was one of the major targets of the military operations to restore law and order after the 1980 coup, and it has remained heavily policed ever since. Nevertheless, violent protest actions continued there, carried out by supporters of Partizan (a Turkey-wide radical left organisation whose members are almost exclusively of Alevi background) and the Kurdish PKK (Workers' Party of Kurdistan). T h e g o v e r n m e n t announced plans to evacuate most Tunceli villages and resettle the inhabitants in various other provinces, ostensibly for reasons of reforestation, but most probably in order to break the spirit of resistance. Around 1990 we see another change in government policy toward the Alevis. Neglect gives way to official recognition of Alevism as a variant of Islam in its own right. The annual celebrations f o r the great Alevi saint Haji Bektash, which in previous d e c a d e s turned into an oppositional cultural festival suddenly received official sponsorship. Alevi culture receives praise for its richness, the press is full of long and favourable reports on Alevi history, Alevi traditions, Alevi spirituality, the Alevi background of Turkish literary works, etc. In one year more books were published on the Alevis than in all of the preceding half century. This reflects, but also stimulates, a search among young Alevis for their roots and a new pride in their religious identity. The Alevi revival is at least in part stimulated f r o m above. As government critics see it, it serves a n u m b e r of related purposes simultaneously. A renewed interest in the cultural and spiritual dimension of Alevism may lead Alevi youth away f r o m leftist radicalism, and the Alevis may be used as a barrier against the rise of politicised Sunni Islam ("fundamentalism"), while the new emphasis on the Alevi identity may weaken the radical Kurdish movement, in which Alevi Kurds had been disproportionately represented.

The Sunni Majority — The Role of the Mystical Orders The saying about the Kurds being poor Muslims with which I opened this article is belied by the fact that they have produced a large number of great Islamic scholars w h o had an i n f l u e n c e well beyond the boundaries of Kurdistan. During the past six centuries, Kurdish ulama could be found in influential positions at the Ottoman court and as teachers at the f a m o u s university of al-Azhar or in the Holy Cities of Arabia. Geographical accident had placed the Kurds between the three m a j o r cultural regions of Islam, and many Kurdish ulama knew Persian and Turkish as well as Arabic and, of

24

M U L L A S .

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

c o u r s e , K u r d i s h . T h i s gave t h e m an i m p o r t a n t role as cultural

brokers

mediating between the Indian M u s l i m s w h o wrote in Persian on the one hand and the Turkish- and Arabic-speaking world on the other. K u r d s teaching in M e c c a and M e d i n a left a lasting impact as f a r as Indonesia. 1 T h e m a d r a s a s (traditional Muslim schools) of Kurdistan used to have a good reputation, but it is no doubt true that only a small elite studied there. T h e d e v e l o p m e n t of modern secular education (and the closure of the m a d r a s a s in T u r k e y u n d e r Atatiirk) has to some extent drained the madrasas of intellect. But even so, the c l a n d e s t i n e m a d r a s a s of Kurdistan w e r e the only place in T u r k e y w h e r e traditional M u s l i m learning continued during the period of high K e m a l i s m , and students f r o m all o v e r the country had to go to the Kurdish area f o r a thorough traditional education. 2 T h e learned ulama were of c o u r s e a l w a y s a small elite o n l y , and certainly not representative of the Kurds at large. Their piety and learning were admired and respected, especially by those w h o lacked these qualities. T h e c o m m o n people often believed that the presence of ulama in their midst could c o m p e n s a t e f o r their own religious shortcomings. T h e men of religion were o f t e n seen as mediators between ordinary men and G o d , w h o t h r o u g h their intercession could secure salvation for their followers. This belief g a v e the m o r e enterprising ulama a fair a m o u n t of political leverage. A certain class of religious authorities in fact acquired considerable worldly powers. These w e r e the shaikhs, the leaders of mystical orders. T h e Kurdish conception of Islam has strong mystical overtones, and many Kurdish ulama were and are affiliated with a tariqat, Each tariqat

or mystical order.

has its distinctive mystical exercises, consisting of the regular

recitation of God's names or other pious f o r m u l a e , breath control, v a r i o u s f o r m s of asceticism and meditation techniques. T h e tariqats

are led by shaikhs

w h o are the spiritual guides of their disciples, not only leading them onto the spiritual path but also mediating between t h e m and the unseen world. T h e m o r e important shaikhs usually have a n u m b e r of deputies (khalifa)

to w h o m

they delegate some of their authority and w h o are their representatives in other localities and, as it were, mediators between the c o m m o n followers and the

' Biographical notices of important Kurdish ulama are collected by Mulla 'Abd al-Karim

Muhammad al-Mudarris in his 'Ulama'una fi khidmat al-'ilm wa'l-dtn (Our ulama in the service of learning and religion) (Baghdad: Dar al-Hurriyya, 1983). On their role as cultural brokers and their influence in Indonesia see my "Kurdish 'ulama and their Indonesian students", in: De

Turcicis aliisque rebus commenlarii Henry Hofinan dedicati. (Utrecht: Instituut voor Oosterse

Talen en Culturen, 1992), pp. 205-227. 2 The Turkish mulla Turan Dursun, who later became an atheist and published highly polemical anti-Islamic articles in the weekly 2 information with a few anecdotes on the shaikhs' miracles. Uneven and incomplete though Evliya's information is, certain geographical patterns become discernible. The accompanying map summarises this information for central and eastern Turkey, Syria, Iraq and western Iran. In this region Evliya recorded the presence of the Naqshbandiya in six towns. It is interesting to note that all of these towns had a substantial Kurdish population. In the non-Kurdish towns of the region Evliya recorded other turuq, but never the Naqshbandiya. This does not mean of course that it was entirely absent there, but it seems safe to conclude that the order was most conspicuous in Kurdistan. And the Naqshbandi of Kurdistan must have particularly impressed E\ liya, for he devotes more attention to two of them, the late Shaikh Mahmud of Diyarbekir and his ancestor Qocagha of Urumiya, than to any other shaikhs anywhere. Shaikh Mahmud, commonly known as Rumiye §eyhi, "the shaikh from Urumiya", or as Hadrat i ''Aziz, "the Saint", was executed by Sultan M u r a d IV in 1639, when this ruler passed through Diyarbekir after a successful Persian campaign. The apparent reason for this execution was the shaikh's

1 7 T H - C E N T U R Y

K U R D I S T A N

91

great political influence and rumours that he planned a mahdist rebellion. In an earlier campaign the shaikh had been quite useful to the sultan in mobilising popular support, but after the Persian border had been secured the sultan obviously had to turn to problems of internal security, and the popular shaikh must have been considered too great a risk. E v l i y a is not the only author w h o writes about the shaikh. The circumstances of M a h m u d ' s execution are narrated extensively by the great historians of the period, Katib Qelebi, Na c Ima and Pegevi, who all discuss it among the m a j o r events of the year. It is a measure of the shaikh's renown that even in far-away Hungary his violent death was on peoples' tongues and that there was talk that the sultan suffered supernatural punishment for it. "They say here", Pegevi wrote in Temeshvar, "that at the time of his Yerivan campaign (where Murad IV had for the first time become apprehensive of the shaikh's influence) the sultan developed the first symptoms of gout, and that on the very day of the shaikh's death he became completely paralysed" . In Diyarbekir itself, people claimed to have witnessed a mysterious, apocalyptic phenomenon, dutifully recorded by Evliya when he visited the city 16 years later. One of the city's curiosities was a pond with sacred fish, to which people ascribed magical properties. After the shaikh's execution this pond suddenly turned red as if with blood 2 . T h e s e stories make at least one thing clear: Shaikh M a h m u d was an extraordinary person and was widely regarded as a great saint, whose violent death could not but disrupt the cosmic order. The shaikh's execution did not have the e f f e c t of diminishing the influence of the Naqshbandiya in Diyarbekir. M a h m u d was succeeded by his son Isma°il Qelebi, who at the time of Evliya's visit wielded unrivalled influence, both among the urban elite and among the common people.

Life and influence of Shaikh Mahmud The f e w existing biographical notices of Shaikh M a h m u d are very poor on his background and early life. A s his common appellation of Rumiye aeyhi indicates, he hailed from Urumiya in western Adharbaijan, where his

1

Tarikh-i Pegevi II, p. 462 (first printed edition, Istanbul 1281-83 H). Seyähatnäme IV, Ms. Bagdat Kö§kii 305, Topkapi Library, fol. 202a. This is the original manuscript (either autograph or dictated by the author to a scribe). Much of Evliya's reputation as unreliable is due to the rather careless printed edition of his work; the original manuscript shows him, if read with proper care, a quite reliable source. 2

^ Besides there are berhiimter von H. J. Tedhkire-i

Evliya's account and those in the chronicles by Kätib (Jelebi, N a c i m a and Pegevi notices in c Ushäqizäde's Dhayl-i Shaqä'iq (c U^äqizäde's Lebensbeschreibungen Gelehrten und Göttesmänner des osmanischen Reiches im 17. Jahrhundert, hg. Kissling. Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 1965, fol. 25b-26a) and in: c Ali Emiri shucarä-yi Amid. Istanbul, 1327 H, p. 20-21.

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father or g r a n d f a t h e r A h m a d , better known as Q o c a g h a or Q o c Baba, and other relatives had been influential N a q s h b a n d i s h a i k h s with a large f o l l o w i n g a m o n g the Sunni A d h a r i s and Kurds of the region. H e left this t o w n out of f e a r or hatred of the Q i z i l b a s h ; it is likely that this w a s w h e n , a f t e r a quarter century of O t t o m a n rule, U r u m i y a w a s reoccupied by the S a f a v i d s , s o m e time in the years 1605-07. As the leading shaikh of the N a q s h b a n d i tariqa,

reputed

to be the m o s t staunchly Sunni order, and the one least a c c e p t a b l e to the Qizilbash, he may have feared f o r his life. A m b i t i o n m a y h o w e v e r h a v e been an additional reason for his m o v e to Diyarbekir. T h i s city w a s then a m a j o r administrative and military centre, with m a n y rich merchants e n g a g e d in longdistance trade. G o o d roads connected it with all parts of Kurdistan as well as with A d h a r b a i j a n , Syria and Anatolia, and annually m a n y pilgrims f r o m the B l a c k Sea region, the C a u c a s u s , northern Iran and even Central A s i a passed it on their w a y to M e c c a . This m a d e it into a p r i m e strategic location f o r a shaikh intent on spreading his i n f l u e n c e throughout the Kurdish districts and beyond. M a h m u d was apparently accompanied by a brother w h e n he c a m e to the O t t o m a n lands but it is not clear whether the brother also established himself at Diyarbekir or e l s e w h e r e , nor w h a t his n a m e was. T h e brother's sons w e r e later to p e r p e t u a t e the f a m i l y line as well as the tariqa, but the b r o t h e r himself w a s c o m p l e t e l y o v e r s h a d o w e d by Shaikh or, as he w a s increasingly called, c A z i z ("Saint") M a h m u d . Both brothers had the initial b e n e f i t of their f a m i l y ' s f a m e ; M a h m u d m o r e o v e r s h o w e d himself e v e n in his c h i l d h o o d extremely gifted. Even b e f o r e his emigration he was, according to c UshaqIzade, p r o f i c i e n t in many b r a n c h e s of learning and had attained p r o f o u n d mystical i l l u m i n a t i o n . F r o m D i y a r b e k i r , his reputation spread rapidly a n d w i d e l y . W i t h i n d e c a d e s he w a s said to h a v e m o r e than forty t h o u s a n d murld. H i s i n f l u e n c e reached all o v e r Kurdistan and e v e n f a r into Iran. H i s tekke w a s visited by g e n e r a l s and p r o v i n c i a l g o v e r n o r s p a y i n g their r e s p e c t s ; big m e r c h a n t s f r o m Tabriz, Y e r i v a n , E r z e r u m , M o s u l , Ruha (Urfa) and Van c a m e 2 to kiss the h e m of his r o b e . In the city of D i y a r b e k i r and the s u r r o u n d i n g districts, "the entire population" were his murld, and he w a s so highly thought of that a c o m m o n f o r m u l a of oaths there invoked his n a m e : c A z i z ba§ igin, "by the head of the Saint"". Evliya's account presents the shaikh as a respected a r i s t o c r a t , p a t r o n i s e d b\ the h i g h e s t social c i r c l e s , to w h i c h his m o r e s o p h i s t i c a t e d mystical t e a c h i n g s a p p e a l e d , but at the s a m e time a p o p u l a r leader c o m m a n d i n g the unconditional obedience of forty thousand fearless and violent followers f r o m a m o n g the lowest strata of society.

' M. van Bruinessen and E. l i o e s c h o t e n , Evliya 1988.

Qelebi

c

in Diyarbekir,

Leiden,

Brill,

^ Mustafa Na ima, Rawdat al-Husain fi khulasat akhbar al-khafiqain III, pp. 385, 389 (references to the third printed edition, Istanbul 1281-3 H).

3 Ibid., p. 385.

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All these followers' loyalties were to Shaikh Mahmud directly; he does not seem to have built an important network of khalifas that might have brought more structure and organisation to the following. Apart from the original tekke at U r u m i y a , only the one at Van is associated with this Naqshbandi branch by Evliya. The only khalifa mentioned in the chroniclcs is from Van too. Other sources mention two khalifas in Erzerum and one who later moved to Bursa 1 ; and finally the shaikh ordained one of his nephews as a khalifa. His son and successor Isma°il is not known at all to have appointed a khalifa. This failure or unwillingness of the shaikhs to institutionalise their charisma must have been the reason why this branch of the order rapidly dissipated and well nigh disappeared when there was no longer a powerful shaikh in the centre. In M a h m u d ' s lifetime however it did not impede his ability to mobilise followers from wide afield, and it may even have been an asset. T h e political and e c o n o m i c conditions of the time must have contributed to the shaikh's political influence. The period of the great Jalali rebellions was over, but most of the Empire's eastern provinces were still in turmoil. The central government's control of the region, or in fact of its own administrative apparatus there, was very incomplete and at times non-existent. From 1623 on, the Ottoman Empire was at war again with the Safavids, and Sultan Murad IV himself led two great Persian campaigns: in 1635 to Yerivan and in 1638-39 to Baghdad, both of which he wrested back from Safavid control. These campaigns constituted a heavy burden, especially on the peasantry of the eastern provinces. Extra taxes had to be raised in order to feed the enormous armies. The great amounts of wheat and barley requisitioned were on top of the ordinary, officially assessed annual taxes and everything else that the local authorities squeezed out of the peasantry. The distress caused by the war defies description. In such a situation of political and economic insecurity or worse, Shaikh Mahmud's influence was likely to increase, as did that of the Naqshbandi shaikhs in 19th century Kurdistan. The war with Iran must have reinforced the Kurds' awareness of their Sunni identity, nicely embodied by the shaikh who was moreover a refugee from Iranian territory. The social insecurities led moreover many people to flock to his tekke to seek redress f r o m injustice, the representation of complaints to authorities, mediation in conflicts. All the shaikh's visitors were abundantly fed as long as they stayed at his tekke, and this fact was no doubt instrumental in establishing the hard core of the shaikh's obedient, fearless and violent band of followers.

1 N a c i m a mentions khalifa Qara c A b d A l l a h f r o m Van in a context suggesting he was the shaikh's most trusted man in Diyarbekir (ibid., p. 386) ; a Turkish silsilanama (see note 32 below) mentions Shaikh Haji M u h a m m a d Efendi and Shaikh Q a r a m a n as khalifas in Erzerum, and Bell gh mentions a shaikh Ibrahim w h o came to Bursa after c A z i z Mahmud's execution.

94

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Sultan M u r a d first met the shaikh on the occasion of the Yerivan campaign, in which the latter aparently took part. Shaikh Mahmud's profound knowledge of regional affairs must have been useful to the sultan, as was the further legitimation the shaikh's presence lent to the campaign. The great respect that was everywhere shown to the shaikh may have made the sultan apprehensive about the shaikh's ambitions even then. According to N a c i m a , the shaikh even received an envoy f r o m the beleagered city in his tent and wrote letters that were instrumental in the city's surrender. The sultan hid his annoyance and made a show of gratitude, showering honours upon the shaikh. P e g e v i explicitly points to another root of conflict: " . . . M o s t people of Kurdistan being the devout followers of the shaikh's father, his brother or himself, they came in large numbers to the imperial army camp, asking for the shaikh's tent and bearing

complaints

to the effect that their lands

were

barren, which caused the sultan's anger" (stress a d d e d ) ' . When three years later the sultan set out on his next eastern campaign, to Baghdad, Shaikh M a h m u d led a deputation of the notables of Diyarbekir welcoming the sultan at Aleppo and presenting him with precious gifts. The shaikh also asked the sultan for a reduction of the oppressively high extra taxes that were being levied for this campaign. Apparently this request was granted, maybe because the shaikh had pleased the sultan by predicting great victories 2 . Shaikh M a h m u d had thus on two occasions made the sultan aware of the e c o n o m i c grievances of his region's people; for reasons of political stability, probably, the sultan had seen himself obliged to give in to the shaikh's request. He succeeded however in conquering Baghdad and followed this up by concluding a treaty with the Safavids that settled the border question. This made him less d e p e n d e n t on the goodwill of the shaikh. Passing through Diyarbekir on the way back, he had the shaikh executed without much further ado — a necessary final act in his settlement of the Eastern Question. The historians who relate the shaikh's execution all try to adduce further reasons for it. The one reason given by all is that certain unnamed enemies of the shaikh's repeatedly suggested to the sultan that the shaikh was preparing a rebellion, and was likely to set himself up as the Mahdi.

Did all those

^ Pegevi, op. cit., II, p. 462. 2

N a c i m a III, pp. 386-7; Evliya. IV, fol. 209a. Evliya writes that M u r a d granted the shaikh's request, and this seems to be confirmed by the fact that the registers of the cavarid taxes levied f o r this campaign mention two different figures f o r the province of Diyarbekir (reproduced in:

Liitfi GuQer, Osmanh Imparatorlugunda Hububat Meselesi ve Hububattan Alinan Vergiter, Istanbul 1964). T h e higher figure may then have been the original tax d e m a n d , the lower one due to the reduction requested by the shaikh.

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economic complaints not reek of rebellion? Would not shaikh's popularity with these fearless and violent paupers, obedient and ready to die for him, necessarily turn him into a dangerous warlord? There had been mystics before him, the sultan was reminded, who did not content themselves with irshad but strove after saltanat. The memory of the mahdist rebellion by the "shaikh of Saqarya", that had alarmed the sultan when he was first setting out on the Baghdad campaign, was still fresh. That "shaikh" had only been a dervish who had been passed for the succession of his deceased master, and then declared himself the Mahdi, succeeding to have this claim accepted by some of the other dervishes. The Mahdi had his rival, the appointed successor to his shaikh, killed and sent a band of his followers to Eski§ehir to settle his doctrinal disagreements with the local culama by force of arms. By the time the sultan sent troops f r o m the army that was assembling to march to Baghdad, the Mahdi had so much strengthened himself that these troops were routed. It was by stratagem, not by force of arms, that the Mahdi was at last captured, to meet a violent and cruel death 1 . If even such an insignificant dervish was capable of creating such great problems, how much more dangerous would not a revolt by a respected and famous man like Mahmud be? After the shaikh had been strangled, N a c i m a tells, the sultan sent his men to Mahmud's palatial residence in order to look for the arms and stores of grain that should bear witness to the shaikh's intentions. None could be found, and the ruler immediately repented, aware that he had been deceived by the shaikh's enemies 2 . Whatever had really happened, this version of the events allowed people to bestow unreserved praise upon Shaikh M a h m u d without seeming disloyal to the late sultan (who had died, to quote Evliya once more, with the words "Aaah, Shaikh of Urumiya!" on his lips).

Alchemy, and other peculiarities Both Na c ima and Evliya also mention the shaikh's dabbling in alchemy in connection with his execution. Their stories differ, but have enough of possible interest in common to summarise them here. The real alchemist was not the shaikh himself, but a woman w h o had taken refuge under his protection. She was a daughter of the Druze emir Fakhr ad-Din Ma°anoglu, who had been executed a few years before (in 1635) because of his repeated attempts to make himself independent of the Ottomans. Apart from being a

' On the mahdist rebellion of "Saqarya § e y h i " : Katib ^ e l e b i , N i c i m a III, pp. 335-8. 2

N a c i m a III, p. 391.

Fe:leke-i Tarikh

II, pp. 295-7;

96

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A N D

H E R

HT I C S

powerful and clever local potentate, Fakhr ad-Din was well versed in the exoteric and esoteric sciences 1 and had some reputation as an occultist. When the family was taken prisoner this daughter alone, disguised as a man, had managed to escape and in making her way to Diyarbekir. There she had won the shaikh's favours b\ telling that she shared her father's k n o w l e d g e of alchemy and by performing an impressive transmutation for him, changing copper into silver and finally into gold. In the version narrated by N a c i m a ( w h o himself indicated his reservations on the credibility of the story), the shaikh presented Sultan Murad with a sample of this gold, and offered to fill the state treasury with this product (as a substitute for taxes?). The sultan, on his way to Baghdad, and always capable of using more gold, left a considerable sum of money in Diyarbekir in order to buy the necessary ingredients and pay the alchemist for her work, and he appointed one of his officers to keep a close watch over her. Fakhr ad-Din's daughter appeared to spend much more time in the company of the town's music-loving young men than in her laboratory, and when the officer had finally set her to work she produced only an inferior yellowish metal. The officer duly reported to Baghdad, and when the sultan returned to Diyarbekir he had the woman immediately strangled; the shaikh, considered her accomplice, shared her fate 2 . In Evliya's account, the sultan had heard rumours about the shaikh's making gold in o r d e r to f i n a n c e a rebellion. When conversing with the shaikh, he then broached the subject of alchemy, and professed curiosity and scepsis. The shaikh replied that there was certainly truth in this science, but that its aim was not, as the vulgar thought, to acquire earthly riches. " I rue mystics by this science make little grains of gold; when they eat these the\ can go without ordinary food for a long time." The sultan asked for a demonstration, and was introduced to Fakhr a d - D i n ' s daughter, who in his presence performed a spectacular transmutation. Sultan M u r a d ate three little golden pills that the shaikh made for him, and which relieved him of hunger for a full day and night. Realising afterwards that a part of the rumour had proven true (the shaikh could make gold), he thought there might be some truth in the other accusations as well, and had the shaikh killed 3 .

' D'Arvieux had met Fakhr a d - D i n , and admiringly wrote that "...il savait plusieurs langues, s'appliquait à la chimie et à l'astronomie; il était extrêmement curieux, aimait la peinture, la poésie et la musique et donnait des appointements considérables aux savants qu'il faisait venir d'Europe pour travailler sous ses y e u x . . . " ( M é m o i r e s I, p. 364). On Fakhr ad-Din M a c a n a o g l u , see: M. Chebli, Fakhreddine II Maan, Prince du Liban (1572-1635), Beyrouth, 1946; Adel Ismail, Histoire du Liban, II, Paris. 1955. ^ Na c îmâ III, p. 387-9. N a c i m â copied this story from an earlier chronicler, §àrih al-Manârzâde, and indicates his own scepticism: he finds the behaviour of the alchemist and the shaikh in it inconceivable. ^ Evliyâ IV, fol. 209a. Full text and translation in Bruinessen end Boeschoten, op. cit. Evliya's source was his uncle and patron Melek A h m a d Pasha who, as the sultan's sword-bearer, was present at that time, and greatlv admired the shaikh.

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Distorted though these stories may be, they do give us one of the very few indications of the actual beliefs and practices taught by Shaikh Mahmud. It is clear that alchemy was, to the shaikh, not one of the physical sciences, but a branch, or an aspect, of esoteric teachings. The transformation sought for was to lessen man's dependence on the material world (on food, in Evliya's story). The origin of stories about the shaikh's making gold may have been occasional references to the alchimical process in sermons to his inner circle of murid. Did the shaikh possibly teach the metaphysics of Ibn al- c Arabi, in which this alchemy of the soul has an important place'? Impossible to prove, but not unlikely. The works of Ibn al- c Arabi had — as Evliya remarks elsewhere — in the preceding century been condemned as unislamic by the great shaikh al-islam, Ebtissu c ud (Abu as-Su°ud), but they continued to be read and studied. The long list of precious books in the library of the Kurdish ruler of Bitlis, which was confiscated in Evliya's presence, is headed by the Futuhat and the Fusus and several commentaries on these works 2 . There was apparently a serious interest in these works among the educated Kurds. The influence of Ibn al- c Arabi's metaphysics seems also to be hinted at by Evliya's frequent use of the word tawhid ("the affirmation of God's Oneness"), and his word-plays upon its various shades of meaning. As a technical term it refers first of all to the recitation of the dhikr najy wa ithbdt, i. e. of the formula la ilaha ilia 'llah. This is obviously meant when Evliya says that the shaikh's disciples engage in "tawhid u tadhkir". Secondly, the term may be used as a synonym of ' aqidah or usul ad-din, knowledge of the basic tenets of Islam. The shaikh's medrese taught two subjects, tasawwuf and tawhid and the second of these may simply have been this basic knowledge of orthodox theology. The term has, however, also been used to refer to Ibn al-°Arabi's wahdat al-wujuif. That it was, in fact, these teachings that were represented by the shaikh receives further corroboration through Evliya's referring to the mystical exercises in the shaikh's zawiya as tawhidi Fithagorath-i Tawhidi. Pythagoras was, in Ottoman literature, not only associated with the invention of music but also with the various occult sciences. Evliya mentions him several times in his work, and always with the epithet Tawhidi, which can hardly mean anything but "Monist" or "Pantheist". I am inclined to interpret Evliya's oblique observations as implying that the shaikh's sufism was of the monist kind associated with the great Muhyi ad-Din.

' The relevant sections of the Futuhât were translatée! by Stéphane Ruspoli: Mohyiddin ibn 'Arabi, L'Alchimie du bonheur parfait, Paris, 1981. 2

Evliyà IV, fol. 275b.

3

Ibid., 201b.

4

H. L. §u§ud, Islam Yazici, "Tevhid", Islam

tasavvufunda Hâcegân Ansiklopedisi.

hânedân,

Istanbul, 1958, p.

166;

Tahsin

98

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AND

HERETICS

There was one other peculiarity to this branch of the Naqshbandi, also explicitly mentioned by ' Ushaqizade and N a ' i m a : its dhikr was not silent as usual, but jahrl, i.e. recited aloud. E v l i y a speaks several times ot' the extraordinary, enchanting beauty of these recitations, which "induce in the listener states of intoxication, rapture and ecstasy". Because most people in Diyarbekir belonged to this or the Gulsheni order (the other locally influential tariqa) "the blissful ecstasies of mystical union never left them" 1 . E v l i y a nowhere says so explicitly, but his account conveys the impression that music was used in these ceremonies. This was extremely u n c o m m o n a m o n g N a q s h b a n d i , but it was standard practice with the Gulsheniya, whose dhikrs Evliya mentioned in one breath with those in c Aziz M a h m u d ' s ztiwiya. The first successors of the shaikh, his son Isma c il and grandson A h m a d , acquired more than local renown as musicians and composers, which makes it even more likely that music was also used as a supporting element in the mystical exercises. Thus, if my interpretations are correct, the branch of the Naqshbandiya represented by Shaikh c A z i z M a h m u d and his immediate successors (later known as the U r m a w i branch, after their original Urumiya) adhered to the metaphysical system of wahdat al-wujud, and encouraged strong emotions and ecstasy through loud dhikr and the use of poetry and music. In these respects the Urmawi branch seems to deviate from the austerity commonly associated with the Naqshbandiya. The order's present reputation however has been much influenced by the reforms introduced by the mujaddid, A h m a d Sirhindi, and by Mawlana Khalid. About the actual pre-Mujaddidi practices common in the order much less is known. In Shaikh M a h m u d ' s t i m e , M u j a d d i d i influence had not yet reached the region; he was a contemporary of Sirhindi. The first Naqshbandi in the Ottoman Empire, a century and a half previously, definitely embraced wahdat al-wujud, which was then a perfectly acceptable metaphysical system 2 . In the course of the Empire's confrontation with the Safavids and with heterodox mystico-political movements in its own territories, however, the Naqshbandiya came to assume the role of the upholder of strict Sunni orthodoxy 3 . The stern shaikh al-islam Ebiissu c ud (1545-1574)

' "... tevhid « tezkir-i Hyace^an ¡stima' eden yàran u ihvani mesi ii hayràn u vàlih u sergerdan eder." (Evliyà, fol. 20la) ; "...ehali-yi Diyarbekir ciimle tariq-i Hvàcegàndan ve tariq-i Giil§emden olmaq ile zcvq ii §evq-i tevhid vecdinden hall degillerdir." (ibid., fol.

208a). ^ Kasim Kufrali, "Molla ìlàhi \c kendisinden sonraki Nak§bendìye muhiti", /. Ù. Turk Dili ve Edebiyati Dergisi, III (194')). pp. 129-132. 3 Ibid., pp. 132-138.

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not only issued fatwas condemning the Qizilbásh and other Shi c I extremists, but also declared Ibn al- c Arabi's teachings heretical and condemned all forms of ecstatic mysticism. Music was completely banned in his day. All these bans were often respected in the breach only. The forbidden practices were known to persist in other orders, and one can only guess to what extent the Naqshbandiya in places like Istanbul and Bursa (its major centres in Evliya's time) actually conformed to the austere rules prescribed. The Urmawi branch at Diyarbekir clearly did not. Evliya had an acquaintance with the Naqshbandis in the said major cities as well as those in Mecca and Cairo, but he presents the Urmawi branch as something sui generis. Of all the dhikr meetings he attended in the course of his travels, none seem to have impressed him so much as those in Diyarbekir's Urmawi tekke .

The spiritual genealogy of the Urmawi branch Evliya distinguishes this Urmawi branch also by name from the other Naqshbandis. He usually refers to it as the táriq-i Khwajagan, or the táriq-i Khwájagán-i Naqshbandi, while the other branches are simply referred to as Naqshbandi. Besides the one in Diyarbekir, Evliya recorded tekke of this branch in Van and in Urümiya and environs. In the latter town and region, several of Shaikh M a h m ü d ' s ancestors had taught this tariqa ; E v l i y a mentions two of them, Q ó c a g h á Sultan and Shürl (or Shawri) Sultan. The second of these remains obscure, but on the occasion of his visit to Urümiya, also in 1655, Evliyá has much to tell about Qócaghá, whose shrine he found to be well-maintained and quite openly in use as a Naqshbandi tekke — in spite of Safavid rule. The majority of Urümiya's population were, he claims, Sunni Muslims, and refused to perform their prayers in the mosques behind the official Shi c i imams. There were no great scholars among them, but many were devout mystics, all of them followers of the táriq-i Khwájagán taught by Qócaghá Sultan. Evliya also narrates a curious miracle story involving this saint: some time after Qócaghá's death his disciples ran into trouble with Kuncul Tóqmáq c AlI Khan, who had become the local governor under S h a h M u h a m m a d K h u d á b a n d a . Apparently in order to break the local population's belief in Qócaghá's karamat, the khan had the shaikh's body unearthed. Seeing that the body showed no sign of decay although it had been buried for several years (the first miracle), he had then a huge pyre erected on which it was placed. During

The Seyàhatnàme contains many descriptions of tekke but only the Gulshenï rituals in the Cairo tekke of that order receive some of the same admiring attention as given to the Urmawi Naqshbandi.

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HHRETICS

the cremation frightening voices were heard, and when the fire was finally consumed the shaikh's ashes appeared to have assumed the shape of a young child! T h e k h a n ' s men were o v e r c o m e with fear and cursed their master. Dervishes took the shaikh's remains, wrapped them in a shroud and for the second time performed his funeral prayers and buried him. T h e place of the cremation was within days miraculously covered with herbs and flowers. When Shah Muhammad heard of these events he rode to Urtimiya and personally saw to the punishment of Toqmaq Khan. The impious khan and his sons, the local qadi and the mufti who had issued a fatwa permitting the exhumation and cremation, together with all of the khan's retainers w h o had lent a hand, were thrown into a huge bonfire that the Shah had lit. Compensating for his khan's behaviour, he had then the shaikh's shrine repaired and embellished it so much with parks and gardens that Evliya compared it with Paradise 1 . All this had supposedly happened some seventy years before Evliya's visit, and the story contains no useful historical clues. Neither the yi 'Abbasi,

'J

c

Alam-ara-

nor the local chronicles summarised by Nikitine, Dihqan and

Mashkur" mention any event on which this story may have been based. It was not M u h a m m a d Khudabanda, but his brother and predecessor Shah Isma c il II who is reputed to have been more friendly towards the Sunnis. No governor of Urumiya is known whose name resembles that of Kuncul Toqmaq c A l i Khan ; the only more or less contemporary khan known by the same sobriquet of T o q m a q was M u h a m m a d Khan U s t a j l u , the Qizilbash c o m m a n d e r in the Caucasian province of (Juqur-i Sa c d, who fought the Ottomans when they attacked and invaded the area in 1578. Evliya may have confounded the antiS u n n i k h a n of U r u m i y a with this well-known o p p o n e n t of the Ottoman invasion. T h e story suggests — but even this much remains uncertain — that Qocagha died before or during Muhammad Khudabanda's reign (1577-88). He may therefore have been Shaikh Mahmud's grandfather rather than his father. c

U s h a q i z a d e gives, in his biography of M a h m u d , the father's proper name as

Sayyid Ahmad Efendi, w hile in the genealogy of another descendent he occurs as Sayyid M u h a m m a d (see note 39). Nowhere d o we find further information on his origins or on who his teachers were. T h e most detailed source is again Evliya, w h o writes that Qocagha was born in a small town to the southwest

' Evliya IV, fol. 296a-b. c 2 Iskandar Beg T u r k m a n , cAlam-ârà-yi Abbàsi, ed. by Irâj A f s h â r . T e h r a n 1350 H 2 ; B. Nikitine, "Les Afsars d ' U r u m i c h " , Journal Asiatique, 214, 1929, pp. 6 7 - 1 2 3 ; C A. D i h q a n , Sarzamin-i Zardasht: Ridà'iya . T e h r a n . 1348 H ; M . J . M a s h k u r , Nazari bi iarikh-i Àdharbàijân. Tehran, 1349 H

1 7 T H - C E N T U R Y

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of Urumiya, where many members of the family lay buried 1 , and that he had lived and taught in the city of Urumiya itself, where he had built a mosque and a large mansion (saray). About his spiritual pedigree one can only speculate. There are several possibilities. The Persian Silsilandma-yi

Khwajagan

mentions that K h w a j a c U b a i d Allah had a number of khalifas in Adharbaijan. None of them is known to have left spiritual issue , but theoretically Qocagha may have belonged to a line issuing from one of these shaikhs not known to the author of the Silsilanama. Another possibility, more likely, is suggested by another silsila, to which Hamid Algar drew my attention, that ends in 3

Urumiya in Qocagha's t i m e ' . It represents a line independent of Khwaja Ahrar: Baha' ad-Din Naqshband c

Ala' ad-Din c Attar

Nizam ad-Din Khamush Sa°d ad-Din Kashghari c

Ala' ad-Din Maktabdar

Suni c Allah Kuzakunani

c

Alijan Badamyari

Ilyas Badamyari

(born in K u z a k u n a n , west of Tabriz near Lake U r u m i y a ; died in the village of B a b a Murid near Tabriz, in 929/1522-3) (born in B a d a m y a r , a village southwest of Tabriz; died near Aleppo in 967/1559-60) (fled f r o m the Safavids to U r u m i y a , where he took up residence and gained adherents a m o n g the K u r d s ; d a t e of d e a t h not mentioned)

Eviiya passed this town, in the territory of the Dumbuli tribe, and says it was popularly called Kend-i Qocagha Baba. Its real name remains obscure, and the indication of its location is very imprecise (Eviiya IV, fol. 298a). ^ One of them, c Ali Kurd! Maqtul of Q a z w i n , had six important disciples, all of which died without spiritual issue. The other khalifas of Khwaja Ahrar in western Iran were: Siraj ad-Din b. Khwaja c U m a r (died in Tabriz, 891 H), Khwaja Muhammad Amin Bulghari (died in Tabriz between 897 and 902), and Sayyid Nflr ad-Din c A b d al-Wahhab (died in 927, after rallying to the Safavid cause). None of them is known to have appointed a khalifa (Hamid Algar, personal communication). Cf. Hamid Algar, "The Naqshbandi order: a preliminary survey of its history and significance", Studia Islamica, 44, 1976, pp. 123-152, esp. 139-140. 3 In the Turkish translation (and continuation) of the Silsilandma-yi Khwajagan-i Naqshband, Ms. Hiisrev Pasha n° 408, S u l e y m a n i y e , Istanbul. I am obliged to Hamid Algar for this transcription of the silsila and the accompanying notes.

102

M U L L A S ,

Muhammad Badamvari

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

( a c c o m p a n i e d I l y a s to U r u m i y a succeeded to his position there)

and

Shaikh Muhammad Badamyari thus flourished in Urumiya around the same period as our Qdcagha. He may therefore have been his murshid\ it is even conceivable that the two were identical 1 . The connection is by no means certain: the existence of two independent lines of the Naqshbandiya in the same town may seem unlikely, but in Urumiya this appears to have been the case. Evliya mentions the shrine of another, apparently unconnected, Naqshbandi shaikh there, Boza Wall Sultan (or Boz Uli Sultan). There may be another indication of the spiritual connections of the U r m a w l branch in the name by which Evliya refers to it, tarlq-i Khwdjagdn (he calls Boza Wall Sultan simply a Naqshbandi). He uses that name in two other instances, both with strong Central Asian connections. In Cizre he visited a tekke located in the shrine of Shaikh M u h a m m a d al-Ghaws, alGhaws probably a misspelling for al-Ghawth who had been "a great sufi of the tarlq-i Khwajagdn-i Naqshband, though not a qutb" (qutbiyete qadem basmami§ ulu sultan). The residents of the tekke were not local people but mainly "Indians" and Central Asians (Hindi ve Ozbeki ve Qaghatayi ve Qomuq qavmi) . The term Khwdjagdn can in this case not refer to a connection with the U r m a w i branch, which drew its followers from among Kurds and Adharis. It seems to carry a Central Asian connotation. The same is true of the other tekke of the tarlq-i Khwdjagdn, in Cairo: all of its residents were O z b e k s ' . It makes of course sense to reserve the name Khwajagan for Naqshbandi from the region where the masters known by this title had lived and taught. Perceived differences in ideas and practices between these Central Asian and the contemporary western Naqshbandi may have led Evliya to apply the term to a distinctive sub-group within the Naqshbandiya. If my guess is correct, this would suggest that Qocagha's affiliation was not with any of the Adharbajani silsilas above, but directly with some Central Asian teacher.

' The names A h m a d and M u h a m m a d are sometimes almost interchangeable, i have not been able to find Badamyar in the existing gazetteers, and given the imprecision of Evliya's notes on "Kend-i Qdcagha Baba" it is not impossible that these villages are identical. 2 Evliya, IV, fol. 386a, 387b. This shrine still exists and is well maintained, but locally nothing is k n o w n about this Shaikh M u h a m m a d (personal c o m m u n i c a t i o n , Shaikh Nurullah Varol of Cizre). ^ Evliya Qelebi Seyuhatnamesi X. p. 242 (printed edition, Istanbul 1938).

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The Urmawi line after Shaikh c Aziz Mahmud Shaikh c AzIz M a h m u d was, according to most accounts, succeeded by his son Isma c II (Jelebi. E v l i y a , who met him in 1655, does not mention his proper name but makes clear that his standing was then as high as his father's had been. As might be expected, Isma°il had received a thorough education in the islamic sciences from the culama of Diyarbekir; but he was also an accomplished poet, composer and musician, and it is especially in the latter capacities that he is still remembered 1 . His son A h m a d inherited not only the shaikhly mantle but his father's musical genius as well, and became one of the best composers of Sultan Mehmed IV's time 2 . A h m a d was the last shaikh of his line w h o m we find mentioned as active in K u r d i s t a n . T h e line in D i y a r b e k i r w a s either

extinguished

completely, or it went under in insignificance. The U r m a w i line persisted for some time in Bursa, however. It had first been introduced there by a certain I b r a h i m Efendi, one of Shaikh M a h m u d ' s khalifas. I b r a h i m is said to have 'i travelled westwards after his murshids execution; he died in Bursa in 1650". It was probably even before his death that another U r m a w i also settled in Bursa: Shaikh °Aziz Mahmud's nephew "Agiqbash" M a h m u d . This person had been born in Diyarbekir; his father was probably the brother of Shaikh °Aziz M a h m u d whom Pegevi mentions but does not name 4 . A s a young man, Aciqbash embarked upon a secular career in government serv ice, and he reached the high position of voyvoda (tax-collecting deputy governor) of Mardin. He won moreover some f a m e as a poet, under the pen-name of R e s m l . After a mystical experience he decided to forsake worldly affairs. He studied sufism with his uncle and ultimately became one of his khalifas. After Shaikh c Aziz M a h m u d ' s execution he too left Diyarbekir, travelling to Cairo first and from there to Istanbul, where he soon had a rapidly growing circle of disciples around him. After an incident in which he aroused the ill-will of the powerful grand vizier (Kopriilii Mehmed) and the shaikh al-islam of the time, he moved to Bursa, where he lived until his death in 1666. Agiqbash M a h m u d compiled a sequel to c Ali Hamadani's well-known collection of prayer litanies, the

' Biographies

of

Ismàcil

in:

c

Ali Emiri,

op.

cit., c

3 8 6 ) relates that S h a i k h M a h m u d a p p o i n t e d I s m a i l redicting his death. Beysanoglu, op. cit., p. 167-168. 3 4

Ismà°il Beligh, Guldeste-i

Riyad-i

p.

20-21; §evket

Beysanoglu,

cilt I. Istanbul, 1957, p. 145. Na c ima (op.

Diyarbakirli Fikir ve SanatAdamlari,

c

lrfan,

as his s u c c e s s o r

cit.,

p.

after a dream

Istanbul, n.d., p. 169-170.

Beligh (op. cit., p. 154) gives Aciqbash' full name as "as-Sayyid Shaikh M a h m u d Efendi b. asSayyid Akhi M a h m u d Efendi b. as-Sayyid M u h a m m a d b. as-Sayyid M u h a m m a d , T h e name of Aciqbash 1 father, A k h i M a h m u d , may be a mistake.

104

MUM.AS,

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Awrad-i Fathiya, and translated a Persian commentary on the same work 1 . According to B e l i g h , he was succeeded in Bursa by his nephew, Akhi Mahmud, about whom nothing remarkable is known, and the latter in turn by his son Mustafa, after whom the line disappears from sight . The genealogical-cum-spiritual pedigree of the U r m a w i shaikhs may thus be summarized: Sa\yid Ahmad "Qöcaghä Sultan"

" c Aziz" Mahmüd (.Rumiye

Äkhl Mahmud*(?)

§eyhi)

d. 1639 in Diyarbekir Ismâ c ïl Çelebi 1611-1670, Diyarbekir Ahmad Diyarbekir

Açiqbash Mahmüd b. 1601 in Diyarbekir d. 1666 in Bursa

Sayyid Qäsim

Akhi Mahmüd b. in Van d. 1679 in Bursa I Mustafa d. 1699 in Bursa

A Turkish silsilandma with some stray notes on the U r m a w i branch mentions also a line in Hr/erum, where Shaikh c Aziz Mahmud had appointed t w o khalifas, Shaikh Haji M u h a m m a d and Shaikh Q a r a m a n . T h e latter initiated his son, Abu Bakr Efendi ; the former three nephews, M u h a m m a d Amin Efendi, Saifi Qelebi and Sayyid c U m a r 3 . This line then was apparently also extinguished, for in the early 18th century there seem not to have been Naqshbandl in Erzerum, as one gathers from Ibrahim Haqqi Erzerumi's account of his father's quest for a master (see below).

1 Biographies of Ai;iqbash Mahmud : Beiigh, op. cit, pp. 1 5 4 - 1 5 9 ; E m i r i , op. cit.. p. 381 ; Beysanoglu, op. cit.. p. 145-147; Brusali M e h m e d Tahir, cOsmanli mu'ellifleri, I, p. 14.

* Beligh, op. cit., p. 159-160; d'. Kufrali, art. cit., p. 148-151. T h e Turkish translator of the Silsilanama-yi Khwajagan (see note 32) added some notes on the U r m a w i branch that are at variance with the information found elsewhere. A c c o r d i n g to him, Shaikh M a h m u d w a s succeeded in Diyarbekir by, consecutively, his son Mustafa, his nephew (sic!) I s m a c i l , and another son. Ibrahim. This seems a highly distorted account, based on hearsay. 3 Silsilanama, as c o m m u n i c a t e d to m e by Hamid A l g a r . G i v e n the d i s t o r t i o n in t h e o b s e r v a t i o n s on Diyarbekir, this information on E r z e r u m s h o u l d also b e accepted with reservation.

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Other Naqshbandi in Kurdistan Three of the six Naqshbandi tekke in Kurdistan recorded by Evliya belonged to the Urmawi branch. The fourth tekke, at Cizre, has already been mentioned too; it lodged Central Asians and "Indians" (a designation that includes Afghans). The remaining two tekke were at Malatya and Bitlis. Evliya calls them simply "Naqshbandi" but adds no further information. We may surmise that these attracted local people, and that they belonged to another line of affiliation than the Urmawi. Besides these, there were probably other small, relatively isolated groups of Naqshbandi in Kurdistan, of unclear affiliation. The origins of these groups may have been due to temporary visits of travelling sufis from elsewhere. In the early 16th century, for instance, Shaikh Sun c Allah Ktizakunani and his son Abu Sa c id spent several years in Kurdistan. Sun c Allah (whose name also occurs in the Adharbaijani silsila above) was born in A d h a r b a i j a n , had travelled east to be initiated into the Naqshbandiya by either Khwaja Ahrar or c Ala' ad-Din Maktabdar , and returned to Tabriz, where he taught the tariqa for some years. Shah IsmaMl's conquest of the city caused him to take refuge in Bitlis, but later he returned to Adharbaijan, where his son Abu Sa c id was born (1514). The latter fled to Turkey on the occasion of Sultan Suleyman's Adharbaijani campaign (1548), settling in Diyarbekir first, and thence moving to Aleppo and Istanbul 2 . These two shaikhs are not known to have appointed khalifas during their stay in Kurdistan, but it seems likely that at least they had Kurdish disciples. Itinerant Central Asian Naqshbandi may have had a greater impact in Kurdistan. On their way to Mecca many Central Asians passed through Kurdistan and some spent a considerable time there. Ibrahim Haqqi of Erzerum, born in 1703, relates in his Mac rifetname how two of these Central Asians (Ozbeks) played a part in his father's spiritual quest. One of these, a wandering dervish, spent a full winter as the guest of Ibrahim Haqqi's father, c Othman. The latter, hungry for mystical and esoteric teachings, had searched in vain for a murshid-i kdmil, a perfect teacher, in his own environment, and was happy to entertain the traveller. It was another Ozbek, an itinerant preacher, a murshid-i kdmil in his own right, who finally instructed c O t h m a n to travel south, where his murshid was said to be waiting for him. c O t h m a n then set out for Bitlis, where a renowned shaikh, Mulla M u h a m m a d Arwasi, resided. The Arwasi are a well-known family of culama and shaikhs, many of whom

1 According to c A t a ' i , S u n c Allah studied together with Jami at the feet of K h w a j a Ahrar (Nev c izade °Ata'i, Hada'iq al-haqa'iq, p. 207). Jami h o w e v e r is usually said to have been initiated by S a c d ad-Din Kashghari, w h o according to the silsila a b o v e w a s also S u n c Allah's teacher. Silsilas often contradict each other on the p r e c i s e lines of affiliation d u r i n g the first f e w generations after Baha' ad-Din. T h i s is probably due to the f a c t that people studied often with more than one of the great masters. 2

c

Ata'i, op.

cit,

p. 207-208; K u f r a h , art. cit., p. 145.

106

MULI. A S

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

were to become prominent Naqshbandi in the 19th and 20th centuries. Mulla Muhammad is the earliest member of the family whom we find mentioned as a sufi teacher. When ' O t h m a n reached Bitlis in 1710, however, the shaikh had just died, so that he had to continue his quest. He finally found his murshid-i kamil in the person of Isma c il Faqir Allah at Tillo near Siirt. Faqlr Allah was there the third successor of his great-grandfather Mulla c All, who had been one of the leading culama of Cizre before settling near Siirt. At a very early age, Ibrahim Haqqi joined his father at Tillo and also studied at the feet of the shaikh, whose successor he ultimately became . None of the Naqshbandi shaikhs mentioned so far seem to have been Kurds themselves: Q o c a g h a was probably an Adhari (or a Central Asian), Muhammad al-Ghaws a Central Asian, Sun c Allah an Adhari and Isma c il Faqir Allah of Arab descent. M u h a m m a d A r w a s i may have been the exception: although a sayyid, he may have been completely kurdicised, as his later relatives were. It is interesting to note that there were in fact several contemporary and even earlier Kurdish Naqshbandi shaikhs, who however received their initiations, and were themselves active, outside Kurdistan. This illustrates the really international character of the order, but it also reflects that fact that the social and political roles of a shaikh in a tribal society like Kurdistan can only be satisfactorily performed by outsiders, who are not by definition party to any tribal conflict. The first of the "emigrant" Kurdish shaikhs was c Ali Kurdi Maqtul, a Kurd from c Amadiya who became a disciple of Khwaja Ahrar and settled as his khalifa in Qazwin, where he was executed by the Safavids in 1519 . Another was Mahmud b. Abi Bakr al-Jazari, born in Cizre in 1636-7, who received his initiation into the Naqshbandiya from Shaikh Muhammad Zaman as-Sindi in Qudus (Jerusalem) and settled in Damascus 3 . The most interesting and most influential of them however were a number of shaikhs from southern Kurdistan living and teaching in Madina. Ibrahim al-Kurani and his younger contemporary Muhammad b. c Abd ar-Rasul Barzinji, the best known of these, had a considerable international influence. The latter is primarily known for his fierce condemnation of Ahmad Sirhindi's ideas, the former for his impact on Indonesian sufism 4 . Both hailed from the district of Shahrazur, a rather

1 Erzurumlu-Hasankaleli Ibrahim Hakki, Marifetnäme (modern Turkish edition), 2. cild. Istanbul 1975, pp. 116-138. I he calim, scientist and mystic I s m a c i l Faqir Allah is best k n o w n as a Qädiri shaikh. T h e biographical notes in the M a'rifetnäme that are summarised here are however preceded by a lengthy exposition of the Naqshbandi path, which strongly suggests that the murshid-i kämil were also associated with this order.

Khani. op. cit., p. 172-173. c ashar, Muhammad Khalil al-Muradi. Silk ad-durar fi acyäna l-qarn ath-thäni Bulaq, 1291 H, IV, pp. 126-127. 4 S. A. A. Rizvi, A History oj Sufism in India, II, New Delhi 1983, pp. 338-340 ; A. H. Johns, "al-Kuräni", E. I.2; cf. J. Voll . "Muhammad H a y y a al-Sindi and M u h a m m a d ibn c A b d alWahhäb: an analysis of an intellectual group in eighteenth-century Madina", BSOAS 38, 1975, pp. 32-39.

2

3

17TH-CENTURY

KURDISTAN

107

special region of southern Kurdistan, and were initiated into the Naqshbandiya, along with several other orders, in Madina, where they spent most of their lives.

Religious peculiarities of Shahrazur Could it be that these Shahrazuri scholars and mystics felt attracted to the particular brand of sufism they came to embrace — a strong dose of Ibn alc

A r a b i and some Indian accents — because of their cultural backgrounds?

Shahrazur had long been known to be a region whence various sects and occult traditions emerged. The Ahl-i Haqq sect (or religion), with its Zoroastrian and Isma c ili elements is only one of these. T h e region seems to have preserved beliefs and religious attitudes that have elsewhere disappeared. The popular religion contains many older Iranian elements, and even in this century we witness there the re-emergence of extreme heterodoxies within the ostensibly very orthodox Naqshbandi tradition 1 . The Ahl-i Haqq

had in the past a much

wider geographical distribution than n o w , especially a m o n g the G o r a n , to whom Ibrahim al-Kurani belonged. The culama

of Shahrazur may well have

long remained under the influence of Shihab ad-Din S u h r a w a r d i ' s

Ishrdql

metaphysics; one of S u h r a w a r d i ' s chief disciples was a S h a m s a d - D i n Shahrazuri 2 . The large and respected Barzinji family, sayyids who claim descent from the seventh imam, M u s a Kazim, f o r m a link between various sects and tariqas present in the area. A family tradition presents their first ancestor to settle here, Sayyid °Isa, as a son o f c Ali HamadanI and a brother of Muhammad N u r b a k h s h , while one of Sayyid c Isa's twelve sons was Sultan Sohak, the reputed founder of the Ahl-i Haqq religion 3 . Until the 17th century, tradition says, the family adhered to the Nurbakhshiya; B a b a Rasul (d. 1646), from w h o m all present Barzinji descend, changed to the c Alawiya, a branch of the Khalwatiya. The said M u h a m m a d b. c A b d ar-Rasul was one of his sons; he was initiated into the Naqshbandiya and several other tariqas in Madina. Most of the members of the family who remained in Shahrazur later became Qadiri, but the practices taught by them differ from those of Qadiri elsewhere. They are an eclectic combination of elements from various tariqas, in which the

For instance the Haqqa

sect founded by the Naqshbandi shaikh c A b d al-Karim of Sargalu.

See: Bruinessen, op. cit., p. 314, 341; M. R. Tawakkuli, Tarlkh-i tasawwuf dar Kurdistan, Tehran, n. d., p. 233-234; Mustafa c Askari,

Bizutnawa-i

"Haqa", Baghdad, 1983.

^ A. A. Adivar, "l§rakiyun", islam Ansiklopedisi. 3 Edmonds, op. cit., p. 68; Tawakkuli, op. cit., pp. 133-134. If we take these family relationships to be spiritual rather than biological the claims may well be correct. T h e persons concerned were contemporaries, and N u r b a k h s h was in fact a disciple of c A l i Hamadani's khalifa Ishaq al-Khutlani.

MU LI. A S .

108

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

ecstatic dhikr, loud drum rhythms and the self-inflicting of wounds, as with the Rifa c iya, are the most conspicuous. Significantly, their silsila contains not only the name of c A b d a l - Q a d i r , but also those of A h m a d R i f a c i , A h m a d Badawi and Ibrahim Dasüqi. Later again, several Qádiri shaikhs belonging to this family became Naqshbandi, and one even a Christian'. It is not possible to know with any precision what the philosophical and metaphysical ideas were that found currency among the learned men of Shahrazür in the 16th and 17th centuries, but there was clearly an interest in and tolerance of ideas that were elsewhere condemned as heretical. Ibrahim alKüráni's and Muhammad b. c Abd ar-Rasül Barzinji's spirited defense of Ibn alc

ArabT, and their studying and teaching several tariqas

simultaneously may

have conformed to the c o m m o n attitude in their native region. And this may in turn have been one of the reasons why the Indonesians, coming f r o m a culture with similar mystical traditions and tolerance, were attracted to Ibrahim. At least one of these religious-mystical currents, the one represented by Ali H a m a d a n i and M u h a m m a d Nürbakhsh, has been in evidence in northern Kurdistan as well. After his first unsuccessful attempt to establish himself as the Mahdl and his subsequent capture by Sháhrukh, Nürbakhsh went to Iraq and settled in southern Kurdistan, where he was apparently recognised as the caliph and had money coined in his name — until he was taken prisoner again by Sháhrukh 2 . One of Nürbakhsh' khalifas was the Kurdish shaikh Husam adDin of Bitlis, who e n j o u ' d an extraordinary respect throughout Kurdistan. It was largely due to Husam ad-Din's standing among the Kurdish amirs that his son, the famous diplomat and historian Idris Bitlisi, succeeded in rallying these amirs to the Ottoman cause against the Safavids, one of the f e w occasions where they overcame their perpetual rivalries and mutual suspicions'. c

It is not clear w hat the mystical teachings of N ü r b a k h s h and c A l i H a m a d a n i were, nor whether much of them can be found back with later Kurdish mystics, but their names at least remained widely respected. c A l i Hamadani's collection of prayers and litanies, the Awrád-i Fathiya, must have been in common use in the 17th century for, as mentioned before, the Urmawi shaikh "Agiqbash" M a h m u d translated a commentary on them and composed a sequel. Could Agiqbash also be responsible for the later popularity of these Awrad in Turkish Naqshbandi circles generally? In the early 19th century

' On this family see: Edmonds, op. cit., pp. 68-76; T a w a k k u l l , op. cit., pp. 133-157; Bruinessen, op. at., pp. 267-275, 341-345. 2 D. S. Margoliouth, " N u r b a k h s h i y a " , £ . / . ' (following the biographical notices in N u r Allah

Shustari's Majaiis at-mu'min). 3

Brusali M e h m e d T a h i r , op. t il.. I. pp. 58; 111, p. 6-8. Idris Bitlisi's role in securing Kurdistan for the Ottoman sultan Selim I is stressed by all the standard histories.

17TH-CENTURY

KURDISTAN

109

finally, Ibrahim Rushdi of Bitlis, who was also mentioned in the introduction to this article, devoted a large section of his risala

to a eulogy of

c

Ali

1

Hamadani .

Conclusion The presence of the Naqshbandiya in Kurdistan is attestable f r o m at least the beginning of the 17th century on, and it seems likely that there were small, isolated groups of Naqshbandls as early as the mid-16th century, due to the activities of the A d h a r i Shaikh S u n c Allah and itinerant central Asian Naqshbandi. N o contacts could be discovered, in this early period, between the N a q s h b a n d i s of Kurdistan and the branches of the order established in and around Istanbul; their orientation seems to have been to the East only. None of the various branches in Kurdistan during the 17th and 18th century seems to have been long-lived; their origins remain obscure, and after one or two generations they disappear from our view again. The Naqshbandiya did not evolve into a stable social and political institution as it did in 19th century Kurdistan. Moreover, almost none of the Naqshbandi of Kurdistan in this period left any writings that could throw some light on their actual doctrines; the exceptions being I b r a h i m al-Kurani and his successors at Madina and Ibrahim H a q q i Erzerumi. The only one of these Naqshbandi to have risen to political p r o m i n e n c e w a s Shaikh c A z i z M a h m u d , "Rumiye §eyhi", at Diyarbekir. A m o n g the factors that favoured his emergence, the political circumstances of his time were essential. Central government control of the eastern provinces had considerably weakened in the course of the great social rebellions of the late 16th century (the Jalali rebellions), and even more so after the Ottoman defeat at the hands of the Safavids in the beginning of the 17th. The intermittent warfare between the two empires, from around 1575 to 1639, must have strengthened religious awareness and sentiment among the S u n n i inhabitants of the buffer zone, mainly Kurds. A s a r e f u g e e f r o m territory conquered by the Safavids, the shaikh was a fit candidate for the position of a leader with w h o m these people could identify themselves. Significantly, he did not take up residence in one of the autonomous Kurdish principalities, where an undisputed, strong local political leadership existed, such as in Bitlis and Cizre, but in D i y a r b e k i r , the m a j o r military and administrative centre of the Ottoman East. During the years of confrontation his growing political influence throughout Kurdistan was not only tolerated but even encouraged by the Ottoman administration, because it could serve the struggle against the Safavids. A s soon as the Safavid threat had been neutralised by a peace treaty and a boundary agreement, the shaikh was no longer useful and his great influence an obstacle to the improvement of direct

1

Ibrahim Rushdi

Bitlisi, Irshad ar-Rashidin,

Hs. Or. Oct. 828. Staatsbibliothek, Berlin.

110

M U LI. A S

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

government control. His insistence on an alleviation of taxes, before the war was over, and his hold o\ er the lower classes could be seen as indications that he had far-reaching political ambitions, so he was executed. Accusations that the shaikh intended to set himself up as the Mahdi (of which the historians speak) may say more about the political atmosphere among the masses than about the shaikh's own plans. What little the contemporary sources betray about the social and political conditions among the lower strata of society indicates much discontent and unrest. Twenty five years after Shaikh Mahmud's execution, another shaikh did in fact proclaim himself the Mahdi, in c Amadiya, north of Mosul. Messianistic expectations must have been widespread, for the Mahdi had in a short time a large following, and the rebellion could only be suppressed with much bloodshed .

' Silahdar Findiqli Muhammed Agha, Silahdar tdrikhi, I., Istanbul 1928, p. 434. It is not clear with which tariqa this Mahdi, named Shaikh Muhammad b. S a y y i d ' A b d Allah, was affiliated. More information is perhaps io be found in a letter by Ibrahim al-Kurani, the Kurdish mystic and scholar in Madina, in response to questions by a Sayyid Yasin b. A h m a d al-Husaini alKhatib al-Jazari on what to think of this Mahdi's claims: Al-maslak al-qarib ila su'alat al-hablb, Berl. 2732. Brockelmann, who mentions this letter (GAL, II, 386) states that the Mahdi, w h o first arose in 1075/1664, was a then 12 years old Kurdish boy, and found numerous followers. He was ultimately arrested b\ the wali of Mosul and sent to Istanbul, where he remained in captivity until his death.

KURDISH 'ULAMA AND THEIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

Traces of Kurdish influence in Indonesia The Indonesian archipelago, which is the largest island group in the world and veiy rich in natural resources, has been visited by sailors and traders f r o m many parts of the world as long as there has been seaborne traffic. Wave upon wave of migrants arrived f r o m mainland Southeast Asia; the monsoon winds brought Chinese from the north, Indians and Arabs from the west, and smaller numbers of people f r o m numerous other nations. It is not surprising, therefore, to find in Indonesian Islam the traces of many other islamicised cultures. Besides words and expressions derived f r o m Arabic, we also find terms in use that are derived from Persian, Sanskrit, Tamil and various other Indian languages; there are clear Chinese influences in the architecture of certain mosques and Muslim shrines; indianised mystical ideas have long been prominent, and, during the last century and a half especially, there has been a pervasive influence of Arabs from Hadramawt, w h o settled in the archipelago in large numbers. T o my initial surprise, I discovered that there is also a distinct Kurdish influence, especially a m o n g the most pious segments of the population. It is r e m a r k a b l e , for instance, that in Java, the most populous island of the archipelago, there are quite a few people named Kurdi. This n a m e is so c o m m o n , especially in strict Muslim circles, that few outsiders are aware that it is not an indigenous name. I have never encountered anyone named Turki, Farsi or Hindi to match all those Kurdi — although I have c o m e across a few Misri and Malibari. I shall return to the significance of these personal names below. Another sign of Kurdish influence is even more striking, because it is so prominent in the religious life of the masses. The most popular religious text throughout the Archipelago, second only to the Qur'an itself, is a work commonly known as the Barzanji.

This text, a mawlid, is recited not only on

the 12th of Rabi' al-avvwal, the Prophet's birthday, but on numerous other occasions: at life cycle ceremonies such as the first cutting of a baby's hair ('aqiqa), in crisis situations, as a part of an exorcistic ritual, or routinely as a regular c o m m u n a l expression of piety. T h e r e is probably not a single Indonesian Muslim who has not attended a reading of the Barzanji at least a few times in his life. Surprisingly, it has never been noticed before

that

112

M U L L A S .

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

Barzanji is the name of the most influential family of 'ulama and tariqa shaykhs in southern Kurdistan. In several regions of the archipelago known for their strong attachment to Islam, such as Acheh. West Sumatra and Banten, one finds remnants of an invulnerability cult known as debus.

Its practitioners stab themselves with

large skewers, swords and other sharp objects without suffering wounds. At present degenerated into a popular entertainment, debus is derived f r o m the well-known practices usually associated with the Rifa'iyya sufi order (known in the west as the "howling dervishes"). However, in northern Banten debus is also associated with the Qadiriyya order. 1 Although the Qadiriyya shares with the Rifa'iyya its loud and ecstatic dhikr, its followers do not as a rule stab or cut themselves. I know of only one other place where the Qadiriyya engage in these practices, and that is Kurdistan. 2 The most influential Qadiri shaykhs of Kurdistan, in fact, belong to the said Barzanji family. Interestingly, one observer noted that the Barzanji

was recited during a debus performance that

he witnessed.^ The final surprise of my first year in Indonesia occurred when I began making a survey of the traditional Islamic books that were for sale in the market. In the major Islamic bookstore of Bandung, in West Java, I found a large pile of copies of Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi's Tanwír al-qulüb, a wellknown compendium of the Naqshbandi order written about a century ago. 4 Later I was to discover that this book is not only studied by Indonesian Naqshbandi but also is widely used as a fiqh textbook in Southern Sulawesi. Muhammad Amin was one Kurdish 'Slim who clearly exercised a considerable influence in Indonesia. I was to discover that several other Kurdish 'ulama had been at least as influential in Indonesia. K u r d s then h a \ e m a d e an impact on I n d o n e s i a n Islam at least comparable to that of some other reputed islamicisers. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Kurds had ever visited the Archipelago until very recent times. It can be shown, however, that at least f r o m the mid-seventeenth century on, Kurdish 'ulama have played a significant part in the islamisation of the Archipelago.

' See Bruinessen 1995, especially pp. 187-9, and Vredenbregt 1973. 2

T h e ecstatic dhikr of the Kurdish Qadiriyya and its exercises in invulnerability are described in Bruinessen 1992, 216-22, 234-40. Because these practices are so different from those of the Qadiriyya elsewhere, 1 suggested that they represented a combination of the Qadiriyya with the Rifa'iyya, adducing as evidence a silsiia in which both 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and Ahmad alRifa'i, as well as the Egyptian saints Ahmad al-Badawi and Ibrahim al-Dasuqi, occurred (o.c., 217). The same four saints arc listed in a Rifa'iyya ratib that is used by debus practitioners in Banten (Bruinessen 1995, 185). 3 Monteil 1970, 121. 4

S e e Arberry's comments on this work in his Sufisnv. an account of the mystics of Islam (1950).

K U R D I S H ' l ' L A M A AND THKIR I N D O N E S I A N D I S C I P L E S

113

Much of the debate on the origins of Islam in Indonesia appears to proceed from the assumption that this must have been a one-time event with a single identifiable actor. This assumption is contradicted by all the available evidence: islamisation is better understood as an ongoing process, beginning at different times in different parts of the Archipelago and under a host of different influences. 1 The various Muslim peoples having commerce with Indonesia — and these included Arabs, Persians, Indians from all along the coast as well as Cham and Chinese — have all left their impact, in some cases more lasting than in others. But it was not only these foreign visitors who contribued to the islamisation of the Archipelago. Once the first steps towards Islam had been taken, a m a j o r role in the ongoing process of islamisation was played by Indonesians themselves, who travelled to Mecca and the other holy cities in search of magical knowledge and understanding of Islam. In spite of the great distance and the arduousness of the j o u r n e y , many Indonesians performed the hajj, often staying several years in Arabia to study. (Visiting magically potent centres in search of spiritual powers, kasekten, had been a major aspect of religious life before the advent of Islam; Mecca soon came to be considered as the most potent of all cosmic centres.) In the seventeenth century, the first period for which we have somewhat substantial information, there was a very distinct Indian flavour to Indonesian Islam. T h e m o s t p o p u l a r mystical order then was an Indian o n e , the Shattariyya; the best k n o w n mystical text was a brief work by the almost contemporary Indian author Burhanpuri, and the other religious texts studied in the region were those that were also popular in India at that time. 2 This Indian i n f l u e n c e , h o w e v e r , did not reach the A r c h i p e l a g o directly f r o m the subcontinent but c a m e by way of Medina and Mecca. It was teachers in Medina who initiated the first Indonesians into the Shattariyya. T h e most influential of these teachers was a Kurd, Ibrahim al-Kurani. Ibrahim al-Kurani was not the only Kurdish scholar in the Hijaz who had Indonesian disciples. Southeast Asians studying in Arabia often sought out Kurdish 'ulama as their teachers. In part this may have been because the Indonesians, at least by the seventeenth century, were Shafi'i like most of the Kurds. But this can hardly have been the sole reason for this attraction towards Kurdish teachers. It is as if there was a spiritual kinship between Indonesians and Kurds. It was in mysticism and pious devotion that Indonesian and Kurdish Islam were or became most closely akin.

'The process is sketched convincingly, for the case of Java, in Ricklefs 1979. See Bruinessen 1994.

2

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The Kurds as cultural brokers Geopolitical accident has made the Kurds into mediators between three great cultural traditions of Islam. Kurdistan lies in between, and partly separates, the centres of Persian, Arabic and Ottoman Turkish culture. For many centuries, Kurdish men of letters have had a knowledge of all three languages besides their own Kurdish (or Gurani or Zaza). Due to this linguistic competence, they have often acted as mediators between these various cultures. Many of them studied in one part of the Muslim world and later taught in another. Up to the nineteenth century, the major language of Indian Islam was Persian. It is therefore not surprising to find Kurdish 'ulama in the holy cities teaching — presumably in Arabic — somewhat indianised versions of Islam. They had easy access to the Persian-language literary tradition of India and several Kurdish 'ulama, in fact, had more direct contact with the subcontinent. Probably, the most striking case, is that of Mawlana Khalid, of whom more below. One region of southern Kurdistan, Shahrazur, deserves special mention in this connection, because it produced numerous 'ulama who were to have an impact on Indonesia. Shahrazur is the region in Iraq that includes Kerkuk and present Sulaimaniya; most of the 'ulama in question belonged to an ethnic sub-group living in that region, the Guran. 1 T h e Guran speak an Iranian language different from Kurdish proper and may have different ethnic origins, but they have nevertheless long been considered, and have considered themselves, as Kurds. 1'heir culture is pervaded with mysticism and metaphysical speculation. The heterodox Ahl-i Haqq sect first emerged among the Guran, and various outlandish mystical and millenarian movements found strong support among them. Their receptivity to new religious ideas is somewhat reminiscent of the syncretism of the Indian subcontinent and Indonesia. There is, however, also a strong tradition of orthodox learning among the Guran. Several Guran 'ulama gained international renown as the authors of important works in Arabic; we find them listed in Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabisclwn Litteratur. They had an even greater impact as teachers, the greatest among them, Ibrahim al-Kurani and Mawlana Khalid, deeply influencing entire generations. One of the earliesi (iuran 'ulama with such an international career was the celebrated Molla Gurani. who for the last eight years of his life (1480-88) served as the mufti of Istanbul. He was born in Shahrazur and received his early education from local teachers. He continued his studies in Baghdad, ' O n the Guran, see Minorsky I'U.l and Bruinessen 1992, pp. 109-115.

KURDISH 'ULAMA AND THEIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

1 15

Diyarbakir, Hisn Kayfa, Damascus and Jerusalem, finally arriving, "in a state of extreme poverty", in Cairo, where he studied with, among others, the great Shafi'i legist Ibn Hajar al-Haytami. From Cairo his fame gradually spread over the world. After a conflict in Egypt he was exiled to Syria, whence he went over to the Ottomans, diplomatically changing from the Shafi'i to the Hanafi madhhab. Such was his reputation that he soon became the preceptor of the future Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, which no doubt helped him in ultimately reaching the highest religious position in the Empire. 1 Several other Guran have made their mark as teachers in Cairo or Medina. I shall mention in this article only those who had a significant impact on Islam in Indonesia.

Doyen of the 'ulama of Medina, teacher extraordinary: Ibrahim b. Hasan al-Kurani (1615-1690) One of the earliest Indonesian Muslim authors about whom we know more than the barest outline is the Achehnese 'Abd al-Ra'uf of Singkel (alSinkili, also known as al -Fansuri), who lived ca. 1620-1695. He composed a Malay adaptation of the Tafstr al-Jalalayn that is still read in some parts of the Archipelago. He also wrote a now forgotten minor work on fiqh, but he is mostly known as the teacher who first introduced the Shattariyya sufi order to Indonesia. 'Abd al-Ra'uf spent not less then nineteen years in Mecca and Medina, and his work 'Umdat al-muhtajin gives glimpses of life in the holy cities, names the teachers he listened to, and lists the mystical orders that he became acquainted with. 2 D He first studied the Shattariyya with the nominal head of the order, the Palestinian Ahmad al-Qushashi in Medina, and continued under his successor Ibrahim al-Kurani. It was especially with the latter, to whom he owed his ijaza to teach the tartqa, that 'Abd al-Ra'uf established a close relationship. 3 'Abd al-Ra'uf was not al-Kurani's only Indonesian student. Another was 'Abd al-Ra'uf s most famous Indonesian contemporary, Yusuf of Makassar. Yusuf spent even more time in Arabia, and he is primarily known in Indonesia as the propagator of the Khalwatiyya and as a mujahid against the Dutch East 1 Ahmet Ate§, "Molla Gurani", islam Ansiklopedisi; J. R. Walsh, "Gurani, Sharaf al-din ...", Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition; and Yildiz n. d. The last-named author, wishing to claim Molla Gurani for present-day Turkey, attempts to argue, unconvincingly, that he may have been born in a village named Guran near Diyarbakir. Throughout Kurdistan one encounters small tribal groups and villages of that or similar names, whose relationship with the ethnic group Guran is not entirely clear. 2 Rinkes 1909.

Q

Johns 1978; cf. the same author's entries "al-Kurani" and "al-Kushashi" in the Encyclopaedia of Islam.

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Indies Company. In his Saftnat al-naj&h he lists the orders into which he was initiated, including the Shattariyya, for which he also received an ijaza f r o m Ibrahim al-Kurani. 1 Although Yusuf does not mention it here, al-Kurani's teaching went beyond instruction in dhikr

and the other mystical techniques

of the order and covered the more intellectual dimensions of tasawwufas

well.

W e know that under Ibrahim's supervision Yusuf studied a difficult text by 'Abd al-Rahman Jami, Al durra al-fakhira,

which compares the views of the

philosophers, the theologians and the sufis on questions regarding God's existence, His unity, His knowledge, etc. T w o copies of this work in Yusuf s hand have come to light. T he second of them was copied on Ibrahim's orders and contains glosses by the master himself. 2 Yusuf must have been studying this work over an appreciable period of time. There are indications that Ibrahim al-Kurani had many more Indonesian students besides these two, although we know none of the others by name. J o h n s gathers that they must have been numerous and that Ibrahim spent much energy guiding them, but the evidence for this claim is only indirect. At least two of al-Kurani's numerous writings (Brockelmann lists forty titles, Johns speaks of a hundred) were written especially for an Indonesian audience. One of these was composed in 1675 in response to questions f r o m several Indonesians and dealt with a dispute that had raged in Acheh four decades earlier. Nuruddin Raniri. who was then the most influential 'alim in Acheh, had condemned as heretical the wahdat al-wujud mysticism adhered to by followers of the mystic Shamsuddin, as a result of which one mystic w a s burnt at the stake. In his fatwa, al-Kurani refutes Raniri's arguments and gives an orthodox reinterpretation of wahdat al-wujud? The brief notice on Ibrahim al-Kurani in al-Muradi's biographical dictionary mentions what appears to be another fatwa or perhaps even a collection of fatwa requested by people from "Jawa", i.e. the Malay Archipelago. No copy of this work has come to light. 4 The other text that al-Kurani wrote expressly on behalf of Indonesian Muslims, lth&f al-dhakl

is an important commentary on M u h a m m a d b. Fadl

Allah B u r h a n p u r i ' s Al-nthfa

al-mursala

ila

ruh

al-nabi.

This simple

exposition of Ibn 'Arabi's emanation theory, written in 1590, had within a f e w

' Y u s u f s Shattariyya silsila is reproduced in Abu H a m i d 1994, pp. 362-3. Only one manuscript copy of Y u s u f s Safinal al-najah appears to have survived, in a majmu'a of seven treatises by him. This manuscript, which was in very poor condition, appears to have disappeared, but not before a transcript w a s made under supervision of Professor Tudjimah of Jakarta. A microfilm of this transcript is deposited in the library of the Royal Institute of Linguistics and Anthropology (K1TLV) at Leiden. Heer 1979, pp. 13, 15. ^Al-Kurani's argument is summarised in Voorhoeve 1951, pp. 365-8. ^Muradi 1301/1883, vol 1, 5-6. 1 he title of Ibrahim's work in question is given there as

Jawabat

al-ghurawiyya 'an masd>il al-jdwiyya al-jahariyya, which is not entirely intelligible. Rinkes interpreted the last word as "from ¡the Malay kingdom o f | Johor", which w o u l d normally be written as j a w h a r i y y a , however

KURDISH 'ULAMA ANDTHKIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

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d e c a d e s b e c o m e vastly popular in the A r c h i p e l a g o , at first in A r a b i c but soon also in M a l a y and J a v a n e s e adaptations. 1 W h e r e a s Ibn 'Arabi considered f i v e stages of e m a n a t i o n , his Indian populariser stipulated seven, and it w a s as the doctrine of the "seven stages" ( m a r t a b a t tujuh) that the e m a n a t i o n theory has s i n c e been k n o w n in I n d o n e s i a . I b r a h i m ' s c o m m e n t a r y w a s m e a n t as an orthodox

correction

to the heterodox,

pantheist

and

shari'a-denying

interpretations to w h i c h Burhanpuri's text had given rise in the A r c h i p e l a g o . 2 A l t h o u g h written at the request of his Indonesian disciples, Ithdf al-dhaki

has

f o u n d a readership across the Islamic world and is, for instance, also quoted in a m a j o r sufi text f r o m W e s t A f r i c a . 3 Ibrahim al-Kurani w a s by that t i m e the l e a d i n g r e p r e s e n t a t i v e of Ibn 'Arabi's doctrines in M e d i n a and perhaps t h r o u g h o u t the entire M u s l i m world. W h e n serious controversies erupted in India because A h m a d Sirhindi's rejected certain ideas of Ibn 'Arabi, l e a d i n g Indian ' u l a m a r e q u e s t e d a fatvva f r o m Ibrahim on this issue. T h i s a f f a i r has b e e n d e a l t with at s o m e length by F r i e d m a n n and R i z v i . 4 Voll's study on a later generation of ' u l a m a assigns to Ibrahim an even m o r e central place in the intellectual life of his period and also presents him as an intellectual precursor of the eighteenth-century r e f o r m movements.5 Ibrahim exemplifies the Kurdish cultural broker w h o s e role was sketched in the preceding section. A f t e r his native Shahrazur he studied in Iran a n d in O t t o m a n A n a t o l i a , Syria and E g y p t b e f o r e settling in M e d i n a . H i s intellectual a u t o b i o g r a p h y , Al-amam

li-iqaz

al-himamp

s h o w s the variety of

t e a c h e r s he studied with and the w i d e r a n g e of s u b j e c t s that he i m m e r s e d himself in. H e w a s initiated into, and w a s authorised to teach, several besides

the

said

Shattariyya.

His

primary

tartqa

was

in f a c t

turuq the

N a q s h b a n d i y y a , and h e a l s o held ijaza of the Q a d i r i y y a and the C h i s h t i y y a . T h e Shattariyya a n d the Chishtiyya are of c o u r s e typically Indian orders, and I b r a h i m ' s N a q s h b a n d i c o n n e c t i o n ( t h r o u g h Q u s h a s h i , w h o w a s a l s o his Shattari teacher) w a s also with an Indian branch of that order. W h e n Qushashi died in 1661, Ibrahim succeeded him as the s u p r e m e shaykh of the Shattariyya, in c o m b i n a t i o n with the N a q s h b a n d i y y a a n d Q a d i r i y y a , and b e c a m e t h e uncontested doyen of Medina's 'ulama.

^The Javanese Version is studied in Johns 1965. ^Rinkes 1909, pp. 56-7; Johns 1978, pp. 476-82. 3 4

R a d t k e 1995, p 90.

F r i e d m a n n 1971, pp. 98-9; Rizvi 1983, pp. 338-42.

5

V o l l 1975.

6

Printed in Haidarabad, India, in 1328/1910.

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HERETICS

After Ibrahim's death in 1690, his son Muhammad Abu Tahir, who was then 20 years old, succeeded him as the tartqa shaykh; we find Abu Tahir mentioned as the teacher of several Indonesians. 1 The leading position among the 'ulama of Medina, however, fell to Ibrahim's student Muhammad ibn 'Abd al-Rasul Barzanji, the Shafi'i mufti of Medina. This student, like Ibrahim himself, hailed from Shuhrazur and belonged to a family that was to achieve great renown.

The Barzanji family of Shahrazur and Medina In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the Barzanji family was one of the most prominent of southern Kurdistan, a family of 'ulama and Qadiri shaykhs who wielded great political influence. 2 In the 1920s, Shaykh Mahmud Barzanji rebelled against the British and declared himself king of Kurdistan, in later years too, the family went on playing an important role in the political life of Iraq. As recently as the Iran-Iraq war, we find one member of the family, Shaykh Muhammad Najib Barzanji, leading a small Iranian-created guerrilla group against the Iraqi government. During those same years, another member of the family, Ja'far 'Abd al-Karim Barzanji, held a high position in the Iraqi government as president of the executive council of the then Kurdish autonomous region. These facts appear to reflect the perception of both the Iranian and the Iraqi governments that they needed the charisma of this family if they wished to exercise influence among the Kurds. Even the Iraqi communists, in the late 1950s, recruited one of the Barzanji shaykhs, Shaykh Mahmud's son Latif, into their ranks. The Barzanji famil\ claims descent from the Prophet through the Imam Musa Kazim, and it owes its name to the village of Barzinja in Shahrazur (near the present city of Sulaymaniyya), where the founding father of the family, Sayyid 'Isa, is believed to have settled in the mid-13th century. Both Edmonds and Tawakkuli give a sketch of the family's history, based on its own oral and written traditions. It is interesting to note that the reputed founder of the Ahl-i Haqq religion was also a son of the same Sayyid 'Isa. 3 Edmonds shows that all Barzanji presently living in Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Arabia and India descend from one Baba Rasul, who according to the family tree belonged to the seventh generation after Sayyid 'Isa and who must have flourished in the early 17th century. This Baba Rasul had eighteen sons,

>See Bruinessen 1990, pp. 159 M). ^ N u m e r o u s travellers and historians mention this family. Major references are E d m o n d s 1957, pp. 68-79 and Tawakkuli 1980. pp. 133-68; cf. van Bruinessen 1992, pp. 220-1. •^Edmonds 1957, p. 68; Tawakkuli 1980, p. 133-4.

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119

one of whom, Muhammad "Madani", settled in Medina and became the ancestor of all the Barzanji of Arabia and India. This Muhammad Madani is of course the same Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rasul Barzanji whom we already encountered as Ibrahim al-Kurani's associate. Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rasul's academic career somewhat resembled Ibrahim's: he received his early education from his father and other 'ulama of Shahrazur, continuing his studies with teachers in Hamadan (Iran), Baghdad, Mardin, Damascus, Constantinople, Cairo and Mecca and finally with Ahmad al-Qushashi and Ibrahim al-Kurani in Medina. He was an expert on Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics too, and he translated a book on Ibn 'Arabi written by one of his relatives, Sayyid Muhammad Muzaffar Barzanji. from Persian to Arabic 1 When the Indian 'ulama requested a fatwa from Ibrahim al-Kurani on the controversial ideas of Ahmad Sirhindi, the "mujaddid of the second millenium", who was a major opponent of Ibn 'Arabi's metaphysics, it was Muhammad Barzanji who, at Ibrahim's request wrote two treatises severely criticising Sirhindi, which were then endorsed by other leading 'ulama of the Hijaz. 2 The Barzanji who made the family name a household word in Indonesia was Muhammad's great-grandson, Ja'far b. Hasan b. 'Abd al-Karim b. Muhammad (1690-1764), who was born in Medina and spent all his life there. 3 He wrote a number of devotional works that became extremely popular throughout the Muslim world at the time and have remained so in Indonesia until this day. The work presently known there as "the" Barzanji is his mawlid, entitled 'Iqd al-jawahir. This is by far the most popular of all mawlid texts and probably after the Qur'an the most frequently recited Islamic text. The Barzanji is recited on numerous occasions and for a variety of purposes; besides the annual commemoration of the Prophet's birthday, it is recited at the 'aqiqa ceremony when a baby's hair is first shorn, it is read for expiatory or exorcistic purposes (replacing the wayang performance that has this function in the less islamicised environments), and in many localities there are weekly Barzanji recitations that bring the local community together. This mawlid continues being reprinted; there are various editions on the market, and several Indonesian 'ulama have published their commentaries on the text or translated it into local languages. 4

T h e title of this translated work is Al-jänib al-gharbtfl hall mushkilät Ibn at-'Arabi. For detals on Muhammad's scholarly career, with names of his teachers and titles of his works, see alMuradi, Silk al-durar, vol. IV, pp. 65-6 and Mudarris 1983, pp. 493-5. 2 Friedmann 1971, pp. 7-8, 97-101; Rizvi 1983, pp. 339-41. ^ B i o g r a p h i c a l notices in M u r a d i , Silk al-durar, Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur,

vol. II, p. 9; M u d a r r i s 1983, p. 136; Band II, p. 384 and Supplementsband II,

orks, in Javanese and Indonesian, are listed in the appendix to an earlier Indonesian version of the present article, in van Bruinessen 1995b, p. 111.

120

M I J L L A S .

S U F I S

A N D

H H R H T I C S

Of M u h a m m a d Bar/.anji's other works, the one that has acquired great popularity in Indonesia is his hagiography of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, Lujjayn al-d&ni ft manaqib 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jtlani, a work that has penetrated into even the most remote corners of the Archipelago. 1 Reading a manaqib for protective, expiatory or exorcistic purposes, or simply as an act of devotion, has long been a common and widespread practice in Indonesia. The anniversary of the saint's day of death, on the 11th of the month Rabi' al-akhir, was and still is commemorated in many places with a reading of the manaqib; in many parts of Java this used to be done also on the 11th of every other month. Printed editions of this hagiography are widely available in Indonesia, in the original Arabic as well as in Javanese, Sundanese and Indonesian adaptations. Half a century ago, Drevves and Poerbatjaraka published a study of a Javanese manaqib, which they showed was based on al-Yafi'i's Khulasat al-mafakhir.2 However, almost all the manaqib of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir that I have found in current use appear to be based on Barzanji's Lujjayn al-dani? Nowadays it is especially, though not exclusively, among the followers of the Qadiri order (or more precisely, of the tariqa Q a d i r i y y a waNaqshbandiyya, a specifically Indonesian combination of orders) that the manaqib is regularly read. The most popular and authoritative version of the manaqib is the adaptation made by Kiai Haji Muslih b. 'Abd al-Rahman of Mranggen in Central Java, who by the time of his death in 1981 was the most respected teacher of this tariqa. His two-volume Al-nur al-burhantft tarjamat al-lujjayn al-d&ni contains, besides the full text of the manaqib, instructions on the tariqa, indicating the close relationship of this text with the order. In earlier times, however, the manaqib seems to have been read in much wider circles than those of the Qadiriyya alone. B e f o r e the order gained a mass following, there already existed a devotional cult centred on the miracleworking saint 'Abd al-Qadir Jilani. 4 T h e Qadiriyya was known in Indonesia f r o m at least the late 16th century on, but it did not gain a mass following there until the mid-19th century. Shaykh Ahmad Khatib of Sambas (in West Borneo), who taught in ' T w o other works by Barzanji are known, but have never gained a similar popularity: Qissat almi'rdj, an account of the Prophet's nightly journey and ascent to heaven, and Manaqib sayyid aishuhada Hamza, the hagiography of a saint w h o was martyred in 624/1225 (and w h o should therefore not be confused with his better-known namesake, the Prophet's uncle). T h e s e works are occasionally referred to by Indonesian 'ulama but they do not appear to be ever publicly recited. ^ S e e D r e w e s and Poerbatjaraka 1938. •^The various editions of and commentaries on the Lujjayn by Indonesian authors are listed in van Bruinessen 1995b, p. 111. I found only two printed editions that are based on al-Yafi'i, and two others, in Sundanese and in Indonesian, that are based on a third manaqib, Tafrih al-khatir. T h e last-named work was written by another Kurd, 'Abd al-Qadir b. Muhyi al-din al-Arbiii, or rather translated into Arabic bv him from a Persian original by a certain M u h a m m a d Sadiq alQadiri (cf. Mudarris 1983, p. 305). 4

S e e the evidence, for the region of Banten in West Java, in Bruinessen 1995a, pp. 185-7.

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121

Mecca in the first half of the 19th century, initiated numerous Indonesians into his combination of the Qadiriyya and Naqshbandiyya, and he appointed khalifa who spread the order throughout the Archipelago. There is insufficient evidence, however, on the position of the order in the preceding two centuries. We do not know whether Shaykh Ja'far Barzanji himself played any part in popularising the tariqa or the manaqib among Indonesians visiting Medina. The precise relation between this most famous Barzanji and his first Indonesian readers remains obscure. We do not even know with certainty whether Shaykh Ja'far was a Qadiri himself. The Barzanji family in Iraq are the most prominent shaykhs of the Qadiriyya in Kurdistan, but the family's affiliation with this order is of relatively recent date. The last common ancestor, Baba Rasul, was allegedly affiliated with two other orders, the Nurbakhshiyya and the Khalwatiyya'Alawiyya, and one of his grandsons, Isma'il Qazanqaya (who must have been a contemporary of Ja'far), is said to have been the first to join the Qadiriyya. 1 There is, however, an tantalising similarity between Qadiriyya practices taught by the Barzanji shaykhs in Kurdistan on the one hand and an invulnerability cult known as debus in certain parts of Indonesia on the other. Following the communal dhikr, Kurdish Qadiri cut themselves with skewers and knives, a practice that elsewhere is not associated with the Qadiriyya but only with the Rifa'iyya. 2 Debus in Indonesia (from Ar. dabbus, "needle") is clearly derived from these same Rifa'iyya practices i the skewers have the same form as in the Middle East, with a wooden head to which small metal chains are attached. In Banten, debus practitioners acknowledge an association with Shaykh 'Abd alQadir as well as with Shaykh Ahmad Rifa'i; some groups even recite the Barzanji for protection during their exercises. 3 It is tempting to believe that these similarities must be due to contacts between the regions and that Ja'far Barzanji or his students have provided this link, but there is no supporting evidence. Subsequent generations of the Barzanji family in Medina remained influential there as teachers and authors, and the office of Shafi'i mufti of the city was often in their hands (as it had been in those of Muhammad b. 'Abd alRasul and Ja'far b. Hasan). A recent study of Arabia under Ottoman rule (i.e., the 1840-1908 period) notes that members of the Barzanji family held the Medina muftiship for most of those 67 years. 4 Given this position, it is likely that several of these Barzanji had Indonesian students, but there is little ' T a w a k k u l i 1980, p. 133. 2

A description of the Kurdish Qadiri dhikr meetings and the playing with sharp objects is given in van Bruinessen 1992, pp. 234-40. V a n Bruinessen 1995a, pp. 187-9.

3

^ O c h s e n w a l d 1984, p. 52. 'Umar Rida Kahhala's c o m p e n d i u m of Arabic authors, Mu'jam almu'alliffn, lists twelve book-writing members of the family, most of them residents of Medina.

122

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

documentation. From a book listing numerous isnad (chains of transmission of Islamic texts) we can conclude that at least two leading Indonesian 'ulama studied at least one book each with Ahmad b. Isma'il Barzanji (d. 1914).' One or t w o d e c a d e s later, another p r o m i n e n t Indonesian M u s l i m , Musawwa, the founder of the Indonesian madrasa

Dar al-'Ulum

Muhsin

al-Isl&miyya

in Mecca, studied in Medina with Zaki b. A h m a d Barzanji. 2 The relative paucity of biographical materials on Indonesian 'ulama does not allow us to draw any conclusions about the impact of the family on the other Indonesians studying in Medina and Mecca.

Why are many Indonesians called Kurdi? Muhammad b. Sulayman and his commentaries on Ibn Hajar In the introduction, I noted that Kurdi has become a personal name in Indonesia and that it occurs almost exclusively in self-conscious Muslim families. This can again be traced to the influence of one particular Kurdish scholar, whose works have had a major impact in Indonesia. T o explain this, something has to be said about the peculiarities of name-giving in Indonesian Muslim circles. There are roughly three types of name that are felt to be appropriate for a child of pious Muslim parents. The first is the well-known combination of 'Abd with one of the divine names, the second type consists of the names of the Prophet and his relatives and companions. The third category is more typically Indonesian. Religiousminded people in the Archipelago — especially those who have studied in a pesantren, the traditional Muslim boarding school, often name their children a f t e r the authors of important religious texts that they have supposedly studied. Thus wc find in Indonesia many people w h o are named Sanusi, Ramli, Malibari, Ghazali. etc.; I even have a friend whose full n a m e is M u h a m m a d Ibn Ataillah Shohibul Hikam (M. b. 'Ata>illah, author of alHikam). Such names sound more learned and pious than the ordinary Muslim names of the other two types. The name Kurdi belongs to this category; it refers to the author of a fiqh work that has long been studied in Javanese pesantren. Both the author and his work used to be popularly known as Sleman Kurdi?

' Al-Falimbani, n. d., pp. 59-60 and 63. 2,

A b d al-Jabbar 1385/1965-6, pp. 331-3.

^It is by this name that we find the said fiqh work listed in a survey of pesantren literature m a d e more than a century ago, van den Berg 1886. A more elaborate and up to date survey of this type of literature is van Bruinessen 1990b.

KURDISH

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AND THEIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

123

Sleman Kurdi or, more correctly, Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Kurdi, was born in Damascus in 1715 and at a very young age followed his father to Medina, where he spent most of his life and died in 1780. He became the city's Shafi'i mufti and wrote several important fiqh. works. The one that is best known in Indonesia (and is still being reprinted there) is his Al-hawashi almadaniyya, an extensive commentary on Ba-Fadl's Al-muqaddima alhadramiyya — or rather a supercommentary on an earlier commentary by Ibn Hajar, Minhaj al-qawîm. There also exists an even more substantial version of Kurdi's commentary, incorporating many additional glosses, that is entitled Al-mawâhib al-madaniyya. This book is not in general use now but it has a great reputation among specialists. It appears to have appealed especially to Indonesian 'ulama studying or resident in Mecca and Medina, for it was printed together with the major Indonesian contribution to the subject, Mahfuz alTarmasi's commentary on the Minhaj al-qawîm} Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Kurdi and his works on fiqh became known in Indonesia because he had a number of influential Indonesian disciples. Muhammad Arshad al-Banjari, the author of the most important Malay fiqh work, Sabîl al-muhtadîn, was one of his students, and Arshad's biographers present al-Kurdi as the teacher who made the greatest impact on him during his studies in the Hijaz. Local biographers relate that Arshad, when still a student, requested a fatwâ from al-Kurdi on a local practice in his native South Borneo. The local sultan, whose protégé Arshad was, tried to improve public attendance at the Friday prayer in the state mosque by fining those subjects who absented themselves. Arshad asked his teacher whether this practice was legitimate; the answer to this question was later included in al-Kurdi's collected Fatâwâ.2 Oral tradition in South Borneo has it that not only Arshad but his major Indonesian contemporaries as well studied with Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Kurdi. One account that appears to derive from Arshad's decendants has the famous 'Abd al-Samad al-Falimbani as well as two less well-known 'ulama, 'Abd al-Wahhad Bugis and 'Abd al-Rahman Masri from Batavia join Arshad in attending al-Kurdi's lectures in Medina, and return to Indonesia together in the 1770s when the master sends them there to instruct

' T h e Hawäsht (also referred to as K u r d i Sughra, "the smaller Kurdi") are still regularly reprinted in Indonesia, the Mawahib (also K u r d i Kubrä, "the greater Kurdi") were printed, in four volumes, at the Matba'a al-Amira al-Sharafiyya in Mecca, n. d. For bio-bibliographi'cal information on M u h a m m a d b. Sulayman see the entries in Muradi, Silk al-durar, vol. IV, pp. 111-2; Brockelmann, G A L II, 389 and S II, 555; and Mardukh-i Ruhani 1364/1985, vol. L pp. 2522-3. It is an indication of al-Kurdi's lasting popularity in certain circles that a recent collection of f a t w a by Indonesian 'ulama resident in M e c c a refers three times to the Kurdi Sughra and no less than 11 times to the Kurdi Kubra as an authority. 2 Z a m z a m 1979, p. 5: Abu Daudi 1980, p. 25. Neither author relates what the answer was.

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A N D

H E R E T I C S

their compatriots. 1 H o w e v e r this may be, al-Kurdi continued to exert his influence indirectly as well, through a particular milieu in Mecca and Medina in which his works were transmitted. This milieu included major Indonesian 'ulama resident in Mecca, such as the great Nawawi of Banten. 2

Two great Kurdish Naqshbandi masters: Mawlana Khalid and Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi The Naqshbandi order has been known in Indonesia at least since the 17th century, but it o n h became really popular there in the late 19th century. The branch of the order that then rapidly spread across the Archipelago was the Khalidiyya, thus named after the charismatic teacher and reformer Mawlana Diya' al-din Khalid al-Baghdadi (or al-Kurdi), who single-handedly engineered the revival of the order in the early 19th century. Khalid was a Kurdish cultural broker in the traditional mould. Like so many other great Kurdish 'ulama, he was born in Shahrazur, into a sedentary section of the Jaf tribe, in 1776 or 1779. He studied with the great 'ulama of Kurdistan and travelled to Damascus and Mecca and Medina to meet the great 'ulama of his day. Following a vision, he went to India to study with the leading Naqshbandi master, 'Abdallah al-Dihlawi (also known as Shah Ghulam 'Ali al-Ahmadi), whose most remarkable disciple he became. After a year in Delhi, he returned to the west, equipped with an ijaza and explicit instructions f r o m his master to spread the Naqshbandiyya in the Ottoman Empire. In the years between his return to Iraq in 1811 and his death in 1827, he lived consecutively in Sulaymaniyya, Baghdad and Damascus and appointed at least 67 khalifa in different parts of the Empire — Kurds, Turks and Arabs. He left writings in Persian, Arabic, his mother tongue Kurdish and Gurani, which in his time still was the literary language of southern Kurdistan. 3

' Khalidi 1968, pp. 14-8. 'Abd al-Samad, however, does not mention al-Kurdi in any of his works (although he mentions numerous others), and it is highly doubtful whether he ever returned to the Archipelago. Al-Kurdi is not mentioned either among the teachers of Arshad's other great Malay contemporary, Da'ud b. Abdallah al-Fatani. ^ T h e S u m a t r a n Shaykh Y a s i n al-Fadani. w h o until his death in the early 1990s led the Indonesian traditional school Dar al-'Ulum al-Dtniyya in Mecca, gives in his Al-'iqd al-farid (1401/1981, pp. 83-4) the chain of transmission ( i s n a d ) by which he received instruction in alKurdi's Hawashi madaniyya: the first transmitter after al-Kurdi himself was the well-known mystic M u h a m m a d b. 'Abd al-Karim a l - S a m m a n , followed by the Sharif 'Abd a l - M a j i d alZiyadi, two men f r o m Palembang ('Aqib b. Hasan al-din and 'Abd al-Samad) and N a w a w i Banten. The chain continued through 'Abd al-Hamid Quds (the author of a much-used work on usul al-fiqh) and Sayyid 'Ali al -Habshi of Kwitang (Jakarta) to Shaykh Yasin. ^There are numerous biographical studies of Mawlana Khalid, of which the most useful are alKhani 1306/1888-9 and Mudarris 1979, in English Hourani 1972 and in French Hakim 1990 and C h o d k i e w i c z 1997. A l - K h a n i gives a list of M a w l a n a Khalid's khalifa. A sociological explanation of the rapid spread of the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya is given in van Bruinessen 1992, pp. 224-34.

KURDISH 'ULAMA AND THEIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

125

One of these khalifa, 'Abdallah al-Arzinjani, was dispatched to Mecca, where he and his successors attracted a large number of disciples among the Indonesians, many of whom stayed on for a considerable period after performing the hajj. The first well-known Indonesian affiliated with this branch of the Naqshbandiyya was Isma'il Minankabawi (of the Minangkabau ethnic group in West Sumatra), who was a student and deputy of Arzinjani and his successor Sulayman al-Qirimi. In the 1850s Isma'il returned to the Archipelago for a few years and there made many proselytes, among whom the ruling family of the island kingdom of Riau-Johor. The attraction that the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya exerted on the Indonesians visiting the holy cities was so powerful, their knowledge of Arabic so inadequate, and the shaykhs' interest (financial and otherwise) in these potential disciples so great, that a permanent Malay-speaking staff was established at 'Abdallah al-Arzinjani's zawiya on Jabal Abu Qubays to instruct Indonesian disciples in the principles and techniques of the order. 1 While the zawiya on Jabal Abu Qubays gradually developed, especially under Sulayman al-Qirimi's successor Sulayman al-Zuhdi, into a machine churning out ijaza for every Indonesian eager to acquire one, it was again a Kurdish 'alim who wrote the book that has become the major literary guide for Indonesian Naqshbandi. In the 1880s and 1890s, Indonesians who had entered the Naqshbandiyya in Mecca brought home copies of Ahmad GUmiishkhanawi's Jami' al-usdl fi'l-awliya> or the collected treatises of Sulayman al-Zuhdi, who was the most successful of the Meccan teachers. However, Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi's TanwTr al-qulub soon replaced these works as the most useful handbook on the order, and currently by far the most widely used Naqshbandi text in Indonesia. Muhammad Amin was born in Arbil towards the middle of the 19th century, and he studied the Islamic sciences with local 'ulama. He was initiated into the Naqshbandiyya by the famous shaykh 'Umar Diya> al-din of Biyara (in Shahrazur), a second-generation khalifa of Mawlana Khalid. From Biyara he left for Medina, where he remained for ten years, teaching in one of the local madrasa. Then he moved on to the Azhar in Cairo, where he held a modest position as the overseer of the Kurdish riwaq (college) until his death in 1914. He wrote some twelve books, of which the Tanwir al-qulub is the

' T h e expansion of the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya is treated in greater detail in van Bruinessen 1990a and 1994b.

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S U F I S AND

HERETICS

most important and best known.' True to the Kurdish tradition of polyglot scholarship, he also translated Persian works of Ghazzali into Arabic. 2 I have not been able to discover whether Muhammad Amin had, during his ten years in Medina or the following period at al-Azhar, any Indonesian students. In none of the numerous Indonesian Naqshbandi silsila that I have seen does his name figure. It is quite likely, nevertheless, that there were some direct contacts, for both in Medina and at the Azhar there always were numerous Indonesian students. Such connections are not necessarily reflected in silsila. There is at least one case of a later, indirect contact of an Indonesian Naqshbandi with Muhammad Amin al-Kurdi. One of the present Naqshbandi teachers on Java's north coast, Kiai Haji Abdulwahhab Chafidz of Rembang, told me that he had become acquainted with Muhammad Amin's son, N a j m aldin al-Kurdi, when he studied at al-Azhar in the 1960s. He held Najm al-din in high esteem and considered him as his teacher — but he continued to trace his silsila through his own father, who had been his first teacher.

Why did Kurdish 'ulama become so influential in Indonesia? An earlier version of this article was published in an Indonesian Muslim journal under the provocative title "Was it perhaps the Kurds who islamicised Indonesia?", by which I intended to mock the rival monocausal theories privileging Indian or Arab or Chinese Muslim merchants, and to e m p h a s i s e the role of the p i l g r i m a g e to the H i j a z in the process of islamicisation.-' There hav c obviously been numerous other 'ulama who had a great impact, directly or indirectly, on Indonesian Islam, and the sceptic may think that my exclusive locusing on Kurdish 'ulama results in an exaggerated representation of the "Kurdish" influence. The Indonesians who studied in Mecca and Medina must have had teachers of many different regional and ethnic origins. In fact, at the time of Snouck Hurgronje's stay in Mecca in 1885, there was apparently not a single Kurd among the teachers w h o were popular with the Indonesians. 4 The same has been true for the 20th century. Looking back at earlier periods, however, it will be hard to find many other 'ulama with an influence comparable to that of Ibrahim al-Kurani, l a ' f a r alBarzanji, Muhammad b. Nulayman al-Kurdi or, indirectly, Mawlana Khalid. In

' H i s o n l y other printed w o r k is A l - m a w â h i b a l - s a r m a d i y y a fT m a n â q i b a l - n a q s h b a n d i y y a (Cairo 1 3 2 9 / 1 9 1 1 ) , a c o l l e c t i o n o f b i o g r a p h i e s o f Kurdish s h a y k h s o f t h e N a q s h b a n d i y y a K h a l i d i y y a . 2

A d e t a i l e d biographical n o t i c e on M u h a m m a d A m i n al-Kurdi is p r e f a c e d to m o s t e d i t i o n s o f

the Tanwir;

other n o t i c e s in Mudarris 1983. pp. 5 4 5 - 7 and M a r d u k h - i Ruhani 1 3 6 4 / 1 9 8 5 , pp.

125-6. fyan B r u i n e s s e n 1987. ^ f h e s e c o n d v o l u m e o f S n o u c k Hurgronje's w o r k o n o n M e c c a ( 1 8 8 9 ) is the richest s o u r c e o n social and religious l i f e in M e c c a in the late 19th century. It o f f e r s brief v i g n e t t e s o f the major 'ulama teaching there then and describes the resident I n d o n e s i a n ("Jawa") c o m m u n i t y .

KURDISH 'ULAMA AND THEIR INDONESIAN DISCIPLES

127

fact, the teachers who attracted the largest number of Indonesian disciples at the time of Snouck's visit were the two rival successors to Mawlana Khalid's khalifa, 'Abdallah al-Arzinjani. Their students were taugh to establish a direct spiritual link (rabita) with Mawlana Khalid through a concentration exercise in which he was visualised. 1 One partial explanation of the importance of Kurdish teachers among Indonesian Muslims might be the fact that Indonesians have adhered to the Shafi'i madhhab since at least the 16th century, as did the Kurds (as well as the Arabs of Hadramawt and many Egyptians, but unlike most other Arabs, Turks and Indians). Present-day Indonesians studying in the Middle East find it somewhat easier to associate with Kurds than with Arabs because of this commonality of madhhab. 2 This factor may have played a part to some extent, although the question of madhhab is only relevant in fiqh-related matters, not in other aspects of Muslim belief and practice. In fact, some of the most influential Arabian teachers with whom Indonesians have studied in this century were not Shafi'i but Maliki. Of the scholars of non-Wahhabi persuasion active in Mecca, those most respected by the Indonesians were Sayyid 'Alvvi b. 'Abbas al-Maliki and his son Muhammad b. 'Alwi al-Maliki. Indonesians studied all subjects with them, including Shafi'i fiqhl The madhhab alone can therefore hardly explain why Kurdish teachers were so influential with Indonesian students. I think that there is yet another common characteristic that attracted Indonesian students to Kurdish teachers or to their written works. There appears to be a similarity of religious attitude between Indonesian and Kurdish Muslims, a common attraction to mysticism and metaphysical speculation and a firm belief in miracles and sainthood. It has been suggested wahdat al-wujud metaphysics appealed to Indonesians because the doctrine resembled, or could be assimilated to, mystical beliefs held prior to the arrival of Islam. The same can probably said of Kurdistan, and a fortiori of the Guran, among whom pantheist, emanationist, illuminationist and reincarnationist heresies always found a rich breeding-ground. ' T h e visualisation of the teacher as a means of establishing a spiritual relationship with him and receiving his g u i d a n c e ( r a b i t a bi'l-shaykh) is o n e of the distinctive techniques of the Naqshbandiyya. which became especially important in the Khalidiyya. See Chodkiewicz 1990. Ordinarily a murtd would visualise his o w n teacher, but M a w l a n a Khalid instructed his khalifa to let their disciples perform the rabita directly with himself — which they continued doing for several generations after his death. T h e notes summarising instructions for Naqshbandi practice that Indonesian initiates carried back with them f r o m M e c c a contained brief descriptions of Mawlana Khalid's physical appearance, so that they would know how to visualise him, owe this observation to A b d u r r a h m a n W a h i d , the chairman of the major association of Indonesia's traditional Muslims, When I first mentioned him my thesis of the Kurdish influence on Kurdish Islam, he found it at once convincing because of his o w n experience as a student in Baghdad, w h e r e most of his friends were Kurds. H e attributed this to the fact that, as fellow Shafi'is, they observed the same rules f o r ritual purity, time of prayer, etc., m a k i n g it easier to live together.

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'Ulama such as Ibrahim al-Kurani and Mawlana Khalid held mediating positions between heres\ and orthodoxy. Against the endemic heresies of their native region, they represented an orthodox reaction. But rather than rejecting wholesale the mystical doctrines and practices that so easily lapsed into heresy, they upheld them and proffered interpretations which reconciled them with orthodoxy. It is this that must have made their thought appealing to numerous Indonesian Muslims, who also tried to find a middle way between dry legalism and pantheist mysticism. Another aspect of traditional Indonesian Muslim spirituality is the veneration of saints, a firm belief in their miracles and in the benefits to be had by making a pilgrimage to their graves. This attitude of course is found all over the Muslim world, but it was again Kurdish 'ulama who expressed it in words, and in a form that appealed to the Indonesian heart. A s said before, no author is more popular in Indonesia than Ja'far Barzinji with his mawlid his manaqib

and

of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir. Barzinji is not the only Kurdish author

whose expositions of miracles have kept Indonesian audiences spell-bound. T h e r e is at least o n e other Kurdish a u t h o r on t h e s u b j e c t , a l m o s t a contemporary of Barzinji. who has been appropriated by Southeast Asians as culturally close. In recent years, two different East Javanese pesantren

have

reprinted, for the benefit of their students, a text in defense of the cult of saints and belief in miracles, al-Fajr al-sadiq karamat

wa'l-khawariq.

fi'l-radd

'ala munkiri'l-tawassul

wa'l-

T h e author of this polemical treatise against

Wahhabism, originally published in 1905, is the Iraqi Kurd Jamil Afandi Sidqi al-Zahawi (1863-1940). Like the other Kurdish 'ulama mentioned so far, he too hailed from southern Kurdistan. 1 Finally there are Kurdish authors whose works d o not reflect anything specifically Kurdish and who are known to Indonesia purely by accident. Such is for instance the case of Jamal al-Din ibn al-Hajib (d 1249), whose works on Arabic grammar, al-Kafiyya and al-Shafiyya, are known in various parts of the Archipelago. 2

1 Jamil was the son of the mufti of Baghdad, M u h a m m a d Faydi al-Zahawi, w h o w a s related to the Baban family that long ruled the Sulaymaniya area. H e had a successful career as a poet and "intellectual" writer. Bio-bibliography in G A L S III: 483-8. His work was reprinted by the pesantren at Lirboyo, Kediri as well as by that of Denanyar near Jornbang, both in East Java. T h e only other recent author in the same vein w h o is known in Indonesia is the Lebanese Yusuf

Nabhani, whose works Sa'adal al-daravn and Jami[ karamat al-awliya' enjoy renown in certain circles. T h e latter work was also reprinted at Denanyar. 2

J a m a l al-Din A b u 'Amr 'Uthman .... ibn al-Hajib was born into an aristocratic Kurdish family in Upper Egypt in 1174, studied in Cairo and Damascus, and died in Alexandria. See G A L I: 303; S I: 531 and Ibrahimi 1366.

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Conclusion In this article a number of influential Kurdish 'ulama were discussed, who made a significant impact on Islam as it was received in Indonesia, because they taught in Medina and Mecca in a period when relatively large numbers of Indonesians stayed there for years to study, and because they taught subjects that appealed to those Indonesians. The major subjects these Kurdish teachers and their Indonesian students transmitted included "highbrowi metaphysical and philosophical Sufism as well as — for the masses — popular devotional varieties of Sufism and saint-worship. Ibrahim al-Kurani and Ja'far al-Barzinji are the Kurdish 'ulama who most clearly exemplify these two patterns of mysticism. Indonesians in the Hijaz may have been especially attracted to Kurdish teachers because they belonged to the same madhhab (school of Islamic law), and it is not surprising that a few fiqh works by Kurdish scholars have become key texts in Indonesia. For the learned, these are especially the works of Muhammad b. Sulayman al-Kurdi, and at the more popular level Muhammad Amin al-Kurdiis Tanwir al-qulub. The fact that these fiqh scholars flourished in a much later period that the said Sufi authors suggests a gradual shift of the Indonesian studentsi interest from Sufism to shari'a — but it is perhaps significant that the last-named book is at the same time a Naqshbandi manual. The elective affinity between Kurdish and Indonesian Muslims is reflected in a lasting interest in Sufism — both in its learned and popular varieties — and in respect for the 17th and 18th century teachers they have in common.

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a l - K H A N I , 'Abd a l - M a j ì d , Al-hadä'q naqshbandiyya.

Syekh

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M. Surabaya: al-Ihsan, 1968. al-wardiyya

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M A R D Ü K H - I R Ü H Ä N I , B ä b ä , Tärikh-i

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S u r ü s h , 1364/1985. M I N O R S K Y , V . , " T h e G u r a n " , Bulletin African

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a l - M l J D A R R I S , 'Abd al-Karim M u h a m m a d , Yddi mardän: Naqshbandi.

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Khalid

B a g h d a d , 1979.

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R I C K L E F S , M e r l e , "Six c e n t u r i e s of I s l a m i s a t i o n in J a v a " , in: N e h e m i a L e v t z i o n (ed), Conversion

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N e w Y o r k : H o l m e s and M e i e r ,

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ulama besar

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A NINETEENTH-CENTURY SOUTH AFRICA

KURDISH SCHOLAR

IN

One of the most remarkable cases of cultural brokerage performed by Kurdish 'ulama was that of Abu Bakr Efendi, a scholar from southern Kurdistan, who in the 1860's settled in South Africa and wrote a book on the religious obligations of Islam in the local Dutch dialect for the benefit of the "Malay" Muslim community of South Africa. 1 This somewhat elusive scholar arrived in Cape Town in 1862, as an emissary of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz, 2 D in order to teach Islamic law and doctrine to the Muslim community and to resolve certain religious conflicts that were dividing that community. He taught Arabic but also learnt the language of the local community, Afrikaans, and he wrote a major work, Bayan al-din, in the latter language, adapting to this purpose the Perso-Arabic alphabet. Not only is this one of the very few works in "Arabic-Afrikaans" (as van Selms has baptised this literature), it is one of the earliest texts written in any variety of Afrikaans at all, and it is therefore of great interest to historical linguists. 3 The "Malay" community of Cape Town descends from rebels and other undesirable elements banished from the East Indies by the Dutch authorities in the seventeenth century, and of compatriots who were brought there as slaves. 4 The best known of these exiles was Shaykh Yusuf of Makassar, a learned scholar and Sufi, who in a local power struggle in the sultanate of Banten in West Java in 1682 had taken the anti-Dutch side and as a result was sent into

I was first set on Abu Bakr Efendi's tracks by a letter from his great-grandson, Mr. Ismat Efendi, who enquired whether I could help him find out more about his ancestry. Abu Bakr Efendi is a well-known person in the history of the Malay community of C a p e Town and has been the subject of scholarly studies by Brandel-Syrier, van Selms and Kahler. 2 According to Abu Bakr's son, Osman Effendi, it was the (better-known) previous sultan, Abdulmajid, who had charged Abu Bakr with this mission (interview, in Van Selms i 9 6 0 : viiviii). Abdulmajid was succeeded by his brother Abdulaziz in 1861. 3 T h e Bayan al-din is bilingual in Arabic and Afrikaans: each Arabic sentence is immediately followed by its Afrikaans equivalent. An English translation was published by Brandel-Syrier in 1960, and a transcription of the Afrikaans text was later published and analysed by van Selms (1979). Earlier the first part of this text had been transcribed and translated into German by Kahler (1971: 70-79).

A sympathetic account of this community, its history and cultural life is given by Du Plessis & Liickhoff (1953). In a number of later writings, the "Malay"-ness of the 20 l h -century C a p e Muslim community has been contested and rejected as a colonial construction. Du Plessis' emphasis on exoticism and difference came to be seen as paving the road for the community's incorporation in the Apartheid system as a legally distinct group. 4

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exile to Ceylon and finally the Cape of Good Hope. 1 Although his bones were later, at the request of the royal house of Govva, sent back to his native South Celebes, his shrine in Cape Town is still an important centre for the local Malay community. Shaykh Yusuf is considered as the first spiritual authority of the Muslims of the Cape. In the following centuries, the community retained an emotional attachment to Islam but, lacking well-educated 'ulama and being out of touch with the rest of the Muslim world, its knowledge of doctrines and obligations gradually declined. 2 After a series of religious controversies had seriously divided the community, requests for books explaining the orthodox position on a number of questions and for other religious guidance were sent to the Sultan and Caliph in Istanbul, then considered the highest ultimate authority on such matters. The Sultan apparently did not think that books would be sufficient, and that is how in 1862 Abu Bakr Efendi was dispatched, by way of London, to the Muslims of the Cape. He established a madrasa where he taught Arabic and the basic Islamic sciences, and he wrote his own teaching materials. The Bayan al-din was completed in 1286/1869 and printed in Istanbul at the government press in 1294/1877. 3 Who was this Abu Bakr Efendi? In the Arabic introduction to Bayan al-din,4 he calls himself a descendant of (min nasi) Amir Sulayman ibn Amir Muhammad ibn Amir 'Abdallah ibn Amir Zayd, min khanadan ahali Suhran tabi' Shahrazur wa Baghdad, "belonging to the dynasty of native rulers of Sohran, a dependency of Shahrazur and Baghdad". In other words, he claims descent from the ruling house of the Kurdish emirate of Sohran or Soran, to the North of Shahrazur, w hich comprised the city of Arbil and the mountains beyond. Abu Bakr's great-grandson, Mr. Ismat Efendi, kindly sent me a reproduction of a photograph with a legend containing a more complete

' M a r t i n van Bruinessen, "Shari'a court, tarekat and pesantren: religious institutions in the Banten sultanate", Archipel 50 (1995). 165-200. 2 T h i s is certainly the impression A b u Bakr's preface to the Bayan al-din wishes to convey: among there were Arabs a m o n g the founders of the community, the Arabic language has been forgotten, in matters of religion they are ignorant and have adopted n u m e r o u s bid'a. T h i s assessment was confirmed in a pamphlet published in 1878 by a Malay follower of Abu Bakr: "The great fault of our people is that | . . . l they are wholly ignorant about their religion. Very few indeed know anything of the Arabic language W h a t is still worse, our Imams, too, know very little of the Koran or its language" (quoted in Rochlin 1939: 218). This negative image has been corrected by A c h m a t Davids' studies (1980, 1994), w h i c h have identified a number of 'ulama active in the community between the time of Yusuf Makassar and that of Abu Bakr Efendi. •'The date of printing, briefly after Abdulhamid ll's accession to the throne, appears to indicate a changing, more activist, attitude towards the Muslims outside the Empire. ^There is a copy of this rare work in the Leiden University Library. T h e Turkish and Arabic introductions are translated by Brander-Syrier (1960: xli-xlv) but this translation contains a number of serious errors.

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genealogy. 1 Here Abu Bakr gives himself the nisba al-Khushnawi, indicating that he belonged to the Khoshnaw tribe, which lives east of Arbil (in districts that used to belong to the emirate of Soran). There are six generations between Abu Bakr and his ancestor Amir Sulayman, all of them apparently 'ulama, for they bear the titles of Mulla or Mawlana. This genealogy continues several generations upwards from the said Amir Zayd, through the latter's father, 'Izz al-Din Muhammad al-Fadl (who is honoured with the title al-hibr al-kamil, "the perfect scholar"). The most distant, and apparently most illustrious, ancestor named is a certain Abu Nasr al-Amir Sulayman "the warrior of Quraishite descent from Amjad (al-ghazi al-Qurashi al-Amjadi)?None of these names, unfortunately, can be unambiguously recognised in the biographical dictionaries of Kurdish learned men (Mudarris 1983, Mardukh 1364-6, Zeki 1998). The ghazi Amir Sulayman is perhaps identical with Sulayman Beg ibn Quli Beg ibn Sulayman Beg, who ruled Soran in the second half of the sixteenth century, and of whom the Sharafnama records that he carried out several successful campaigns against his eastern, Shi'i neighbours (Bidlisi 1343: 360-1). None of the other ancestors given, however, can be identified with later members of the ruling house mentioned in local chronicles (Mukriyani 1935). The Sharafnama does confirm that the rulers of Sohran used the title of Amir, that is also worn by several of Abu Bakr Effendi's ancestors, whereas other Kurdish dynasties used different titles, such as Khan or Beg. There is, however, no reference to Qurayshi descent, nor is the nisba al-Amjadi mentioned in the chronicles. Kahler notices that Abu Bakr Efendi himself also used the nisba al-Amjadi, and he believes that this refers to a village in Kurdistan. 3 No such village is known to me or could be found in any written source so far. Abu Bakr's precise origins may always remain obscure. In the 1950s, Van Selms interviewed Abu Bakr's aged son 'Umar Jalal al-Din and recorded from his mouth a few biographical data on the father. Abu Bakr had studied in Shahrazur, in the madrasa established by his ancestor Amir Sulayman (it is not clear which of the two) and continued his studies in 'This is substantially identical with the family tree that van Selms saw and summarises (1960: vivii). In full: Al-bahr al-muhaqqaq wa al-hibr al-mudaqqaq shaykh al-'ilm wa mufti al-arba1 ala'imma ma'mur al-dawla al-'uthmaniyya il janub Afriqa li-nashr al-'ulum al-diniyya wa alma'arif al-rabbaniyya fi sana 1278 Mawlana Abu Bakr Efendi al-Khushnawi ibn Mulla 'Umar Big ibn Mawlana Salahuddin [ibn] Mulla Mustafa Big ibn Mawlana Baba Pir Sulayman ibn Mulla Mustafa ibn Mulla Ibrahim ibn Mawlana Amir Sulayman ibn Mawlana Amir Muhammad ibn Mawlana 'Adud al-Din 'Abdallah ibn Zayd ibn Mawlana al-hibr al-kamil muqtada al-amajid wa al-amathil dhi al-janahin 'Izz al-Din Muhammad quddisa sirruhu ibn Amir 'Abdallah ibn Zayn al-Din [ibn] Mulla Ahmad ibn 'Abd al-Haqq Sulayman al-Khushnawi min nasi Mawlana Abi al-Muhsin Mulla 'Uthman Hamid ibn Abi Nasr al-Amir Sulayman at-ghazi al-Qurashi alAmjadi. ^Kahler 1961: 102. Arabic books distributed by Abu Bakr's madrasa name as Abu Bakr Efendi al-Amjadi.

bear stamps giving his

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Istanbul and Baghdad. While he was in the latter city, an invasion of Beduins into the Soran country forced Abu Bakr's family (or tribe) to migrate to the Erzurum area, where Abu Bakr later joined them. When one winter the clan suffered f r o m famine, he went to Istanbul to plead for assistance from the Sultan. By coincidence, the imperial court had just received the request for religious guidance from South Africa. Rather than sending food to Erzurum, it was then decided to send Abu Bakr himself to Africa (van Selms 1960: viiviii). Whatever may have been the actual degree of willingness on Abu Bakr's part, he carried out his mission with great loyalty to the consecutive Ottoman Sultans.Although the Malay c o m m u n i t y nominally f o l l o w e d the Shafi'i madhhab, and Abu Bakr, as a Kurd, must initially have adhered to it as well, he set forth to teach Islamic law according to the school of Abu Hanifa, the official madhhab of the Ottoman Empire. He established an Ottoman madrasa in Cape T o w n , which initially attracted prominent Cape Muslims as students, who believed it was a Shafi'i s c h o o l . ' His intervention in a number of the conflicts that divided the local Muslim community established his reputation as a Hanafi, however, and \ht fiqh text that he wrote in 1869 for the Cape Muslims, Bayan al-din, could only confirm this reputation. The Arabic text of the Bayan al-din appears to lean heavily on a well-known Hanafi fiqh text used in Ottoman madrasas, Multaqa al-abhar, written by Ibrahim b. M u h a m m a d b. I b r a h i m a l - H a l a b i . 2 It explains the prescriptions for M u s l i m ritual in accordance with Hanafi fiqh: Abu Bakr's translation and commentary repeatedly it also mentions the different opinions of Imam Shafi'i, but usually with the addition that these opinions have weak textual foundation. In the preface to his book, Abu Bakr actually describes himself as a mufti of the four madhhab, and in one court case in 1873 in which he was a witness, he actually swore that he was and had always been a Shafi'i, 3 D but his opponents were not convinced. He was even accused of attempting to convert as many Shafi'is as possible to the Hanafi m a d h h a b in the hope of getting a pay rise from the Sultan. 4 O n e cannot help getting the impression that the accusations at Abu Bakr's address and the whole so-called Shafi'i-

' T h e historian of the C a p e Muslims, Achmat Davids, claims in fact that A b u Bakr "established the O t t o m a n Theological School ( . . . ) under the guise of it being a Shafi-iyyah educational institution" (1994: 82). 2 According to the translator of the Arabic text, M i a Brandel-Syrer, it is almost identical to alHalabi's work. O n Ibrahim al-Halabi (d. 1549) and his Multaqa al-abhar, see B r o c k e l m a n n , G A L II, 432; S II, 642-3. Uzuni;an}ili notes that this text was, f r o m the mid-18 l h century on, the standard reference work most frequently used by Ottoman qadis and muftis (1965: 115n, 173). ^Davids 1994: 99. 4

O n e Isaac Muntingh in 1873 even alleged, in a letter to a newspaper, that A b u Bakr had confidentially told him this (Da\ ids 1994: 82).

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H a n a f i c o n f l i c t a m o n g the C a p e M u s l i m s had m o r e to do with local p o w e r rivalries than matters of the m a d h h a b . A b u Bakr's m o d e s t criticism of I m a m Shafi'i in a n u m b e r of passages of the B a y a n al-din a p p e a r s to be related t o the local c o n t r o v e r s i e s that had been the reason for addressing a request f o r guidance to the Sultan in the first place. In t h e Turkish p r e f a c e to this book — which w a s obviously m e a n t f o r r e a d e r s in Istanbul and not f o r the C a p e M u s l i m s — he r e m a r k s that the M u s l i m s of S o u t h A f r i c a had been so l o n g o u t of t o u c h t h a t t h e y h a d forgotten m u c h of Islam and adopted practices alien to that religion. A c t i o n s that they p e r f o r m e d as w o r s h i p w e r e d e v i a n t and in conflict with the shari'a, their controversies and debates irrelevant and futile ('ibadet niyetiyle ikamet etdikleri u m u r ve i$leri n a - m e § r u ' v e zalalet oldugini ve dahi emr-i dinde vuku' bulan i h t i l a f a t v e m u n a z a ' a t l a r i s a ? m a ve 'abes oldugini), h e c h a r g e d . He r e f r a i n s f r o m telling us w h a t they were. A s H a n s K K a h l e r o b s e r v e d (1961: 107-9), the nature of t h e s e c o n t r o v e r s i e s w a s c o m p l e t e l y f o r g o t t e n by later generations of C a p e M u s l i m s , but it w a s t h e position adopted by A b u B a k r in t h e m that prevented him f r o m gaining the i n f l u e n c e to which his learning and linguistic gifts appeared to entitle him. Archival research by the C a p e M u s l i m historian, A c h m a t Davids, has brought to light s o m e of these c o n t r o v e r s i e s as well as information o n A b u Bakr's role in t h e m . It w a s a p p a r e n t l y a f o r m e r police official and m e m b e r of p a r l i a m e n t s y m p a t h e t i c to the M a l a y c o m m u n i t y , M r . P. E. D e R o u b a i x , w h o had been instrumental in t h e r e q u e s t f o r g u i d a n c e f r o m Istanbul. H e had written to the British g o v e r n m e n t , which in turn had a p p r o a c h e d the O t t o m a n authorities. It is not clear to what e x t e n t D e R o u b a i x acted on his o w n initiative or at the request of C a p e M u s l i m s . His i n v o l v e m e n t in (and e f f o r t s to settle) a n u m b e r of c o n f l i c t s in t h e c o m m u n i t y , h o w e v e r , is d o c u m e n t e d . T h e m o s t recent of these c o n f l i c t s c o n c e r n e d control of o n e of t h e t w o m o s q u e s of t h e t o w n f o l l o w i n g the death of its imam. T h e late i m a m had appointed s o m e o n e to be his o n e a n d o n l y s u c c e s s o r but most of the c o m m u n i t y r e f u s e d to recognise him and d e m a n d e d the right to c h o o s e their o w n i m a m . T h i s c o n f l i c t caused several fights in the m o s q u e . 1 Soon a f t e r his arrival, A b u B a k r had to give his verdict on this conflict. He declared that e a c h c o m m u n i t y s h o u l d c h o o s e its o w n imam and that the position cannot be hereditary or transferred by deed, and the court followed his verdict.

' Davids 1980: 119-121; Davids 1994: 82. Another matter in which De Roubaix had been involved, a decade earlier, concerned protests against the practice popularly known as "khalifa", consisting of loud recitals of a Rifa'i ratib, during and after which people put knives and skewers through their bodies. Non-Muslims objected to the noise of this ritual, and at least some Muslims thought this was not an Islamic practice at all. Van Selms and following him, others have suggested that the controversy over the status of the ratib was the major issue Abu Bakr was called in to solve. There are no indications, however, that Abu Bakr ever gave an opinion on this ritual.

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Another conflict erupted in 1870 when the young imam of the oldest mosque, Abdulraqib, who was one of Abu Bakr's students, led Friday prayers with fewer persons present in the mosque than the forty who constitute the minimal requisite according to the Shafi'i madhhab. It is true that the Hanafi madhhab does not insist on this quorum, 1 and Abdulraqib was understandably accused of having become a Hanafi. When the trustee of the mosque attempted to have Abdulraqib removed from his position and the conflict was taken to court, Abu Bakr gave testimony again, strongly supporting his former student. It was on this occasion that Abu Bakr swore that he still w a s a Shafi'i. The court ruled in Abdulraqib's favour, but his opponents refused to accept the ruling on the grounds that Abu Bakr was a Hanafi. 2 T h e opposition to Abu Bakr increased, and the c o m m u n i t y became polarised between the Shafi'i majority and a small Hanafi minority around Abu Bakr Efendi. There is at present a number of Hanafis among the Cape Muslims, probably due to Abu Bakr's activities, but they remain a small minority. T h e polarisation along Shafi'i and Hanafi lines that began within a few years after Abu Bakr's arrival prevented him gaining more influence, in spite of his efforts to open more schools. By the time of his death around 1880, increasing numbers of the community performed the hajj, and s o m e of them had the opportunity to study with Shafi'i teachers in Mecca, which soon neutralised A b u Bakr's i n f l u e n c e . A f t e r his death, m e m b e r s of the C a p e M u s l i m c o m m u n i t y sent letters to the H a n a f i m u f t i of M e c c a , r e q u e s t i n g a condemnation of Abu Bakr's criticisms of al-Shafi'i, which duly followed (Kahler 1961: 109-12). Abu Bakr Effendi exemplifies an extreme case of the role of cultural broker that Kurdish 'ulama have so often played because they grew up and worked in a region where the three m a j o r languages of Islam met. His linguistic abilities, due to w h i c h he quickly learnt English as well as Afrikaans, enabled him to act as a mediator between the Cape Muslims and the seat of the Caliphate in the Ottoman capital, which the Cape Muslims also considered as the highest Muslim authority. He had been invited to the Cape as an Ottoman, and carried out his duties as a loyal subject of the sultan, establishing an "Ottoman school" and translating a major reference work used by the Ottoman religious establishment into the local language. Hanafi and Shafi'i fiqh differ from one another in relatively minor details only, and Abu Bakr pointed out these differences in his commentary — though in terms that

h n the Bayan al-din, A b u Bakr writes that the requisite minimum is three men besides the imam. He adds in the A f r i k a a n s c o m m e n t a r y that the leading H a n a f i scholar A b u Yusuf puts the q u o r u m at two and Imam Shafi'i at forty, but that their opinions on this issue are not wellfounded ( B a y a n al-din, p. 185: of. van Selms 1979: 118; Brandel-Syrer 1960: 100). 2 D a v i d s 1994: 99.

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appeared to reject the Shafi'i point of view as inferior to that of the Hanafi authors. Abu Bakr arrived at the Cape more than a decade before the accession of Sultan Abdulhamid II. His activities precedes those of Abdulhamid's emissaries in the service of Pan-Islamism and the Ottoman caliphate — although it is significant that the Bayan al-din was only printed under this sultan, and at the Government Press. In his study of Abdulhamid's pan-Islamic policies, Deringil claims that the effort to strengthen the position of the Hanafi madhhab over the other schools was one of the central elements of these policies. He relates this to the fact that unlike the Shafi'i school, the Hanafi school does not insist that the caliph should be of Quraishite descent. 1 The Ottomans therefore could in theory only expect recognition of their claim to the caliphate in regions where the Hanafi madhhab was dominant. 2 This may be help to explain why Abu Bakr Effendi, while himself a Shafi'i, taught primarily Hanafi fiqh to the nominally Shafi'i Muslims of the Cape. His case shows that these Ottoman missionary policies were not an initiative of Abdulhamid II but had already begun under his predecessors, although Abdulhamid was to pursue them with greater vigour. Sultan Abdulhamid's envoys to the Muslim communities outside the Ottoman Empire were in most cases not very successful because they lacked sufficient linguistic skills. In this respect, Abu Bakr Effendi was much better equipped and capable of communicating effectively with the people to whom he had been dispatched. His influence lasted only briefly, however, and was soon eclipsed because of a shift in the Cape Muslim community's orientation from Istanbul to Mecca, where Shafi'i scholars of authority were available in abundance.

References: Bidlisi, Sharaf Khan, Sharafiiama: Tarikh-i mufassal-i Akrad. Ed. by M. 'Ali 'Awni, introd. By M. 'Abbasi. Tehran: Mu'assasa'yi Matbu'ati-yi 'Ilmi, 1343/1964. Brandel-Syrer, Mia, The religious duties of Islam as taught and explained by Abu Bakr Effendi. Leiden: Brill, 1960. da Costa, Yusuf & Davids, Achmat, Pages from Cape Muslim history. Pietermaritzburg: Shooter & Shooter, 1994.

'Deringil 1998: 46-50. In practice, however, the Ottoman claims to the Caliphate were never contested by the most numerous community of the sultans' Shafi'i subjects, the Kurds, nor by the large Shafi'i communities of Southeast Asia. 2

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H FR E T I C S

Dav ids, Achmat, The mosques of Bo-Kaap, a social history of Islam at the Cape. Athlone, Cape: 1'he South African Institute of Arabic and Islamic Research, 1980. —, "The origins of the Hanafi-Shafi'i dispute and the impact of Abu Bakr Effendi", in: Yusul' da Costa and Achmat Davids, Pages from Cape Muslim history. Pietermaritzburg: Shooter & Shooter, 1994, pp. 81102.

Deringil, Selim, The well protected domains: ideology and the legitimation of power in the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1909. London: LB. Tauris, 1998. Kahler, Hans, "Studien /.ur arabisch-afrikaansen Literatur", Der Islam 36 (1961), 101-121. —, Studien über die Kultur, die Sprache und die arabisch-afrikaanse Literatur der Kap-Malaien [Veröffentlichungen des Seminars f ü r Indonesisch und Südseesprachen der Universität Hamburg, 7], Berlin : Reimer, 1971. —, "Der Islam bei den Kap-Maleien", in: Hans Kahler (ed.), Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dritte Abteilung, Indonesien, Malaysia und die Philippinen, Zweiter Band, Religionen, Teil 1. Leiden: Brill, 1975. —, "Die Literatur der Kap-Malaien", in: Hans Kahler (ed.), Handbuch der Orientalistik, Dritte Abteilung: Indonesien, Malaysia und die Philippinen. Dritter band: Literaturen. 1. Abschnitt. Leiden: Brill, 1976, pp. 316-321. Mardukh-i Ruhani, Baba, Tarikh-i mashahir-i Kurd: 'urafa, 'ulama, udaba, shu'ara. 2 jild. Tehran: Surush, 1364-66 al-Mudarris, Abd al-Karim Muhammad, 'Ulama'una fi khidmat al-'ilm wa'ldin. Baghdad, 1983. Mukriyani, Husayn Huzni, Mejü-y mirant Soran. Rawandiz: Merkez' Zar 1 Kurmanct, 1935 | Reprinted: Hevvl'r (Arbil): f a p x a n e - y Kurdistan, 1962], du Plessis, I.D. & Lückhoff. C.A., The Malay quarter and its people. Cape Town and Amsterdam: A.A. Balkema, 1953. Rochlin, S.A., "Aspects of Islam in nineteenth-century South Africa", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies, vol. X, no. 1 (1939), 213221. van Selms, A., "The manuscript and its author: Abu Bakr and ArabicAfrikaans literature", in: Brandel-Syrer 1960, pp. v-ix. —, "Abu Bakr Effendi", in: W J . de Kock (ed.), Dictionary of South African Biography, vol. 1. Pretoria: Tafelberg uitgevers, 1976, pp. 4-5. — ,Abu Bakr se 'Uiteensetting van die godsdiens': 'n Arabies-Afrikaanse teks uit die ¡aar 1869. Amsterdam: North-Holland, 1979. UzunVJ-> >'j' t>* ^ " wir-'tjUiUK^i/Aj-Ji. M j j j ) J cj 'J- j - f.1' yj-/ • .: iL^j&jfj

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The first pages of Bakr's Bayan al-din.

POPULAR ISLAM, KURDISH NATIONALISM AND RURAL REVOLT: THE REBELLION OF SHAIKH SAID IN TURKEY (1925)

In February and March 1925 the young Republic of Turkey was shaken by a revolt of Kurdish peasants that rapidly spread over a vast part of its Eastern provinces [Bruinessen 1978; cf. Firat 1970; Cemal 1955; Toker 1968; Olson and Tucker, 1978], Bands of primitively armed peasants, led by religious and tribal chiefs, invaded one by one the towns, establishing their own rudimentary administration and chasing away all military and civilian officials that remained loyal to the central government. The rebels' movements were co-ordinated by a popular leader of a dervish order, Shaikh Said, while other shaikhs of the same order similarly took leading positions in the revolt. The ostensible aim of the revolt was to halt the secularising reforms initiated by the Turkish government. Afterwards, however, the leaders were accused of having attempted to establish an independent Kurdish state. It cost the government over two months' time and the deployment of the air force beside 35,000 land troops to put down the revolt with much bloodshed. In the process, much of Turkey's tenuous democracy was sacrificed as well. The revolt provided occasion for the assumption of dictatorial powers by M u s t a f a Kemal (Ataturk) and ismet (Inonii). The relatively liberal government of Fethi Bey (Okyar) was forced to step down through a coup within the ruling party, and the severe Ismet, who was strongly disliked by the 'liberal' and conservative opposition, returned as Prime Minister. T w o weeks after news of the revolt had reached Ankara he presented his new cabinet. The next day he had the Turkish National A s s e m b l y pass a law on the reestablishment of order, which gave the government virtually unlimited powers. Special tribunals, established under this law, were to try and condemn to death leaders of the Kurdish revolt, and consecutively many other political opponents as well. Due to the government's dictatorial powers, kemalist reforms could be carried through with increasing speed and ever less regard for the opposition. One of these reform measures, directly connected with the revolt, was the suppression of all dervish orders, those repositories of popular Islam. Another consequence was the government's subsequent policy of forced assimilation of the Kurds and of denial of cultural rights to them. The latter policy, although pursued for several decades, has failed to achieve its apparent objective of extirpating Kurdish separatism. During the 1970s an increasingly militant Kurdish nationalism found a seemingly broad

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popular base both in the t o w n s and in the villages of Eastern T u r k e y . Although many of today's Kurdish nationalists brand Shaikh Said's rebellion as reactionary, its memory is kept alive, and many others speak about it with obvious pride. Several Kurdish journals devoted lengthy articles to it. The rebellion has grown into a symbol f o r both Kurdish nationalists and their opponents.

Background T h e most o b v i o u s reason for the revolt was the p r o g r a m m e of secularisation that the republican government had inaugurated. Abolition of the sultanate in 1923 was followed a year later by that of the caliphate, which created much resentment in more conservative circles at home and abroad. Especially among the Kurds, the caliphate had been held in high esteem. W h e n , at the outset of the First World War, the Sultan in his capacity of Caliph or supreme leader of all orthodox Muslims proclaimed a cihad (holy war), most Kurds rallied to the call. The large sums that had been spent by Russians in an attempt to buy some Kurdish chiefs' loyalties were of no avail, nor could emotional appeals by Kurdish nationalists c o m p e t e against the Caliph's word. T o many, the caliphate was the very embodiment of Islam, and its abolition seemed a blow dealt to Islam itself. The first educational reforms similarly seemed to strike at religion, since the traditional centres of religious training ( m e d r e s e ) were abolished and replaced with modern, Western-type schools. Immediately prior to the revolt Shaikh Said held several sermons in which he vehemently condemned these measures. Later, during his trial, the shaikh gave the following summary of one of these speeches, held at Piran, where the revolt broke out prematurely : The medreses ha\ e been closed down. The Ministry of Religion and Pious Foundations has been abolished. In the newspapers a horde of irreligious writers wantonly insult religion and besmirch the name of our Lord the Prophet. I shall this very d a y , if only I can, start struggling and become one of those w h o contribute to the saving of religion [Cemal, 1911: 24; Toker, 1968: 38). Once the revolt had broken out, he continued to use these arguments to recruit more support. Resistance against the kemalists' secularist programme was thus one important aspect of the rebellion. Yet, the first preparations for revolt had been made b\ a clandestine organisation of educated Kurds, whose aims were not religious at all but purely nationalist. They had approached Said and the other shaikhs because the latter had the necessary influence that these nationalists still lacked. Before going more deeply into their role, a few words

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should be said about the actual participants of the revolt, and the reasons why the shaikhs wielded so much influence among them.

Socio-economic conditions of the rebellious area The central area of the revolt — the area where it started and which provided most of the peasants recruits — was the mountainous region to the north of Diyarbakir (see the accompanying map). Sporadic outbursts of violence occurred further afield, and people also came from outside to join the revolt. Yet only in this area was participation massive. Most of the Kurds living in this area speak Zaza, a related Iranian language not mutually understandable with Kurdish proper or Kurmanci. Some of the Zaza-speaking tribes, notably those of the Dersim district, belong to the heterodox Alevi sect, others are orthodox Sunni Muslims. It was only the latter who participated in the revolt. The economy of the Zaza villages was, and to a large extent still is, a closed one. Virtually every villager owned a small plot of land and some animals, only allowing a frugal existence. What he did not produce himself he tended to acquire by barter rather than sale. The exception was tobacco, grown in some of the villages and sold, at low prices, to the state monopoly. Due to the scarcity of land, young Zazas regularly left their villages for the regional towns or one of the big cities. Diyarbakir, Elazig and Istanbul had significant numbers of immigrants from these villages, which was to prove an important factor during the revolt. Most Zazas were sedentary cultivators, without a recent nomadic history; their villages had a strong tribal organisation. Each of their small tribes comprised one or a few villages only, led by a chief only marginally richer than the commoners. Decisions on matters concerning the whole tribe, such as defence of tribal territory, feuds, and also the present revolt, were made after deliberations in a council consisting of the chief (aga), the most important elders or greybeards (ri spi), and the village headmen (muhtar). Commoners of the tribe usually complied without questioning these decisions. The northernmost part of the rebellious area, with its higher mountains and richer pastures, was inhabited by the large, Kurmanci-speaking Cibran tribe. Like its neighbours, the Hasanan and Haydaran, sections of which were also to join the revolt, this tribe had previously been nomadic, but by 1925 it was largely settled. Commoners combined simple agriculture with moderate shepherding, but leading families with branches living in, and ruling over Karliova, Varto and Bulanik, owned large flocks. So did Shaikh Said, who had not been born into any of these tribes, but who had married into the leading family of the Cibran. He had moved to Hinis from his native Palu in order to

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a c c o m m o d a t e his flocks on better pasture, and to extend his spiritual and political influence among Kurmanci speakers as well. The shaikh and his sons were involved in the wholesale trade of live animals, which brought the latter frequently to big cities like Istanbul and Aleppo. Apart from this, there seems not to have been much trade in the area. The small towns were administrative rather than commercial centres. Most villagers in the mountains were independent subsistence farmers, in contrast with those of the fertile plains around Diyarbakir and Farkin (Silvan). In the latter wheat-growing districts, large holdings predominated, and most villagers were poverty-stricken sharecroppers or tenants, lacking tribal organisation and dependent on the absentee landlords. Such villagers do not seem to have taken an active part in the revolt.

The shaikhs T h e top leaders of the rebellion were not tribal chiefs but shaikhs, religious leaders. These are the heads of sufi or dervish orders, in this particular case the Nak§ibendi order, very popular in Kurdistan [Cf. A l g a r , 1 9 7 6 ; Hourani,1972; Bruinessen,1978], It was the dervish orders rather than the official religion of the mosque that satisfied the villagers' emotional and devotional religious needs. However, unlike many other situations there was not a clear-cut distinction here between official and popular religion. Each supplemented the other, they were not seen as rival traditions but as parts of the same complex. More than the other orders, the Nak§ibendi order stimulated mosque attendance and strict performance of religious duties. T h e mosque personnel on the other hand showed great respect to most Nak§ibendi shaikhs. Nevertheless, a whole complex of unorthodox religious beliefs and devotional practices had accumulated around this otherwise perfectly orthodox order. T o m a n y of their followers, the shaikhs were not simply pious mystics but miracle-working saints w hose hand-written amulets warded off danger and evil influences, and whose spittle was an unfailing medicine. By supernatural means they would help those of their followers who were in trouble. S o m e even claimed that on the Day of Judgement they would take their followers across the bridge into the abode of eternal bliss. In many parts of Kurdistan it was thought essential for a believer to be attached at least nominally to a shaikh. From elderly people one may still hear the saying there that 'if \ o u don't have a shaikh, the devil will act as yours'. 'Having a shaikh', however, meant different things to different people. T h e majority of any shaikh's followers were only nominally his disciples. They visited him once or twice a year to kiss his hand, bring him presents and receive his blessings, sometimes after having done repentance. Furthermore

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they would go to the shaikh for such diverse problems as disease, a wife's barrenness, a family quarrel or a feud, questions of doctrine, the request of a talisman or wise counsel on matters private or public. The greater a shaikh's reputation for saintliness and miraculous powers, or the m o r e cleverly he solved people's conflicts and other problems, the larger the f l o c k of his followers became. Great shaikhs made annual tours to give their followers wide opportunity to listen to their sermons, and to collect small and large gifts. Stricter followers participated in weekly or more frequent meditation sessions led by the shaikh or a deputy ( h a l i f e ) . Each order has its own distinctive spiritual exercises, which should induce in a practising disciple ecstatic states leading to direct experience of the Divine. Such exercises are usually practised communally. The shaikh's physical or spiritual presence is essential for the success of such exercises, especially in the Nak§ibendi order, since it is through the shaikh's mediation that relations with the Divine are established. Thus a shaikh's practising disciples develop extremely strong ties of loyalty to him. They are his staunchest supporters and propagandists, broadcasting his spiritual achievements. A shaikh rarely has more than a hundred at most of these disciples. Unlike the other orders, which are generally associated with the traditional urban middle classes, m a n y disciples in Kurdistan are villagers, often poor ones. T w o special types of followers are the usually elderly men who have given up worldly life for o n e of spiritual discipline in the shaikh's immediate surroundings and, more important in the present context, the shaikh's retainers. The latter are armed men acting as his bodyguards, or in some cases as his law-enforcers. Their presence has to do with the political and economic roles shaikhs have come to play in many parts of Kurdistan. In most cases, shaikhs do not live in the area of their birth, and so they tend not to belong to any local tribe. This, combined with their presumed saintliness, makes them ideal intermediaries in tribal conflicts. This gives an enterprising shaikh considerable political influence and wealth. T h e most powerful shaikhs often live in areas lacking big tribal chiefs strong enough to resolve conflicts, such as in the Zaza districts with which we are concerned, where there were frequent rivalries and f e u d s between many petty chiefs. Shaikh Said of Palu, Shaikh §erif of Gokdere, and a number of other shaikhs, had succeeded each in becoming more powerful than any of the local Zaza tribal chiefs. These shaikhs were anything but introverted, other-worldly figures as some Nak§ibendi shaikhs elsewhere were. Equally at ease in the saddle as on the prayer mat, they handled guns as expertly as rosaries. Their reputation for saintliness was matched by that f o r physical prowess. One of them, Shaikh §erif, had been the commander of an irregular regiment of Zaza Kurds during the First World War. Not all tribes accepted shaikhs' authority.

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A r o u n d our area a number of tribes subscribe to heterodox Shi'i (Alevi) beliefs. Alevis and Sunnis (the Nak§ibendis are especially staunch Sunni Muslims) are contemptuous of each other's religious beliefs and practices, and this ideological factor has tended to make conflict between Sunni and Alevi tribes quite bitter. In the Sunni Ottoman Empire the state and the Sunni tribes r e a d i l y c o - o p e r a t e d to i m p o s e political o p p r e s s i o n on t h e A l e v i s . Understandably, their reaction to Mustafa Kemal's attempt at secularisation was generally positive. Several local Alevi tribes were to turn against Shaikh Said's rebellion and actively fight it, or rather, fight their traditional enemies, whose joining the rebellion provided a welcome pretext.

The nationalists The rebellion which was actually led by Shaikh Said, was not originally his idea but rather that of the clandestine Kurdish nationalist organisation, Azadi (Freedom), which wanted to set up an independent state of Kurdistan. Although Azadi was not the first Kurdish nationalist organisation |cf. Jvvaideh, 1960; Silopi, 1969; Bruinessen, 1978), it was better organised than its precursors. Its m e m b e r s were mostly military officers with tribal backgrounds, instead of urbanised aristocrats completely alienated from village life as had been their predecessors. Their nationalism had been awakened as a reaction to the Turkish nationalism that was rampant within the army, and by anxieties that the Kurds were in for a similar fate to that of the Armenians. The possibility of an independent Kurdish state, as well as an Armenian one, had been written into the Treaty of Sèvres of 1920, and it had led to some halfhearted British attempts to create a small Kurdish buffer state between A r a b Iraq and Turkey. Despite their nationalist fervour, Azadi's members were well aware that they did not as yet have the support of the Kurdish masses, and that they lacked the power and appeal necessary to enlist mass support. T h e y t h e r e f o r e a p p r o a c h e d influential traditional leaders in various parts of Kurdistan. Shaikh Said was invited by his in-law, Halid Bey, of the Cibran's ruling family, an army colonel who was one of Azadi's chief ideologues. T h e shaikh responded enthusiastically and took a leading part in the planning, which got under way in 1924. May 1925 was originally set as the date for a m a j o r uprising which would e n c o m p a s s most or all of Turkey's Kurdish provinces. Operations were to be co-ordinated by Azadi officers, since they had military experience. Local leadership was to be provided by shaikhs and tribal chiefs. Yet the actual rebellion did not follow this pattern. Due to unforeseen circumstances, misunderstandings and a n u m b e r of mistakes, the Turkish authorities' suspicion was aroused. By the end of 1924, most of Azadi's top leadership had been arrested and only a few succeeded in escaping to Iraq, where they were interrogated by British intelligence officers. Their grievances against

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the Turkish government show an acute awareness of discrimination, and a motivation that was nationalist, not religious in nature. 1

The revolt With Azadi's more important leaders now either in prison or exile, plans had to be revised. In December or January, a meeting took place between Azadi m e m b e r s and shaikhs and tribal chieftains, mainly f r o m the Zaza district. It was decided to press on with the rebellion and the date was even brought forward to March. In January Shaikh Said started his annual tour of Zaza districts, doing his best to settle any conflicts that might disrupt the unity of the revolt, and discussing questions of strategy with local chieftains. His i n f l a m m a t o r y s p e e c h e s inspired villagers with hatred a g a i n s t the Republican government [cf. Cemal, 1951: 24; Toker, 1968: 38J. On this tour the shaikh was accompanied by an unusually large retinue which included many armed men. While he was staying in Piran, the village where his brother A b d u r r a h i m lived, a m i n o r incident prematurely triggered the revolt on February 13, 1925 [ibid. ]. The Turkish gendarmerie at Piran village recognised f r o m among the shaikh's retinue several fugitives from justice, some of whom were wanted for alleged murder. In an attempt to arrest these fugitives an exchange of fire occurred between the shaikh's men and the gendarmes, in which at least one policeman was killed. Since the preparations for the revolt were not yet completed the shaikh did his utmost to hush up the whole affair, but in this attempt he was unsuccessful. The news spread rapidly, and in the nearby town of Hani the population expelled its governor and all Turkish officials. Near Lice a mail van was held up. Since the government had now

' S e e Public Records Office, London, FO 371, 1924: E 11093/11093/65. This is one of the very f e w contemporary sources on Kurdish complaints and demands. Most Kurdish sources on this period were written after the rebellion and are prejudiced by the Turkish reprisals following it. T h e Azadi members formulated the following grievances : i. A new law regarding minorities aroused suspicion. Was the g o v e r n m e n t considering resettlement of Kurds in Western Turkey and replacing them with Turks? ii. With the abolition of the caliphate, one of the last ties uniting Turks and Kurds had been cut. iii. T h e use of K u r d i s h in law court and school had been restricted. D u e to the banning of Kurdish education, there were virtually no schools among the Kurds. iv. The name 'Kurdistan' had been deleted from all geography books. v. All senior government officials in the Kurdish provinces were Turks; minor officials were Kurds, but these were carefully selected. vi. N o benefit was derived from the government in return for taxes paid. vii. T h e g o v e r n m e n t interfered in the elections for the National A s s e m b l y in the Kurdish provinces. viii. T h e government followed a policy of setting one tribe continuously against the other. ix. There were f r e q u e n t military raids on Kurdish villages, animals were commandeered and t h e r e was w i d e s p r e a d c o r r u p t i o n c o n n e c t e d with receipts and p a y m e n t s f o r s u p p l i e s requisitioned. x. T h e Kurdish rank-and-file in the army was abused and ill-treated; they were usually selected for the roughest and most unpleasant duties. xi. The Turkish government attempted to exploit Kurdish mineral wealth with the aid of German capital.

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been alerted, the general rising had to be brought forward. The Shaikh moved swiftly to Darahini, a small and rather inaccessible district town, collecting on the way several hundred tribesmen. Darahini was easily taken and since most of its gendarmerie were Kurdish, they willingly joined the shaikh. The town was turned into the rebels' provisional capital. Shaikh Said appointed his own governor, a mufti

(expert of Islamic law), and a gendarmerie c o m m a n d e r .

Lower officials simply continued their work under a new administration. From Darahini Shaikh Said dispatched armed followers in all directions in order to take control of the region's administrative centres. Most of these irregular units were led by shaikhs. £ a p a k § u r was taken by the shaikhs of Can, who then marched on towards Kigi. Shaikh Abdullah, from the Solhan district, was dispatched to Varto and the area to the north of Mus. Shaikh §erif, the f o r m e r militia c o m m a n d e r , joined in the conquest of (^apak^ur, followed this up with the taking of Palu and then advanced to the important town of Elazig, receiving reinforcements at every village he passed. With a large body of followers Shaikh Said himself moved south from Darahini. Meanwhile, an infantry and a cavalry regiment had been sent against the rebels from the region's major city, Diyarbakir. The Turkish infantry regiment was mauled by local peasants under Shaikh Mehmed Mehdi from the village of Serdi, near Hani, and a few days later routed by Shaikh Said's own forces. Its cannons were useful additions to the rebels' light and mostly old-fashioned arms. The Turkish cavalr) force was ambushed and it surrendered to the Kurds on February 28, 1925. At that moment the entire Zaza area, f r o m Ergani to Kulp was in open rebellion. The towns of Ergani, Hani and Lice had been taken by villagers from their local surroundings, although some urbanites had offered resistance. Self-confidently, Shaikh Said now concentrated his forces on the largest urban centre. Diyarbakir, whilst his brother. A b d u r r a h i m , with a part of the Zaza forces, struck out to the west and took Maden, f e r m i k and Siverek. Shaikh Said toured the districts around Egil to solicit the support of the local chieftains. He sent messengers to major chieftains in other parts of Kurdistan such as to the strong Milan tribe around Viran§ehir and to the tribes around Bitlis, all of which had participated in Azadi's original plan. There was no response. At the beginning of March, Diyarbakir was besieged by a large force of some 10,000 rebels, who were continually reinforced. Shaikh Said himself coordinated operations from a nearby village. With its numerous garrison, led by the able Miirsel Pa§a. and with its solid walls, the city w a s virtually impregnable. Mtirsel Pa$a had taken care to disarm all civilians. During the siege he imposed a total curfew, reducing the risk of any civilian collaboration with the rebels. A f t e r a siege of several days with fruitless attempts by the rebels to storm the city, a small band did succeed in entering by night,

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apparently due to support f r o m Zaza Kurdish Inhabitants in the city. Their presence was discovered and in a bloody fight the garrison wiped them out, letting only a few escape (March 7-8). After this failure, Shaikh Said withdrew his men f r o m the city walls and gave them a few days leave. On the other fronts a number of successes were scored. Shaikh §erif took Elazig and scattered its garrison. In the north-east, Varto was captured and Hinis was raided several times. Although many Cibran and Hasanan joined the rebel forces, they were fiercely opposed by their traditional enemies, the Alevi Hormek and Lolan tribes. Plans to take Mu§ and Bitlis were wrecked by local tribes reluctant to join the rebels. The inhabitants of Farkin (Silvan) kept aloof until March 25, when the town was stormed by Zaza Kurds under the leadership of Shaikh §emsettin. It was lost to government troops within a few days. The original momentum of the revolt had been dissipated. Confident, open d e f i a n c e now gave way to hasty preparations for defence against an imminent Turkish government counter-offensive.

The capture and loss of Elazig Existing records say very little about motivation and behaviour of the rebel peasants who really made the uprising. Survivors embroidered the facts far too frequently, centring on their leaders too exclusively for any effective understanding of the rebellion as a whole. This makes the f e w eye-witness reports on the capture of the major regional town of Elazig by the rebels particularly important in showing how different sections of the population reacted [PRO, F O 371,1925: E 2319/362/61; Cemal, 1951: 32-4], Middleclass notables, such as officials, traders, lawyers, major craftsmen, and lower public servants, were mainly Turks, whereas menial j o b s were mostly done by more recent immigrants from surrounding Kurdish villages. Soon after the rebels had taken Darahini and Qipak9ur, rumours started reaching Elazig that several hundred Kurdish peasants were coming to reinforce the rebels in the city. A frantic band they were, wielding green flags and Korans, shouting unremittingly 'God bless the Prophet' and calling out to all in their way that they should surrender in the name of God. The town of Palu did surrender and with untiring fervour the rebel band went on to Elazig, asking everyone to join them. When the first three hundred Kurdish rebels appeared before the army lines outside Elazig, they presented a frightening spectacle. Soldiers rather took to flight than shoot at rebels w h o had tied Korans to their bayonets. The Kurds were w e l c o m e d by most of the city population, and they ransacked the gendarmerie station and court-house, storming the prison and burning the files. The released prisoners showed the Kurds the houses of the officers and the rich, 'so that the first could be made

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prisoner and the second looted'. The Kurdish porters and woodcutters of the city willingly joined in. Later that day, the rebel commander at this front, Shaikh §erif, entered the city and promised to re-establish order. He ordered the execution of looters, but the threat remained without effect. The next day looting was concentrated more purposefully upon the military depot and the tobacco monopoly. Many civilians did not resist the looting, for they regarded the rebels as an Islamic army. Hundreds of peasants from the surrounding countryside came to the city to congratulate the rebels, and some of them accompanied the main rebel army on its way towards Malatya. But Shaikh §erif did little to consolidate the rebel hold, merely assigning administrative responsibilities to the mufti (official expert of Islamic law) and leaving a small garrison behind. When these continued looting, notables organised resistance groups to expel them. After Elazig, Shaikh §erif's rebels ran out of success [Toker, 1968: 871. Apparently Malatya was never reached.

Suppression of the revolt The government quietly prepared its counter-offensive, dispatching perhaps as many as 35,000 troops to the area. Kurdish chiefs from other areas were urged to show loyalty to the Republic by providing men to fight against their fellow Kurdish rebels. Some chiefs complied, although they do not seem to have fought Shaikh Said's men. Late in March the Turkish army started a three-pronged attack on the rebel area, receiving valuable assistance from the air force. Bombardments created great panic among the Kurds, most of whom had never seen aeroplanes before. In a matter of days the towns of Hani, Silvan, Palu, Piran and Lice were taken and the rebels were forced to flee to the less accessible, mountainous districts of Capak§ur a n ( j Gene (Darahini). In spite of the late winter snow the army followed them here and in a few violent open battles destroyed the Kurdish forces. The remaining rebels split into small guerrilla units, continuing operations for years. Shaikh Said was arrested a few days later near Mu$, apparently betrayed by a former ally who tried to save his own skin. After a short trial, Shaikh Said and forty-seven other leaders of the revolt, at least seven of whom were shaikhs, were condemned to death and executed on 4 September 1925. A law was then passed suppressing all dervish orders, their conv ents and shrines [Albayrak, 1973:186-206].

Nationalist versus religious character of the rebellion At the trial the Turkish authorities insisted that the rebellion was nationalist in inspiration, and that its leaders intended to establish an independent Kurdish state. The same claim was made by Kurdish nationalists of that time [e.g. Chirguh, 1930], Shaikh Said's relations with Azadi as well

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as other, more conservative nationalists are beyond doubt. My chief oral informant, w h o was close to the shaikh during the rebellion, claims that for the shaikh himself, religious motivations were clearly secondary to nationalist ones. In fact, one of the shaikh's closest aides, Fehmi Bilal Effendi, was a b l a s p h e m i n g atheist, tolerated only because of his c o u r a g e and devoted nationalism. Neither the other leading shaikhs nor the c o m m o n villagers seemed to have such clear and strong national feelings. Shaikh Said used m a i n l y religious a r g u m e n t s f o r p u r p o s e s of propaganda in the villages, to the effect that 'Islam is under attack and has to be defended'. Rebel symbols were of a religious character — green flags and Korans, Islamic battle-cries, and holy war or cihad terminology. There was a millenarian flavour to the rebellion, although no overt reference seems to have been made to messianic ideas. The rebels' behav iour strongly suggests that by merely marching on the cities they expected to bring about a restoration of Islam and the establishment of a reign of justice. A m o n g the long list of Kurdish nationalists' grievances only a few — notably the abolition of the Caliphate — meant anything to the peasants. The grievances mainly reflected the concerns of educated Kurds, and to s o m e extent the interests of the traditional ruling stratum. Ideas of self-rule were very recent even among tribal chiefs. During the First World War, y o u n g Kurdish intellectuals making nationalist propaganda had still found the chiefs opposed to their appeals. Loyalty to the Ottoman sultan in his capacity of caliph was still paramount [Silopi, 1969: 38-9], The victorious Allied powers seemed to be less opposed to the idea of a Kurdish state, w h i c h had alerted m a n y c h i e f s to the possibilities of such a project. Yet Allied support never materialised, and Mustafa Kemai succeeded in gaining the loyalty of many of the bigger chiefs by offering them positions in the Turkish National Assembly. Real discontent showed itself especially among the smaller chiefs, who were left outside the political system. Many of these were receptive to Azadi propaganda. Since the peasants were more receptive to religious Islamic than to nationalist Kurdish agitation, Azadi sought to keep to the background as a planning and coordinating body, leaving the tasks of direct mobilisation and field command to local c h i e f s and shaikhs. When Azadi broke up, only one supra-tribal organisation remained that could possibly take over this co-ordinating role: the network of Nak§ibendi shaikhs. M o r e o v e r , a m o n g the influential leaders originally approached by Azadi, only Shaikh Said was determined to go on with the revolt. Shaikh Said in turn found no one except the smaller shaikhs and chiefs of his own local area ready to join him.

The political role traditionally played by these shaikhs assured them a prominent say in whether or not to join the rebellion. In the Mu§ district, where tribal chieftains were stronger than in the Z a z a districts, the m a j o r shaikh was primarily a spiritual rather than political authority, w h o refused to

154

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

join. So did the tribal chiefs of Mu§ as well as those of Dersim, several of whom had been in direct communication with Azadi. Toker [1968: 83] ascribes this to the fact that these chiefs were more nationalist-minded, and disliked the strongly religious character that the revolt acquired under the shaikhs' leadership. The Dersim tribes, being Alevi, had little reason indeed to join this staunchly Sunni movement that might easily be directed against themselves as well, despite Shaikh Said's letter of invitation to the Alevi Hormek tribe to join him in rebellion |Firat, 1970: 200). These tribes were later to rebel on their own account. Since the legitimisation of the shaikhs' authority was primarily religious, the shaikhs' agitation naturally concentrated on the apparent threat to Islam and on the religious obligation to defend it. They had good reason to do so: even if the kemalist reforms did not endanger all of Islam, the threat to the shaikhs' positions was very real indeed. Kurdish villagers, w h o identified strongly with Islam and among whom the shaikhs' words carried enormous weight, were easily carried away, especially when the shaikhs used words associated with holy war (cihad). Thus, Shaikh Said styled himself 'Commander of the Believers' (emirii'l-mucahidin) and declared that every rebel who was killed would be a martyr (§ehid) and go straight to paradise. Nevertheless, religious fervour was not the sole force that moved the rebel peasants. In Elazig and other towns courthouses were ransacked, gendarmerie posts raided, prisoners set free and the tobacco monopoly was looted. Rather than suggesting merely a desire for plunder, eye-witnesses claimed this indicated a strong, acutely felt discrepancy between traditional tribal and Islamic norms on the one hand, and the foreign, Europeanised judicial state system plus economic grievances among the tobacco growers on the other hand. The same discrepancy was evident in the endemic social banditry of the region. Several bandits joined Shaikh Said's retinue. In his march on Elazig, Shaikh ijerif shared command with Yado, a renowned bandit who was something of a folk hero. After the defeat of the rebel army, small guerrilla units remained active, adopting the style of the traditional social bandits of the area. The chief factor lying at the root of this rebellion was the conflict between the Western, secularist ideas adopted and enforced by the new Turkish state and the traditional Kurdish value system with its popular forms of Islam. Abolition of the caliphate, which until recently had been a powerful rallying point uniting Kurdish tribes in a common struggle, was felt by the peasants to be a major symbolic attack on their own beliefs. Militant Kurdish shaikhs in the Zaza districts embodied these traditional values. They were the appropriate leaders to stem the tide of unbelief and foreign morality, and to reestablish traditional justice. At other occasions and in other parts of Kurdistan it was other leaders who took up this role, which lent those uprisings a less pronounced religious character. For the rank-and-file this may hardly have mattered: they fought to hold on to their traditional identity, irrespective of whether its religious or ethnic aspect was stressed.

THE

REBELLION

OF

SHAIKH

SAID

155

Conclusion The Nak§ibendi order played an important organisational role in the revolt. Kurdish grievances in the mid-1920s seem to show a remarkable similarity to those of Afghan Islamic guerrilla forces in the 1980s. Even if we account for the obvious differences between both situations, it is clear that the Kurdish rebel actions showed more co-ordination and success initially than those of their Afghan counterparts. This difference may be due to the presence of the Nak§ibendi network in the Kurdish case. In three ways especially the Kurdish shaikhs' role was crucial. Firstly, their religious prestige, which included a belief in their supernatural powers made their agitation all the more effective and was responsible for the millenarian fervour of many followers. Secondly, shaikhs had authority in more than one tribe, which enabled them to arbitrate disputes and more readily unite the rebel rank and file. Thirdly, rebel shaikhs all belonged to the same section of the Nak§ibendi order, wherein they had previously co-operated, making co-ordination over a much larger area possible. The shaikhs' important function in preventing tribal disharmony f r o m making the revolt impossible has its dose parallel in the Sanusi movements of pre-independence Libya |Evans-Pritchard, 1949], The Sanusiya was also a popular mystical order. A network of the supreme shaikh's halifes (deputies) united Bedouin tribes in a common anti-colonial struggle and laid the basis for Libyan independence. Where the Libyans succeeded the Kurds failed. External and environmental factors were more in favour of the Libyans. But there was a more important reason for the Kurdish failure. As usual with millenarian movements, Kurdish actions were of a highly symbolic nature and there was no strategic planning envisaging successive steps towards an ultimate goal. When the walls of Diyarbakir did not fall like those of biblical Jericho, many Kurdish peasants were demoralised. Turkish reinforcements then further undermined a belief in their own divine mission. For successful resistance against a modern state, a more 'modern' ideology and organisation seemed indispensable. In subsequent Kurdish revolts these did indeed emerge.

References Albayrak, Sadik,1973, Turkiye'de

din kavgasi

|The struggle for religion in

Turkey ], Istanbul . Algar, Hamid, 1976, "The Naqshbandi order: a preliminary survey of its history and significance", Studia Islamica, 44,123-152. Arfa, Hassan,1966, The Kurds: an historical and political study, London: Oxford University Press. Bruinessen, M. M. van, 1978, Agha, Shaikh and State: On the social and political organization of Kurdistan, Ph. D. thesis, Utrecht University.

156

MULl

AS,

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Cemal, Beh5et,1955, §evh Sait isyani |Shaikh Said's rebellion], Istanbul: Sel yayinlan. Chirguh, Bletch,1930, La question

kurde, ses origines

Dersimi, M, Nuri, 1952, Kurdistan

tarihinde

Dersim

et causes,

Cairo.

|Dersim in the history

of Kurdistan]. Aleppo. Evans-Pritchard, E. E., 1949, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica, Firat, M. §erif, 1970 (1945), Dogu

illeri

ve Varto

London. tarihi

[History of the

(1924-1930)

¡Reforms and

Eastern provinces and of Varto), Ankara. Gologlu, Mahmut, 1972, Devrimler

ve tepkileri

the reactions to them, 1924-19301, Ankara. Hobsbavvm, Eric, 1959, Primitive movement

rebels:

studies

in the 19th and 20tb centuries,

in archaic forms

Hourani, A., 1972, "Shaikh Khalid and the Naqshbandi order", in: philosophy

and the classical

tradition,

of

social

Manchester. Islamic

eds. S. M. Stern, A. Hourani

and V. Brown, Oxford. Jwaideh, Wadie,1960, The Kurdish development,

nationalist

movement:

its origins

and

Ph.D. thesis, Syracuse University.

Kisakurek, Necip Fazil.1977, Son devrin din mazlumlari

|People oppressed

for religion's sake in the most recent period|, Istanbul, 5th impression. Massacres

kurdes en Turquie,

Les, Publication de la Ligue nationale kurde

Hoyboun, 1928, Cairo. Olson, R. W. and W. F. Tucker, 1978, "The Sheikh Sait rebellion in Turkey (1925)", Die Welt des ¡slams, N.S. 18, 195-211. Silopi, Zinnar, 1969, Doza Kurdustan. Kurt milletinin 60 senedenberi esaretten kurtuliq sava$i hatirati [The trail of Kurdistan. Memoirs of 6 0 years' struggle to liberate the Kurdish nation f r o m subjection], Beirut. T o k e r . M e t i n , l 9 6 8 , §evh Sait ve isyani

[Shaikh Said and his rebellion!,

Ankara. W o l f , Eric, 1969, Peasant & Row.

Wars of the twentieth

century,

New York: Harper

Areas of the Sheikb Said rebellion in Turkey

VOM OSMANISMUS ZUM SEPARATISMUS: RELIGIÖSE UND ETHNISCHE HINTERGRUNDE DER REBELLION DES SCHEICH SAID

Die kurdische Rebellion, die Anfang 1925 von dem Nak§ibendi-Scheich Said angeführt wurde, markiert einen wichtigen Wendepunkt in der Geschichte der republikanischen Türkei, Sie bot Mustafa Kemal und Ismet Pascha die Gelegenheit, sich nahezu diktatorische Machtbefugnisse anzueignen. Von diesem Zeitpunkt an wurde das kemalistische Reformprogramm in noch grösserer Eile und ohne Rücksicht auf die Opposition verwirklicht. Durch die Politik des Laizismus wurden die wichtigsten Symbole beseitigt, die bis dahin noch Kurden und Türken sowie andere kleinere muslimische Ethnien geeint hatten. Die deutlichen Versuche, den Islam als staatstragende Ideologie durch einen türkischen Nationalismus zu ersetzen, entfremdeten die nichttürkischen Muslime nur noch mehr von der Regierung. Erstaunlich ist jedoch, dass sich trotzdem noch viele Kurden weiterhin loyal gegenüber dem kemalistischen Regime verhielten. Während der folgenden Jahre gab es viele kurdische Aufstände; erst 1938 wurde die Osttürkei unter hohen Kosten vollständig befriedet. Alle Aufstände blieben aber räumlich begrenzt, und in einigen Fällen waren es gerade Kurden, die aktiv an der Niederschlagung kurdischer Aufstände beteiligt waren. Einige Erhebungen waren ausgesprochen nationalistisch: Sie zielten auf die Gründung eines separaten kurdischen Staates. Auf eine solche Möglichkeit hatte bereits Präsident Wilson in seinen während des Ersten Weltkrieges formulierten "Vierzehn Punkten" angespielt, und auch der Vertrag von Sèvres 1920 hatte sie vorgesehen. Doch damals bedeutete der Separatismus den kurdischen Dorfbewohnern noch wenig. Die meisten von ihnen verhielten sich loyal gegenüber dem Osmanischen Reich, obwohl sie sich bisweilen den lokalen Repräsentanten der Bürokratie widersetzten. Während des Ersten Weltkrieges hatten sich die meisten Kurden dem Aufruf des Sultan-Kalifen zum Cihad angeschlossen. Auch im Befreiungskrieg waren die Kemalisten bei der Mobilisierung von Kurden der Osttürkei erfolgreicher gewesen als die Briten mit ihrem V e r s u c h , separatistische Tendenzen anzustacheln. Bezeichnenderweise löste gerade die A b s c h a f f u n g des Kalifats, das den Brennpunkt der kurdischen Loyalitäten dargestellt hatte, die Scheich-SaidRebellion aus. Nicht alle Träger der Revolte waren allerdings religiös motiviert. Der Aufstand war von einer nationalistischen Organisation geplant worden, die den Scheich jedoch als Führungsfigur benötigte, da ihr eine

MULLAS,

160 populäre

Person

fehlte.

SUFIS In

den

AND

späteren

HERETICS Aufständen

ersetzten

dann

nationalistische Elemente z u n e h m e n d religiöse Loyalitäten in Kurdistan. In der kemalistischen Historiographie 1 werden die kurdischen A u f s t ä n d e gewöhnlich

als letzter

Widerstand

einer

rückständigen,

reaktionären

B e v ö l k e r u n g gegen die dringend n o t w e n d i g e M o d e r n i s i e r u n g dargestellt, und ihre U n t e r d r ü c k u n g wird als Bestandteil der Zivilisationsbringenden Mission des R e g i m e s betrachtet. Besonders betonen d i e s e Historiker die A u s b e u t u n g einer armen

und

unwissenden

Bevölkerung

durch

die

Scheichs

und

S t a m m e s f ü h r e r , die die Aufstände anführten. Die Revolten werden als Versuche dieser traditionalen Autoritäten interpretiert, ihre Privilegien beizubehalten oder w i e d e r z u e r l a n g e n . Z w e i f e l l o s steckt in d i e s e m A r g u m e n t ein

Körnchen

Wahrheit, doch ich glaube, eben nur ein K ö r n c h e n : Die A u f s t ä n d e reflektierten die sozialen und ö k o n o m i s c h e n Verhältnisse in den kurdischen Provinzen, aber gleichzeitig konnten sie nur w e g e n des W a n d e l s , in d e m sich die kurdische Gesellschaft bereits vor der Gründung der Republik b e f u n d e n hatte, stattfinden.

Der Nak§ibendi-Orden und der Kurdische Nationalismus Said w a r nicht d e r e r s t e N a k § i b e n d i - S c h e i c h , d e r e i n e k u r d i s c h e Rebellion

a u c h mit n a t i o n a l i s t i s c h e n

Parolen anführte.

1 8 8 0 rief

der

einflussreiche Scheich Ubaidullah von Nehri (Hakkari) einen A u f s t a n d aus. Er e r s u c h t e u m r u s s i s c h e n und b r i t i s c h e n B e i s t a n d f ü r e i n e n

unabhängigen

k u r d i s c h e n Staat im G r e n z g e b i e t z w i s c h e n d e m ä u s s e r s t

geschwächten

O s m a n i s c h e n R e i c h und P e r s i e n . Eine a n d e r e Eamilie von

Nak^ibendi-

S c h e i c h s , die der Barzan im heutigen N o r d i r a k , ist seit d e m B e g i n n dieses Jahrhunderts häufig mit Aufständen gegen die jeweiligen Zentralregierungen in V e r b i n d u n g g e b r a c h t w o r d e n . Ein j ü n g e r e r B r u d e r der zwei b e d e u t e n d e n Scheichs dieser Familie. Mulla Mustafa Barzani, wurde der bekannteste kurdisch-nationalistische Führer dieses Jahrhunderts. Auch in Südkurdistan war es ein

Scheich

— aber

kein

Nak§ibendi,

sondern

ein

Mitglied

des

rivalisierenden K a d i r i - O r d e n s —, der zu d i e s e r Zeit die ersten Schritte zur G r ü n d u n g eines unabhängigen kurdischen Staates voranging. Scheich M a h m u d Barzanji ernannte sich sogar selbst 1922 z u m K ö n i g von K u r d i s t a n . Er w u r d e von d e n meisten lokalen S t ä m m e n unterstützt, k n ü p f t e aber auch K o n t a k t e zu den Kemalisten an, die er gegen die Briten auszuspielen versuchte (Bruinessen 1978, 278f. sowie die darin angegebene Literatur).

'Zum Beispiel: Cemal 1955;Toker 1968:Gologlu 1968-1974.

VOM

OSMANISMUS

ZUM

SEPARATISMUS

161

Ganz offensichtlich waren die Tarikats (Sufi-Orden) bei den Kurden in den Jahren vor der Rebellion mehr als rein religiöse Institutionen. Nicht alle Scheichs wurden politische Führer, doch die einflussreichsten politischen Führer der Kurden waren mit nur wenigen Ausnahmen Scheichs, und die meisten dieser "politischen" Scheichs gehörten dem Nak§ibendi-Orden an. Der Nak^ibendi-Orden war in Kurdistan mindestens seit dem 17. Jahrhundert präsent. Bereits 1639 hatte der osmanische Sultan Murad IV. in Diyarbakir einen kurdischen Scheich hinrichten lassen, weil dieser zu einflussreich geworden war. Diesem Scheich wurden damals 40 000 Anhänger nachgesagt, und er stand unter dem Verdacht, eine Rebellion geplant zu haben (Bruinessen 1988). Die politische Rolle, die dieser Orden bei den Kurden spielte, scheint also eine lange Geschichte zu haben. Es gilt aber als sicher, dass der politische Einfluss des Ordens erst mit dem Auftreten von Maulana Khalid in dramatischer Weise zugenommen hat. Khalid war ein Kurde aus dem Bezirk §ehrezor in Südkurdistan, der in Indien in den Nak§ibendi-Orden eingeführt worden war. Nach seiner Rückkehr in den Irak um 1808 gewann er rasch eine grosse Gefolgschaft, zunächst unter den Kurden und später auch unter den Türken und Arabern. Sogar einige Kadiri-Scheichs baten darum, durch ihn in den Nak§ibendi- Orden eingeführt zu werden. Er belebte den Orden neu, und innerhalb weniger Jahrzehnte schlössen sich die meisten Nak§ibendis im Osmanischen Reich ihm und seinen Haiifen, Stellvertretern, a n . ' D Ausserordentlich gross ist die Anzahl der Haiifen, die er ernannte. Es sind nicht weniger als 67 bekannt, davon 33 Kurden (Hakim 1983,142). Maulana Khalid verbreitete den Orden wie ein dichtes Netz über ganz Kurdistan. Eine charismatische Persönlichkeit und die Art seiner Reformen innerhalb des Ordens waren zweifellos entscheidend für Khalids wachsende Popularität. Der Grund dafür, dass die Nak§ibendi-Scheichs seit dem späten 19. Jahrhundert eine wesentliche Rolle in der Politik zu spielen begannen, muss jedoch ausserhalb seiner Person gesucht werden.

Die osmanischen Reformen und ihre Auswirkung auf die Kurdische Gesellschaft Eine Analyse der verschiedenen Reformbewegungen im Osmanischen Reich ginge über den Rahmen dieses Aufsatzes hinaus. Ich werde mich deshalb auf einige Aspekte der Reformen beschränken, die für die Situation in den Ostprovinzen besonders relevant und von bedeutendem Einfluss auf die späteren Entwicklungen dort waren. Zunächst war sich die Bevölkerung bewusst, dass die Reformen aus der Schwäche des Reiches resultierten und ihm von den europäischen Mächten auferlegt worden waren. Sowohl die J

Hourani J972; Algar 1976; Hakim 1983; Abu-Manneh 1984.

162

M U L I. A S

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

zunehmende Zentralisierung, die die jahrhundertealte Autonomie der kurdischen Bezirke a u f h o b , als auch die M a s s n a h m e n zum Schutz der christlichen Minderheiten wurden als Versuche von seiten der Christen betrachtet, die traditionale islamische politische und soziale O r d n u n g zu zerstören. Der Widerstand gegen die R e f o r m e n besass im allgemeinen eine religiöse Komponente. Die Vervvaltungsorganisation in den kurdischen Provinzen war seit deren Inkorporation in das Osmanische Reich von der in anderen Teilen des Reiches verschieden gewesen. Viele Bezirke wurden nicht von zentral ernannten Statthaltern verwaltet, sondern von kurdischen Herrscherfamilien, denen osmanische Titel v erliehen worden waren und die tatsächlich weiterhin so gut wie u n a b h ä n g i g regierten. Die k u r d i s c h e n E m i r a t e , k l e i n e Territorialstaaten, w u r d e n so k o n s o l i d i e r t , und die M a c h t einiger — solchermassen von der Zentrale anerkannten — Herrscherfamilien über andere vergrösserte sich. Das Ausmass, in dem diese Emirate a u t o n o m waren, variierte und hing vielfach von den Beziehungen der kurdischen Herrscher zu den Provinzstatthaltern, denen die Emire theoretisch untergeordnet waren, und von den jeweiligen militärischen und ökonomischen Machtverhältnissen ab. Einige Emirate waren bereits im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert unter die Kontrolle der Zentrale gebracht worden. Als jedoch die Zentralregierung während des 18. Jahrhunderts an Effektivität verlor, hatten sich bereits andere kurdische S t a m m e s f ü h r e r zu faktisch unabhängigen Potentaten erhoben, in gleicher Weise wie die berühmteren Derebeys in Anatolien. Erst während der Herrschaft des Modernisierers Sultan M a h m u t I I . (1808-1839) wurden die betreffenden Bezirke unter zentrale Kontrolle gebracht und die ehemals autonomen Herrscher physisch aus ihren Gebieten entfernt. Die administrativ e Z e n t r a l i s i e r u n g f ü h r t e nicht u n m i t t e l b a r

zur

Befriedung dieser Bezirke; in einigen Fällen war vielmehr das Gegenteil der Fall. In den Emiraten

konnte der h e r r s c h e n d e E m i r g e w ö h n l i c h

G l e i c h g e w i c h t z w i s c h e n den v e r s c h i e d e n e n

S t ä m m e n seines

ein

Distrikts

aufrechterhalten. In Streitfällen wegen der Verteilung von Land und von Tieren, bei Diebstahl oder der Entführung von Frauen wurde seine Autorität als Mittler und Richter allgemein anerkannt. Seine Herrschaft war autokratisch und oft hart, im allgemeinen aber gerecht und bewahrte ein zufriedenstellendes Mass an Sicherheit. Die Beamten, die anstelle der Emire eingesetzt wurden, waren Fremde und schafften es häufig nicht, den Frieden und die Sicherheit aufrechtzuerhalten: Die Stämme erkannten häufig die Autorität der Beamten nicht an; manchmal kollaborierten die Regierungsvertreter bei Streitigkeiten auch

mit

einer

der

beiden

Parteien.

Alles

in

allem

scheinen

die

Stammeskonflikte sowohl in ihrer Häufigkeit als auch an Ernsthaftigkeit nach der Auflösung der Emirate zugenommen zu haben.

VOM

OS M A N I S M U S

ZUM

SEPARATISMUS

163

V o r d i e s e m H i n t e r g r u n d m ü s s e n das s c h n e l l e A n w a c h s e n des Nak§ibendi- Ordens und die zunehmend politische Rolle seiner Scheichs betrachtet werden. Die Scheichs, die sich in f r ü h e r von kurdischen Emiren beherrschten Bezirken niederliessen, ü b e r n a h m e n m a n c h e Funktionen als Mittler zwischen den Stämmen; einige Scheichs wurden weltliche Führer aus eigenem Recht. Dies war kein vollkommen neues P h ä n o m e n : Auch in der V e r g a n g e n h e i t waren bereits Scheichs mit politischem Einfluss auf die Stämme aufgetreten, doch wo es einen Emir gab, übertraf dessen Autorität die Macht des Scheichs. Das Verschwinden der Emire stellte eine Ursache f ü r den wachsenden Einfluss der Scheichs dar. Es gab aber noch einen weiteren, möglicherweise wichtigeren Grund: die zunehmenden Spannungen zwischen Muslimen und Christen. Im heutigen Nordirak und in der Osttürkei lebten grosse christliche Minderheiten unter den Kurden: Armenier, Nestorianer und Syrer ("Jakobiter"). Ihre Beziehungen zu den Kurden waren im allgemeinen ungleichseitig, aber friedlich. Die Mehrheit dieser Christen bestand aus Bauern, es gab aber auch christliche Handwerker oder Händler. In manchen Gegenden waren die christlichen Bauern faktisch Leibeigene der kurdischen Grundbesiter, deren Ländereien sie bearbeiteten; a n d e r s w o wiederum waren sie in mächtigen Stämmen organisiert und den Kurden völlig ebenbürtig. In der Ebene von Erzurum besassen die armenischen D o r f b e w o h n e r ihr e i g e n e s Land, und im W i n t e r k a m e n die kurdischen Nomaden herunter in die Dörfer, wo sie in den armenischen Häusern beherbergt wurden. Diese B e z i e h u n g besass sowohl symbiotische als auch parasitäre Züge. Häufig geschah es, dass kurdische Nomaden das Eigentum christlicher oder muslimischer Dorfbewohner stahlen. Dort, wo es einen mächtigen und gerechten Emir gab, blieb ein solcher Diebstahl nicht unbestraft, und es bestand Anspruch auf eine Entschädigung. Ein sehr wichtiger Aspekt der osmanischen Reformen waren der bessere S c h u t z und die grösseren Rcchte, die die europäischen M ä c h t e f ü r die christlichen Minderheiten forderten. Ausserdem wurden den europäischen und a m e r i k a n i s c h e n M i s s i o n a r e n grössere Freiheiten f ü r ihre Arbeit in den christlichen G e m e i n s c h a f t e n eingeräumt. Sowohl die Kurden als auch die Christen sahen in diesen Missionaren die Vorboten weiterer politischer und womöglich auch militärischer Interventionen seitens der christlichen Mächte zugunsten der ansässigen Christen

— eine d e u t l i c h e B e d r o h u n g

der

muslimischen Überlegenheit. Einige Konflikte gab es, als sich die christlichen Bauern, die sich durch die e u r o p ä i s c h e U n t e r s t ü t z u n g gestärkt f ü h l t e n , weigerten, die traditionale Grundpacht an ihre kurdischen Grundherren zu zahlen. Z u d e m forcierten einige Missionare den kurdischen Argwohn, als sie eine Art Festung, die als Krankenhaus und Kirche dienen sollte, errichteten. Über ihre jeweiligen Botschafter in Istanbul versuchten die Missionare — manchmal erfolgreich — Massnahmen gegen j e n e Stammesführer, die sich

164

MULLAS,

ihnen g e g e n ü b e r aggressiv

S Li F I S A N D

HE RETIC S

verhielten, zu veranlassen. Für die Kurden

bedeuteten die Verwaltungsreformen und die Aktivitäten der Missionare zwei Seiten derselben

M e d a i l l e , nämlich e i n e r e u r o p ä i s c h e n

Strategie

zur

Unterjochung der Muslime. 1 Die Beziehungen zw ischen den Kurden und ihren christlichen Nachbarn gestalteten sich allmählich feindseliger. Das A u f t a u c h e n des armenischen Nationalismus und Gerüchte über ein unabhängiges Armenien bildeten am Ende des Jahrhunderts eine logische Entwicklung und erhöhten die Spannungen zusätzlich. Die M u s l i m e hatten schon von den z w a n z i g e r Jahren

des

neunzehnten Jahrhunderts an mit Gewaltausbrüchen gegen die Christen darauf reagiert. Und da die S p a n n u n g e n und Konflikte zwischen Gruppen mit verschiedener Religion entstanden waren, erscheint es ganz naturlich, dass sich die Kurden hinter ihre religiösen Führer scharten. Einige Scheichs waren über den von ihnen befürchteten Niedergang des Islam tief beunruhigt, andere nutzten den religiösen Gegensatz in schlauer Weise aus, um politischen E i n f l u s s und M a c h t zu erringen. W i e d e r u m andere unterhielten

aber

freundschaftliche Beziehungen zu den christlichen Missionaren und schützten die örtlichen Christen vor der Wut der kurdischen Stammesangehörigen. Es wäre zu mechanistisch, wollte man die wachsende Bedeutung der Scheichs vollständig den durch die Missionsarbeit hervorgerufenen christlichmuslimischen Spannungen zuschreiben, doch kann eine Beziehung zwischen beiden Entwicklungen nicht abgestritten werden. Mit nur ein oder zwei Ausnahmen finden wir die politisch einflussreichsten Scheichs in Distrikten, in denen grosse christliche Minderheiten lebten und M i s s i o n e n intensiv gearbeitet hatten.

Der Aufstand des Bedir Khan Beg Als ein Beispiel kurdischer Reaktion auf diese Entwicklungen möchte ich den Aufstand des kurdischen Emirs Bedir Khan Beg skizzieren, weil einige Mitglieder seiner Familie später noch eine Rolle in der Vorphase der ScheichSaid-Rebellion spielen werden. Bedir Khan war der letzte herrschende Emir von Botan, einem der stärksten und bedeutendsten kurdischen Emirate, mit der Hauptstadt Cizre am Tigris. In einem der osmanischen Feldzüge gegen die fast unabhängigen kurdischen Herrscher wurde die Hauptstadt von einem starken Heer belagert, und der Emir musste sich 1838 ergeben. Seine B e f u g n i s s e wurden zwar stark beschnitten, er wurde aber nicht abgesetzt.

^Über die sich wandelnden Beziehungen zwischen Christen und Muslimen siehe Joseph 1961.

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Im f o l g e n d e n J a h r versetzten die ä g y p t i s c h e n T r u p p e n des Ibrahim Pascha, die Nordsyrien erreicht hatten, der osmanischen A r m e e einen schweren Stoss. Diesen R ü c k s c h l a g in den Zentralisierungsversuchen d e s O s m a n i s c h e n Reiches nutzte B e d i r Khan um seine f r ü h e r e Unabhängigkeit wiederzuerlangen und um weiteres Territorium zu erobern. Innerhalb weniger Jahre beherrschte er das ganze Gebiet zwischen Mardin und der persischen Grenze, und die meisten kurdischen S t a m m e s f ü h r e r w u r d e n zu Vassailen des Emirs. Diese Revolte fiel mit einer rapiden V e r s c h l e c h t e r u n g d e r B e z i e h u n g e n zwischen m u s l i m i s c h e n K u r d e n und den Christen der Region z u s a m m e n . Nach dem armenischen Autor S a f r a s t i a n ( 1 9 4 8 , 5 1 ) w a r n a c h d e r B e l a g e r u n g d e s B e d i r K h a n d u r c h die o s m a n i s c h e A r m e e 1838 ein g r o s s e r T r u p p von K u r d e n , A r m e n i e r n und Nestorianern von Hakkari z u m Entsatz des E m i r s ausgezogen, doch kam diese Hilfstruppe nicht rechtzeitig an. O f f e n s i c h t l i c h hoben regionale Loyalitäten die religiösen D i f f e r e n z e n noch auf. D o c h bald folgte ein M a c h t k a m p f zwischen B e d i r K h a n und den Missionaren. Der E m i r misstraute h e f t i g den Plänen d e r M i s s i o n a r e , und diese taten w e n i g , um ihn zu beschwichtigen. Als sich 1843 die N e s t o r i a n e r in Tiyari z u m ersten M a l weigerten, ihre j ä h r l i c h e n A b g a b e n an den Verbündeten des Bedir Khan, den Grundbesitzer von Hakkari, zu zahlen, wurden Stammestruppen

in das G e b i e t e n t s a n d t und v i e l e

Nestorianer

hingerichtet. D a s Massaker wurde später in einem anderen Bezirk wiederholt. L a y a r d , d e r b e r ü h m t e A r c h ä o l o g e und K o n s u l — d e r kein g r o s s e r Freund des B e d i r K h a n w a r — r ä u m t ein, d a s s das p r o v o z i e r e n d e V e r h a l t e n a m e r i k a n i s c h e r Missionare ein G r u n d f ü r die Gemetzel gewesen sei, er gibt die S c h u l d d a f ü r a b e r e i n d e u t i g d e m B e d i r K h a n und indirekt e i n e m f a n a t i s c h antichristlichen

S c h e i c h , d e r g r o s s e n E i n f l u s s auf den

Ernir

ausübte.

W a h r s c h e i n l i c h handelt es sich hierbei um den N a k § i b e n d i - S c h e i c h S a y y i d Taha, dessen Sohn Ubaidullah den oben erwähnten Aufstand von

1880

a n f ü h r t e . V o n d i e s e m Scheich wird berichtet, er h a b e die C h r i s t e n so sehr v e r a c h t e t , d a s s er b e i m A u s r e i t e n i m m e r einen Schleier g e t r a g e n h a b e , aus A n g s t , von den ungläubigen Blicken der Christen verdorben zu w e r d e n . 1 Ich n e h m e a n , er v e r a b s c h e u t e nicht s o s e h r d i e Christen an sich, s o n d e r n b e f ü r c h t e t e v i e l m e h r eine B e d r o h u n g seiner Religion. U n d d i e traditionale O r d n u n g w a r in d e r T a t b e d r o h t , w i e die f o l g e n d e n E n t w i c k l u n g e n d a n n zeigten. D i e M a s s a k e r verursachten einen Aufschrei des Entsetzens in E u r o p a , und die Briten und Franzosen z w a n g e n die osmanische R e g i e r u n g , Bedir K h a n zu bestrafen. Eine starke A r m e e w u r d e nach Cizre entsandt und der E m i r 1847 zur A u f g a b e g e z w u n g e n . Z u s a m m e n mit all seinen V e r b ü n d e t e n wurde er nach Istanbul gebracht und von dort a u s ins Exil geschickt. Der letzte V e r s u c h , den Glanz der alten Emirate Wiederaufleben zu lassen, war damit gescheitert. 2

' L a y a r d 1849, Bd I, 178f., 228f. 2

V g l . auch Joseph 1961; Bruinessen 1978, 222ff. sowie die darin angeführten Quellen.

166

MULLAS,

Die K u r d i s c h e n Regimenter

Stämme

SUFIS und

AND

HERETICS

der S u l t a n - K a l i f :

Die

Hamidiye-

Selbst auf dem Höhepunkt dieses Aufstandes erkannte Bedir Khan Beg den Sultan weiterhin als Souverän an, jedenfalls teilte er dies amerikanischen Besuchern mit. Diese Haltung war unter den meisten Stammeskurden bis zum Ende des Osmanischen Reiches vorherrschend. Trotz ihrer ernsthaften Probleme mit der Provinzverwaltung, trotz der Aufstände, die sie gegen die Regierung führten, stritten sie kaum, wenn überhaupt jemals, die Legitimität des Sultans ab. Das Kalifat besass für die Kurden eine grosse Bedeutung, und der zunehmende Gegensatz zwischen Muslimen und Christen verstärkte wahrscheinlich nur ihr eigenes Loyalitätsgefühl gegenüber dem Sultan-Kalifen. Sie identifizierten jedoch nie die Regierung mit dem Sultan. Scheich Ubaidullah wollte einen unabhängigen Staat gründen, weil die Bestechlichkeit und der Amtsmissbrauch der Provinzbeamten weithin als Missstand empfunden wurden. Er bat die Russen und Briten um Unterstützung, teilte aber gleichzeitig dem Sultan mit. dass er dessen Oberhoheit weiterhin anerkenne. Seine ambivalente Haltung gegenüber dem Sultan leuchtet auch ein, da er, anstatt einen unabhängigen Staat auf osmanischem Territorium zu gründen, seine Stammestruppen in das persische Kurdistan eindringen liess, um es zum Kerngebiet seines Staates zu machen. Es scheint, als ob der Sultan darin mit Ubaidullah stillschweigend übereingekommen sei — aus dem Wunsch heraus, den einflussreichen Scheich als Verbündeten gegen die G e f a h r eines armenischen Separatismus einerseits und das geheime Einverständnis zwischen Russen und Armeniern hinsichtlich der schwachen Nordostgrenze des Reiches andererseits zu behalten. Erst nachdem der Scheich und seine Gefolgsmänner von persischen Truppen über die Grenze zurückgeworfen worden waren und die Perser Druck in Istanbul ausübten, wurde der Scheich gefangengenommen und ins Exil geschickt. 1 Derselbe Sultan, Abdülhamit II. (1876-1909), entwickelte später unter Umgehung der osmanischen Bürokratie engere Verbindungen zu den kurdischen Stammen, nämlich durch die Gründung der Hamidiye-Regimenter, irreguläre K a v a l l e r i e e i n h e i t e n , die sich aus kurdischen S t ä m m e n unter deren Stammesoberhäuptern zusammensetzten. Diese Entwicklung lief der Tendenz früherer Reformen zuwider und gefiel weder den Europäern noch den reformbesessenen Bürokraten, die den Sultan als reaktionären Despoten betrachteten. Mehr oder weniger w u r d e dem Sultan diese Strategie aufgezwungen: Sie stellte einen Versuch fortgesetzter Zentralisierung mit anderen Mitteln dar. Die Bürokratie in der Provinz war ineffektiv, die Beamten waren entweder wegen ihrer Bestechlichkeit oder wegen ihrer Reformwütigkeit ' H a l f i n 1976, 9 5 f f . ; jvvaideh: 1 9 6 0 . 2 l 2 f f .

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bei den Kurden unbeliebt. Den Militärreformern war es nicht gelungen, genug Kurden in die A r m e e einzubeziehen. Die russische Bedrohung war ständig präsent; im Krieg von 1877 waren russische T r u p p e n in die Osttürkei eingedrungen, und als Resultat des Berliner Kongresses musste das Reich die Provinzen Batum und Kars an die Russen abtreten. W ä h r e n d der f o l g e n d e n J a h r z e h n t e begann sich der a r m e n i s c h e Nationalismus im Osten unter dem Einfluss von Propagandisten aus den russischen Teilen Armeniens auszubreiten. Sowohl die Russen als auch die Briten übten Druck auf die Regierung in Istanbul aus, die armenischen Interessen zu protegieren. Der Sultan e m p f a n d den

emporkommenden

Nationalismus seiner christlichen Untertanen auf dem Balkan und im Osten als imperialistische M a c h e n s c h a f t , um sein Reich noch mehr zu zerstückeln. Seine stärksten natürlichen Verbündeten waren die Kurden, die seine Besorgnis über die christlichen Absichten teilten. Die ersten Hamidiye-Regimenter wurden 1890 oder 1891 organisiert. Sie waren als irreguläre Streitkräfte gedacht, die bei Bedarf mobilisiert werden sollten. Die militärische Ausbildung fand in den Jahreszeiten statt, wenn die Feldarbeit abgeschlossen war. Die Grösse der Regimenter reichte von 500 bis zu Uber 1 0 0 0 Männern, die jeweils von einem Stamm rekrutiert wurden. M a n c h e grosse S t ä m m e bildeten mehr als ein Regiment. Im Austausch f ü r ihre militärischen Dienste waren diese S t ä m m e von verschiedenen Steuern ausgenommen. 1895 gab es 56 solcher Regimenter, wobei die meisten direkt dem Befehlshaber des vierten A r m e e k o r p s in Erzincan, dem Zeki Pascha, untergeordnet waren (nur fünf Regimenter fielen unter den Befehlsbereich in S y r i e n ) . J e d e s R e g i m e n t w u r d e von d e m j e w e i l i g e n S t a m m e s f ü h r e r k o m m a n d i e r t , der nur dem Zeki P a s c h a r e c h e n s c h a f t s p f l i c h t i g war. Die Provinzverwaltung und Justizgewalt besassen keine Befugnis über sie. Die G r ü n d u n g dieser Kavallerie änderte das M a c h t g l e i c h g e w i c h t zwischen den verschiedenen sozialen Gruppen im Osten entscheidend: zwischen den Kurden und Armeniern, wie beabsichtigt, aber auch zwischen den Kurden und der Provinzbürokratie sowie unter den Kurden selbst. Die Stammesführer, die mit ihren Stämmen zur Bildung der H a m i d i y e - R e g i m e n t e r ausgewählt wurden, konnten sicher sein, Macht auf Kosten ihrer weniger begünstigten Nachbarn zu e r w e r b e n . Sie bekamen nicht nur bessere W a f f e n und eine militärische A u s b i l d u n g , sondern konnten praktisch a u c h ihre N a c h b a r n ungestraft überfallen. Nachdem die ersten Regimenter gebildet worden waren, ersuchten viele Stammesführer darum, ebenfalls zur Aufstellung herangezogen zu werden.

168

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Opfer waren deutlich die Armenier. Die britischen Konsuln in Erzurum und

Diyarbakir

meldeten

häufig

armenische

Beschwerden

über

Gewaltmissbrauch und Raubzüge der Regimenter. Als 1894 die armenische Bevölkerung von Sasun rebellierte, sandte der Sultan Hamidiye-Regimenter zur Niederschlagung des A u f s t a n d e s aus. Die Folge davon war ein blutiges M a s s a k e r , und ähnliche Z w i s c h e n f ä l l e sollten auch a n d e r s w o f o l g e n . Allerdings waren die Armenier nicht lediglich die passiven und unschuldigen O p f e r des kurdischen oder muslimischen Fanatismus, wie sie in westlichen Publikationen häufig dargestellt werden. Die revolutionären armenischen Parteien Hunchak und besonders Dashnaksutiun, die in den achtziger Jahren des n e u n z e h n t e n J a h r h u n d e r t s gegründet w o r d e n waren, wurden im Osten zunehmend aktiv, wo viele örtliche Revolutionskomitees gebildet wurden. Als Konsequenz davon spannten sich die Beziehungen zwischen den Kurden und Armeniern äusserst an. Die Kurden betrachteten diese Unternehmungen als armenische Vorbereitungen zum Umsturz der bestehenden Ordnung und zur Errichtung der christlichen Vorherrschaft. Die H a m i d i y e - R e g i m e n t e r v e r ä n d e r t e n j e d o c h n i c h t n u r das Machtgleichgewicht zwischen Muslimen und Christen. Die Konsularberichte e r w ä h n e n auch eine Z u n a h m e an K o n f l i k t e n zwischen den kurdischen Stämmen. Die Kommandeure der Hamidiye waren durch Zeki Pascha und den Sultan selbst abgesichert. Im Falle schwerwiegender Oberschreitungen konnte man sie nicht vor ein Zivil-, sondern nur vor ein Militärgericht bringen, w o die Beschuldigungen dann meistens einfach fallengelassen wurden. Natürlich unternahmen die anderen Stammesführer alles, um ihre Position gegenüber den Stammesführern in den Regimentern zu verteidigen, was häufig zu Kämpfen führte. Ein Aspekt, der kaum beachtet worden ist, später aber politische Folgen hatte, war die Rekrutierung aller Hamidiye-Regimenter aus lauter sunnitischen Stämmen. Dieser Umstand schwächte die Position der alevitischen Kurden insgesamt und scheint zu Feindseligkeiten zwischen Aleviten und Sunniten geführt zu haben. Diesen Gesichtspunkt betont besonders Firat (1945), der selbst einem dieser kleinen alevitischen Stämme, den Hormek, angehörte, die in F e i n d s c h a f t mit den sunnitischen Cibran lebten. Letztere bildeten ein Hamidiye-Regiment und nahmen später aktiv an der Scheich-Said-Rebellion teil. Die kleinen alevitischen S t ä m m e , die sich durch die R e g i m e n t e r unterdrückt fühlten, neigten eher dazu, die Jungtürkische Revolution gegen Abdülhamit zu billigen und damit die spätere Säkularisierung zu unterstützen. Keiner von ihnen schloss sich dem Scheich-Said-Aufstand an; einige kämpften sogar gegen ihn, in Verteidigung der Republik, wie sie behaupteten.

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Gleichzeitig mit der Bildung der Hamidiye-Regimenter wurden die Kinder führender Familien der beteiligten S t ä m m e nach Istanbul zum Studium an der Militärakademie eingeladen. Sie sollten später die Befehlsgewalt über die Stammeseinheiten übernehmen. Auf diese Weise hoffte man, diese Regimenter ohne allzu viele Eingriffe in Stammesangelegenheiten zu modernisieren und langfristig ihre Loyalität gegenüber dem stehenden H e e r zu sichern. Als Nebeneffekt dieser Massnahme entstand eine Schicht gebildeter Männer aus dem Stammesmilieu, in der der kurdische Nationalismus Fuss fassen sollte. Die meisten der ursprünglichen Planer des Scheich-Said-Aufstandes gehörten dieser Schicht an. Nach der Jungtürkischen Revolution wurden die Hamidiye-Regimenter reorganisiert. Ihre Bezeichnung, die zu direkt mit Abdülhamit verbunden war, w u r d e in "Regimenter der Stämme" (a§iret alaylari) umgeändert, und bis zu einem gewissen Grad wurden sie in die Militärhierarchie der osmanischen A r m e e eingegliedert. Die Stammesregimenter sollten dann aktiv am Ersten Weltkrieg und im Unabhängigkeitskrieg teilnehmen. 1

Islam Oder Nationalismus? Die Zerstörung der Beziehungen zwischen Muslimen und Christen in N o r d k u r d i s t a n ist — wie a n g e f ü h r t — in erster Linie als A u s w i r k u n g z u n e h m e n d e r europäischer Intervention in regionale A n g e l e g e n h e i t e n zu verstehen. Für die gesamte kurdische Bevölkerung hatte dies ein wachsendes islamisches Bewusstsein zur Folge, dem m i n d e s t e n s einige p r o m i n e n t e Scheichs ihren eigenen politischen Einfluss verdanken. Das ganze neunzehnte Jahrhundert war eine Periode der politischen und ökonomischen Unsicherheit, und das mag die religiöse Haltung der Bevölkerung verstärkt und den Scheichs eine wichtige Rolle als Vermittler in allen Arten von Konflikten zugewiesen haben. Insgesamt war die Provinzbürokratie unbeliebt: in einigen Fällen, weil sie sich als korrupt erwies, in anderen, weil sie reformbesessen war und versuchte, die traditionale Ordnung einzureissen. Trotzdem genoss der Sultan z u m i n d e s t nominell noch Loyalität: A l s Kalif w a r er das Symbol der muslimischen Einheit. Vor allem Sultan Abdülhamit II., der sich selbst dem konservativen Islam der Sufi-Orden anschloss und der in seinen späten Jahren aktiv den Panislamismus propagierte, besass die Sympathien vieler, die den Islam bedroht sahen. Ober die Hamidiye-Regimenter etablierte er ausserdem ein p a t e r n a l i s t i s c h e s V e r h ä l t n i s zu den w i c h t i g s t e n k u r d i s c h e n

Stämmen;

häufig wurde er als "Vater der Kurden" bezeichnet. Nach der Jungtürkischen ' Z u den Hamidiye siehe auch: Duguid 1973; Kodaman 1979.

MULLAS.

170

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Revolution revoltierte einer der grössten Stämme, die Milli, zur Unterstützung des Sultans und lehnte die neue Obrigkeit a b (Bruinessen 1978, 237f.). Dies war ein Aufstand, der oberflächlieh dem des Scheich Said ähnelt, obwohl er weder religiöse noch nationalistische Züge trug. Obwohl die überblicksartige Darstellung einen anderen

Eindruck

vermitteln kann, war Kurdistan alles andere als eine monolithische Region. Es gab viele lokale Ausnahmen von den hier beschriebenen Mustern. So lässt sich feststellen, dass die Scheichs und S t a m m e s f ü h r e r im a l l g e m e i n e n antireformistisch und Russland und Grossbritannien g e g e n ü b e r feindlich eingestellt waren, einige jedoch aus opportunistischen Gründen dazu neigten, gute Beziehungen mit den Vertretern dieser Mächte zu unterhalten. Scheich Ubaidullahs

ambivalente

Haltung

ist

bereits

erwähnt

worden:

Als

muslimischer Führer verkündete er seine Loyalität gegenüber dem SultanKalifen, gleichzeitig ersuchte er aber die Russen und Briten um Unterstützung f ü r seinen unabhängigen Staat. Trotz Scheich Ubaidullahs Aufstand gab es keine Hinweise darauf, dass der Nationalismus die Kurden mobilisieren konnte. Sie reagierten auf den armenischen Nationalismus eher als Muslime denn als Kurden, und dies blieb auch während des Ersten Weltkrieges und des Unabhängigkeitskrieges so. Man war Scheich Ubaidullah als religiösem Führer mit grossem Einfluss auf die lokalen S t ä m m e und nicht als nationalem Führer gefolgt. Erst viel später wurde er zu einem Symbol der kurdischen nationalen Bestrebungen. In der liberalen Atmosphäre nach der Jungtürkischen Revolution gründeten kurdische Intellektuelle — die meisten von ihnen waren aristokratischer Abstammung — in Istanbul die ersten kurdischen Organisationen. Sowohl

kemalistische

Geschichtsschreiber

als auch

später

die

kurdischen Nationalisten stellen diese Organisationen (die unten ausführlicher behandelt werden) als separatistische dar, doch handelt es sich dabei um einen Anachronismus. Sie waren ursprünglich Wohlfahrtsorganisationen, die als ihre Ziele die Bildung und gegenseitige H i l f e der Kurden in der Hauptstadt ausgaben. Erst nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg formulierten sie Forderungen nach Autonomie und Unabhängigkeit. Bis zu diesem Zeitpunkt waren die Kurden mehr mit ihren Beziehungen zu den Armeniern und anderen Christen als zu den Türken beschäftigt. Im Ersten Weltkrieg entluden sich die bereits geschilderten Spannungen in gewaltsamen Massakern an den Armeniern, an denen nicht nur die türkische Armee, sonder auch viele Kurden teilnahmen — aber es gab auch kurdische Stammesführer, die die Armenier beschützten. Der Befreiungskrieg bedeutete im Osten in erster Linie einen Krieg gegen die Armenier, die einen unabhängigen Staat gründen wollten. Es war nur natürlich, dass viele Kurden an diesem Krieg teilnahmen, da er auch das Land betraf, das sie als das ihre betrachteten.

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Der Weltkrieg und der Befreiungskrieg In u n s e r e m R a h m e n können hier nur die gröbsten U m r i s s e der internationalen Entwicklungen, insofern sie die Ostprovinzen des Osmanischen Reiches berührten, skizziert werden. Das Reich trat auf deutsch-österreichischer Seite in den Krieg ein und erklärte Russland und Grossbritannien, die lange Zeit miteinander um den Einfluss im Osten konkurriert hatten, den Krieg. Der Sultan erklärte diesen Kampf formal zum Cihad, und die meisten Kurden schlössen sich dem islamischen Banner an. Ein junger kurdischer Offizier, der im Ausland gelebt und dort Nationalist geworden war, bemerkt in seinen Erinnerungen, dass keiner der Kurden an der Ostfront seiner Rede von der kurdischen Unabhängigkeit Gehör schenkte; sie dachten lediglich an den Islam und an die Loyalität gegenüber dem Kalifen (Silopi 1969, 38f.). 1915 o r d n e t e die j u n g t ü r k i s c h e R e g i e r u n g die D e p o r t a t i o n aller Armenier in den Ostprovinzen nach Syrien, weg von der russischen Grenze, an. Dieser Befehl eröffnete eine der dramatischsten Episoden in der Geschichte dieser R e g i o n . V i e l e A r m e n i e r w u r d e n n i e d e r g e m e t z e l t , e n t w e d e r von türkischen Truppen oder von der ansässigen kurdischen Bevölkerung, und noch mehr kamen auf dem W e g nach oder in Syrien durch Hunger oder Krankheiten um. Siebzig Jahre propagandistische Geschichtsschreibung durch Armenier und ihre Freunde oder durch Türken haben viel zur Verdunkelung der tatsächlichen E r e i g n i s s e b e i g e t r a g e n . 1 Es gibt keine überzeugenden Beweise f ü r eine tatsächliche Planung der Massaker durch die Regierung, doch es steht fest, dass viele Armenier von türkischen Truppen ermordet wurden. Die Gesamtzahl der hingerichteten Armenier muss sich auf mehrere Hunderttausend belaufen. Es lässt sich unmöglich herausfinden, wie bedeutsam die Rolle der Kurden dabei gewesen ist. In vielen Orten wurden armenisches Eigentum geplündert und Armenier hingerichtet, anderswo wurden sie von ihren kurdischen Nachbarn beschützt. Bevor alle Armenier deportiert waren, drangen russische Truppen in Ostanatolien ein und zwangen viele Kurden, in den Westen oder Süden zu fliehen. Die Anzahl der vertriebenen kurdischen Familien war enorm, und der soziale und ö k o n o m i s c h e Bruch, den diese Evakuierung verursachte, sollte noch Jahre später in der Region spürbar sein. Z u r selben Zeit rückte die britische Indien-Armee aus dem Südirak gegen Norden in Richtung auf die Ölfelder von K e r k u k vor. Nach der russischen Revolution hatten sich die russischen T r u p p e n z u r ü c k g e z o g e n und Nordostanatolien der Kontrolle der verbliebenen Armenier überlassen. 1918 eroberten osmanische

Truppen,

' z u r Übersicht und A u s w e r t u n g der k o n k u r r i e r e n d e n B e h a u p t u n g e n vgl. D y e r 1976; die wissenschaftlichste Darstellung vom armenischen Standpunkt aus gibt Hovanissian 1969; Shaw & S h a w 1 9 7 7 g e b e n e i n e g e m ä s s i g t e V e r s i o n d e r t ü r k i s c h e n S i c h t , w o b e i sie Volkszählungsdaten zur Schwächung der armenischen Behauptungen anführen.

172

MULLAS.

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AND

HF.RHTICS

unterstützt von kurdischen Landwehren, erneut das Gebiet, konnten jedoch den britischen Vormarsch nicht aufhalten. A l s am 19. Oktober

1918 der

Waffenstillstand unterzeichnet wurde, hatte das Reich seine arabischen Provinzen an die Alliierten verloren. Die Briten kontrollierten damit Südkurdistan. Die Sieger schienen überdies dazu entschlossen, die noch verbliebenen Ostprovinzen ebenfalls von der Türkei abzutrennen und sie in einen armenischen, einen griechischen £ a n der Schwarzmeerküste) und möglicherweise einen kurdischen Staat aufzuteilen. Besonders der Plan, die sogenannten "Sechs Provinzen" (Vilayet-i Sitte: Erzurum, Van, Bitlis Diyarbakir, Elazig und Sivas) in einen armenischen Staat umzuwandeln, führte zu heftigen kurdischen Reaktionen. Selbst vor ihrer Deportation hatten die Armenier weniger als zwanzig Prozent der Einwohner dieser Provinzen ausgemacht; in allen Provinzen ausser Erzurum und Sivas, die teilweise türkisch waren, bildeten die Kurden die überwiegende Mehrheit. Viele kurdische Stammesführer schlössen sich deshalb schnell dem Kampf zur Beibehaltung dieser Provinzen unter muslimischer Kontrolle an. Einige einflussreiche Kurden wurden 1919 zu den Kongressen in Erzurum und Sivas eingeladen, wo sich die kemalistische Bewegung zum ersten Mal organisierte. Die Kemalisten rivalisierten jedoch mit den Briten um die kurdische Loyalität: Letztere wollten den Kampf um die kurdischen Stammesführer mit Versprechungen zur Unabhängigkeit unter britischer Protektion gewinnen. Die Briten suchten Kontakte mit Stammesführern in Nordkurdistan; die Kemalisten standen wiederum in Verbindung mit Kurden im britisch beherrschten Irak, denen sie im Gegenzug Versprechungen machten. Beide propagierten besonders heftig in der ölreichen Provinz Mosul, zu der Kerkuk gehörte, wobei der Status dieser Provinz bis 1926 unentschieden blieb. Die Kurden, die nach Erzurum und Sivas kamen, sowie diejenigen, die später der Nationalversammlung angehörten, stammten alle aus Teilen, die zur gegenwärtigen Türkei gehören; es gab keinen Vertreter aus Mosul, obwohl der Nationale Pakt diese Provinz stillschweigend zu denjenigen rechnete, die als Teil der neuen Türkei verteidigt werden mussten. In den nordkurdischen Provinzen wirkte sich die britische Agitation, die von kurdischen Nationalisten getragen wurde, kaum auf Dauer aus. Als während der Friedenskonferenz in Paris ein Kurde auf der Forderung nach einem unabhängigen Kurdistan bestand, erhielten die Konferenzteilnehmer von vielen einflussreichen kurdischen Stammesführern Telegramme, in denen diese ihre Loyalität gegenüber der

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neuen Türkei ausdrückten. 1

Die Kurdischen Organisationen und ihre Tätigkeit Die erste kurdische Organisation, "Kürt Teavün ve Terakki Cemiyeti" (Kurdische Gesellschaft f ü r gegenseitige Hilfe und Fortschritt), wurde 1908 gleich nach der Jungtürkischen Revolution in Istanbul gegründet. Unter den Gründungsmitgliedern finden wir Scheich Ubaidullahs Sohn Sayyid Abdulkadir und Emin Ali Bedirkhan, das Oberhaupt des grossen Clans der Nachfahren von Bedir Khan. Said Nursi, oder Said Kurdi wie er sich damals noch selbst nannte, der bereits einen Ruf als muslimischer Denker besass, hatte sich ebenfalls dieser G e s e l l s c h a f t angeschlossen und schrieb religiöse Artikel f ü r ihre Zeitschrift (Gürsel 1977, 188). Er stand auch in engem Kontakt mit einer kurdischen Schule, die andere Mitglieder der Gesellschaft in Istanbul gegründet hatten. Die Organisation war nicht separatistisch, ihr Ziel bestand vielmehr in der kulturellen Förderung der Kurden innerhalb der osmanischen Gesellschaft. T r o t z d e m w u r d e sie 1912 verboten. Ihre Mitglieder blieben j e d o c h in ständigem Kontakt untereinander und veröffentlichten gelegentlich Artikel in anderen Zeitschriften. Der Kreis dieser Mitglieder wurde ausserdem durch den bedeutenden Denker und Publizisten Abdullah Cevdet wiederbelebt, der 1911 aus dem Exil in Kairo zurückkehrte. 2 In seiner Zeitschrift "igtihad" wurden mehrere Artikel zur kurdischen Frage veröffentlicht. Abdullah Cevdet hatte ursprünglich der jungtürkischen Bewegung angehört, doch seine nonkonformistischen Vorstellungen entfremdeten ihn ihrer Hauplströmung. Er war, zusammen mit Prinz Sabahettin, ein ausgesprochener B e f ü r w o r t e r des sogenannten "Dezentralistischen (adem-i merkeziyet) Flügels" der Bewegung. Bereits vor der Jungtürkischen Revolution hatte er die Ansicht verteidigt, die verschiedenen ethnischen Kulturen sollten alle gleichermassen protegiert und entwickelt werden, ausdrücklich eingeschlossen die christlichen Kulturen. Er war gegen politische Autonomie für die muslimischen Minderheiten, scheint aber eine Art föderalen Staat favorisiert zu haben (Hanioglu 1981, 202, 278). Möglicherweisen waren es diese Ideen, die ihn in Verbindung mit Said Nursi brachten, der ähnliche Vorstellungen hegte. 1908 v e r ö f f e n t l i c h t e "iftihad" einen Artikel von Said Nursi, in dem er sich f ü r die Hebung des ' G o l o g l u (1968-1974, Bd. III, 85ff.) zitiert solche Telegramme, die von kurdischen Notabein aus Erzincan, Diyarbakir, Siverek, Mardin, A d i y a m a n , Silvan, Hakkari, Van und Hasankaie unterzeichnet wurden. Die Namen der kurdischen Delegierten zu den Kongressen in Erzurum und Sivas sind angeführt in Selek 1982, Bd. I, 4 3 2 f f „ 443f., 628ff.; Gologlu 1968-1974 Bd III 321 ff. ' '

2

Zu Cevdet siehe K. Süssheims Artikel in der Enzyklopädie des Islams, Ergänzungsband, S. 5560; Hanioglu 1981; zu seinen kurdischen Aktivitäten Hanioglu 1981, 315ff.; Silopi 1969, 26ff.

174

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S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

kulturellen Niveaus der Kurden aussprach, aber darauf bestand, dass Kurden und Türken aufeinander angewiesen seien und sich nicht voneinander trennen sollten. Bei A b d u l l a h C e v d e t s Ruf als w e i t g e h e n d

antimuslimischem

Freidenker erscheint die Verbindung mit Said Nursi —sie arbeiteten noch einmal 1919 z u s a m m e n — auf den ersten Blick erstaunlich. Sie müssen einander

in

ihrem

Engagement

für

den

Osmanismus

und

den

w i s s e n s c h a f t l i c h e n Fortschritt sowie in ihrem W u n s c h , ihre kurdischen Gefährten weiterzubilden, gefunden haben. Lediglich als Reaktion auf den zunehmenden Chauvinismus der türkischen Nationalisten nahmen sie später einen gemässigten separatistischen Standpunkt ein. Die kurdische S t u d e n t e n v e r e i n i g u n g H6vi ( H o f f n u n g ) , die

1912

gegründet wurde, besass jüngere und radikalere Mitglieder. Die meisten von ihnen stammten aus städtischen Notabelnfamilien und waren der kurdischen Dorfbevölkerung ziemlich entfremdet. Ihnen fehlte der Einfluss solcher Leute wie der der Bedirkhane, des Sayyid Abdulkadir oder des Said Nursi. Als sie sich als R e a k t i o n

auf den z u n e h m e n d e n

türkischen

Nationalismus

einem

ausdrücklich kurdischen Nationalismus mit separatistischen Forderungen zuwandten, blieb dies ohne A u s w i r k u n g auf die kurdische G e s e l l s c h a f t insgesamt. Als der Krieg ausbrach und die meisten Hevi-Mitglieder der Armee beitreten mussten, brach die Organisation auseinander. Bald nach dem Waffenstillstand wurde eine neue kurdische Organisation in Istanbul gegründet, die Kürt Teali Cemiyeti (Gesellschaft zur Förderung der Kurden). Einer ihrer Gründer war Said Nursi, ihr Vorsitzender wiederum Sayyid Abdulkadir, der einflussreichste kurdische Führer, ihr erster stellvertretender Vorsitzender Emin Ali Bedirkhan; die anderen Mitglieder des Ausschusses repräsentierten eine breitere soziale Schicht als in der früheren Organisation, und sie kamen aus Süd- und Nordkurdistan. Darunter befanden sich gebildete Mitglieder der städtischen und tribalen Familien, der Ulema und ein Mitglied der Familie berühmter Nak^ibendi-Scheichs Arvasi. 1 Für Mitte 1919 gab die Kürt Teali Cemiyeti eine Mitgliederzahl von 10 000 allein in Istanbul an. Als ihre Ziele nannte sie "die W a h r n e h m u n g der allgemeinen Interessen der Kurden und die Förderung der nationalen Sache..", und

die

beabsichtigten

Mittel

zu d i e s e m

Zweck

bestanden

in

der

Veröffentlichung von Zeitschriften und Büchern, der Einrichtung von Schulen und verschiedenen Formen der Erwachsenenbildung. 2 Die E r w ä h n u n g von Unabhängigkeit oder Autonomie wurde sorgfältig vermieden. Die Gesellschaft verfolgte scheinbar nur soziale und kulturelle Ziele, sie erklärte sich selbst nie • s i l o p i 1969, 52ff.; Yamülki 1946, 67f.; Komal 1975, 27ff. Eine wichtige Quelle f ü r diesen Zeitraum bilden die Akten des Britischen Auswärtigen Amtes im Public Records O f f i c e ( P R O ) in London. Die weiter unten aufgeführten Dokumente stammen alle aus der Serie F O 371. 2 Public Records Office. London (PRO), file FO 371, 1919, M E 4 4 / 9 1 0 8 2 / 3 0 5 0 .

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ö f f e n t l i c h zugunsten einer kurdischen U n a b h ä n g i g k e i t , doch viele ihrer Mitglieder hegten zweifellos diese Vorstellung. Sayyid Abdulkadir, der auch Mitglied des osmanischen Senats war, blieb standhafter Osmane und dem Kalifen in strikter Loyalität verbunden. Und Sayyid Abdulkadir war die Person mit der grössten persönlichen Autorität: Die Kurden aus der Unterschicht betrachteten ihn als ihren Vertreter, und auch von den Stämmen im Osten wurde er allgemein anerkannt. Radikalere Mitglieder der Gesellschaft, die spürten, dass die internationale Situation günstig für die G r ü n d u n g eines kurdischen Staates war, versuchten inzwischen, in den Ostprovinzen Unterstützung f ü r ihre Idee zu gewinnen. Die "Vierzehn Punkte", die der amerikanische Präsident Wilson während des Krieges formuliert hatte, versprachen allen vom Krieg in Mitleidenschaft gezogenen Völkern das Recht auf Selbstbestimmung, und die Briten waren an einem kurdischen Pufferstaat zwischen den besetzten Teilen des Irak und den Türken interessiert. Die G e s e l l s c h a f t bildete O r t s g r u p p e n in e i n i g e n M i t t e l - und Grossstädten des Ostens, nämlich in Elazig, Malatya, Mu§ und Diyarbakir (Gürsel 1977, 44). Die aktivste Gruppe befand sich in Diyarbakir, einer Stadt mit gemischter türkischer und kurdischer — f r ü h e r auch armenischer — Bevölkerung, die schon immer ein lebendiges intellektuelles Klima besessen hatte. Einige frühere Hevi-Mitglieder beherrschten hier die kurdische Szene, doch auch die Sympathisanten der Jungtürken waren stark. Der einflussreiche Z i y a G ö k a l p , ein K u r d e , der einer der C h e f i d e o l o g e n des türkischen Nationalismus geworden war, stammte aus Diyarbakir, wie auch einige der ersten Organisatoren des kemalistischen Widerstandes. Der Kurdische Klub in Diyarbakir äusserte sich freimütiger nationalistisch zur Forderung der Kurden als die Gesellschaft in Istanbul, erwies sich aber als weniger einflussreich auf die S t ä m m e im umliegenden Land. Insgesamt waren die Kurden im Osten m e h r mit der B e d r o h u n g , ein a r m e n i s c h e r Staat könne auf ihrem Land gegründet werden, beschäftigt. Die Appelle der Kemalisten an eine türkischkurdische Bruderschaft unter der Ägide des Kalifats zeitigten grösseren Erfolg als irgendwelche nationalistische Appelle der Kurden. Im Herbst 1919 wurde der britische Major Noel von Bagdad abgesandt, um sich einen Überblick über die Situation in Kurdistan zu verschaffen und um

die

kurdische

Stimmungslage

im

Hinblick

auf

eine

nationale

Unabhängigkeit zu erkunden. Er war streng auf die Idee eines kurdischen Staates fixiert und versuchte Leute mit ausreichend Popularität oder Einfluss ausfindig zu machen, die einen solchen Staat — unter britischer Protektion — f ü h r e n konnten. Seine Berichte verdeutlichen, dass die Kurden f ü r die D u r c h f ü h r u n g e i n e s solchen V o r h a b e n s zu gespalten w a r e n . Um kemalistischen

Bewegung entgegenzuwirken, deren Organisierung

Osten damals begann, schlug er vor, die Istanbuler Regierung solle

der im

kurdische

176

MULLAS

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

Nationalisten zu P r o v i n / g o u v e r n e u r e n ernennen. Noels A n w e s e n h e i t in Malatya in Begleitung u>n j u n g e n Mitgliedern der Kiirt Teali Cemiyeti in Istanbul, die zeitlich mit dem Kongress von Sivas zusammenfiel, erweckte den Eindruck, er wolle die lokalen Stämme zum Angriff auf den Kongress und auf Mustafa Kemal hetzen. Hs wurden Truppen nach ihm ausgesandt und Kurden von kemalistischen Beamten festgenommen und ins Gefängnis geworfen. Ein Aufstand der Stämme kam niemals zustande. Dieser Vorfall brachte die Briten in grosse Verlegenheit; die Franzosen, die durch die Kemalisten davon hörten, verübelten ihnen dies als zu aktive Intervention. Mustafa Kemal selbst bezieht sich auf diesen Vorfall in seiner grossen Rede von 1927.' Tatsächlich hat danach der a n t i k e m a l i s t i s c h e G o u v e r n e u r von Elazig, Ali Galip Bey, vom Sultan die O r d e r erhalten, Mustafa Kemal mit Hilfe der kurdischen Stämme zu verhaften, und er brachte zu diesem Zweck tatsächlich b e w a f f n e t e S t a m m e s a n g e h ö r i g e z u s a m m e n . Anstatt

geradewegs

nach

Sivas

zu

marschieren,

gingen

diese

S t a m m e s m i t g l i e d e r zuerst nach M a l a t y a , wo ein Mitglied der F a m i l i e Bedirkhans Gouverneur war. Den Kemalisten loyal ergebene Truppen schlugen diesen sogenannten A u f s t a n d , in dem sie die G e f a h r einer kurdischen nationalistischen

Erhebung

unter britischen

Auspizien

witterten,

mit

Leichtigkeit nieder (Erdeha 1975, 125ff.). Da ihnen genügend Einfluss auf die kurdische Bevölkerung fehlte, w a r e n die N a t i o n a l i s t e n g e z w u n g e n , ihre S a c h c über d i p l o m a t i s c h e B e m ü h u n g e n voranzutreiben. Vertreter der Kürt Teali Cemiyeti statteten einigen Botschaften Besuche ab, um die kurdischen Interessen zu verteidigen, und — was noch wichtiger war — man entsandte einen Vertreter, §erif Pascha, zur Friedenskonferenz. §erif, ein Kurde aus aristokratischer Familie, war ein osmanischer Diplomat gewesen und lebte im Exil in Frankreich. Auf der Konferenz erzielte er eine Übereinkunft mit dem armenischen Unterhändler, Boghos Nubar Pascha, über die Teilung der Ostprovinzen in ein armenisches und ein kurdisches Territorium. Daraus resultierend sollte der Vertrag von Sevres eine Klausel enthalten, die die G r ü n d u n g eines kurdischen Staates offenhielt. Als im Februar 1920 §erif Paschas Übereinkunft mit den Armeniern bekannt wurde, rief dies ernsthafte Meinungsverschiedenheiten in der Kürt Teali Cemiyeti hervor, die bis dahin noch niemals offen die Unabhängigkeit gefordert hatte. Sayyid Abdulkadir gab eine Stellungnahme ab, in der er die Funktion §erif Paschas als Vertreter der Kürt Teali Cemiyeti bestätigte, die

' v e r g l e i c h e Golo(lu 1968-1974. Bd. II, 123f.; Noels eigener Bericht ist zu finden in PRO, FO 371, 1919: 4 4 A / 129887; und 134740/3050; die Version der Brüder K a m r a n und Celadet Bedirkhan, die Noel begleiteten, in Chirguh 1930, 29.

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SEPARATISMUS

B e d e u t u n g der Ü b e r e i n k u n f t j e d o c h herunterspielte: Es g e b e keine kurdischtürkische Uneinigkeit, erklärte er, und m a n f o r d e r e nicht m e h r als A u t o n o m i e . D i e s e Erklärung f ü h r t e zu einem Bruch in der Gesellschaft. Einige Mitglieder v e r l i e s s e n sie; d i e B e d i r k h a n s b l i e b e n z u n ä c h s t und v e r s u c h t e n

Sayyid

Abdulkadir abzusetzen. Die kurdischen Gilden, die die ü b e r w i e g e n d e Mehrheit der

Kurden

in

Istanbul

repräsentierten,

erklärten

Abdulkadir

ihre

b e d i n g u n g s l o s e Unterstützung. Die Mitglieder, die das Kalifat ablehnten o d e r nationalistischer eingestellt waren, fielen danach ebenfalls von der G e s e l l s c h a f t a b und gründeten ihre eigenen Organisationen. 1 D a s B r i t i s c h e H o c h k o m m i s s a r i a t in Istanbul m e r k t e a n , d a s s viele k u r d i s c h e intellektuelle protürkischer als sogar A b d u l k a d i r selbst w a r e n . Es wertete den

Bruch

in d e r O r g a n i s a t i o n

als E r g e b n i s

der

türkischen

B e m ü h u n g e n , eine Spaltung z w i s c h e n den Mitgliedern d e r G e s e l l s c h a f t und §erif P a s c h a zu f o r c i e r e n . D i e kurdischen Nationalisten schrieben später den Bruch in erster Linie Sayyid A b d u l k a d i r s K o n s e r v a t i s m u s und seiner blinden Loyalität g e g e n ü b e r d e m Kalifat zu. Die wichtigste der neuen O r g a n i s a t i o n e n w u r d e die Te§kilat-i îçtimaiyye (Kurdische Soziale Liga), die die Briten im Mai 1920 von i h r e r G r ü n d u n g i n f o r m i e r t e . U n t e r ihren G r ü n d u n g s m i t g l i e d e r n befanden sich Abdullah Cevdet und Celadet Bedirkhan. 2 Die unterschiedlichen Ansichten über die kurdischen Interessen lähmten die kurdischen Organisationen. Der Vertreter der Istanbuler R e g i e r u n g bei der F r i e d e n s k o n f e r e n z w a r gewillt, d e r F o r d e r u n g nach e i n e m

unabhängigen

K u r d i s t a n z u z u s t i m m e n und schloss eine i n f o r m e l l e V e r e i n b a r u n g mit §erif Pascha über die Grenzen eines solchen Staates. Dieser sollte aus den Provinzen V a n , Bitlis, M a l a t y a , D e r s i m und Teilen Diyarbakirs und Elazigs b e s t e h e n . 3 Es fällt a u f , dass die von den Briten weitgehend besetzte Provinz Mosul nicht e r w ä h n t wird. Einige W o c h e n später schrieb Sayyid A b d u l k a d i r einen Protestbrief an das Britische H o c h k o m m i s s a r i a t , in dem er ein grösseres Gebiet f ü r den kurdischen Staat beanspruchte. 4 Dies zeigt erneut, dass sich Abdulkadir z w a r den armenischen A n s p r ü c h e n widersetzte, aber nicht u n b e d i n g t zugunsten eines unabhängigen kurdischen Staates. Zu d i e s e m Zeitpunkt konnte die Istanbuler R e g i e r u n g j e d o c h nicht m e h r als V e r t r e t u n g der Türkei angesehen werden. Die K e m a l i s t e n hatten bereits mit beträchtlicher k u r d i s c h e r U n t e r s t ü t z u n g ihre e r f o l g r e i c h e G e g e n r e g i e r u n g in A n k a r a gebildet. Sie erkannten den Vertrag von Sèvres niemals an. Die Briten und A m e r i k a n e r verloren ebenfalls bald ihr Interesse an einem kurdischen

1 2

4

FO 371,1920: E 5063/11/44.

F O 371,1920: E 6148/11/44.

3

F 0 371, 1920: E 6437/11/44. FO 371, 1920: E 8555/11/44.

178

MULLAS.

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AND

HERETICS

Staat, da sie andere Wege gefunden hatten, um ihre Ansprüche auf die Ölfelder Mosuls wahrzunehmen. Als mit der Zeit mehr Kurden tatsächlich einen eigenen Staat wünschten, war die internationale Situation für einen solchen nicht mehr günstig. Nach 1920 hört man nicht mehr viel von den in Istanbul gegründeten kurdischen Organisationen. Hinige von ihnen sollten später mit der kurdischen Liga Hoybun verschmelzen, die im syrischen Exil operierte. Ihre Rolle im Scheich-Said-Aufstand war äusserst marginal. Hoybun spielte eine Rolle in der Organisierung eines späteren kurdischen Aufstandes, der von 1928 bis 1930 in den Bezirken um den Ararat stattfand. Zu dieser Zeit hatte Hoybun eine Zusammenarbeit mit der armenischen Organisation Dashnak begonnen, die ihr logistische Hilfe gewährte. Die Organisation betätigte sich aktiv auch im kulturellen Bereich; ihre Mitglieder gaben eine Zeitschrift mit dem Titel "Hawar" heraus, die einen entscheidenden Part in der Entwicklung des Kurdischen als Schriftsprache spielte. 1923 wurde jedoch eine neue kurdische Organisation gebildet, die von einem anderen Typ von Menschen, nämlich Offizieren, angeführt wurde. Diese Organisation, die "Azadi" ("Freiheit") genannt wurde, war im ländlichen Osten und nicht in den grossen Städten verankert. Sie spielte in der Scheich-SaidRebellion eine entscheidende Rolle.

Die internationalen Entwicklungen Nach dem Waffenstillstand war Transkaukasien von den türkischen Truppen geräumt und von den Briten besetzt worden, die es 1919 den drei bürgerlichen Republiken Armenien, Georgien und Aserbeidschan, die damals gegründet wurden, vermachten. Die armenische Regierung versuchte ihr Territorium bis nach Anatolien hinein auszuweiten, wurde aber mit heftigem muslimischen Widerstand konfrontiert. Eine kemalistische O f f e n s i v e im September 1920 warf die armenischen Truppen in den Kaukasus zurück, und im Dezember 1920 unterzeichnete die stark verkleinerte armenische Republik einen Friedensvertrag mit der Regierung in Ankara. Im April 1921 eroberten die Bolschewisten Armenien, und einige Monate später unterzeichnete Ankara eine neue Vereinbarung mit den bolschewistischen Regierungen der transkaukasischen Republiken, wonach Kars und Ardahan an die Türkei abgetreten wurden. Die Möglichkeit der Z u o r d n u n g von k u r d i s c h e m Territorium an Armenien wurde damit endgültig ausgeschlossen, und einer der

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wichtigsten Faktoren, die Kurden und Türken geeint hatten, bestand nicht mehr. 1 O f f e n blieb die Frage nach dem Status der Provinz Mosul, die den grössten Teil S ü d k u r d i s t a n s u m f a s s t e . G e m ä s s den B e d i n g u n g e n des Waffenstillstandes mussten die türkischen Truppen diese Provinz ebenfalls räumen, doch die Kemalisten beanspruchten sie von A n f a n g an als einen integralen Teil der Türkei, die sie im "Nationalen Pakt" (Misak-i Milli) als all dasjenige Territorium definierten, das von einer nichtarabischen muslimischen Mehrheit bewohnt wird. Das Hauptinteresse aller beteiligten Parteien galt wohl den reichen Ö l v o r k o m m e n in dieser Provinz. Die T u r k i s h Petroleum C o m p a n y , die vollständig in die Hände der Briten geraten war, nachdem diese den deutschen Anteil von 25 Prozent als Kriegsbeute konfisziert hatten, besass den grössten A n s p r u c h auf die Ölquellen. Es bestand j e d o c h auch noch ein älterer, konkurrierender amerikanischer Anspruch, die Chester-Konzession. Die Briten waren natürlich nicht gewillt, die Ölfelder an die Türken abzutreten, und dies war wohl der H a u p t g r u n d d a f ü r , dass sie den kurdischen N a t i o n a l i s m u s umwarben. Ein kurdischer Staat unter britischer Protektion erschien ihnen zunächst als beste Sicherung ihrer Ölinteressen. Als sie h e r a u s f a n d e n , dass die meisten einflussreichen kurdischen Nationalisten wenig Loyalität gegenüber Grossbritannien zeigten und sich statt dessen den muslimischen Brüdern in der Türkei enger verbunden fühlten, wurde die Idee, Mosul endgültig dem Irak anzugliedern, zunehmend gebilligt. Auf der K o n f e r e n z in San R e m o im April 1920 erhielt Frankreich eine Beteiligung von 25 Prozent an der Turkish Petroleum C o m p a n y , wodurch von nun an seine Unterstützung der britischen Mosul-Politik g e w ä h r l e i s t e t war. Die A m e r i k a n e r protestierten j e d o c h heftig gegen diese V e r e i n b a r u n g , die sie vollkommen überging. Sie unterstützten die Regierung in A n k a r a , die die G e n e h m i g u n g der Turkish Petroleum C o m p a n y als ungültig ansah. Einige Jahre lang unterstützten die Amerikaner deshalb die kemalistischen Ansprüche auf Mosul, und mit Sicherheit waren sie an der Gründung eines kurdischen Staates nicht interessiert. Nach u m f a n g r e i c h e m diplomatischen Austausch erhielten sie 1922 schliesslich eine Beteiligung von zwanzig Prozent an der Turkish Petroleum Company. 2

' E i n e n ausführlichen Überblick über die Entwicklungen in Transkaukasien bietet Walker 1980 243ff. Zur Strategie der Briten, Franzosen und A m e r i k a n e r gegen die Kurden und hinsichtlich der Ölquellen in Mosul vergleiche Shaw 1976.

MULLAS

180

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HERETICS

Von nun an kam die einzige ausländische Unterstützung, die die Kemalisten f ü r ihre Ansprüche auf Mosul erhielten, von der Sowjetunion. Die Regierung in Ankara weigerte sich j e d o c h , die Provinz herzugeben, und im Vertrag von Lausanne, der 1923 zwischen der neuen Türkei und den Alliierten abgeschlossen wurde, blieb der Status M o s u l s unentschieden. Man einigte sich, dass der Völkerbund die Sache in die Hand nehmen und über den endgültigen Status in Übereinstimmung mit den Wünschen der Bevölkerung entscheiden sollte. Sowohl die Briten als auch die Türken intensivierten daraufhin ihre Propaganda in der Provinz. Die Briten versprachen weiterhin eine halbe Unabhängigkeit. Scheich M a h m u d Barzanji, der früher gegen die Briten rebelliert hatte, bekam, um den türkischen Einfluss zu konterkarieren, erneut eine offizielle Funktion als G o u v e r n e u r über einen grossen Teil Kurdistans. Der Scheich verstand sich aber nicht nur als Gouverneur: Er bildete seine eigene, von den Briten unabhängige Regierung und knüpfte Kontakte zu den Türken. Die Briten bombardierten daraufhin seine Hauptstadt Sulaimania und schlügen die Truppen des Scheichs über die persische Grenze zurück. All dies kann in der Bevölkerung Mosuls keinen grossen Wunsch nach einem Anschluss an den Irak geweckt haben, und die türkische Propaganda nutzte die Unzufriedenheit mit der britischen Herrschaft aus; die Regierung in Ankara versprach eine bessere Behandlung für den Fall, dass sich die Kurden f ü r einen Anschluss an die Türkei entschieden. Zum Zeitpunkt, als der Scheich-Said-Aufstand ausbrach, war der Status der Provinz noch immer unentschieden, und eine internationale Kommission des Völkerbundes besuchte gerade Mosul, um die Wünsche der Bevölkerung zu sondieren. Der Aufstand und seine harte Niederschlagung müssen den Briten deshalb äusserst willkommen gewesen sein. Es ist verständlich, dass die Türken die Briten als Drahtzieher des Aufstandes verdächtigten und dass die Sowjetunion ähnliche Anklagen vorbrachte. In den britischen Archiven gibt es jedoch keinen Hinweis darauf, dass die Briten tatsächlich eine Rolle bei der Anzettelung spielten, obwohl sie darüber informiert waren, dass irgendein kurdischer Aufstand bevorstand. Die Kommission des Völkerbundes zog beiläufig den Schluss, dass sowohl die W ü n s c h e der B e v ö l k e r u n g s m e h r h e i t als auch wirtschaftliche Erwägungen eher für einen Anschluss an den Irak als f ü r eine Eingliederung in die Türkei sprechen würden. Die K o m m i s s i o n f ü g t e aber hinzu, dass eine M a s s n a h m e in R i c h t u n g A u t o n o m i e höchst w ü n s c h e n s w e r t wäre. Der V ö l k e r b u n d n a h m den B e f u n d der K o m m i s s i o n an, und die Türkei war gezwungen, ihre Ansprüche aufzugeben. Im Juni 1926 unterzeichnete Ankara ein entsprechendes Übereinkommen mit dem Irak und Grossbritannien und

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erhielt als Gegenleistung eine Zusage über zehn Prozent der Öl gewinne, die der Irak in den nächsten 25 Jahren erzielen sollte. 1

Die Anfänge der Entfremdung zwischen Kurden und Türken Im Osmanischen Reich waren und verstanden sich Kurden und Türken immer als Mitglieder derselben sunnitisch-muslimischen Millet, im Gegensatz zu den

anderen,

christlichen

und j ü d i s c h e n

Millets. Der

ethnische

N a t i o n a l i s m u s hatte im f r ü h e n z w a n z i g s t e n J a h r h u n d e r t i n n e r h a l b der Bildungseliten beider Gruppen Fuss gefasst, Hess die Massen j e d o c h so gut wie unberührt. Im Befreiungskrieg blieben die Türken und Kurden vor allem durch ihren g e m e i n s a m e n W i d e r s t a n d gegen die d r o h e n d e

christliche

Vorherrschaft und die gemeinsame Loyalität gegenüber dem Sultan-Kalifen geeint. Die Tatsache, dass der Sultan die kemalistische B e w e g u n g zunächst bekämpfte, zählte nicht wirklich, da allgemein angenommen wurde, dass die siegreichen Alliierten ihn dazu zwangen. In seinen zahlreichen Briefen und Telegrammen an kurdische Stammesund religiöse Führer betonte Mustafa Kemal immer wieder die Brüderlichkeit zwischen Kurden und Türken und beteuerte, dass der Krieg zur Verteidigung des Kalifats geführt werde. Die Kemalisten kooptierten sogar viele kurdische Intellektuelle, die von nationalistischen Ideen beeinflusst worden waren, mit V e r s p r e c h u n g e n einer administrativen Dezentralisierung und kulturellen Autonomie. So berichtete ein britischer Beamter nach einer Unterredung mit kurdischen Nationalisten, dass diese von den Alliierten enttäuscht seien, die, wie sie fühlten, die Teilung des kurdischen Territoriums beabsichtigten. "Sie haben sich deshalb den Jungtürken zugewandt, die ihnen ein a u t o n o m e s Kurdistan a n b o t e n , das der allgemeinen Autorität des Sultans und des türkischen Parlaments, in dem die Kurden vertreten sein w ü r d e n , u n t e r w o r f e n sein sollte. D i e G o u v e r n e u r s p o s t e n , die Gendarmerie und die Verwaltungsstellen sollten von Kurden besetzt werden. D e r Hauptteil der E i n n a h m e n würde in Kurdistan selber ausgegeben werden, ein gewisser Teil sollte an die Staatskasse gehen. Den Kurden sollte es freigestellt sein, ausländische Berater in solchen Departments, in denen sie es f ü r wünschenswert hielten, hinzuzuziehen, aber der Staat würde endgültig ein integraler Staat des türkischen Reiches bleiben". 2

^Longrigg: 1953, 144ff.; Melek: 1983. F O 371, 1919:44A/112202/3050.

2

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182

S U Hl S A N D

HF.RETICS

Mit der K o n s o l i d i e r u n g der k e m a l i s t i s c h e n

H e r r s c h a f t fiel die

armenische Bedrohung weg. und die zweite bindende Institution, das Kalifat, erlitt mit der Gründung der Republik 1923 den ersten Schlag. Die Abschaffung des Kalifats im folgenden Jahr erlebten viele Kurden als Schock. Das alte Misstrauen gegen die Reformer, die zu stark in die lokalen Angelegenheiten eingriffen, war wieder genauso stark wie seinerzeit unter Sultan Abdülhamit. Nachdem jetzt die Reformer die volle Kontrolle über den Staat übernommen hatten, beraubten sie ihn in den Augen vieler Kurden (und Türken) seiner Legitimität.

Die S c h l i e s s u n g

der t r a d i t i o n e l l e n

islamischen

Schulen

(Medresen) und besonders die Verwaltungs- und Steuerreformen, die die Regierung vornahm, trugen zu wachsenden Ressentiments gegen das neue Regime bei. Spezifisch kurdische Beschwerden wurden lauter, und das G e f ü h l , diskriminiert zu werden, machte sich breit. M a n c h e Vorfälle wurden nun in einem anderen Licht gesehen. Nach dem Krieg war die B e h a n d l u n g der kurdischen Flüchtlinge, die nach dem R ü c k z u g der türkischen A r m e e gezwungen waren, die Ostprovinzen zu verlassen, ziemlich unfreundlich gewesen. 1919 war — offensichtlich von der Istanbuler R e g i e r u n g — angeordnet worden, dass sie sich in Gruppen von nicht mehr als 300 Personen, getrennt von ihren Stammes- und Religionsführern, aufteilen und über die Provinzen im Westen verstreut weniger als fünf Prozent der j e w e i l i g e n örtlichen B e v ö l k e r u n g bilden sollten. 1 E i n e m S t a m m e s f ü h r e r , der um Erlaubnis gebeten hatte, seine Leute zu sammeln und mit ihnen in den Osten zurückzukehren, war dies offenbar verboten worden (Yamülki: 1946, 70f.). Rückblickend interpretierten manche dies als einen Versuch, die Kurden zu zerstreuen und zu assimilieren. Nach 1922 sprachen die Kemalisten nicht mehr von der kurdisch-tiirkisehen B r u d e r s c h a f t , sondern allein von den Wünschen und Rechten der Türken. Die Bürokratie erfasste nun offensichtlich ein ansteckender türkischer Nationalismus. Kurden sowie andere Minderheiten werden im Wortlaut der Verfassung von 1924 nicht erwähnt: Sie wurde als "Verfassung der Türken" bezeichnet, sprach von den "Rechten j e d e s Türken", der "türkischen Nation" u s « . (weitere Beispiele in Be§iktji 1969,299). Die reformfreudige, /.entralistische Regierung war ausserdem jeder Form von administrativer A u t o n o m i e abgeneigt. Dies war bereits im W i n t e r 1920/21 deutlich geworden, als die S t a m m e s f ü h r e r von W e s t - D e r s i m in Telegrammen an die Nationalversammlung zunächst die Unabhängigkeit und s p ä t e r eine b e s c h r ä n k t e

Autonomie forderten. Sofort waren

Truppen

ausgeschickt worden, um diese Rebellion zu ersticken, und die A n f ü h r e r wurden schwer bestraft. Diese Stammesführer gaben an, mit Sayyid Abdulkadir 'FO 371, 1919:44 A/l 12202/305(1

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in Istanbul in Verbindung zu stehen. Sie verlangten zuerst die Gewährung der Unabhängigkeit gemäss den Bedingungen des Vertrages von Sevres; einige Monate später, im März 1921, waren sie moderater geworden und forderten die U m w a n d l u n g des kurdischen Teils West-Dersims in eine separate Provinz unter einem kurdischen Gouverneur und mit kurdischen Verwaltungsbeamten. Die Stämme waren bewaffnet und erklärten ihren Willen, f ü r dieses Recht zu kämpfen, was der Hauptgrund f ü r die Strafaktion gewesen sein muss. Es gab keine Versuche, ernsthafte Verhandlungen aufzunehmen (Dersimi 1952, 120ff.; Komal 1975). Dem General des Feldzuges, Nurettin Pascha, wird eine B e m e r k u n g zugeschrieben, die oft zitiert wurde: "Wir haben die Leute, die 'Zo' sagen (d.h. die Armenier) zum Schweigen gebracht, jetzt kommen die dran, die 'Lo' sagen (d.h. die Kurden) (Yamülki: 1946, 73). Z u diesem Z e i t p u n k t e r f u h r die Rebellion von anderen Kurden, die sich in der Nationalversammlung vertreten fühlten, wenig Sympathien. Doch in den folgenden Jahren begann man in ihrer Unterstützung einen Beweis dafür zu sehen, dass die Kurden nicht als Gleiche in der Türkei behandelt werden sollten. 1923 gründeten kurdische Militäroffiziere, Scheichs, S t a m m e s f ü h r e r und städtische Notabein, die alle im Osten lebten, eine neue k u r d i s c h e Organisation, die Azadi. Die meisten von ihnen hatten die kemalistische Bewegung unterstützt und waren von ihr enttäuscht worden. Ihr Ziel war die Gründung eines kurdischen Staates, und sie begannen mit Vorbereitungen f ü r einen allgemeinen kurdischen A u f s t a n d . Einige O f f i z i e r e e r w e c k t e n den A r g w o h n ihrer Vorgesetzten und mussten fliehen. In der H o f f n u n g auf britische Unterstützung gingen sie in den Irak, wo sie den sie befragenden Geheimdienstoffizieren eine lange Liste kurdischer Beschwerden vorlegten. Da diese deutlich die Vorstellungen zumindest eines beträchtlichen Teils der kurdischen Elite zu dieser Zeit, im Herbst 1924, aufzeigt, lohnt es sich, sie zu untersuchen: —

Ein neues M i n d e r h e i t e n g e s e t z erregte den V e r d a c h t , die Regierung wolle die Kurden über Westanatolien zerstreuen und an ihrer Stelle Türken ansiedeln;

—

mit der A b s c h a f f u n g des K a l i f a t s war e i n e der

letzten

Verbindungen zwischen den Kurden und Türken zerbrochen; —

der Gebrauch der kurdischen Sprache in den Schulen und Gerichten war äusserst eingeschränkt worden; die Ächtung des Unterrichts in Kurdisch hatte zur Folge, dass ein kurdisches Schulwesen faktisch nicht existierte;,

—

das W o r t "Kurdistan" war aus allen eliminiert worden;

Geographiebüchern

184

MULLAS. —

SUFIS

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HERETICS

fast alle ranghöheren Regierungsbeamten in den kurdischen Provinzen waren Türken; f ü r die niedrigeren Dienste wurden Kurden eingesetzt, doch wurden diese sorgfältig ausgewählt;

—

für

die

ge/.ahlten

Steuern

bot

die

Regierung

keine

Wohlfahrtsleistungen; —

in den kurdischen Provinzen mischte sich die Regierung in die

—

Wahlen zur Nationalversammlung 1923 ein; die türkische Regierung verfolgte die Taktik, einen Stamm ständig gegen den anderen auszuspielen;

—

kurdische Dörfer wurden von der A r m e e geplündert, Tiere wurden weggenommen, und im Zusammenhang mit Einnahmen und Zahlungen f ü r requiriertes Versorgungsmaterial gab es reichlich Korruption;

—

in der A r m e e w u r d e die M a s s e der K u r d e n

übermässig

beansprucht und schlecht behandelt; sie wurden gewöhnlich für die härtesten und unangenehmsten Aufgaben ausgewählt; —

die R e g i e r u n g

versuchte,

den

kurdischen

Reichtum

an

Mineralien mit Hilfe deutschen Kapitals auszubeuten. 1 Manche Beschwerden mögen übertrieben gewesen sein; die Flüchtlinge wollten den Eindruck vermitteln, dass alle Kurden die türkische Herrschaft ablehnten. Es ist j e d o c h nicht völlig klar, wie weit die A b l e h n u n g der türkischen Politik ging. Sicher war sie nicht heftig genug, um alle Kurden zur Teilnahme am Aufstand zu bewegen, als er schliesslich ausbrach: Er blieb auf ein begrenztes Gebiet nördlich von Diyarbakir beschränkt. Der persische Offizier Hassan Arfa, der kurz vor dem Aufstand durch Kurdistan gereist war, nannte einige andere Gründe f ü r die Revolte: Neben den verletzten religiösen Gefühlen und der Assimilierungspolitik der Regierung nannte er die allgemein schlechte ökonomische Situation in den Ostprovinzen, die Unzufriedenheit der Stammesführer, die daran gehindert worden waren, sich f ü r die Nationalversammlung wiederwählen zu lassen sowie die Ängste der Landbesitzer vor einer Beschneidung ihrer Privilegien (Arfa 1966, 37).

Die Sozialen und Ökonomischen Bedingungen Im Aufständischen Gebiet Die Rebellion fand nach ihrem Ausbruch die stärkste Unterstützung im Gebirgsland nördlich von Diyarbakir, zu beiden Seiten des Murad-Flusses, dem östlichen Seitenarm des Euphrat. Die Mehrheit der dortigen B e v ö l k e r u n g spricht entweder Zaza, eine iranische Sprache, die sehr vom eigentlichen 'FO 371, 1924: E 11093/11093/65.

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Kurdisch abweicht, oder Kurmanci. Zu den Sprachunterschieden kommen noch einige andere, geringfügige kulturelle Differenzen, doch die Zaza-Sprechenden betrachten sich im allgemeinen selbst als Kurden, und es existieren keine Barrieren im sozialen U m g a n g der beiden sprachlichen U n t e r g r u p p e n miteinander. Der Aufstand beschränkte sich auf die sunnitischen Zazas. Die B e v ö l k e r u n g von Dersim, im Westen dieses G e b i e t e s , ist w e i t g e h e n d alevitisch und spricht teilweise Zaza, teilweise Kurmanci. Obwohl einige der D e r s i m - S t ä m m e in der V e r g a n g e n h e i t A n z e i c h e n von k u r d i s c h e m Nationalismus gezeigt hatten, unterstützten sie den Aufstand nicht. Z u m Zeitpunkt der Revolte bestand in den sunnitischen Zaza-Dörfern eine noch fast geschlossene Ökonomie. Z w a r wurden einige Produkte zum Verkauf angebaut, T a b a k vor allem, doch im übrigen produzierten die D o r f b e w o h n e r f ü r ihre eigenen Bedürfnisse und erwarben das, was sie nicht selbst herstellen konnten, eher durch Tausch als durch Kauf. Der Landbesitz war nicht sehr konzentriert, die meisten Familien besassen etwas Land und einige Tiere, was aber für ein sorgenfreies Leben nicht ausreichte. Hunger war keine u n g e w ö h n l i c h e Erscheinung, und die Jahre nach dem Krieg waren allgemein schlecht gewesen. Der Bevölkerungsdruck und der Krieg hatten viele j u n g e Leute dazu veranlasst, in den Städten der Region und sogar in den Grossstädten des Westens nach einem Arbeitsplatz zu suchen. In Diyarbakir, Elazig und Istanbul lebte eine beträchtliche Anzahl von Migranten aus diesen Zaza-Dörfern. Die Zazas waren in kleinen Stämmen organisiert, von denen j e d e r nur eines oder wenige Dörfer umfasste. Die Führer waren kaum reicher als ihre Untertanen und besassen nicht die weitreichende Macht der Führer grösserer Stämme. Wichtige Angelegenheiten, die den ganzen Stamm betrafen, wie etwa Fehden, interne Konflikte, die Beziehungen zu anderen Stämmen und auch die augenblickliche Revolte, wurden im Ältestenrat erörtert, der aus dem Führer (Aga), den Dorfvorstehern (Muhtar) und geachteten älteren Männern (r— sp—, G r a u b ä r t e ) bestand. D i e E n t s c h e i d u n g e n des Ä l t e s t e n r a t s w u r d e n im allgemeinen von den Stammesangehörigen ohne Zögern ausgeführt. Im Fall von Konflikten zwischen den verschiedenen Stämmen waren es häufig die Scheichs, an die man sich wandte oder die eingriffen. In diesen Bezirken waren einige Familien von Nak§ibendi-Scheichs ansässig, und alle waren sie mehr als nur religiöse Führer: Sie übten grossen Einfluss auf die Stämme aus. Im Hochgebirge weiter nördlich, den Bingöl-Bergen, bildeten grosse, früher nomadische Stämme, die Sunniten waren und Kurmanci sprachen, das wichtigste Segment der Bevölkerung. Die Cibran und ihre Nachbarn im Osten, die Haydaran und die Hasanan, hatten früher Hamidiye-Regimenter gebildet und ihre Führer militärische Ehren erlangt. Mitglieder ihrer f ü h r e n d e n Familien waren in Istanbul ausgebildet worden, w o sie mit kurdischen Nationalisten

186

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HERET1 CS

Kontakt gehabt hatten. Einige von ihnen waren Offiziere in der regulären Armee geworden. Die Angehörigen dieser Stämme verbanden in äusserst bescheidenem Rahmen einfachen Ackerbau mit etwas Nutztierhaltung, doch die Führer waren reich und besassen grosse Herden. Mitten unter den Cibran lebten einige kleine Aleviten-Stämme, die häufig in Streit mit ihren mächtigen Nachbarn gerieten. Zur Zeit der Hamidiye-Regimenter waren sie von den Cibran oft schikaniert worden und hegten daher noch grosse Ressentiments gegen sie. Es ist nicht erstaunlich, dass sie sich gegen den Aufstand wandten, als die Cibran sich ihm anschlössen. Südlich und südöstlich vom Zaza-Hügelland zogen sich die fruchtbaren Ebenen von Diyarbakir, Miyafarkin (Silvan) und Mu§ hin. Hier herrschten Grossgrundbesitzer, und die meisten Dorfbewohner waren arme Teilpächter oder Pächter. Sie verstanden sich als Kurden, sprachen Kurmanci, waren aber nicht in Stämmen organisiert wie ihre Nachbarn im Norden. Sie waren von auswärts lebenden Landbesitzern abhängig und hielten sich offenbar aus der Rebellion heraus. Die Bezirke südwestlich des aufständischen Gebietes bestanden aus einem Mosaik kleiner S t ä m m e und nichttribaler G r u p p e n , die von Grundbesitzer-Familien beherrscht wurden, Zaza und Kurmanci sprachen und hauptsächlich Sunniten, jedoch mit alevitischen Einsprengseln, waren. An einigen Orten wurde die Rebellion spontan unterstützt, anderswo konnte die Regierung die Bevölkerung mobilisieren, gegen die Aufständischen zu kämpfen.

Die Scheichs In diesem Gebiet gab es einige einflussreiche Scheich-Familien. Alle Scheichs dieser Region hatten sich hier im Laufe des neunzehnten Jahrhunderts niedergelassen und führten ihre geistige Abstammung auf Maulana Khalid zurück. Die mächtigsten \ o n ihnen waren Scheich Said, ursprünglich aus Palu, und Scheich Ziyaettin aus Nur§in in der Nähe von Mu§ (siehe Karte). Scheich Saids Grossvater war von Khalids Haiifen Ahmed von Erbil in den Nak§ibendi-Orden eingeführt worden, Ziyaettins Vater vom grossen Scheich Sibghatullah aus Hizan nahe Bitlis, der seinerseits wiederum von Scheich Ubaidullahs Vater Sayyid Taha, einem weiteren Haiifen Maulana Khalids, eingeweiht worden war. Diese V e r b i n d u n g e n waren wichtig, da die A b k ö m m l i n g e eines Scheichs und seiner Haiifen ihre Meister-JüngerBeziehungen gewöhnlich weiterhin pflegten. Obwohl sie sich häufig selbst als Scheichs betrachteten, erwiesen die Nachkommen der Haiifen weiterhin der Scheich-Familie ihre Achtung, und in ihrer Jugend wurden sie oft zum gemeinsamen Studium zu dem Nachfolger des Scheichs geschickt.

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Das Scheichtum war bald zu einer erblichen Institution geworden; ein Scheich mochte zwar anderweitig Haiifen ernennen, sein Nachfolger wurde aber gewöhnlich einer seiner Söhne. Das einfache Volk neigte dazu, alle Söhne eines Scheichs als solche anzuerkennen und sie mit demselben Respekt zu behandeln, selbst wenn sie nicht der Tarikat folgten. Da die Scheichs räumlich nicht

weit

voneinander

residierten,

befanden

sie

sich

in

einer

Konkurrenzsituation um die Loyalität derselben Leute. Konflikte zwischen den Scheich-Familien waren deshalb nichts Ungewöhnliches, doch durch Heiraten untereinander pflegten sie ihre Beziehungen wieder zu verbessern. ScheichH a i i f e n - B e z i e h u n g e n , A b s t a m m u n g voneinander und gegenseitige Heirat verbanden diese Familien zu einem Netz, das das gesamte Gebiet überzog. A u s s e r den beiden bereits erwähnten Scheichs und ihren engsten Verwandten sollten die folgenden Scheichs eine Rolle im Aufstand spielen: Scheich §erif von G ö k d e r e , östlich von Palu, die Scheichs Ibrahim und Mustafa von £ a n , weiter nördlich, Scheich Abdullah aus dem Bezirk Solhan, ein angeheirateter Verwandter des Scheich Said, sowie die Brüder Scheich §emseddin und Scheich Saifullah aus dem Bezirk Silvan. Ein Blick auf die Karte zeigt die Bedeutung der geographischen Verteilung dieser ScheichFamilien. H i n z u f ü g e n sollte man noch, dass Scheich Said im Bezirk Hinis einen zweiten Wohnsitz und viele Anhänger besass und dass Scheich Ziyaettin aus Nur§in sich dem Aufstand fernhielt. Das aufständische Gebiet (auf der Karte schraffiert) bestand fast vollständig aus den Bezirken, in denen die teilnehmenden Scheichs ihren grössten Einfluss ausübten. Der grosse Einfluss dieser Scheichs bedeutet nicht, dass sich die lokale B e v ö l k e r u n g tatsächlich der N a k j i b e n d i - T a r i k a t a n s c h l o s s . Die Muride (Schüler) im strengen Sinn bildeten nur eine kleine Minderheit, obwohl ihre Funktion, den Ruf von der Heiligkeit des Scheichs zu verbreiten, nicht unterschätzt werden darf. Bei den Kurden werden die Scheichs häufig als lebende Heilige mit der Fähigkeit, alle A r t e n von Wundern a u s z u f ü h r e n , betrachtet. Ihre Beziehung zur Orthodoxie ist häufig paradox oder unklar. Einerseits gilt der Nak§ibendi-Orden vor allem seit Maulana Khalids Reformen als die orthodoxeste aller Tarikats, der die kanonischen Verpflichtungen mehr als jede andere betont. Seine Beziehungen zur orthodoxen Ulema sind deshalb in der Regel ausgezeichnet. Dies trifft im allgemeinen auch auf die kurdischen Nak§ibendi- Scheichs zu. Einige der in der Türkei am meisten geachteten Ulema waren tatsächlich kurdische Nakjibendi. Andererseits beobachten wir aber

oft,

wie

ein

ganzer

Komplex

heterodoxer,

volkstümlicher

Religionspraktiken im Umfeld der kurdischen Nak§ibendi-Scheichs auftaucht. H ä u f i g w u r d e a n g e n o m m e n , sie besässen magische K r ä f t e und stünden in direkter Verbindung zu Gott. Ihre Verehrung durch die Anhänger

ufert

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manchmal in Extreme aus, denen man a n d e r s w o kaum begegnet. Scheich A b d u s s a l a m von Barzan wurde zum Beispiel von seinen Anhängern zum Mahdi ausgerufen, und sein Enkel A h m a d wurde einmal in den zwanziger Jahren dieses Jahrhunderts sogar als die Inkarnation Gottes bezeichnet. 1 Auch in den Z a z a - B e z i r k e n genossen die S c h e i c h s eine grosse Verehrung des Volkes. Weithin glaubte man, der Verdammnis geweiht zu sein, wenn man sich nicht einem Scheich angeschlossen habe. Von den Scheichs nahm man an, sie besässen die Macht, ihre treuen Anhänger mit ins Paradies zu n e h m e n . 2 Die Bindung an einen Scheich hiess praktisch, dass man ihn wenigstens ein- oder zweimal im Jahr besuchte, ihm Geschenke brachte und dass man ihn um seine Zustimmung in wichtigen Entscheidungen ersuchte. Im Falle von Krankheit oder Unfruchtbarkeit bat man um den Segen des Scheichs; man glaubte, dass vom Scheich beschriebene Amulette vor allen Arten von Gefahr schützten. Noch wichtiger war jedoch die Funktion, die die Scheichs bei der Lösung von Konflikten innehatten. Eine B l u t f e h d e zwischen verschiedenen S t ä m m e n k o n n t e endlos andauern, wenn nicht ein von beiden Seiten respektierter Scheich verhandelte oder eine Schlichtung festlegte. Auch andere Streitfälle wurden vor die Scheichs gebracht; sie stellten die einzigen Autoritäten dar, deren Einfluss die Stammesgrenzen überschritt. Auf diese Weise erlangten sie eine beträchtliche politische Stärke; die meisten Scheichs waren mächtiger als irgendein ZazaS t a m m e s f ü h r e r . Einige Scheichs stärkten ihre Macht durch b e w a f f n e t e Gefolgschaften und glichen dadurch eher feudalen Grundherren als jenseitig orientierten Mystikern. Ihre Fertigkeiten im U m g a n g mit F e u e r w a f f e n und in der Reitkunst entsprachen denen von Stammesangehörigen. Scheich §erif von Gökdere hatte im Ersten W e l t k r i e g eine starke T r u p p e i r r e g u l ä r e r S t r e i t k r ä f t e , die professionellen Soldaten durchaus gleichkam, gegen die Russen angeführt. Die meisten Scheichs hatten auch einen beträchtlichen Reichtum an Land und Tieren erworben, der entweder Geschenk ihrer A n h ä n g e r oder der Erfolg gelungener Unternehmungen war. Scheich Said etwa hatte in die f ü h r e n d e Familie des Cibran-Stammes eingeheiratet, die riesige Herden besass. Seinen Brüdern hatte dies dazu verholten, sich als Schafgrosshändler zu etablieren, die j e d e s Jahr immense Herden vom Bingöl-Gebirge hinunter z u m M a r k t in Aleppo trieben. Ihr beträchtlicher Reichtum bot dem Aufstand die notwendige finanzielle Basis.

' z u Abdussalam vergleiche Nikitine 1925; zu Scheich A h m a d vergleiche Report by H.B.M.'s Government to the Council of the League of Nations on the Administration of Iraq (1927), S. 23. 2 Bozarslan: 1964; der Autor stammt selbst aus diesem Gebiet und war eine Weile Mufti in Kulp gewesen.

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Die Planer des Aufstandes Die Gründer der Organisation Azadi unterhielten, wie bereits erwähnt, engere Kontakte zur kurdischen Bevölkerung als die Intellektuellen früherer nationalistischer Vereine. Hinige der Gründungsmitglieder waren in Erzurum stationierte Armeeoffiziere. Khalid Beg besass wahrscheinlich den grössten persönlichen Einfluss; er gehörte zur führenden Familie des Cibran-Stammes. Ihsan Nuri, ein weiterer Offizier, sollte später als militärischer A n f ü h r e r des Ararat-Aufstandes berühmt werden; er war einer derjenigen, die 1924 nach Irak fliehen mussten. Neben Offizieren gehörten auch mehrere städtische Notabein zu den Gründern der Azadi; der bekannteste davon war Yusuf Ziya aus Bitlis, ein A b k ö m m l i n g des früheren Emirs dieses Ortes und von grossem lokalen Einfluss. In der ersten Nationalversammlung war er Abgeordneter von Bitlis, und er versuchte seine politischen Kontakte im Westen zu Partisanen des Kalifen spielen zu lassen, um dort Hilfsmassnahmen zu organisieren. Die Azadi-Mitglieder waren sich bewusst, dass sie über zu wenig persönliche Autorität verfügten, um zum Generalaufstand aufrufen zu können, und wandten sich deshalb an viele Stammesführer und Scheichs, von denen bekannt war, dass sie grosse persönliche Gefolgschaften besassen. Einer der ersten, mit denen sie Verbindung aufnahmen, war Scheich Said, der in Khalid Begs Familie eingeheiratet hatte. 1924 wurde auf einem ersten "Kongress" die Lage besprochen und eine Strategie entworfen. Bereits bei diesem Kongress übernahm Scheich Said eine führende Rolle. Nach dem Bericht eines überlebenden Teilnehmers sprach der Scheich als leidenschaftlicher Nationalist und bezog sich in seiner Rede kaum auf das Kalifat. 1 Es wurde beschlossen, mit dem Generalaufstand noch ein Jahr zu warten, da diese Zeit notwendig war, um Kontakte zu anderen wichtigen Stammesführern aufzunehmen und um verbindliche Zusagen zur Teilnahme zu erhalten. A u c h zur türkischen Opposition, dort vor allem zur Gruppe der Kalifatsanhänger, sollten Kontakte a u f g e n o m m e n w e r d e n . Internationale Unterstützung wurde ebenfalls als wichtig erachtet: Gesandte wurden in das sowjetische Georgien und in den Irak geschickt. Weder die Sowjets noch die Briten gaben eine verbindliche Zusage. Unklar ist, in welchem Ausmass die K o m m u n i k a t i o n zur türkischen Opposition hergestellt wurde; die Republikanische Fortschrittspartei wurde zwar später unter Anklage gestellt, die Rebellion unterstützt zu haben, doch waren die Beweise d a f ü r äusserst schwach.

' i n t e r v i e w mit Hesen Hiçyar, Qamischli, Syrien, April 1976.

190

MULLAS.

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HHRHTICS

Während der Monate nach dem Kongress w u r d e n überall in den kurdischen Provinzen die S t a m m e s f ü h r e r angesprochen. Wegen der vielen Konflikte und Rivalitäten / w i s c h e n den S t ä m m e n war dies eine heikle Angelegenheit. Jeder Stammesführer war sich bewusst, dass sich seine Gegner, sobald er sich einem Aufstand anschloss, wahrscheinlich auf die Seite der Regierung schlagen und ihn angreifen würden. Die Stammesführer brauchten deshalb entsprechende Garantien; niemand willigte in die Unterzeichnung eines solchen Abkommens ein, solange dies seine Rivalen nicht zuerst taten. Die Scheichs übernahmen hierbei eine wichtige Rolle; sie waren die einzigen, die als Mittelsmänner zwischen den rivalisierenden S t a m m e s f ü h r e r n auftreten k o n n t e n , und diese vertrauten sich nur dann g e g e n s e i t i g , wenn

das

Kooperationsversprechen vor einem Scheich gegeben wurde. Die Vorbereitungen blieben nicht unbemerkt. Im Herbst 1924 wusste die Regierung, was vorging, und veranlasste die ersten Verhaftungen. Khalid Beg und Yusuf Ziya wurden gefangengenommen, einige andere Offiziere flohen in den Irak. Manche, die sich der Revolte zunächst verpflichtet hatten, setzten sich jetzt ab. Die geflüchteten Offiziere legten eine beeindruckende Liste solcher Anführer vor, von denen sie behaupteten, sie hätten sich dem Aufstand verschrieben. Sie umfasst S t a m m e s h ä u p t l i n g e , Scheichs und

kurdische

Armeeoffiziere aus fast allen von Kurden bewohnten Bezirken der Türkei. 1 Anfang 1925 berief die Azadi im verhältnismässig sicheren Bezirk Can. wo die Regierung bislang noch wenig Einfluss besass, einen zweiten Kongress ein, um die veränderte Situation zu erörtern. Die Teilnehmer bestanden fast ausschliesslich aus Stammesführern und Scheichs aus den Zaza-Bezirken und vom Bingöl-Gebirge. Viele waren beunruhigt und schlugen vor, die Rebellion abzublasen. Scheich Said setzte sich über ihre Unschlüssigkeit hinweg: Die Würfel seien gefallen, sagte er, es bliebe keine Zeit mehr, um über die Risiken nachzudenken, und der Aufstand solle seinen geplanten Verlauf nehmen. Er setzte den T e r m i n der Rebellion auf den Mai fest. Der Scheich selbst überwachte z u s a m m e n mit e r f a h r e n e n Militärbefehlshabern die weiteren Vorbereitungen. Fünf Fronten sollten gebildet werden, und an jeder sollten die dort ansässigen Stammestruppen unter ihren eigenen Führern kämpfen, um die nahegelegenen Städte unter ihre Kontrolle zu bringen. Die Koordination an den einzelnen Fronten lag j e w e i l s in den Händen eines Scheichs, um Streit zwischen den Stämmen zu vermeiden. Scheich Said selber sollte in der Zentrale bleiben und die Aktionen der verschiedenen Fronten untereinander koordinieren.

' FO 371, 1924: E 11093/11093/65

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Zur Vorbereitung der breiten Bevölkerung begab sich Scheich Said — entsprechend seinen früheren Gewohnheiten — auf eine Rundreise durch Lice, Hani, Piran und Palu, wo er viele Anhänger besass. Auf all seinen Stationen hielt er leidenschaftliche Reden gegen die Regierung, wobei er besonders deren a n t i i s l a m i s c h e M a s s n a h m e n a n k l a g t e . S p ä t e r gab er w ä h r e n d s e i n e s Gerichtsverfahrens die folgende Zusammenfassung von einer dieser Reden: "Die Medressen sind geschlossen, das Ministerium f ü r Religiöse A n g e l e g e n h e i t e n und F r o m m e Stiftungen ist a b g e s c h a f f t , und die religiösen Schulen sind unter die Kontrolle des M i n i s t e r i u m s f ü r N a t i o n a l e E r z i e h u n g g e b r a c h t w o r d e n . Eine B a n d e u n g l ä u b i g e r S c h r e i b e r besitzt den M u t , in ihren Z e i t u n g e n die Religion zu beschimpfen und den Namen des Propheten zu besudeln. W a s mich angeht, ich bin bereit, für den Schutz unserer Religion, wenn nötig auch heute, zu kämpfen" (Cemal 1955, 24). Ein kleinerer Zwischenfall im Verlauf dieser R u n d r e i s e löste die Rebellion frühzeitig aus. Die örtliche G e n d a r m e r i e in Piran wollte zwei Männer aus Scheich Saids Gefolgschaft verhaften, worauf ein Schusswechsel folgte, bei dem einer der Gendarmen getötet wurde. Es war nicht möglich, diesen Vorfall zu vertuschen, und der Scheich beschloss, die Rebellion zu starten.

Der Aufstand und Seine Niederschlagung Es ist n i c h t die A b s i c h t d i e s e s A u f s a t z e s , einen detaillierten Verlaufsbericht des Aufstandes zu geben, da dies bereits an anderer Stelle getan worden ist. 1 Die Z a z a - S t ä m m e schlössen sich der Rebellion in grosser Einmütigkeit an, wie die meisten Teilstämme der Cibran und einige Teile der Haydaran und Hasanan. Z u r Unterstützung der Rebellion fanden spontane Erhebungen in C'emiske/.ek, Pötürge und Siverek statt, ziemlich weit westlich vom Zentrum der Revolte entfernt. Die Zaza- Truppen, die nach dem Westen marschierten, um die Städte Elazig, Maden und ( x r m i k zu erobern, erhielten von den ansässigen Kurden zumindest passiven Beistand. Einige Versuche, die Hilfe der A n h ä n g e r von Scheich Ziyaettin in Mu§ sowie des starken MilliStammes in Viran§ehir, südlich von Diyarbakir, zu gewinnen, schlugen jedoch fehl. Die bedeutendste Stadt der Region, Diyarbakir, wurde von Aufständischen belagert, wobei die Zaza-Einwohner der Stadt einer Schar von Rebellen eines Nachts geholfen hatten, durch ein Loch in den Stadtmauern einzurücken. Sie wurden bald entdeckt und von den Garnisonstrupppen in der Stadt vernichtet.

' ß r u i n e s s e n 1984; 1978, 383ff.; Cemal 1955; Toker 1968.

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Die Scheichs fungierten in ihrer militärischen Rolle recht wirkungsvoll und führten tatsächlich fast überall die Militäroperationen an. Diese Tatsache mag zur Unterstützung der Rebellen ausserhalb des Zaza-Gebietes beigetragen und den Eindruck verdichtet haben, es handele sich um einen religiösen Aufstand. Sobald die Regierung in Ankara des Ausmasses der Revolte und der ersten militärischen Erfolge der Aufständischen gewahr wurde, verhängte sie das Kriegsrecht über die Provinzen im Osten. Innerhalb weniger Tage wurde Ministerpräsident Fethi Be\ (Okyar) durch den härteren tsmet Pascha (inönü) ersetzt sowie ein Gesetz erlassen, das der Regierung ausserordentliche Vollmachten einräumte. Zehntausende von Soldaten wurden in den Osten gesandt, und die Luftwaffe bombardierte die Aufständischen. In den ersten Gefechten mit der regulären Armee wurden die Rebellen-Kräfte schwer geschlagen. Darauf reorganisierten sie sich in Guerillagruppen. Gegenüber der weitaus grösseren Anzahl der Regierungstruppen, die die Zaza-Bezirke vollständig umzingelt hatten und das Gebirge durchkämmten, besassen sie aber kaum eine Chance. Viele Rebellen wurden getötet, verwundet oder gefangengenommen; andere Gruppen schafften es, in den Osten zu fliehen, wo sie ihre Guerillatätigkeit fortsetzten und e i n i g e lokale Erhebungen unterstützten. Scheich Said und e i n i g e e n g e V e r b ü n d e t e w u r d e n gefangengenommen, nachdem sie bereits durch die Truppenlinien geschlüpft und auf dem Weg zum Rebellenführer Simko an der türkisch-persischen Grenze waren. Dies geschah am 14. April, fast genau zwei Monate nach Beginn der Revolte. Der Scheich und viele andere Führer wurden vor das UnabhängigkeitsGericht, das eigens für die Aufständischen eingerichtet worden war, gebracht und 48 von ihnen zum Tode verurteilt. Die Befriedung der ländlichen Gebiete ging mit mehr Gewalt als Umsicht vonstatten, wodurch Regionen, die sich ursprünglich dem Aufstand f e r n g e h a l t e n hatten, nachträglich in ihn hineingezogen wurden. Mehr als ein Jahrzehnt lang gab es überall in Kurdistan E r h e b u n g e n , von denen manche lokal b e s c h r ä n k t blieben und von Stammesführern geleitet wurden, die gegen Regierungseingriffe aufgebracht waren, und andere wiederum ein grösseres Ausmass erreichten und von Nationalisten angeführt wurden. Keiner der Aufstände besass jedoch religiösen Charakter.

Die Auswirkungen der Rebellion auf die Regierungspolitik Die Kemalisten waren sich sowohl des religiösen als auch des nationalistischen Aspekts der Rebellion bewusst. Sie betrachteten beide als Ideologien, die eine feudale Klasse — bestehend aus Scheichs, Stammesführern

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193

und G r u n d b e s i t z e r n — benutzte, um ihre von den k e m a l i s t i s c h e n R e f o r m e n bedrohten Interessen zu verteidigen und um die A u s b e u t u n g der rückständigen M a s s e n im O s t e n f o r t s e t z e n zu k ö n n e n . D i e R e d e des V o r s i t z e n d e n des U n a b h ä n g i g k e i t s - G e r i c h t s nach der Verurteilung Scheich Saids z u m T o d lässt dies deutlich erkennen: " G e w i s s e Ihrer L e u t e rotteten sich z u s a m m e n , um Ihre persönlichen Interessen voranzutreibene während andere von ausländischer Propaganda und p e r s ö n l i c h e m Ehrgeiz dazu a n g e s t i f t e t w u r d e n . Sie alle arbeiteten auf d a s s e l b e Ziel hin, n ä m l i c h die G r ü n d u n g e i n e s u n a b h ä n g i g e n K u r d i s t a n . A l s Sie den G e n e r a l a u f s t a n d , den Sie seit Jahren planten, z u s t a n d e g e b r a c h t hatten, Hessen Sie dieses Gebiet unter F e u e r zurück. (-) D a s e r b ä r m l i c h e V o l k d i e s e r G e g e n d e n , das j a h r e l a n g unter der T y r a n n e i von S c h e i c h s , A g a s und B e y s a u s g e z e h r t w o r d e n w a r und dessen E i g e n t u m und L e b e n den L a u n e n dieser P e r s o n e n a u s g e l i e f e r t war, w u r d e schliesslich von Ihrer bösen M a c h t erlöst und wird j e t z t auf d e m W e g des W o h l s t a n d e s und Fortschritts unserer R e p u b l i k in Frieden und Glück voranschreiten, während Sie a m Galgen der Gerechtigkeit f ü r d a s Blut, das Sie v e r g o s s e n , und die H ä u s e r , die Sie zerstört h a b e n , bezahlen werden.." 1 Die naheliegende Folgerung daraus war, dass die religiöse Reaktion, der k u r d i s c h e N a t i o n a l i s m u s und der "Feudalismus" ausgerottet w e r d e n m u s s t e n , um den e r h o f f t e n Wohlstand und Fortschritt der Republik zu erreichen. A u f die religiöse Reaktion bezog sich zum einen ein Gesetz, das die m y s t i s c h e n O r d e n (Tarikats) ächtete, die R e p u b l i k a n i s c h e Fortschrittspartei, die des g e h e i m e n Einverständnisses mit d e m Aufstand bezichtigt wurde, auflöste und schliesslich die U r t e i l s s p r e c h u n g d e s a m b u l a n t e n U n a b h ä n g i g k e i t s - G e r i c h t s , d a s viele turbantragende "Fanatiker", die sich weigerten, d e m Gesetz, das das Tragen von Hüten vorschrieb, n a c h z u k o m m e n , an den Galgen lieferte. D i e K u r d e n wurden dabei h ä r t e r b e h a n d e l t : Die v e r h a f t e t e n n a t i o n a l i s t i s c h e n F ü h r e r w u r d e n hingerichtet und die B e v ö l k e r u n g a u f s t ä n d i s c h e r G e b i e t e in den W e s t e n des L a n d e s deportiert. F ü r 1927 schätzt m a n die Zahl der deportierten K u r d e n auf 2 0 0 0 0 . 2 Ein A n g e h ö r i g e r der britischen B o t s c h a f t m e r k t e d a z u an: "Die R e g i e r u n g hat b e r e i t s d a m i t b e g o n n e n , d i e g e g e n ü b e r d e r a r m e n i s c h e n Minderheit

1915 e r f o l g r e i c h

angewandte

Politik auf

die

kurdischen

Staatsbürger, gegen d i e sie Krieg f ü h r t , zu übertragen." N a c h einer A m n e s t i e konnten j e d o c h viele K u r d e n 1928 w i e d e r in ihre D ö r f e r z u r ü c k k e h r e n . Später sollten dann neue Deportationswellen folgen.

J P R O , FO 371, 1925: E 3974/1091/44; ins Englische übersetzt von Angehörigen der britischen Botschaft aus einer offiziellen Verlautbarung. 2 F O 371, 1927: E 2835; 3532/74/65.

194

M U L L A S ,

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

Die verstärkte A s s i m i l i e r u n g der Kurden w u r d e zur o f f i z i e l l e n Regierungspolitiik. A u s s e n m i n i s t e r T e v f i k Rü§tü legte dem

britischen

Botschafter seine Ansichten zur Kurdenfrage dar. In der gegenwärtigen Zeit, so meinte er, sei die unabhängige Existenz kleiner Nationen nicht mehr möglich. Besonders die Kurden mit ihrem "furchtbar rückständigen" kulturellen Niveau könnten unmöglich im allgemeinen "body politic" der Türkei aufgehen. Wie die amerikanischen Indianer seien sie zum Aussterben bestimmt, da sie ö k o n o m i s c h untauglich f ü r den L e b e n s k a m p f

in K o n k u r r e n z mit den

fortgeschritteneren und kultivierteren Türken seien, die in den kurdischen Bezirken angesiedelt werden würden. 1 Die Praxis erwies sich dann als etwas wohlwollender: Die Kurden, die gewillt waren, sich den Türken anzugleichen, fanden faktisch sehr wohl im politischen Leben der Türkei ihren Platz; Beschränkungen rührten vom ökonomischen und kulturellen Rückstand der Region her. Die beabsichtigte A b s c h a f f u n g des "Feudalismus" blieb dagegen lediglich eine hohle Phrase. Keiner der Scheichs und Stammesoberhäupter, die die Revolte angeführt hatten, war tatsächlich ein Grossgrundbesitzer. Dagegen hatte ein Grundbesitzer aus der Ebene von Diyarbakir aus A n g s t vor der Regierung den Versuch unternommen, die Bauern seiner Dörfer gegen die Rebellen anzuführen. Es handelte sich dabei um M e h m e t Bey, der aus der reichen Cemilpa§azade-Familie in D i y a r b a k i r s t a m m t e , von d e r andere Mitglieder wiederum in nationalistische Aktivitäten verwickelt waren. 2 Häufig waren es gerade die meist "feudalen" Stammesführer und Grundbesitzer, die freiwillig mit der Regierung kooperierten. Die Regierung bemerkte auch, dass das Gebiet nur über diese "feudalen" Elemente wirksam zu kontrollieren war. Diejenigen, die sie der Disloyalität verdächtigte, schickte sie ins Exil, andere dagegen wurden kooptiert, und erneut entwickelte sich eine S y m b i o s e zwischen Provinzbeamtentum und "feudalen" Führern. Viele Jahre lang stützten sich die Ortsgruppen der Republikanischen Volkspartei im Osten stark auf die traditionale Elite. Dieser Umstand erklärt auch, weshalb in den freien Wahlen von 1950 die Partei nur hier ihre Stärke gegenüber der Demokratischen Partei verteidigen konnte, die überall sonst auf dem Land die Wählerstimmen an sich riss.

' p O 371, 1927: E 256/74/65. ^ B e r i c h t e t wird dieser Vorfall 3340/1091/44).

von einem E i n w o h n e r D i y a r b a k i r s ( F O 371,

1925: F.

VOM

OS M A N I S M U S

ZUM

SEPARATISMUS

195

Zusammenfassung Der Scheich-Said-Aufstand kann eindeutig weder als religiös noch als nationalistisch bezeichnen werden. Er vereinte beide Aspekte und darüber hinaus noch einige weitere, wie etwa den traditionalistischen Widerstand gegen jegliche Eingriffe der Regierung. Die Planer der Rebellion scheinen in erster Linie nationalistisch und möglicherweise auch durch persönliche Ambitionen motiviert gewesen zu sein. Der breiten Bevölkerung bedeutete die Idee einer kurdischen Nation offenbar noch wenig, und die Führer mussten deshalb an religiöse Gefühle appellieren. Die Einwohner der Dörfer waren über die spürbare Bedrohung des Islam ernsthaft beunruhigt, sie schlössen sich aber dem Aufstand hauptsächlich aus Loyalität und Gehorsam gegenüber ihren Stammesführern und Scheichs an. In den späteren Aufständen tauchten dann religiöse Empfindungen niemals mehr als motivierende Faktoren auf, was aber nicht bedeutete, dass sie an Wichtigkeit verloren hätten. Die Gläubigen neigten weniger zur offenen Revolte als zum versteckten, innerlichen Widerstand. Wie mir ein n a t i o n a l i s t i s c h g e s i n n t e r S c h e i c h e r k l ä r t e , e r z i e l t e die Assimilierungspolitik der Regierung in Bezirken, in denen die Religion den stärksten Einfluss hatte, die geringste Wirkung. Die Religiösen verspürten wenig Neigung, in eine Gesellschaft integriert zu werden, die sie als ungläubig ansahen. Sie hielten deshalb an ihren alten Eigenarten fest, wobei sie damit mehr von der kurdischen Kultur als viele andere bewahrten. Sie waren stolz auf ihre kurdische Identität, doch blieben ihre Verbindungen zur kurdischen Nationalbewegung auch nach deren Wiederbelebung in den späten sechziger Jahren marginal.

Bibliographie Abu-Manneh, Butrus, "The Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya in the Ottoman lands in the early 19th Century", Die Welt des Islams XXII, 1982 [1984], pp. 1-36 Albayrak, Sadik, Türkiye'de din kavgasi [The struggle for religion in Turkeyl, Istanbul, 1973. Algar, Hamid. "The Naqshbandi Order: A Preliminary Survey of Its History and Significance." Studia Islamica 44 (1976): 123-152. Arfa, Hassan, The Kurds: an historical and political study, London: Oxford University Press, 1966. Be§ik§i, Ismail, Dogu Anadolu'nun düzeni. Istanbul: e yayinlari, 1969. Bozarslan, M e h m e t Emin, islämiyet agisindan §eyhlik-agalik. Ankara: Toplum Yayinevi, 1964. Bruinessen, Martin van, Agha, shaikh and state: on the social and political Organization of Kurdistan. Ph.D. thesis, Utrecht University, 1978. [Revised edition: London: Zed Books, 1992].

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Bruinessen, Martin van, "Popular Islam, Kurdish nationalism and rural revolt: The rebellion of Shaikh Said in Turkey (1925)", in: Janos M. Bak and Gerhard Benecke (eds.), Religion and Rural Revolt. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 1984, pp. 281-295. Cemal, Beh?et, §eyh Sail isyani |Shaikh Said's rebellion], Istanbul: Sel yayinlari, 1955. Chirguh, Bletch, La question kurde, ses origines et causes, Cairo, 1930. Davison, R., Reform in the Ottoman Empire, 1856-1876. New York. Dersimi, M. Nuri, Kurdistan tarihinde Dersim [Dersim in the history of Kurdistan |. Aleppo, 1952. Duguid, S., "The politics of unity: Hamidian policy in Eastern Anatolia", Middle Eastern Studies 9 (¡973), 139-156. Dyer, Gvvynne, "Turkish efalsifiersiand Armenian edeceiversi: historiography and the Armenian massacres", Middle Eastern Studies 12 (1976), 99107. Erdeha, Kamil, Milli MUcadelede vilayetler ve valiler. Istanbul, 1975. Firat, M. §erif, Dogu illeri ve Varto tarihi (History of the Eastern provinces and of Varto], Ankara, 1970 [original edition 1945], Gologlu, Mahmut, Milli Miicadele tarihi. 8 vols. Ankara, 1968-74. Giirsel, Ibrahim Etem, Kurtciiluk gergegi. Ankara, 1977. Hakim, Halkavvt. "Mavvlana Khalid et les pouvoirs." In Marc Gaborieau, A. Popovic and T. Zarcone, eds. Naqshbandis: Historical Development and Present Situation of a Muslim Mystical Order. Istanbul-Paris: Isis, 1990, pp. 361-370. Halfin, 19. yy'da Kurdistan uzerinde miicadele. Ankara: Komal. Hanioglu, M. §iikrii, Bir siyasal dti^untir olarak Doktor Abdullah Cevdet ve donemi. Istanbul. Hourani, Albert. "Shaikh Khalid and the Naqshbandi Order." In S. M. Stern, A. Hourani and V. Brown, eds. Islamic Philosophy and the Classical Tradition. Oxford, 1972, pp. 89-103. Hovanissian, Richard G.. Armenia

on the road to independence:

1918.

Berkeley and Ix>s Angeles. Hoyboun, Massacres kurdes en Turquie. Le Caire, 1928. Joseph, John. Muslim-Christian Relations and Inter-Christian Rivalries in the Middle East: The Case of the Jacobites in an Age of Transition. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1983. Jwaideh, Wadie, The Kurdish nationalist movement: its origins and development, Ph.D. thesis, Syracuse University, 1960. Kisakiirek, Necip Fazil, Son devrin din mazlumlari |People oppressed for religionis sake in the most recent period], Istanbul, 5th impression, 1977. Kodaman, Bayram, "Hamidiye hafif siivari alaylari: II. Abdiilhamit ve Dogu Anadolu a§iretleri", Tarih Dergisi 32 (1979), 427-480. Komal, Koggiri halk hareketi. Ankara, 1975.

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Layard, A.H., Nineveh and its remains. Lewis, Bernard, The emergence

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2 vols. London, 1849.

of modern

Turkey.

Second edition, London,

1968. Longrigg, S.H., 'Iraq 1900 to 1950: a political,

social, and economic

history.

London, 1953. Melek, Kemal, ingiliz belgelerinde

Musul sorunu (1890-1926). Istanbul.

Nikitine, Basile, "Les Kurdes racontés par eux-mêmes", L'Asie

française

no.

231 (1925b), 148-157. Olson, R. W. and W. F. T u c k e r , "The Sheikh Sait rebellion in T u r k e y (1925)", Die Welt des Islams, N.S. 18 (1978), 195-211. Safrastian, Arshak, Kurds and Kurdistan. Selek, Sabahattin, Millî Miïcadele.

London, 1948.

2 vols. Istanbul 1982 [1970|.

Shaw, Theodore Richard, "The effect of international oil interests upon the fate of an a u t o n o m o u s Kurdish territory", International Problems (Tel Aviv) 15/11-2 (1976), 119-133. Silopi, Zinnar, Doza Kiirdiistan. Kurt milletinin 60 senedenberi esaretten kurtulu§ savait hatirati [The trail of Kurdistan. Memoirs of 60 yearsi struggle to liberate the Kurdish nation f r o m subjection], Beirut, 1969. Toker, Metin, §eyh Sait ve isyani 1968.

[Shaikh Said and his rebellion], Ankara,

Tunçay, Mete, Ttirkiye Cumhuriyeti'nde (1923-1931). Ankara, 1981. Vedat, §adi!li, Turkiye'de

Kurtçiïliïk

Walker, Christopher J., Armenia: York, 1980. Yamiilki, 'Abdul'aziz, Kurdistan

tek-parti

hareketleri

the survival

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ve isyanlar.

kurulmasi

Ankara, 1980.

of a nation. London and New

ve Kurd ihtilalleri.

Baghdad.

198

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SUFIS

AND

(iebiet des A u f s t a n d e s

HERETICS

THE SADATE NEHRI OR GILANIZADE OF CENTRAL KURDISTAN

O n e f a m i l y o f 'ulama c l a i m i n g d e s c e n t f r o m 'Abd a l - Q a d i r al-Jilani played a prominent political role in the history o f central Kurdistan during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. T h e y were known as the S a d a t e N e h r " , after their v i l l a g e o f r e s i d e n c e , Nehri in the district o f S h e m d i n a n .

Shaykh

' U b a y d u l l a h o f Nehri led in 1880 what is c o m m o n l y c o n s i d e r e d a s the first K u r d i s h rebellion with nationalist o v e r t o n e s . H i s s o n s and g r a n d s o n s a l s o p l a y e d m a j o r roles in the K u r d i s h m o v e m e n t , b e s i d e s strengthening their political and e c o n o m i c positions. W e o w e m u c h o f our information on the history and g e n e a l o g y of this f a m i l y to B a s i l e Nikitine, who w a s the R u s s i a n consul at U r m i a during the years 1 9 1 5 - 1 9 1 8 , where he met a m o n g the war refugees f r o m Turkey a learned Kurdish mulla f r o m Nehri, Sa'id Q a z i . M u l l a Sa'id b e c a m e Nikitine's Kurdish tutor and wrote at his request a series of texts on the social and religious life of Central Kurdistan, which Nikitine later published in translation (Nikitine and S o a n e 1 9 2 3 ; Nikitine 1925a, 1925b). It is not surprising that the Sadat' Nehr" play central parts in these narratives, f o r M u l l a Sa'id had been a religious teacher in Nehri during the d a y s of 'Ubaydullah's son M u h a m m a d Siddiq.

Origins T h e Sadat' N e h r " claim descent f r o m 'Abd a l - Q a d i r ' s son 'Abd al-'Aziz, w h o . a c c o r d i n g to the f a m i l y tradition, settled in 'Aqra (northeast of M o s u l ) and s p r e a d there his father's t e a c h i n g s . H e w a s a l s o buried in 'Aqra, where according to M u l l a Sa'id his shrine still w a s a p l a c e of p i l g r i m a g e in the early 2th century. 'Abd a l - ' A z i z ' s son A b u B a k r settled f u r t h e r north, in the m o u n t a i n o u s territory of the Herki tribe in S h e m d i n a n . T h r e e or f o u r g e n e r a t i o n s later, his d e s c e n d a n t M u l l a Haji resettled in another v i l l a g e in Shemdinan,

among

the n e i g h b o u r i n g

Khumaru

tribe.

Again

several

g e n e r a t i o n s later, the f a m i l y h e a d M u l l a S a l i h , t o g e t h e r with his s o n s 'Abdullah and A h m a d , moved to the v i l l a g e o f Nehri. T h e f a m i l y c l a i m e d it had been teaching the Q a d i r i y y a in an unbroken chain f r o m the time o f 'Abd al-'Aziz. T h e m o v e to Nehri, h o w e v e r , c o i n c i d e d with their renouncing the family order in f a v o u r of the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya. 1 S a y y i d 'Abdullah 'Nikitine 1925b: 156-7; 1956: 211-4.

200

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

(as well as, according to some sources, his brother, Sayyid Ahmad) became a khalfa of the great proselytiser of the Naqshbandiyya, Mawlana Khalid, w h o had himself previously been initated into the Qadiriyya by Sayyid 'Abdullah. After 'Abdullah's death, he was succeeded by his nephew Sayyid Taha, who also received an ijaza from Mawlana Khalid (MacKenzie 1962: 162-3). Several other branches of the Qadiriyya trace their silsila through 'Abd al-'Aziz (d. 602/1205-6), but in all cases the historicity of this link is as poorly documented — as is the case for the early Qadiriyya in general. The North African Jilala, who venerate Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, owe allegiance to a saintly family of Fez, the Shurafa' Jilala, who claim descent f r o m 'Abd alQadir through 'Abd al-'Aziz and his brother Ibrahim (Margoliouth 1974: 382). The Qadiriyya branch that presently is dominant in Indonesia also traces its silsila through 'Abd al-'Aziz and a successor named Muhammad al-Hattak. 1 There are references to 'Abd al-'Aziz in early Arabic sources (dating, however, f r o m more than a century after his death), which allow for the possibility that he continued his father's teaching — whatever its nature may have been. Al-Wasiti (d. 744/1343) affirms that 'Abd al-Razzaq and 'Abd al'Aziz were the only sons who did not pursue secular careers (Trimingham 1971: 42). Margoliouth, incidentally, mentions — it is not clear on the basis of which source — the village of Jiyal in Sinjar (west of Mosul) and not 'Aqra as the place where 'Abd al-'Aziz died (Margoliouth 1974: 382). The accompanying chart shows the central lineage of the family, the line to which the most prominent m e m b e r s belonged. 2 I have not found r e f e r e n c e s to the Sadat'

Nehr" p r e d a t i n g their

"conversion"

to

the

Naqshbandiyya. They come into prominence in the mid-19th century, as a result of changes in the regional balance of power as well as d u e to the presence of missionaries for whom they, as the leading M u s l i m religious authorities of the region, obviously represented a force to be reckoned with and who therefore regularly reported on them. Administrative reforms in the Ottoman Empire under the sultans M a h m u d II (1808-1839) and Abdulmecid (1839-1888) made an end to the autonomy of the Kurdish d\ nasties that had for many generations ruled the less accessible parts of Kurdistan. This included the Shembu dynasty of Hakkari (whose last ruler, Nurullah Beg, was deposed and exiled to Crete in 1849) and ' C f . Van Bruinessen 1999. Most names in this silsila cannot be identified, which reinforces our doubts about the historicity of the links of the first centuries after Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir's lifetime. However, the names of the first seven or eight generations are identical with those in the entirely independent Qadiriyya silsila given by Burton in his Pilgrimage. 2 T h e r e is a similar chart in Nikitine 1925b: 156 and again 1956: 213, which shows a number of collateral branches as well. See also the charts in Bruinessen 1992: 321, 329-331 and YalAinHeckmann 1991: 296.

THB

SÁDATÉ

NEHRl

201

the 'Abbasi Begzade dynasty of Shemdinan. As happened elsewhere in Kurdistan, appointed officials had neither the legitimacy nor the understanding of local conditions necessary to take the place of the deposed "feudal" rulers, and this propelled religious leaders into political roles. 1 De facto authority in a large zone of Central Kurdistan thus devolved to Shavkh Sayyid Taha, who in fact during Nurullah Beg's final years acted as a mediator between the latter and the Ottoman authorities. 2 Shaykh Sayyid Taha was very much aware of the geopolitical developments in the wider region and he was especially concerned about the inexorable southward expansion of Russia and the increasing hold of the leading imperialist powers (Britain, Russia and France) over the Ottoman Empire. During the Crimean war (1854-56) he personally took part in the jihad against the Russians. 3 He also corresponded with the hero of the antiRussian resistance in Daghistan, Shaykh Shamil (d. 1871) and even appears to have sent Kurdish warriors to Daghistan to take part in the resistance movement. 4

Shaykh 'Ubaydullah Shaykh 'Ubaydullah shared his father's concerns, and it was the Russian-Ottoman war of 1877-78, during which the Ottoman government appointed him as the commander of Kurdish tribal forces, that spurred him on to political activism. A year after the war he briefly rebelled against the Ottoman provincial administration, showing that he was capable of wielding effective authority in Central Kurdistan, and in 1880 Kurdish tribal armies loyal to the shaykh invaded the neighbouring districts of Iran, intending to replace the impopular Persian administration with rule by Shaykh 'Ubaydullah. There are grounds to consider this as the first Kurdish uprising with a clear nationalist aspect. In correspondence with foreigners the shaykh spoke of the Kurds as a distinct people — notably distinct from the Armenians, whose nationalism had been fanned by the Russians — and complained of the corrupt Persian and Ottoman administration. Ottoman officials and foreign missionaries and consuls in the region also believed that the shaykh intended to establish an independent Kurdish principality.

' T h i s development is analysed in Bruinessen 1992: 224-34. 2

S e e Yal^in-Heckmann 1991: 57-61 for an account of Nurullah's last years, largely based on Ottoman documents published by Nazmi Sevgen, •Valijin-Heckmann 1991: 63, after the Yurt Ansiklopedisi. 4

G a m m e r 1994: 251. Shaykh Shamil and various other activist 'ulama of the northern Caucasus were, like Shaykh Sayyid Taha, affiliated with the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya.

202

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

The shaykh's military role in the Russian-Ottoman war had confirmed his position (as well as his perception of himself) as the most widely respected Kurdish leader. Most of the firearms given to the tribes during that war remained in Kurdistan, further strengthening the shaykh's position. The major factor that made him rebel probably was his perception that the Armenians of Van, with international support, were preparing for the establishment of an independent state and that the Nestorians of his own district sought British protection. 1 Another reason that he repeatedly mentioned himself, however, was misgovernment and oppression by the local administration and its failure to check depredations by the large Kurdish nomad tribes Herki and Shikak. In 1879 he briefly rebelled against the Ottoman provincial administration because of a conflict with the governor of Gewer. In spite of a Kurdish counter-attack on the Ottoman battalion that was despatched restore order, this question was settled amiably; the offending official was dismissed and the shaykh rewarded a decoration and a salary for his services in the past war. Given the shaykh's objections to Armenian aspirations, it is remarkable that his relations with his most direct Christian neighbours, the Nestorians, remained good during the 1880 uprising; the Nestorians in fact, for whatever reasons, supported him. He also cultivated relations with the f o r e i g n missionaries working in the region, who generally held favourable opinions of him. During the invasion of Persia, his brother-in-law and khalifa, Shaykh M u h a m m a d Sa'id, told the British c o n s u l - g e n e r a l and the A m e r i c a n missionaries based at U r m i a that ' U b a y d u l l a h ' s aims were "to repress brigandage, restore order within the borders of Turkey and Persia, place Christians and Muslims on a footing of equality, favour education, and allow churches and schools to be built", and that he d e m a n d e d European moral support for this project (Jwaideh 1960: 239). The rebellion thus did not simply place the Kurds against the local Christians or other ethnic groups. T h e shaykh's troops, organised into three armies commanded by his two sons M u h a m m a d Siddiq and 'Abd al-Qadir and his brother-in-law Muhammad Sa'id, were recruited from most of the tribes of the region, showing again that his authority was capable of overcoming tribal

Article 51 of the Treaty of Berlin, concluded between the European powers and the Ottoman Empire after the Russian-Ottoman war, obliged the Porte "to carry out, without further delay, the improvements and reforms demanded by local requirements in the provinces inhabited by the Armenians, and to guarantee their security against the Circassians and Kurds" (Jwaideh 1960: 282n). The arrival of British military consuls in the region was perceived by many Kurds as a direct intervention. 'Ubaydulluh is reported to have told a Turkish officer in 1880: "What is this I hear, that the A r m e n i a n s are going to have an independent state in Van, and the Nestorians are going to hoist the British flag and declare themselves British subjects. I will never permit it, even if I have to arm the women" (thus a report by consul Clayton, quoted in Jwaideh 1960: 233).

I H E

SA

D A T E

203

N E H R I

divisions and conflicts. 1 One stated aim of the invasion in Persia, however, was to discipline the large Kurdish Shikak tribe which often pillaged the Kurdish, Azeri and Nestorian peasants of the Urmia plain. As it was, the shaykh's men did their own bit of pillaging too, but they were welcomed by the Kurdish-inhabited towns of the district, local Kurdish tribes joined them, and the Persian officials all fled. The m o v e m e n t acquired an anti-Shi'i character after the (Shi'i) Azeri inhabitants of the town of Miyanduab opposed it and killed Kurdish envoys w h o had c o m e to request supplies for the shaykh's troops. A fatwa

issued by

the chief molla in S a w u j Bulaq (Mahabad), allegedly calling for jihad

against

the Shi'is, may have played a crucial role. 2 M i y a n d u a b was attacked and several thousand of its inhabitants massacred. T h e Kurdish troops on this front, led by Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, then continued further into Azeri territory, ravaging the countryside as far as Maragha. The suppression of the uprising by Persian troops was equally bloody if not more so. T h e army killed indiscriminately, not only Kurds but also Nestorians of the Urmia plain. What by that time remained of the shaykh's tribal forces dissolved and returned home across the border. The shaykh and his sons too returned to Shemdinan. The attitude of Shaykh 'Ubaydullah towards the Ottoman g o v e r n m e n t , as well as that of the government t o w a r d s the shaykh, at the time of this rebellion appears to have been ambivalent. T h e shaykh never stopped proclaiming his loyalty towards the Sultan (whom he of course recognised as the Caliph), but some Ottoman officials as well as the missionaries believed him to strive for separation from Istanbul as well. The government remained remarkably lenient to him, and some observers believed it to be tacitly supporting his mobilisation of the Kurds as a safeguard against the greater danger of Armenian nationalism. 3

' E s t i m a t e s of the size of these forces by c o n t e m p o r a r y observers (listed meticulously in Jvvaideh 1960: 260-5) vary considerably. T h e largest of them numbered s o m e w h e r e between 10,000 and 40,000 men but in the course of the campaign dwindled to 1,500 as the men simply returned to their villages. 2

T h e only source mentioning this fatwa appears to be Wilson 1895: 111. Kurdish S a w u j Bulaq and Azeri Miyanduab arc neighbour towns with a history of friction, and the background of the fatwa may be unrelated to Shaykh 'Ubaydullah's invasion. It was however Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, the commander of the invading Kurdish forces in the Sawuj Bulaq region, who decided to attack Miyanduab. Q

T h u s the British consul-general Abbott at Tabriz and, m o r e forcefully, the former Armenian patriarch Khrimian, in letters and reports quoted in Jwaideh 1960: 239-47. They wrote of a "Kurdish League", f o r m e d by the shaykh at the instigation of the government. Another British consul-general, Trotter at Van, j u s t as f o r c e f u l l y rejected the idea of O t t o m a n collusion. It should not be forgotten, of course, that there hardly was something as the Ottoman government. T h e administration and a r m y t h e m s e l v e s w e r e ridden with conflicts and the sultan was continually balancing factions against one another and against local notables (see Duguid 1973).

204

MULLAS.

SUT-I S A N D

HERETICS

In the aftermath of the rebellion the shaykh was summoned to Istanbul, but the hero's welcome that he was given everywhere on the way indicated that he was not treated as an ordinary rebel. After a year of enforced residence in Istanbul he made his way back to Shemdinan. Under foreign pressure, the authorities arrested him again, this time sending him into exile to Mecca, where he died in 1883.1

Shaykh Muhammad Siddiq (d. 1911) Muhammad Siddiq, 'Ubaydullah's eldest son, was allowed to return to Nehri and to succeed to his father's position as the most influential person of Central Kurdistan — a position which he had, however, continually to defend it against rival shaykhs and tribal chieftains. Dickson (1910) gives a traveller's account of these rivalries, but by far the most fascinating source on Muhammad Siddiq's exploits is the story that Mulla Sa'id, his f o r m e r secretary, wrote for Nikitine (Nikitine & Soane 1923). It is a rare eyewitness account of the manipulations by which the shaykh exploited the rivalry between the tribal chieftains Suto and Tato in order to acquire the possessions of both. The missionary W. A. Wigram gives an interesting account of his economic enterprises and his relationship with the Ottoman authorities. "Shrewder than his father, |Shaykh Muhammad Siddiq] was content with the reality of power, and accumulated wealth by tobacco smuggling on the most magnificent scale. His caravans went down to Persia, often 100 mules strong, in open defiance of the 'Regie' officials; and a large portion of the proceeds was invested in rifles, smuggled from Russia to Urmi." 2 The shaykh put some of his money in a savings account in a British bank (which he asked Wigram to select for him); he must have been one of the first Kurdish chieftains ever to invest money abroad. Both the kaymakam (district governor) and the inspector of the state tobacco monopoly (the Régie) lived in quarters generously provided by the shaykh, which did not put them in a position to interfere seriously in his affairs. 3

' T h e best study of 'Ubaydullah's rebellion in its local and international contcxt is Jwaideh 1960: 212-89, on which 1 have mostly relied here. For another perspective, see also Joseph 1961: 10713. 2

W i g r a m & Wigram 1914: 163.

•'ibid. According to Erdost's informants, the shaykh invested much of his earnings in buying land (Erdost 1971: 184-6).

T H E

S A D A T E

N E H R I

205

Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir (d. 1925) Muhammad Siddiq's younger brother 'Abd al-Qadir, exiled together with his father, stayed in Mecca until the Young Turk coup d'Etat of 1908 made it possible for him to settle in Istanbul. The fame of his family earned him the respect of both the Kurdish aristocrats and the Kurdish "proletariat", the porters (.hammal). He was appointed to the Shura-yi Devlet (Council of State, the Ottoman Senate), of which he later even became the president. He was also made the figurehead, or one of the figureheads, of the first Kurdish association, the Kurt Teavtin ve Terakki Cemiyeti, that was established in Istanbul that same year. This was an ephemeral organisation, that faded away when the new regime reverted to authoritarianism, but Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir's position as the moral leader of Istanbul's Kurdish community remained unassailable. Following his brother Muhammad Siddiq's death in 1911, he briefly returned to Nehri to press his claims as the successor but had to yield to his nephew Taha II, in exchange for which a liberal allowance was henceforth periodically sent to Istanbul. In the aftermath of the First World War, when the idea of national selfdetermination proclaimed by US president Wilson had strong reverberations among the elites of the various ethnic groups of the Empire, we find Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir again in the leadership of a Kurdish association, the Kurt Teali Cemiyeti. This was more of a real organisation than its predecessor, and it carried out a whole range of cultural and educational activities. Its members had widely varying views of what the interests of the Kurds were that had to be defended. Some were thinking of an independent Kurdish state; Sayyid 'Abd alQadir headed the faction that favoured a degree of decentralisation but on religious and other grounds opposed separation from the remnants of the Empire. 1 Following the ultimate victory of the Kemalists, Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir did not flee abroad as did most of the separatist Kurdish faction but remained in Istanbul. The decision to stay cost him and his son Muhammad their lives. In the wake of the first large Kurdish uprising in Republican Turkey, the Shaykh Sa'id rebellion of 1925, both were hanged although they appear not to have been involved in the rebellion. The sayyid's great influence among the Kurds had made him a liability. Another son, 'Abdullah, returned to Shemdinan (where the head of the family, Sayyid Taha II, then no longer resided) and, aided by warriors of the Gerdi tribe, briefly occupied the central village of

' O n these Kurdish associations, the various ideological tendencies in them and Sayyid 'Abd alQadir's role, see Bruinessen 1992: 275-9; Olson 1 9 9 6 | 1 9 9 1 | : 136-9.

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Nawchiya, killing six Turkish officers. Nol much later he fled south to British-controlled territory. 1 In 1926 the question of the border between Turkey and Iraq was finally settled; the former Ottoman province of Mosul, more or less coinciding with southern Kurdistan, came to Iraq. The district of Shemdinan remained Turkish, but the districts with which it had always been most closely linked, Bradost and Barzan, were henceforth part of Iraq. Nehri thus found itself on the frontier of three states, in each of which the Sadat' Nehr" had considerable landholdings. 2 In the following decades we see members of the family engaged in political activities in Iraq as well as Turkey and Iran.

Sayyid Taha II (d. 1939) Sayyid Taha II, Muhammad Siddiq's eldest son, had inherited the political instincts of his grandfather and knew how to further his personal interests while at the same time representing those of the Kurds as a people. Before and during the First World War, he was several times in contact with the Russians, attempting to enlist their support for a Kurdish state. 3 He appears to have spent a considerable time in Russian territory, for a British officer who later met him in Iraq remarked that he spoke good Russian as well as some French (Hay 1921: 353). After the war, the Kemalists, who were intent on wresting Kurdistan from British control, contacted him and offered him a seat in the national assembly, but he believed his interests were better served with Kurdish independence. He contacted the British in Iraq in 1919 to ask their support for such a project and joined forces with the tribal chieftain Simko of the Shikak tribe, who for a few years controlled a vast territory on the Iranian side of the border in complete defiance of the central government. After Simko's defeat by Iranian troops in August 1922, Sayyid Taha crossed into Iraq and offered the British his support against the Kemalists (who by then had a military presence in Rowanduz and were winning over various Kurdish tribes of the region to their side). The British, who had a favourable impression of him and had for

' E r d o s t 1987: 49-61. ^ A detailed though incomplete listing of the land holdings of the Sadat' Nehr" is given by Erdost 1971: 181-5. 3 E a g l e t o n (1963: 7) mentions a visit to Russia as early as 1889, in the c o m p a n y of two other prominent Kurdish personalities. Abd al-Razzaq Bedirkhan and Ja'far Agha of the Shikak tribe. This must be an error, however; Sayyid Taha was only born in or around 1892, and Ja'far A g h a was killed in 1905, which makes it improbable that the two ever visited Russia together. In late 1917 Sayyid Taha sent a letter to Basil Nikitine, the Russian consul in Urmia, in which he requested an interview with the Russian military staff to discuss c o m m o n action against the Turkish army (Nikitine 1956: 195).

T H K

S À D A

I H

N E H R f

207

s o m e time considered him as a m o r e promising ally than the unreliable Shaykh M a h m u d Barzinji of S u l a y m a n i y y a , m a d e him the kaimmakam (governor) of the Rowanduz district. After the end of the British mandate he fell out with the Iraqi authorities and in 1932 crossed back into Iran. Shah Riza kept him under forced residence in Tehran, where he died in 1939 of a mysterious disease. 1

Shaykh 'Abdullah Ef'endi and Colonel 'Abd al-'Aziz A f t e r his brief rebellion in Shemdinan, Sayyid 'Abd al-Qadir's son 'Abdullah lived in Iraq and sent his son 'Abd al-'Aziz to military college in B a g h d a d , which indicates that the f a m i l y did not e x p e r i e n c e

political

difficulties there. In 1941, however, the father crossed into Iran and settled in the M a r g a w a r district south-west of Urmia, where the family also owned extensive landholdings. 2 'Abd al-'Aziz, by then an Iraqi army officer, followed in 1945, together with a few other officers of Kurdish origins who had been in contact with Kurdish nationalist circles. Both Shaykh 'Abdullah and Shaykh 'Abd al-'Aziz took active part in the short-lived Kurdish republic of Mahabad (1946), although not in leading roles. The tribes of the region favoured Shaykh 'Abdullah as the leader, but the urban nationalists opted f o r Qazi M u h a m m a d as the chairman of the Kurdistan D e m o c r a t i c Party and president of the republic. (Shaykh 'Abdullah w a s considered as pro-British, which pleased neither Mahabad's young nationalists nor the Russians w h o were a permanent factor in the background.) A r m e d followers of the shaykh constituted only a small fraction of the armed forces of the republic. 3 This aloofness made it possible for Shaykh 'Abdullah to keep his position of influence after the republic was defeated by the Iranian army — unlike Qazi Muhammad, who was hanged, and the military commander Mulla Mustafa Barzani, w h o had to fight his way to exile in the Soviet Union. He even acted as the intermediary in negotiations between the Iranian army and the departing Barzani tribesmen.

' O n Sayyid Taha II, see: Wigram & Wigrara 1914: 165-7; Hay 1921: 352-4; E d m o n d s 1957305-8; Eagleton 1963: 7, 18; Erdost 1987: 4 4 - 8 ; Bruinessen 1992: 330-1; Yalcin-Heckmann 1991:65-7. 2 Eagleton 1963: 18-20. It is not clear from Eagleton's summary account whether this move was in response to the Rashid 'Ali coup in Iraq in 1941 or had other reasons. 3 T h e total forces of the republic consisted of some 2000 experienced guerrilla fighters of the Barzani tribe (from neighbouring Iraq) and over 10,000 tribal warriors o n horseback. A m o n g the latter, only 200 were the direct followers of Shaykh 'Abdullah Gilani's family, c o m m a n d e d by a Sayyid Fahim (Eagleton 1963: 91-2). 'Abd al-'Aziz supposedly served as an o f f i c e r in Mahabad's army (cf. Kahn 1980: 141, where he is erroneously called Avdila).

MIILLAS.

208

SUFIS

AND

II I R K I K S

'Abd al-'Aziz, who after all was an Iraqi army deserter, joined Mulla Mustafa and his men to the Soviet Union. He spent two years in enforced residence in Siberia and worked as a factory worker but when Stalin's subsided he could study in Leningrad. Together with Barzani he returned to Iraq after Qassem's coup d'Etat in 1958 and became active again in Kurdish nationalist politics. As a member of the political bureau of the Kurdistan Democratic Party he sided with Ibrahim Ahmed and Jalal Talabani against Barzani in the conflict that split the movement from the early 1960s on. In 1964 Barzani had him imprisoned, and Shaykh 'Abdullah had to use all his influence with the Iranian authorities to put pressure on Barzani for 'Abd al-'Aziz's release. Since then he has resided alternately in Urmia (Rezaye) and in the last remaining family village in Margawar. 1

The Geylani in Turkey Within the borders of Turkey, members of a different branch of the family have recently been prominent in local and national politics. Nairn Geylani was a lawyer in Hakkari and became a member of parliament for the Motherland Party (ANAP) sometime in the 1980s. His cousin Hamit Geylani, also a lawyer, was active in the pro-Kurdish political parties of the 1990s, HEP, DEP and HADEP. initially in the Shemdinan district committee and later at the national level. Both belong to a branch of the family that branches off from the "central" line four generations above Mulla Haji, the earliest direct ancestor shown in the accompanying chart, and are therefore only distantly related to the sha\ khs who led the family and controlled its economic assets. 2

' K a h n 1980: 140-6. The f a m i h holdings w e r e expropriated in the shah's land reform of the early 1960s but Shaykh 'Abdullah succeeded in buying one entire village back. 2

Personal communication f r o m Lale Yal^in-Heckmann, based on a family tree copied for her by Hamit Geylani. Nairn and Hamit's grandfather, Sayyid Islam Geylani, told M u z a f f e r Erdost that he had worked as a steward on (some of) Shaykh M u h a m m a d Siddiq's land, supervising the profitable tobacco cultivation, in exchange for some 8 per cent of the monetary yield (Erdost 1971: 183).

THE

SADATE

NEHRI

209

The "central" branch of the family tree of the Sadat'

Nehr

'Abd al-Qadir Gilani I 'Abd al-'Aziz I Abu Bakr I Haydar I Mulla Haji I Ibrahim I Mulla Salih I S. 'Abdullah

S. Ahmad I

Muhammad

S. Taha

'Abd al-Hakim

'Ala' al-din

'Ubaydullah

Salih

Mahmud

M. Siddiq 'Abd al-Qadir

S.Taha II I

Muslih

M. Siddiq II "Shaykh Pusho"

Shams al-din Gilanizade

'Abd al-'Aziz Shemzini

'Abdullah Efendi

'Abd al-Qadir

Muhammad I

Hizir Geylani

210

MULLAS.

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Bibliography B R U I N E S S E N , Martin van 1992. Agha, shaikh and state: the political structures of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books. — 1997. "Shamdinan", Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, vol. IX, 282-3. — 2000. "Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and the Qadiriyya in Indonesia", Journal for the History ofSufism (Istanbul) vol. 1. ÇEVIK, Suleyman (ed) 1998. Serokê KTCê Seyid Evdilqadir [special issue (no 65) of Kurdish monthly Nûbihar, Istanbul |. D I C K S O N , Bertram 1910. "Travels in Kurdistan", The Geographical Journal 35, 357-379. DIJGUID, S. 1973. "The politics of unity: Hamidian policy in Eastern Anatolia", Middle Eastern Studies 9, 139-156. EAGLETON, William 1963. The Kurdish republic of 1946. London: Oxford University Press. E D M O N D S , C.J. 1957. Kurds, Turks and Arabs: politics, travel and research in north-eastern Iraq, 1919-1925. London: Oxford University Press. ERDOST, Muzaffer (Îlhan j 1971. "Semdinli asiretlerinde iiretim iligkileri", in: M. ERDOST, Turkiye uzerine notlar. Ankara: Sol Yayinlari, pp. 162203. — 1987. Semdinli roportaji. Istanbul: Onur Yayinlari. G A M M E R , Moshe 1994. Muslim resistance to the Tsar: Sham.il and the conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan. London: Frank Cass. HAY, W.R. 1921. Two years in Kurdistan: experiences of a political officer ¡918-1920. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. JOSEPH, John 1961. The Nestorians and their Muslim neighbors. Princeton University Press. J W A I D E H , Wadie 1960. The Kurdish nationalist movement: its origins and development. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Syracuse University. KAHN, Margaret 1980. Children of the jinn: in search of the Kurds and their country. N.p.: Seaview Books. MACKENZIE, D.N. 1962. "A Kurdish creed", dans: A locust's leg: studies in honour of S.H. Taqizadeh. London: Percy Lund, Humphries & Co., pp. 162-170. M A R G O L I O U T H , D.S. 1907. "Contributions to the biography of 'Abd alQadir of Jilan", Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 267-310. — 1974. "Kadiriyya", Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, vol. IV, 380-3. M A U N S E L L , F.R. 1901. "Central Kurdistan", The Geographical Journal 18, 121-144. NIKITINE, Basile 1925a. "Les thèmes religieux dans les textes kurdes de la collection de B. Nikitine, ancien consul de Russie à Ourmiah", Actes du congr's international de l'histoire des religions, tenu à Paris en octobre 1923, tòme 11. 415-434. Paris: H. Champion.

T H H S Â D A T È

N HH Rî

— 1925b. "Les Kurdes racontés par eux-mêmes", L'Asie française

no. 231,

148-157. — 1926-28. "Kurdish stories from my collection", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 4, 121-138. — 1956. Les Kurdes: étude sociologique

et historique.

Paris: Klincksieck.

NIKITINE, Basile & E. B. S O A N E 1923. "The tale of Suto and l a t o : Kurdish text with translation and notes", Bulletin of the School of Oriental Studies 3, 69-106. O L S O N , Robert 1991. "Five stages of Kurdish nationalism: 1880-1980", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 12 no.2, 391-409 | reprinted in R. OLSON, Imperial meanderings and republican by-ways, Istanbul: The Isis Press, 1996, pp. 127-146]. TALAY, Aydin 1988. Bizim eller. Van. Istanbul (privately printed). T R I M I N G H A M , J. Spencer 1971. The suft orders in Islam. London: Oxford University Press. W I G R A M , W. A. and E.T.A. W I G R A M 1914. The cradle of mankind: life in eastern Kurdistan. London: Adam and Charles Black. WILSON, Samuel G. 1895. Persian life and customs. New York: Fleming H. Revell Company. Y A L Ç I N - H E C K M A N N , Laie 1991. Tribe and kinship among the Kurds. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.

THE Q A D I R I Y Y A A N D T H E L I N E A G E S SHAYKHS IN KURDISTAN

OF QADIRI

The observer of the Qadiriyya in Kurdistan is struck by two traits that clearly distinguish it f r o m the only other order that presently has numerous Kurdish adherents, the Naqshbandiyya, as well as f r o m the branches of the Qadiriyya elsewhere that have been studied thus far. T h e first is the fact that the order is, at least in southern and eastern Kurdistan, virtually monopolised by t w o (formerly by four) large families of hereditary shaykhs, who also control considerable economic resources, the Barzinjis and the Talabanis. Whereas the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya rapidly spread across all of Kurdistan in the 19th century due to the practice of appointing locally influential 'ulama as khalifa,

the n e t w o r k s of the Qadiri shaykhs (especially the Barzinjis)

remained family networks, with branches of the family established in different places acting as the chief spiritual authorities and with few or no outsiders in positions of importance. The second striking aspect of Kurdish Qadiri practices is the use of percussion instruments accompanying the recitation of mystical poetry as well as the dhikr,

the ecstatic nature of the dhikr,

and (especially

with the Barzinji branches) the practice of cutting oneself with sharp objects (tighbazi),

licking red-hot iron, eating glass and poison, in which some of the

participants in the Qadiri majlis associated with the Rifa'iyya, majlis

engage. T h e latter practices are commonly

not with the Qadiriyya. 1 T h e Kurdish Qadiriyya

appears to represent a local synthesis of devotional and mystical

exercises. 2

The Barzinji shaykhs T h e two families of shaykhs that have dominated the Qadiriyya in southern and eastern Kurdistan for the past century and a half are the Barzinji, with their m a j o r centres in the the city of Sulaymaniyya and a number of villages in the districts around it, and the Talabani, with their central takiya in

These practices are not entirely unknown in other branches of the Qadiriyya, however. In the Maghrib, where the order is known as Jilaliyya, it is especially renowned for them. According to During (1989: 639) they are also found with the Qadiriyya of Turkey, Baluchistan and South Africa. 2

A description and analysis of the rituals of the Kurdish Qadiriyya is beyond the scope of this article. The most elaborate description of a number of Qadiri majlis in Kurdistan is probably still that in Bruinessen 1992: 234-40, but there is much interesting and detailed information o n Qadiri ritual in Tawakkuli (s.d.: 169-95). T h e musicologist and religious scholar Jean During provides an interesting description and analysis of a Kurdish Qadiri dhikr (1989: 241-51, 288-90) and of some of the religious poetry sung in the majlis (ibid. 252-78).

214

M U L L A S

S U F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

Kirkuk. Previously, two large and influential families of sayyids in central Kurdistan, based in Nehri in Shemdinan and in Arvas near Moks respectively, were also affiliated with the Qadiriyya but the leading shaykhs of both adopted the N a q s h b a n d i y y a - K h a l i d i y y a in the 19th century and a p p e a r to have completely given up their Qadiri affiliations. 1 The Barzinji are the most influential and powerful family of 'ulama and shaykhs in Kurdistan. T h e \ trace their origins to a certain Sayyid 'Isa who in the mid-15th century came, together with his brother Musa, f r o m Hamadan and settled in Kurdistan at a spot named Barzinja, where they established a mosque. Family chronicles make 'Isa and Musa the sons of 'Ali Hamadani and brothers of Sayyid M u h a m m a d N u r b a k h s h , w h o , according to the same chronicles, personally spread the Nurbakhshiyya in Kurdistan; Sayyid 'Isa himself is also sometimes named 'Isa Nurbakhsh. 2 This suggests that at least at one stage the family was affiliated with the N u r b a k h s h i y y a order. 'Ali H a m a d a n i (d. 7 8 6 / 1 3 8 5 ) was a w e l l - k n o w n mystic affiliated with the Kubrawiyya, who established himself in Kashmir; M u h a m m a d Nurbakhsh (d. 869/1465) was a second-generation disciple of 'Ali Hamadani, who declared himself the mahdi and for whom the Nurbakhshiyya, a distinct branch of the Kubrawiyya, is named. The presence of the Nurbakhshiyya in 15th-century Kurdistan is also attested b\ other sources. 3 The same two brothers Sayyid 'Isa and Sayyid Musa also occur in the founding myth of the syncretistic Ahl-i Haqq religion. Sultan Sahak, the divine incarnation who established the first Ahl-i Haqq community at Pirdiwar, was the son of Sayyid 'Isa. Several of the sayyid families ( k h a n a d a n ) w h o constitute the hereditary religious leaders of the Ahl-i Haqq claim to be the descendants of Sultan Sahak's sons (and therefore distant relatives of the Barzinji). 4

' O n the seyyids of Nehri, see m> "The Sadatl Nehri or Gilanizade of Central Kurdistan", in this volume. T h e seyyids of Arvas. w h o are not related to them, are briefly discussed below. Extensive biographies of prominent members of the latter family are to be found in Uyan 1983. ^ S u m m a r i e s of Barzinji family chronicles are given by Edmonds (1957: 68-72) and by Tawakkuli (s.d.: 133, citing Muhammad Amin Zaki's Ta'rikh Sulaymaniyya, which unfortunately was not available to me). Edmonds gives the date of 656/1258 for the arrival of the two brothers, Tawakkuli the more likely one of 860/1456. ^ O n M u h a m m a d N u r b a k h s h and the Nurbakhshiyya, see H a m i d Algar's article in the Encyclopaedia of Islam, which does not mention any indication that the order spread west from its origins in Kashmir. S o m e Kurdish sources claim that the 15th-century sufi, Shaykh Husamuddin Bitlisi, the father of the famous historian and diplomat Idris Bitlisi, was a khalifa of the Nurbakhshiyya (e.g., Zeki 199811945]: 121; Caglayan 1996: 161). The source that is closest in time to him, however, the Sharafname (late 16th c e n t u r y ) d o e s not m e n t i o n the Nurbakhshiyya but only speaks of a silsila to the earlier great sufi of Bitlis, 'Ammar b. Yasir, w h o was Kubra's teacher (and thus Nurbakhsh' spiritual ancestor). 4 E . g . Edmonds 1957: 182-190, Edmonds 1969, Tawakkuli s.d.: 134.

THB

QADIRIYYA

IN

KURDISTAN

215

The sources contradict each other as to the date since when the Barzinji family has been affiliated with the Qadiriyya; some sources tend to project this further back into the past than is warranted. T h e present branches of the Barzinji family all descend from a certain Baba Rasul (d. 1056/1646), who is in the ninth generation after Sayyid 'Isa. 1 A s the f a m i l y tradition (in Tawakkuli's summary) has it, Baba Rasul received an ijaza to teach besides the Nurbakhshiyya a second tariqa, the 'Alawiyya branch of the Khalwatiyya, which he also handed down to his descendants. Baba Rasul had numerous sons, who settled in different villages in the Shahrazur region, establishing their own lodges. O n e of B a b a Rasul's sons, M u h a m m a d ( 1 0 4 0 - 1 1 0 3 / 1 6 3 0 - 1 6 9 1 ) , travelled widely, studying in Baghdad, Mardin, Aleppo, Cairo and finally settling in Medina, where he became the Shafi'i mufti. He acquired a certain f a m e for the vehement critique of A h m a d Sirhindi that he wrote in 1682, in response to an istifta from Indian 'ulama and at the request of his teacher Ibrahim al-Kurani. His descendants remained an influential family in Medina, that frequently occupied the position of mufti? One of Baba Rasul's grandsons, M u h a m m a d N o d e h ! (named after the village of N o d e in the Qalacholan district where he established himself), acquired such a reputation as a mystic that came to be known as "[al-] kibrit al-ahmar", Red S u l p h u r — a f t e r the elixir to w h i c h Ibn al-'Arabi's metaphysical mysticism refers as a symbol f o r the t r a n s f o r m a t i o n of the h u m a n soul. 3 O n e source (Mudarris' biographical dictionary) claims that Muhammad already taught the Qadiriyya; according to another (Tawakkuli), it was his son Isma'il who made this into the family's distinctive tariqa. T h e first m e m b e r of the Barzinji family who adopted the order with w h i c h the f a m i l y w a s later primarily a s s o c i a t e d , the Q a d i r i y y a , w a s M u h a m m a d Nodehi's son, Isma'il Wulyani (also known as Isma'il Qazanqaya). Isma'il had first been initiated by his father into the Nurbakhshiyya and the Khalwatiyya-'Alawiyya and then travelled to Baghdad for further study. It was there that he received his initiation into the Qadiriyya, at the hands of a certain

The major branches of the family are shown in the diagrams in Edmonds 1957: 69, Bruinessen 1978: 342 and Bruinessen 1992: 320; an elaborate list of Baba Rasul's descendants is also given in Mudarris 1983: 107-111. The latter author gives the year of Baba Rasul's birth as 970/1562-3, Tawakkuli that of his death as 1056/1646. ^On Muhammad b. 'Abd al-Rasul see Mudarris 1983: 493-5; on his polemic with Sirhindi: Y. Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1971, pp. 973

Tawakkuli s.d.: 133, Mudarris 1983: 497-8.

216

MULLAS

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Shaykh A h m a d Ahsa'T.1 The available sources give no date for this event, but but since Isma'il is said to have died in 1158/1745, 2 his adoption of the Qadiriyya probably took place in the early 18th century. The silsila

of present-day Kurdish Qadiris are of little help in

elucidating the Barzinji's first Qadiri affiliation. Those that I have come across are curiously incomplete, or rather, consist of three distinct parts, the lowest part a proper spiritual genealogy of the present head of one of the branches, with Isma'il Wulyani at its apex, the middle part a clearly non-genealogical listing of recognised spiritual ancestors including 'Abd al-Qadir, and the top part some (often abreviated) variant of the standard silsila connecting 'Abd alQadir with the Prophet. A s an example, here is one silsila that I copied in the Qadiri takya of Hajj Sayyid Wafa Salami in Sanandaj: M u h a m m a d S A W — 'Ali b. Abi Talib — Hasan Basri — Habib 'Ajami — Da'ud Ta'i — Ma'ruf Karkhi — Junayd Baghdadi — Abu Bakr Shibli — 'Ali Hakkari — Abu Yusuf Tarsusi — A b u Sa'id Makhzumi al-Mubarak — 'Abd al-Qadir Gilani — 'Abd al-Jabbar |b. 'Abd al-Qadir Gilani | — Ahmad Rifa'i — Ahmad Badawi — Ibrahim Dasuqi — Tsa Barzinji & M u s a Barzinji — Isma'il Wulyani — 'Ali Qosa Dolpamu — Husayn [b. 'Ali Q o s a | — Hajj Sulh 'Abd al-Salam [b. Husayn | — Hajj Sayyid Wafa Salami Compare this with the silsila of the Kasnazan (or Kripchina) branch, as read out in the invocations following the dhikr in the takya of that branch in Mahabad: M u h a m m a d a l - M u s t a f a — [al-]khulaf&

al-rashidin

— Hasan wa

Husayn — Hamza wa 'Abbas — Muhyiddin Sultan 'Abd al-Qadir Hasan Husayn al-Gilani — M u h a m m a d al-Bukhari al-Naqshbandi — Ahmad al-Ahsa'i — Isma'il Wulyani — Mas'ud-i Kirkuk — 'Abd alSamad-i Gilazarda -

Husayn-i Qazanqaya'i — Khalid Sayyid 'Abd al-

Qadir-i Qazanqaya'i — 'Abd al-Karim Shah-i Kasnazan — 'Abd alQadir-i Kripchina

-- Husayn-i T a j d a n i — M u h a m m a d

Husayn-i

Kasnazan — 'Abd al-Karim-i thani

' T a w a k k u l i s.d.: 133. This can obviously not be the famous scholar of that name, the founder of the Shi'i Shaykhi sect (who died in 1828, which is a little late). Mudarris (1983: 95-6) also names al-Ahsa'i (without explicitly mentioning his tariqa) and adds that this was the shaykh of the then well-known takya Ahsd'iyya, presently the takya Khalidiyya, located on the banks of the Tigris in the neighbourhood of Ra's al-Qarya. T w o generations later, the young Khalid al-Kurdi (the future M a w l a n a Khalid) is reported to have studied in Baghdad with M u h a m m a d b. A h m a d alAhsa'i, presumably at the same takya, which w a s later under his influence converted to the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya. 2 M u d a r r i s 1983: 96.

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In the latter silsila there is not even the pretense of a lineal connection between the persons preceding Ahmad al-Ahsa'i. The names of Hasan, Husayn, H a m z a and 'Abbas suggest pro-Shi'i sympathies, that of M u h a m m a d alBukhari (who can not be identified unambiguously but by w h o m probably Muhammad

B a h a ' u d d i n N a q s h b a n d is meant) a conciliation with the

Naqshbandiyya. 'Abd al-Karim "the Second", with whom the silsila ends, was in the late 1960s and early 1970s perhaps the most influential of the Qadiri shaykhs in Iraqi Kurdistan, at least among the peasant masses. One wonders whether the Barzinji of Kurdistan maintained contact with their relatives in Medina. (A son of M u h a m m a d b. Baba Rasul, Ibrahim, is reported to have returned to Kurdistan and settled in the village of Bardazard.) 1 M u h a m m a d b. Baba Rasul, the founder of that branch, had initiations in a number of orders, among which — though not prominently — the Qadiriyya. 2 His great-grandson, Ja'far b. Hasan b. 'Abd al-Karim b. M u h a m m a d (16901764), w h o was a contemporary of Isma'il Wulyani, appears to have had a more exclusive affiliation with the Qadiriyya. He achieved f a m e as the author of one of the most popular hagiographies of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir, Lujjayn dant f i manaqib

'Abd al-Qadir

al-Jilani?

ai-

Thus far, however, I have not found

any indication that the Medina branch of the family exercised an influence on their relatives in Kurdistan, and in spite of its poor documentation, we must take the family tradition of Isma'il Wulyani's initiation into the Qadiriyya as the most authoritative one. Upon his return to K u r d i s t a n , Isma'il settled in the village of Qazanqaya, which then gained renown as a centre of learning and attracted numerous visitors f r o m all over Kurdistan. Isma'il appointed f o u r khalifa, including his own brother 'Ali Qosa of Dolpamu and his son Riza of Delizhi 4 Soon the other branches of the family, centred around takiya in the villages of Sargelu, Gilazarda, Node, Dolpamu, Kasnazan, KripchTna, Qadir Karam and others, also were affiliated with the Qadiriyya. The next member of the family to acquire great renown as a scholar and mystic as well as political influence was Ma'ruf of Node (1166-1252/17531836), the chief khalifa of his grand uncle 'Ali Qosa. He had great influence at

'Mudarris 1983: 1 1 0 , 4 9 5 .

2

' ' M u h a m m a d was, like his mentor Ibrahim al-Kurani, initiated into the whole package of turuq taught by A h m a d al-Qushashi, in which the Shattariyya and N a q s h b a n d i y y a dominated but which included also the Qadiriyya (see Qushashi's Al-simt al-majid). Cf. Bruinessen 1998b. •^Biographical n o t i c e s in M u r a d i , Silk al-durar, vol. II, p. 9; M u d a r r i s 1983, p. 136; Brockelmann's Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, Band II, p. (2nd ed., Leiden: Brill, 1949), 3 8 4 and Supplementsband II, pp. 517-8. T h i s manaqib is very popular in Indonesia, see Bruinessen 1998b. other two were a brother's son, M u h a m m a d Qüleyi, and a non-relative, Mulla 'Ali Sosiyf (Tawakkuli s.d.: 133).

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the court of the (Kurdish) Baban dynasty in Sulaymaniyya and was the author of numerous books on doctrine and devotions. He also made a contribution to Kurdish philology in the form of a versified Arabic-Kurdish dictionary written for his son Ahmad. 1 It was in Shaykh Ma'rufs days that Mawlana Khalid returned from India and began teaching the Naqshbandiyya in Sulaymaniyya, to which the Baban ruler initially responded very favourably. A fierce rivalry between the two shaykhs ensued, in which Shaykh Ma'ruf gained the upper hand, forcing Khalid to leave the town for Baghdad. In his days the relations with the other major family of Qadiri shaykhs in southern Kurdistan, the Talabanis, were cordial. 'Abd al-Rahman Khalis, who was to become the greatest of the Talabani shaykhs, studied with Shaykh Ma'ruf and was close friends with the latter's son. Kak Ahmad. 2 Ma'rufs chief khalifa was his son, Kak Ahmad (d. 1305/1887-8), who gained a great reputation as a miracle-worker and reputedly won the favours of the Ottoman sultan 'Abd al-Hamid II. 3 In spite of the rivalry between his father and Mawlana Khalid, Kak Ahmad established good relations with Khalid's chief khalifa in the region, Shaykh 'Uthman Sirajuddin of Tawela. and exchanged tariqa with him. Shaykh 'Uthman's descendants have since then taught a combination of both orders but have not allowed the ecstatic dhikr and the tighbazi of the other Qadiris. 4 A more distant relative, Ahmad-i Sardar of the Sargelu branch, had in fact become a khalifa of Mawlana Khalid himself. His descendants, while formally remaining Naqshbandis, became known for the extremely heterodox practices in which their followers, presently known as the Haqqa sect, engaged. Kak Ahmad was succeeded at Sulaymaniyya by his son Muhammad Pichkol, "the Small". Muhammad's son and successor, Sa'id (not to be confused with Baba Sa'id Barzinji, mentioned below) was also the naqib alashraf of Sulaymaniyya. He was killed in Mosul in 1906 under circumstances not yet fully elucidated. The mantle of naqib passed to his brother Ma'ruf; as leader of the order he was succeeded by his sons Qadirand Mahmud. 5

' s e e his biography in Mudarris 19X3: 572-587-, a long list of his writings is given in Tawakkuli s.d.: 141-4. ^ E d m o n d s 1957: 77; Dr. Nouri Talabany, personal communication. 3

O n some of Kak A h m a d ' s miracles, cited from the traditional-style booklet Manaqib! Kak was printed in Sulaymaniyya in 1936, see Edmonds 1957:74-7. Cf. Mudarris 1983: 74-76, Tawakkuli s.d.: 146-150. Kak Ahmad also wrote books on various branches of the Islamic sciences, titles of which are listed by Bursali Mehmed Tahir Efendi (OM I: 146). One of them has the titillating title of Falh al-jawddf! baydn faza'il al-jihad. 4 B r u i n e s s e n 1978: 305-7. 319-324. 1992: 240-2.

Ahmadi Shekh that

-'Nikitine 1956: 215. Family sources claim Sa'id was executed by the Ottoman authorities; according to others, he was killed by Mosul citizens as a result of a quarrel caused by his servant.

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Another khalifa of Kak Ahmad was Baba Sa'id Barzinji, of whom I have not found out whether he also was a son or a more distant relative. Baba Sa'id settled in the village near Sawuj Bulaq (Mahabad, Iran) that is presently called Ghawthabad. He gained a large personal following there (LehmannHaupt, who met him in 1898, speaks of 8,000 murid, missionary sources mention his large armed retinue) as well as a reputation for saintliness that gave his village its name. The shaikh entertained friendly relations with the American missionaries in nearby Urmia, whom he gave free access to all the Muslim villages that he controlled, and he even had himself baptised a Christian though he remained outwardly a Muslim and went on teaching and leading the tariqa.1 When during the World War Ottoman troops briefly occupied the region (in the winter of 1915-16), they hanged the shaykh as a renegade. 2 These events have neither diminished his reputation as a saint nor the influence of his family; his descendants have continued leading the tariqa from Ghawthabad. 3 The most famous member of the Barzinji family in recent times was Kak Ahmad's great-grandson Shaykh Mahmud, who in the wake of the First World War led a number of uprisings and in 1922 declared himself "King of Kurdistan". 4 With him, we have definitely entered the realm of Kurdish politics and left that of mysticism. Contemporaries and posterity either praise him as a Kurdish patriot or condemn him as a feudal oppressor. His son and successor Latif has the distinction of being the target of a communist uprising in 1947-8. 5 Shaykh Latif later allegedly prevented the loss of his large estates by joining the Iraqi Communist Party before it got the power to carry out land reforms after 1958. Another Barzinji shaykh in the Sulaymaniyya district, 'Abd al-Karim of Kasnazan, had in the early 1950s a large following precisely among the poor peasants, and as the anthropologist Barth observed during his fieldwork there, there were suspicions that the tariqa was being used as a vehicle of socio-economic disaffection. 6

' T h e conversion, at the hands of the A m e r i c a n Missionary Samuel G. Wilson, is reported in Coan 1939 and Lehmann-Haupt 1910: 232, 272. 2

A c c o r d i n g to Nikitine (1951: 232-3, cf. 1956: 218), the reason of Shaykh Baba Sa'id's execution was his pro-Christian (i.e., by implication, pro-Entente) attitude and his opposition to the pro-jihdd propaganda in which the other shaykhs readily took part. ^ Baba Sa'id was succeeded at Ghawthabad by his son, Husayn, and the latter by a younger brother, Najmuddin, w h o was the shaykh of Ghawthabad in the mid-1970s. 4 S e e Edmonds 1957, passim, McDowall 1996: 151-183, passim. 5

Batatu 1978:611-3.

®Barth 1953: 85. This is the shaykh whose silsila was given above. H e later b e c a m e k n o w n as 'Abd al-Karîm Kripchîna, after another village of the family to w h i c h he had m o v e d . In the 1960s and 1970s, he cultivated good relations with the government, which helped him to further increase the number of his followers.

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The various branches of the family have their own central takya that continue the tariqa independently of each other, and most of the branches have a number of dependent takya at other places, constituting overlapping networks. Thus we find in Mahabad one Qadiriyya takya affiliated with the Kripchina branch and another that depends on Ghawthabad. Sanandaj has many takya, most of them affiliated with different branches of the Barzinji family, but others affiliated with the other major Qadiri family, the Talabanis.

The Talabani shaykhs As in the case of the Barzinjis, the origin of the Talabanis' affiliation with the Qadiriyya remains somewhat obscure because the Indian shaykh to whom they owe it cannot be identified. Unlike the Barzinjis, the Talabanis make no claim to descent from the Prophet. The first shaykh of this family was a certain Mulla Mahmud (d. 1215/1800-1), who hailed from Bukan in Iranian Kurdistan and had come to present Iraqi Kurdistan to study. He married a daughter of the chieftain of the powerful Zangana tribe (which probably added to the prestige he had already gained through his studies) and settled in the village of Qerkh, in the Chamchamal district of Kirkuk.1 Mulla Mahmud was initiated into the Qadiriyy a by an Indian shaykh, Ahmad al-Hindi al-Lahuri, who was a long-time resident of Surdash in southern Kurdistan. On one of his annual visits to the shrine of Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir in Baghdad, Shaykh Ahmad Lahuri spent some time in Qerkh as Mulla Mahmud's guest. On the return journey, Shaykh Ahmad spent another period at Qerkh and made Mulla Mahmud his khalifa,2 This Indian shaykh. Ahmad Lahuri, to whom the family owes its first affiliation with the Qadiriyya, is not a well-known person, but the family's silsila, although abbreviated, gives at least an indication of the branch of the Qadiriyya with which he was affiliated. The relevant section of the silsila, from 'Abd al-Qadir to Mahmud Zangana, is as follows: 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani — 'Abd al-Razzaq |b. 'Abd al-Qadir] — 'Uthman al-Jili — Yahya al-Basri — Nuruddin al-Shami — 'Abd al-Rahman alHasani — Burhanuddin al-Zanjari — Muhammad Ma'sum al-Madani — 'Abd al-Razzaq al-Hamawi — Ahmad al-Hindi al-Lahori — Mahmud alZangana'i al-Talabani3 ' H e is commonly known as Mulla Mahmud Zangana, which suggests that he was a Zangana himself. His descendant, Dr. Nouri Talabany, informed me, however, that Mulla Mahmud (son of Rustam son of Yusuf) belonged to the Kaka-Suri family of Bukan (letter dated January 22, 1999). 2 Mudarris 1983: 555-8. Cf. Edmonds 1957: 270, where also a family tree of the Talabanis is reproduced. Whereas these authors suggest Shaykh Ahmad was an itinerant sufi, Nouri Talabany writes (in a letter dated January 22, 1999) that he was a permanent resident of Surdash, who annually visited the shrine of 'Abd al-Qadir in Baghdad. ^Silsila of 'Abd al-Rahman Talabani cited in Vicdani 1995, p. 135.

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Mulla M a h m u d established a daughter takya in the city of Kirkuk but continued to reside in Kherkh and to lead the rituals in his takya there. His son and successor, Shaykh Ahmad, established a new takya and built a village at a spot opposite Qerkh named Talaban. It is from this village that the family has taken its name. Shaykh A h m a d and his seven sons are considered as the founders of the Talabani family. The most f a m o u s of the Talabani shaykhs was Ahmad's son, 'Abd alR a h m a n Khalis (d. 1275/1858-9). Though he presumably received his first instruction in the Qadiriyya f r o m his father, he studied for a considerable time with Shaykh Ma'ruf-i N o d i in Sulaymaniyya, w h o took such a liking to him that he wanted to adopt him as his son. It was 'Abd al-Rahman who later took up residence in Kirkuk and made of the takya there the centre of this branch of the Qadiriyya, which it has since remained. Branch takya were established in several other towns by his brothers. Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman introduced some innovations in the recitations of the Qadiriyya, including the use of percussion instruments accompanying dhikr and poetry, and he is for that reason considered as the f o u n d e r of a distinct branch of the Qadiriyya, the Khalisiyya. The takya at Kirkuk has a reputation for the beauty of the vocal and instrumental music performed there. Unlike the Barzinji branch of the Qadiriyya, however, the Talabani branch does not allow tîghbâzî and similar practices. Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman appears to have been considered as the leading Qadiri shaykh of his day, as is indicated by the respect that was shown him during his annual visits to the shrine of 'Abd al-Qadir by the sajjâda nishtn, who was the nominal head of the order.' Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman gained a reputation as a poet, w h o composed poems in Persian, Ottoman Turkish and Gorani. 2 After his death, a collection of his poetry was published in Istanbul. 3 H e also made a Turkish translation of Shattanawfi's biography of 'Abd al-Qadir, Bahjat al-asrâr.4

'Abd al-Rahman each year led majlis at the shrine, at which he had, against prevailing custom, drums (kudiim) and other musical instruments played. T o other devotee w h o protested against this innovation, the sajjada-nishin, Sayyid 'Ali Jilani, answered that he had no wish to "intervene between the sultan and his vizir." This and other interesting anecdotes on Shaykh 'Abd alR a h m a n are interpolated into Vicdani's book by the editor, Irfan Giindiiz, at pp. 136-143. 2 G o r a n i , which differed f r o m the Sorani Kurdish of Kirkuk and S u l a y m a n i y y a , was the l a n g u a g e s p o k e n by the Z a n g a n a tribe. It had been the f a v o u r i t e l a n g u a g e f o r literary expression in southern Kurdistan but was in the 19th century gradually replaced by Sorani. ^Kitab jadhba-i 'ishq, Istanbul 1880, reprinted in Iran in 1951 and again in 1993. Dr. Nouri Talabany kindly sent me photocopies of this work. Cf. §apolyo 1964: 163 and Vicdani 1995: 137-143, where a few poems are quoted. 4

B u r s a h M e h m e d Tahir, O M I: 37 ( w h e r e the author of the Bahjat Nurbakhshi).

al-asrdr

is called 'Ali

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His fame spread to Anatolia and Istanbul, and the Khalisiyya branch of the order followed. One khalifa, Mor 'Ali Baba, was despatched to Sivas at the special request of the governor and notables of that province. Mor 'Ali. later renamed Nur 'Ali, lies buried in the Khalisiyya takya that he had built in the c i t y . 1 Other khalifa of Shaykh 'Abd a l - R a h m a n settled in Istanbul and elsewhere in Anatolia. 2 According to one of his descendants, the shaykh had literally dozens of khalifa, each with his own takya: in various parts of Kurdistan (Arbil, the Badinan and K h o s h n a w districts, Z a h a w , Juvvanru, Hawraman, Mariwan, Sanandaj, Bukan, Sa'uj Bulaq |Mahabad], and Urfa) and as far as Samarkand. Medina, Tanta in Egypt and Syria. 3 Sultan 'Abd al-Majid, having heard many favourable reports about Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman, showed his appreciation by building a mosque for him. 4 In Kirkuk, Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman was succeeded by his son 'Ali (d. 1330/1912), and in the next generations too, succession was from father to son: through M u h a m m a d 'Ali (d. 1352/1933-4), M u h a m m a d Jamil (d. 1381/1961-2) and 'Ali (d. 1990) to the present incumbent, Y u s u f . 5 As the n u m b e r of murid kept growing — Shaykh 'Ali is said to have had 50,000 disciples 6 — the takya in Kirkuk was rebuilt several times. Other branches of the family remained in charge of secondary takya (such as that at Koy Sanjaq). The best known of Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman's khalifa was a Kurd from Arbil who settled in Tanta' in Egypt and who wrote a book that is read as far away as in Indonesia. 'Abd al-Qadir b. Muhyiddin al-Arbili (d. 1315/1897) is the author (or rather, the translator f r o m Persian into Arabic) of the widely read h a g i o g r a p h y Tafrih al-khdtir f i mandqib shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir. He was a Naqshbandi and a Khalwati as well as a Qadiri. 7 Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman's second son, Shaykh Riza Talabani, acquired great f a m e as a poet in Sorani Kurdish. A part of his poetry was devotional, with a few references to the Qadiriyya, but he also wrote in other registers, and some of his poetry was hardly of the kind one would expect from a mystic. He

' v i c d a n i 1995: 138-9 (interpolation by lrfan Gundiiz). ^Vicdani 1995: 117. Vicdani speaks of khalifa in the plural coming to Istanbul but gives no names. Giinduz mentions another khalifa of 'Abd al-Rahman in Urfa, 'Abd al-Qadir Siddiqi Efendi, whose son Shaykh Safwat hfendi in turn was a khalifa of Mor 'Ali Baba (Vicdani 1995: 139). Talabani 1999 mentions another khalifa in Urfa. 3 T a l a b a n i 1999, note 10. 4

M u d a r r i s 1983: 558.

^ Biographical notices on Shaykh Ali, his son and grandson in: Mudarris 1983: 398-400, 552-3, 553-4. Nouri Talabany. w h o provided me with much additional information on the family, is a son of the late Shaykh Muhammad Jamil. 6 M u d a r r i s 1983: 398-400;Tawakkuli s. d.: 165. 7

M u d a r r i s 1983: 305; Bursali M e h m e d Tahir, O M I: 36. TalabSni 1999 is the only source indicating that this author was a khalifa of 'Abd al-Rahman Talabani. He mentions yet another book by al-Arbili: Hujjat al-dhdkirin wa radd al-ndkirin.

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used his art as a weapon against his family's enemies and is the author of probably the most scurrilous poems ever written in Kurdish. 1 There was no shortage of targets for his attacks; with its rapidly expanding control of land and people, the family had acquired quite a few enemies in his time. In the late 19th century, the Talabanis' relations with the Barzinjis (especially the branch of that family settled at Qadir Q a r a m in Kirkuk province) became strained and developed into a rivalry that gradually assumed a violent character. The available sources do not explain the reasons of this g r o w i n g antagonism but one a s s u m e s that some of the increase in the Talabanis 1 political and economic fortunes was at the expense of the Barzinjis. In 1886, government authorities made several unsuccessful efforts to intervene in the conflicts then setting the Talabanis and the Barzinjis of the Kirkuk district against each other. In 1887, a member of the Talabani family, 'Abd alSamad, was killed by Shaykh Husayn Barzinji of Qadir Karam. Some months later, a brother of the victim, Shaykh H a m i d , killed S h a y k h Husayn in revenge. 2 Peace between the feuding families was finally restored through the intervention of Shaykh 'Ali Talabani (the head of the Talabani family and cousin of the killed 'Abd al-Samad) and two leading Barzinji shaykhs, Sa'id Hafid of Sulaymaniyya and Hasan of Qara Chwar (the elder brother of Husayn of Qadir Karam). Both the Barzinji and the Talabani f a m i l y originally owed their influence to the religious charisma of their leading members (which in the case of the Barzinjis was further enhanced by their status as sayyids), but as they acquired their own armed retinues and dependent peasantries — both families brought considerable areas of land under their direct control — they developed into a sort of tribal-feudal formations, that took part in tribal conflicts. Late Ottoman and British sources often list them among the tribes. 3 In the 20th century, members of both families became influential in Iraqi politics. Hasan Talabani, a grandson of the poet Riza, was a minister in the cabinet of Qasim ( 1 9 5 9 - 1 9 6 3 ) . M u k a r r a m Talabani w a s a p r o m i n e n t m e m b e r of the Iraqi C o m m u n i s t Party and at one time a cabinet minister; Jalal Talabani (whose father Husamuddin was a shaykh of the Koy Sanjaq branch of the family) became one of the leading Kurdish nationalist leaders.

' E d m o n d s 1935; Edmonds 1957: 270, 290-5. E d m o n d s comments that most of Shaykh Riza's poetic attacks on enemies are "far too vitriolic and o b s c e n e to be translated into English." Nonetheless E d m o n d s observed that he w a s in the 1920s by f a r the most popular southern Kurdish poet, with the possible exception of H a j Qadr-i Koyi. 2

See the official documents concerning this case in Binark (ed) 1993: 162, 164-5, 172-3. 'Abd al-Samad was a cousin of Shaykh 'Ali. He and Shaykh Husayn Barzinji had fought together at the front in the Russian-Ottoman war of 1877-78, and it was apparently there that a rivalry had developed between them. 3 A British report lists the strength of three branches of the Talabanis (including the peasants attached to the family) in 1919 as follows: Shaykh Hamid: 700 houses, 300 horse, 400 foot Shaykh M. Ra'uf: 200 houses, 500 horse Shaykh Tahir: 150 houses, 60 horse ("Notes on the tribes of Southern Kurdistan", Baghdad, Government Press, 1919.)

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The sayyid lineages of Nehri and Arvas and the Qadiriyya Central Kurdistan was home to two other great families of sayyids that have produced numerous 'ulama and sufi shaykhs, and whose influence equalled that of the Barzinjis. The sayyids of Nehri claim descent from 'Abd al-Qadir Jitani through his son 'Abd al-'Aziz and were until the early 19th century affiliated with the Qadiriyya. Briefly after Mavvlana Khalid's return from India to Sulaymaniyya, the head of the Nehri family, Sayyid Taha, joined him there and became his khalifa; since then the leading members of the family have only taught the Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya. 1 The other family of sayyids was established at Arvas, a village in the vicinity of Moks (new name: Bah^esaray, in the mountains south of Lake Van). They claim descent from a certain Sayyid Qasim al-Baghdadi, who fled Baghdad when it was sacked by Hulagu (1258) and settled with his family and dependants in the mountains of Kurdistan. His father, as the family tradition has it, was the qutb of the Qadiriyya and was known by the name of Qutb Muhammad. The present Arvasi sayyids all descend from 'Abd al-Rahman Arvasi, who flourished in the first half of the 19th century. Sultan Mahmud II is said to have highly respected and honoured him, and his contemporaries called him "the qutb of Arvas"; even Sayyid Taha of Nehri reportedly referred to him by this title. He led two medrese and two (Qadiri) khanaqah, in Arvas itself and in Khoshab. Of his sons, 'Abd al-Hamid acquired a great reputation as a master of the Qadiriyya. T w o of 'Abd al-Rahman's grandsons, Sibghatullah b. Lutfullah and Fahim b. 'Abd al-Hamid, took the Naqshbandiyya from Sayyid Taha and became highly influential teachers in their own right. Both collected ijdza from numerous teachers. Fahim (d. 1333/1895) was a khalifa of no less than five orders: N a q s h b a n d i \ > a , Qadiriyya, Chishtiyya, K u b r a w i y y a and Suhrawardiyya. In practice, however, he mostly taught the Naqshbandiyya. The same is true of his cousin Sibghatullah (d. 1287/1870), who settled further west in Khizan and became known as "the ghawth". His spiritual descendants constitute one of the most influential Naqshbandi networks in present Turkey and Syria. Since Fahim and Sibghatullah, the family's affiliation with the Qadiriyya has been nominal at best. 2

' S e e my article on the Sadaté Nehri elsewhere in this volume. 2

U y a n 1983 has extensive biographies of members of this family: 'Abd al-Rahman (I: 194-7), Fahim (II: 771-814), Sibghatullah (III: 1812-22), Muh. Siddiq, Fahim's son (III: 1538-9) and 'Abd al-Hakim (I: 34-73). T h e last-named, the grandson of another cousin and also a khalifa of Fahim, became the most f a m o u s of the Arvasis in Turkey and the progenitor of the branch of the Naqshbandiyya.

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Other Qadiris in Kurdistan a. present

Iraq

Shaykh Nuruddin Brifkani (1205-1268/1791-1851) and his descendants, based in the 'Amadiyya district (Badinan, in present Iraqi Kurdistan). Shaykh Nuruddin is presently primarily remembered as a poet (writing in the Badinani Kurdish dialect) but he was also a learned 'alim and a sufi. He acquired an ijaza to teach the Qadiriyya from Shaykh Mahmud b. 'Abd al-Jalil al-Khufri in Mosul. Returning to Kurdistan, he spread the Qadiriyya especially among the nomads of Badinan and Arbil. He appointed numerous khalifa in central and northern Kurdistan, among others M u h a m m a d Nuri al-Mawsili, 'Ali Geli Rumani, 'Abd al-Hamid Khan Atrushi, 'Abd al-Rahman Ansari al-Jaziri (of Cizre), 'Abd al-Bari QjrgaxT Want (of Van) and Shaykh Abdurrahman Takhi (of Takh near Hizan in Bitlis). 1 Shaykh Shaykh Nuruddin was succeeded by his brother 'Abdullah (d. 1305/1887-8), who established a takya in Duhok, and who in turn was succeeded by his son Nur Muhammad. 2 b. present

Turkey

Both Bitlis and the village of Tillo (presently Aydinlar, near Siirt) were long known as centres of the Qadiriyya. Tillo has long had a unique reputation as a major centre of religious and secular learning, where sufism flourished side by side with astronomy and the natural sciences. The most famous of the shaykhs of Tillo was Isma'il Faqirullah, who died in 1147/1735 at the age of over eighty. He reputedly was the greatest scholar to have flourished in this part of the Ottoman Empire, although none of his writings ever was as widely read as his student Ibrahim Haqqi's encyclopaedic Ma'rifetname. Faqirullah is said to have been a Qadiri as well as a Naqshbandi. 3 According to his disciple Ibrahim Haqqi, Faqirullah was of Arab descent; the first of his ancestors to settle in Tillo was a certain Molla 'Ali, who had been the re'is of the 'ulama of Cizre before leaving that city in 910/1504-5. 4

'Amedi 1980: 413-5. The last-named khalifa later converted to the Naqshbandiyya under the influence of the charismatic Sibghatullah Arvasi (Yiiksel 1993: 148-9). 2 Amedl 1980: 446. "J5 T h e one important primary source source on Faqirullah is the Ma'rifetname by his disciple Erzurumlu Ibrahim Haqqi, in which the author does not explicitly say with which order Faqirullah was affiliated. (The notes on Faqirullah follow, however, an expose of the Naqshbandiyya, and there is no reference to the Qadiriyya in the book at all). In a biographical notice on Ibrahim Haqqi, Muharrem Hilmf Efendi asserts that Faqirullah was a khalifa of the Veysiyye and Qadiriyye orders (n.d.: 86-7). 4

Ibrahim Haqqi 1330: 304-5 (corresponding with vol 2, p. 116 in the Latinised adaptation).

226

MUMAS.

SUFIS

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The 'ulama of Bitlis. which had even longer been a centre of learning and mysticism, maintained close relations with the shaykhs of Tillo (whom they appear to have considered as superior). §ems-i Bitlisi (Mahmud b. 'Abd al-Ghafur), born into a Bitlis family that claimed descent from ('Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani's spiritual ancestor) 'Ali Hakkari in 1127/1715, studied first with a local khalifa of the then murshid in Tillo, 'Abd al-Wahhab al-Hamzawi, then with 'Abd al-Wahhab himself and finally in Baghdad with Shaykh Ahmad-i Sharif, 'Abd al-Wahhab's own master, from whom he received an ijaza to teach the Qadiriyya and, on a second visit to Baghdad, a Naqshbandi ijaza as well. Returning to Bitlis he taught both turuq and appointed khalifa for both. He died in 1202/1787, leaving his chief khalifa Mahmud 'Uryani or TJryan Baba (no relative) as his postnishTn. 'Uryan Baba was succeeded, upon his death in 1822, by §ems-i Bitlisi's only grandson, 'Abd al-Hamid, and since then the position has been held within the family.' c. present

Syria

Following the ban of sufi orders in Turkey in 1925, many Kurdish shaykhs moved across the border into Syria, resulting in a relatively high density of sufis in the Kurdish-inhabited northeast corner of that country. In the 1930s and 1940s, Qadiri shaykhs were especially influential in the town of 'Amuda, where allegedly some 90 percent of the population were affiliated with one or another of the numerous shaykhs living there, most of the Qadiris. 2 In the following decades, the Qadiri shaykhs lost some influence to the Naqshbandiyya (notably to Shaykh Ahmad Khiznawi, who had then recently arrived from Turkey, and who soon became the leading religious authority in all of north-eastern Syria 3 ) and more to secular community leaders, when the first French-educated professionals and intellectuals replaced the last Ottoman-educated generation. When I visited 'Amuda in 1976, there were only one Naqshbandi and two Qadiri shaykhs actually teaching, and they had relatively small numbers of murid. I interviewed one of the latter, Shaykh Sayyid 'Ubayd, who told me that he was affiliated with the Kasnazan branch of the Barzinjis. His father, from whom he had received the tariqa, had come to 'Amuda from present Turkey. Although affiliated with a Kurdish branch of the Qadiriyya, Shaykh 'IJbayd did not consider himself as a Kurd but as an Arab (because of his sayyid status), and his murid included Arabs as well as Kurds, most of them urban lower middle class (shopkeepers, civil servants, etc.). Besides this Kurdish branch of the Qadiriyya, I was told of another branch, led by Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir 'lsa in Aleppo, that had some followers in the region.

'Giindogdu & Giindogdu 1992, passim. ^Interviews with former residents. Qamishli and 'Amuda, April-May 1976. 3

O n S h a y k h A h m a d Khiznawi and the Naqshbandi n e t w o r k to w h i c h he belonged, see Bruinessen 1992: 337-9 and the literature quoted there.

T H E

Q A D I R I Y Y A

IN

K U R D I S T A N

227

Conclusion The Qadiriyya is still present throughout Kurdistan, but its influence has considerably decreased, not only as a result of gradual secularisation (and an official ban in Turkey) but also due to the spectacular successes of Mavvlana Khalid and his successors in drawing numerous former Qadiri adepts into the orbit of the Naqshbandiyya. Mawlana Khalid, the great reformer and revitaliser of the Naqshbandiyya, vvas born in southern Kurdistan around 1780 and grew up in his native Qaradagh and in Sulaymaniyya. Among his early teachers were two members of the Barzinji family, and his first sufi affiliation was also with the Qadiriyya, into which he received initiations from the Damascene Shaykh Mustafa al-Kurdi and Shaykh 'Abdullah of Nehri. He found his real mission in India, where Shaykh 'Abdullah Dihlawi initiated him into the Naqshbandiyya, made him his khalifa and sent him back to Iraq to spread this order in the Ottoman Empire. Upon his return to Kurdistan in 1811, he initiated some of his own teachers into the Naqshbandiyya and appointed all in all dozens of khalifa. These included the Qadiri shaykhs 'Abdullah of Nehri and Ahmad-i Serdar Barzinji, whose descendants were to maintain their affiliation with the Naqshbandiyya. The expansion of the Naqshbandiyya, at least in part at the expense of the Qadiriyya, continued under Mawlana Khalid's khalifa, who drew more disciples away from the older order — and even shaykhs, such as the Arvasi sayyids. 1

Bibliography AMEDI, Sadiq Biha'eddin 1980. Hozanvanet

Kurd. Baghdad: Capxaney Kor!

Zanyari 'Eraq. B A R T H , Fredrik 1953. Principles of social organization in southern Kurdistan. Oslo. B A T A T U , H a n n a 1978. The old social classes and the revolutionary movements of Iraq. Princeton University Press. BINARK, ismet (ed) 1993. Musul-Kerkuk He ilgili arqiv belgeleri (15251919). Ankara: Ba§bakanlik Devlet Ar§ivleri Genel Mudiirlugii. B R U I N E S S E N , M.M. van 1978. Agha, shaikh and state: on the social and political organization of Kurdistan. Ph.D. thesis, Utrecht University. — 1992. Agha, shaikh and state: the social and political structures of Kurdistan. London: Zed Books. — 1998a. "The Kurds and Islam", Les annates de I'autre islam (INALCO, Paris) 5, 13-35.

^On M a w l a n a Khalid and the expansion of the Naqshbandiyya, see: Hourani 1972; Bruinessen 1992: 222-34.

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— 1998b. "The impact of Kurdish 'ulama on Indonesian Islam", Les

annales

de l'autre islam (INALCO, Paris) 5, 83-106. B U R S A L I M e h m e t Tahir 1975. Osmanh

müellifleri,

1299-1915. 3 vols.

Istanbul: Meral Yayinevi [originally published in 1333-42/1915-241. Ç A G L A Y A N , Mehmet 1996. §ark ulemasi. Istanbul: privately published. C O A N , Frederick G. 1939. Yesterdays in Persia and Kurdistan. Claremont, Cal.: Saunders Studio Press |excerpted in: Bulletin du centre d'Etudes kurdes 10 (Paris, 1950), 5 - 7 | . D U R I N G , Jean 1989. Musique et mystique dans les traditions de l'Iran. Paris-Téhéran: Institut Français de Recherche en Iran. E D M O N D S , C. J. 1935. "A Kurdish lampoonist: Shaikh Riza Talabani", Journal of the Royal Central Asian Society 22, 111 -123. — 1957. Kurds, Turks and Arabs: politics, travel and research eastern Iraq, 1919-1925. London: Oxford University Press.

in

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— 1969. "The beliefs and practices of the Ahl-i Haqq of Iraq", Iran 7 , 8 9 - 1 0 6 . G Ü N D O G D U , M. Kemal & G Ü N D O G D U , Azmi 1992. Bitlis'ten dogan giineç: §ems-i Bitlisi. Ankara: Tiirkiye Diyanet Vakfi. H O U R A N I , Albert 1972. "Shaikh Khalid and the Naqshbandi order", in: S.M. Stern, A. Hourani and V. Brown (eds.), Islamic philosophy and the classical tradition. Oxford: Cassirer, pp. 89-103. I B R A H I M HAQQI 1330/1912. Ma'rifetnâme. Istanbul: Matba'a-i A h m e d Kamil I modern reissue: E R Z U R U M L U - H A S A N K A L E L I Ibrahim Hakki Hz., Marifetname, 4 vols. Hasankale, 1975]. L E H M A N N - H A U P T , C.F. 1910. Armenien einst und jetzt, Reisen und Forschungen, vol. I. Berlin: B. Behr's Verlag. M A C D O W A L L , David 1996. /I modern history of the Kurds. London: I.B. Tauris. M A R D Û K H R Û H Â N I , Bâbâ 1985-7. Târikh-i 'ulamâ, udabâ, shu'arâ.

mashâhîr-i

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a l - M U D A R R I S , 'Abd al-Karîm M u h a m m a d 1983. 'Ulamâ'unâ fi khidmat

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'ilm wa'l-dîn. Baghdad: Dâr ai-Hurriyya. M U H A R R E M H I L M Î Efendi, Haci n.d. Kadirî makamlari

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ki man shinâkhta

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Tehran:

Ma'rifat. — 1956. Les Kurdes:

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Tiirkiye Yayinevi. T Â L A B Â N Î , Nûrî 1999. "Mawlânâ Shêkh 'Abdulrahmânî (Khâlîs), zânâ w shâ'îr û shêkhî 'îrfân". Bâskâr (London) no. 2 (January 1999). T A W A K K U L Î , M u h a m m a d Ra'uf s . d . | c , 1 9 8 0 | . Târîkh-i tasawwuf dar Kurdistân. Tehran.

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UYAN, Abdullatif 1983. Menkibelerle

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Yayina hazirlayan Dr. Irfan Giindiiz. istanbul: Enderun. YUKSEL, Miifid 1993. Kurdistan'da degi^im sureci. Ankara: Sor Yayincilik. ZEKI Bey, Mehmed Fmin 1998. Kurd ve Kurdistan ttnluleri (me§ahir-i Kurd u Kurdistan). Stockholm: Apec [originally in Arabic: Mashahir alAkrdd, 2 vols., Baghdad 1945-47],

SÛFÎS A N D SULTÂNS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA KURDISTAN: A COMPARATIVE SURVEY

AND

Sufis and sultans appear to represent opposite patterns of charisma in relation with the material world: w h e r e a s the latter ideally are world conquerors, the former are (or at least are commonly supposed to be) world renouncers.' In real life, there was not always such a clear-cut dichotomy. The rule of kings, at most times and places, had a supernatural legitimation; they were believed to carry out divine missions. In the Muslim world, sultans bore such titles as "the shadow of God" (zill Allah) or "deputy of God" ( k h a l i f a t Allah.)', in Europe, before the age of reason, the kings of England and France performed acts of supernatural healing not unlike those attributed to saints. 2 The spiritual achievements of Sufis, on the other hand, were in the popular imagination frequently measured by their acts of control of the material world. Many societies, moreover, have believed sainthood (walaya)

to be hereditary,

like the charisma of kings. Nevertheless, there has commonly been a tension in the relationship of the man of religion, and a fortiori the mystic, with the powers of this world. Society expects the pious mystic not to be susceptible to worldly a m b i t i o n s and to remain aloof f r o m the bustle of political struggles. Mysticism, at least in the modern western perception, almost by definition implies an other-worldly, ascetic attitude that is not compatible with active involvement in worldly affairs. This view of mysticism also exists within Islam, but it is not the only view, and perhaps not even the dominant one. At different times and places, Sufis have held quite diverging attitudes towards wordly power. In this article I shall not attempt to survey the entire range but rather discuss a few patterns from the two regions I know best, Southeast Asia and Kurdistan. 3

' A p o l o g i e s to S.J. Tambiah for borrowing these terms from the title of his book on Buddhism and polity in Thailand (Cambridge University Press, 1976). 2

Marc Bloch, Les rois thaumaturges. Élude sur le caractère surnaturel attribué à la puissance royale particulièrement en France et en Angleterre (Strasbourg: Faculté des Lettres, 1924). ^ An earlier, shorter version of this article appeared in French as "Les soufis et le pouvoir temporel" in: A. Popovic & G. Veinstein (eds), Les voies d'Allah: les ordres mystiques dans le monde musulman des origines à aujourd'hui (Paris: Fayard, 1996).

232

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Kings turned mystics: Ibrahim bin Adham as an archetype One of the earliest Sufis, legends about whom are to be found from Persia to the Malay Archipelago, was Ibrahim bin Adham, who lived in the second century of the hijra. His family hailed from Balkh in Khurasan (presently in north Afghanistan), but Ibrahim himself travelled widely, earning his livelihood with humble work. He was known for his ascetic inclinations, and this is perhaps why later legends describe him as a king of Balkh who abdicated the throne in order to take up the ascetic life. (In reality his family had no royal connections.) In the Malay world, the legends about Ibrahim bin Adham were woven together into a long hikayat that makes him an ever greater and richer king, the sultan of Iraq in Baghdad, who abdicated when he realised the transitoriness of earthly existence. 1 The emergence of legends attributing royal origins to Ibrahim is of interest because it appears to reflect the view that in order to attain spiritual advancement one should be ready to relinquish all worldly interests. It also made Ibrahim's piety and devotion even more admirable by showing that his life of poverty was a matter of choice, not of sheer necessity. The legend is reminiscent of the life history of Buddha, and some scholars have in fact assumed that this Islamic legend is a straightforward borrowing from Buddhist l o r e . 2 That is not necessarily the case; we find similar legends in many cultures. It is significant, however, that is is through this legend, rather than for what is known of his real life, that Ibrahim bin Adham became a popular saint in much of Asia. The legend clearly expressed something important - but we must remain aware that the meaning attributed to it may be a different one in different cultural contexts. There are echoes of Ibrahim bin Adham in the legends surrounding the Javanese saint Sunan Bayai or Ki Pandan Arang, whose shrine at Bayat, south of Klaten, is the most important non-royal sacred grave in the SurakartaYogyakarta region. 3 Before devoting his life to meditations in this isolated

1 See Russell Jones, "Ibrahim h. Adham". Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, vol III, 985-6. Long and short versions of the Malay hikayat, which goes back at least to the 1680s, have been published by Russell Jones: Hikayat Sultan Ibrahim ihn Adham: an edition of an anonymous Malay text with translation and notes (Berkeley: Center for South and Southeast Asia Studies, University of California, 1985). and Hikayat Sultan Ibrahim: the short version of the Malay text (Dordrecht: Foris, 1983). There are also Javanese, S u n d a n e s e and Buginese versions of this hikayat, which appear to be based on the Malay version. 2

The first to put forward this hypothesis probably was Ignaz Goldziher, in a lecture on the influence of Buddhism on Islam summarised in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 1904, 125-141, especially 133-4.

3

Legends from various, mostly written, Javanese sources are compiled in: D.A. Rinkes, "De heiligen van Java IV: Ki Pandan arang te Tembayat", Tijdschrift voor Indische Taal, Land- en Volkenkunde (Bataviaasch G e n o o t s c h a p ) 5 3 (1911), 4 3 5 - 5 1 0 ; A m e n B u d i m a n , Semarang riwayatmu dulu, jilid pertama (Semarang: T a n j u n g Sari, 1978), 130-261. See also John Pemberton, On the subject of "Java" (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1994), pp. 279-85 for an interpretation that emphasises the this-worldly, financial aspect of the spirituality associated with Sunan Bayat.

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AND

SULTANS

233

location, Ki Pandan Arang allegedly was a regent (bupati) of the north coast harbour of Semarang, and a man more interested in worldly possessions than in spiritual matters. After an encounter with the trickster-saint Sunan Kalijaga, the bupati gives up his position and riches and embarks upon an adventurous journey through Java, finally settling at Bayat. Another legend, that has become blended with the above one, has it that Sunan Bayat really was identical with Brawijaya V, the last ruler of the Hindu-Buddhist kingdom of Majapahit, who after his disappearance from the physical world returned as an islamicised sage. The shrine appears to owe its reputation for spiritual potency to the royal origin attributed to Sunan Bayat. The first sufi whom we find mentioned in early Malay literature, the Indian ascetic who is credited with bringing Islam to Pasai, is also vaguelyreminiscent of the legendary Ibrahim bin Adham. Pasai, a tiny coastal state in North Sumatra, was islamicised in the late 12th century, and it is the earliest well-documented Muslim state of the Malay Archipelago. A local source that was compiled several centuries later, the Chronicle of the Rulers of Pasai (Hikayat Raja Pasai), attributes the islamisation of Pasai to a mission despatched from Mecca especially for this purpose. 1 On its way to Sumatra, the ship with the Arabian envoys stops at a harbour state on the Coromandel Coast (Ma'bar) in Southeast India, that is governed by a Muslim ruler named Sultan Muhammad. When Sultan Muhammad, who is of Arab origin and a descendant of Abu Bakr al-Siddiq, hears of the objective of the mission, he abdicates the throne to become a faqtr and comes on board the ship. The mission finally arrives in Pasai, whose ruler has meanwhile had a vision of the Prophet himself and received Islam at his hands. The faqtr completes the process of conversion by giving the ruler a Qur'an. The leader of the mission convenes all notables and commoners of Pasai and teaches them the confession of faith, after which he returns to Mecca. The faqtr stays behind as a religious preceptor to the people of Pasai. So in this legend we again have a ruler giving up his kingdom in order to become a sufi. In the cultural context of the Malay world, however, the legend appears to carry a quite different meaning from the one suggested above. It does not idealise renunciation of the world but to the contrary suggests that the faqtr's religious message was accepted in Pasai precisely because behind his modest exterior he really was a king. Pasai's ruler could not be converted to Islam by anyone less than the Prophet himself, and the sufi teachings of the faqtr had to be given added weight by his royal status. In Southeast Asia, the rulers were considered to be the spiritually most potent human beings,

' R u s s e l l Jones, Hikayat Raja Pasai (Petaling Jaya: Fajar Bakti, 1987). T h e earlier edition of this text by A.H. Hill, in Journal of the Malay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 33 (1960), is accompanied by an English translation.

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I I S

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intermediaries between heaven and earth; they were God-man, Shiva-Buddha, or bodhisattva before the advent of Islam, and after islamisation many legitimated their positions by claiming sainthood. Worldly power and spiritual attainment, moreover, were considered as closely related in this environment. It was widely believed that the latter was a necessary precondition for the former.

Kings as sufis The Javanese c o m m o n l y attribute the islamisation of their island to nine saints (wall sanga), whose graves are still major centres of pilgrimage. 1 These nine saints are a heterogeneous lot, and not all of them may have been historical persons. The number of nine has cosmic significance, and the various lists of nine saints that one finds in Javanese sources in reality add up to a somewhat larger number. The interesting thing is that at least two of these saints, and perhaps more, were in fact the rulers of harbour states on the north coast. 2 Posterity venerates them as sufis and religious scholars, whose charisma still is capable of curing disease or barrenness and bestowing business or academic success on the pious visitors to their shrines. The preislamic Javanese tradition of worshipping semi-divine kings appears to have merged with the islamic cult of saints. No sharp line can be drawn between the ostensibly islamic veneration of the Nine Saints and the worship at the royal graves of Mataram in inland central Java. Many Javanese visit both and expect similar benefits from these \ ¡sits. It is conceivable that the rulers of the harbour states were, in their lifetimes or posthumously, declared saints in order to lend Islamic legitimacy to the cult of royalty. That cannot be the whole story, however. W e k n o w little about the Nine Saints themselves, but many later Javanese rulers did show a genuine interest in sufism, that went well beyond a pragmatic concern with its political usefulness. Several are known to have seriously studied sufi literature and practised the exercises of various sufi orders. T he dynastic chronicles of the West Javanese kingdoms of Banten and Cirebon, for instance, claim that the founder of both dynasties, Sunan Gunung Jati (one of the Nine Saints), visited Mecca and Medina and received initiations

' s e e J. J. Ras, "Javanese tradition on the coming of Islam", in: W.A.L. Stokhof & N.J.G. Kaptein (eds), Beberapa kajian Indonesia dan Islam (Jakarta: INIS, 1990), pp. 147-78; J a m e s J. Fox, "Ziarah visits to the tombs of the wali. the founders of Islam on Java", in: M.C. Ricklefs (ed), Islam in the Indonesian social context (Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, M o n a s h University, 1991), pp. 19-38. 2

Sunan Gunung Jati was the founder of the kingdoms of Cirebon and Banten, and Sunan Giri ruled the coastal state of Gresik (which in fact had several consecutive rulers with the title of Sunan Giri). Sunan Bonan and Sunan K u d u s may also have wielded worldly power at Tuban and Kudus, respectively, although these towns were not known as powerful states.

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AND

SULTaNS

235

in the K u b r a w i y y a , Shadhiliyya, Naqshbandiyya and Shattariyya orders. 1 Although this can be shown to be an anachronism that tells us little about Sunan Gunung Jati himself, it indicates that these mystical orders were known and valued in court circles at the time the chronicles were compiled in the 17th century. W e also know that Banten's ruler Abul Mafakhir Abdul Qadir (15961651) not only read difficult sufi texts, but that he also sent letters to leading scholars as far afield as India and Arabia querying them as to the correct interpretation of these texts. 2 Abul Mafakhir's contemporary, Sultan Agung of the central Javanese kingdom of Mataram, not only succeeded in bringing more territory and people under his control than any Mataram ruler before or after him, he reputedly also shared Abul Mafakhir's interest in Islamic mysticism. In his case, however, the interest was more practical than intellectual, and we have no indications as to whether sufi literature was actually read at his court, as it was in Banten. Agung's mysticism appears more like an islamicised version of the traditional Javanese pursuit of spiritual powers at sacred places and through asceticism, and no doubt his contemporaries considered his political and military successes as indications of his spiritual advancement. For this reason it is perhaps not appropriate to call Sultan Agung a sufi in the strict sense of the term. In the case of a later m e m b e r of Mataram's royal f a m i l y , use of the term sufi apears more justified. This was Ratu P a k u b u w a n a , the widow of king Pakubuwana I, w h o after her husband's death remained a dominant force at the court during the turbulent second quarter of the 18th century. Ratu Pakubuwana is the author of some of the most important sufi texts extant in Javanese. 3 She wrote these texts on behalf of her grandson, king Pakubuwana II, and they were probably meant to lend him supernatural protection and to strengthen his reign. She clearly was a deeply pious person and well acquainted with sufi thought, although in her hands this was given a typically Javanese twist. It is not only in Java that we e n c o u n t e r kings w h o were sufis. M e m b e r s of the ruling houses of Celebes also practised s u f i s m , and one of them, Ahmad al-Salih Shams al-Milla wa'l-DIn, the ruler of Bone (1775T h u s the Bubad Cirebon (cd. Brandes), the Sajarah Banten ( s u m m a r i s e d by Hoesein Djajadiningrat) and the Hikajat Hasanoeddin (ed. J. Edel). S e e the analysis in Martin van Bruinessen, "Shari'a court, tarekat and pesantren: religious institutions in the Banten sultanate" Archipel 50, pp. 178-80. 2

V a n Bruinessen, "Shari'a court, tarekat and pesantren", pp. 167-8; A z y u m a r d i Azra, The transmission of Islamic reformism to Indonesia: networks of Middle Eastern and MalayIndonesian 'ulama' in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (Ph.D. thesis C o l u m b i a University, 1992), pp. 3 6 5 , 4 6 3 n 3 9 . 3

These texts, of which especially the Kitab Usulbiah and the Suluk Garwa Kancana are of great interest, are studied at length in an important forthcoming book by M. C. Ricklefs, The seen and unseen worlds in Java, 1726-1749.

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1 8 1 2 ) , appears to have c o m p i l e d one o f the f e w extant sufi texts in the B u g i s l a n g u a g e . 1 T h i s king, like the Ratu P a k u b u w a n a , was apparently not j u s t a d e v o t e e o f s u f i s m but a leading authority. A s I have a t t e m p t e d to s h o w e l s e w h e r e , t h e r e are r e a s o n s to b e l i e v e

that the royal

f a m i l i e s o f the

A r c h i p e l a g o initially prevented sufi teachings from spreading to the population at large, considering them as a source o f spiritual power that guaranteed their lasting superiority over their s u b j e c t s . 2

Sufis as kings' companions and advisers T h e a c c o m p l i s h e d sufi-kings must nevertheless h a v e been f e w . M o s t rulers

wo were, for whatever reason,

interested

in s u f i s m

sought

the

p e r m a m e n t presence o f sufi masters as their teachers and boon c o m p a n i o n s . Throughout

the M u s l i m

world

we find

numerous cases

of

symbiotic

relationships between kings and famous sufis — a pattern that o f course is not u n i q u e to the M u s l i m world. R u l e r s n e e d e d their sufis as

soothsayers,

l e g i t i m i z e r s , advisers, healers and living a m u l e t s ; their Sufi

companions

derived from this relationship livelihood, f a m e , political influence, and perhaps a moral impact. All known great sufis in S o u t h e a s t A s i a n history worked under royal patronage and counted royalty among their disciples. T h i s is perhaps why they are r e m e m b e r e d at all, for their w o r k s w e r e kept and c o p i e d in the court l i b r a r i e s , w h i l e the w r i t i n g s o f others h a v e g o n e lost. T h e s e sufis often e x e r c i s e d a great i n f l u e n c e o v e r their patrons, f r o m which s o m e profited to further their private a m b i t i o n s but which m o s t used to e n j o i n m o r e i s l a m i c p o l i c i e s . T h e early great M a l a y sufi poets, H a m z a h F a n s u r i , S h a m s u d d i n S a m a t r a n i , Nuruddin Raniri and A b d u r r a ' u f S i n g k i l i , w o r k e d u n d e r the patronage o f A c h e h ' s rulers in the late 16th and 17th centuries, the last three apparently as the shaykh

al-islam

and supreme j u d g e (qadt).

All b e c a m e more

f a m o u s than their royal patrons, w h i c h perhaps r e f l e c t s the f a c t that the tradition o f divine k i n g s h i p was less f i r m l y entrenched in S u m a t r a than in J a v a . H a m z a h in fact praised his patron, ' A l a ' al-din Ri'ayat S h a h , as a perfect ( , k a m i l ) saint and the " p o l e " (qutb)

o f the a g e , but it is H a m z a h h i m s e l f , and

not the king, w h o is r e m e m b e r e d as the M a l a y world's greatest sufi.

T h e s e sufis had c o n s i d e r a b l e l e v e r a g e in the k i n g d o m , as E u r o p e a n visitors to A c h e h did not fail to notice. Raniri used his position to suppress the sufi teachings o f his predecessors in favour o f his own

' T h i s is the treatise Al-nur al-hadi ilu tariq the same title by Shaykh Y u s u f of Makassar. 2Van

al-rashad.

version o f the

apparently based on an A r a b i c work o f

Bruinessen, " S h a r i ' a court, larckat and pesantren", pp. 185-6.

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doctrine of wahdat al-wujüd and to persecute adherents of Hamzah's doctrines, some of whom he had burnt at the stake. After a few years, however, he fell victim to a change in political circumstances himself and had to flee Acheh in a great hurry. 1 Abdurra'uf distanced himself from Raniri's intolerance. He may have become the most influential of all these courtier-sufis, which was perhaps not unrelated to the fact that his patron, the Sultana Safiyatuddin, was the first of Acheh's female rulers and therefore more than any male ruler in need of the islamic legitimation he gave her. Abdurra'uf dedicated sev eral of his works to this patron, on whom he bestows lavish praise. Abdurra'uf's contemporary, Yusuf Makassar, exemplifies a more thorough political involvement. He was probably related to the royal house of Gowa in South Celebes, which must have helped him in the early phases of his career as a courtier-sufi. Upon his return after decades of study in Arabia, he found Gowa occupied by the Dutch and therefore settled in Banten, the West Javanese sultanate that was in open rivalry with the Dutch East Indies Company at Batavia. He became the sultan's closest confidant and adviser and married a princess. His political position was further strengthened by the presence in Banten of a large contingent of Makassarese soldiers and sailors, who like himself refused to live under Dutch, i.e. infidel, rule. As a mediator between the court and these militarily useful but unruly guests, Shaykh Yusuf's leverage in both camps rose. The Makassarese were blindly loyal to him, and at the court too he wielded great influence. He was a major factor in the uncompromising attitude of the ruler, Sultan Ageng Tirtayasa, towards the Dutch. When the Crown Prince, alienated from Yusuf because of the latter's growing influence, invited the Dutch to throw their weight behind his own faction, Shaykh Yusuf took to the mountains with his Makassarese supporters and led this guerrilla band across West Java in search of defensible positions. When finally captured, he was sent into exile to Ceylon and later the Cape of Good Hope. Some years after his death his bones were, at the request of the king of Gowa, returned to Celebes for reburial. His grave there still is greatly venerated and the sufi order into which he initiated his fellow Makassarese (a branch of the Khalwatiyya) still flourishes in the region. 2 Yusuf Makassar's political involvement differed in one important aspect from that of the Surnatran sufis mentioned above: his uncompromising opposition to infidel encroachments on Musiim territory. This attitude, which has anachronistically been called anticolonial, became increasingly common among sufis as the European expansion intensified, in Indonesia as well as 'Takeshi Ito, "Why did Nuruddin ar-Raniri leave Aceh in 1054 A.H.?", Biidraeen Land- en Volkenkunde 134 (1978), 489-91. Z

tot de Taal-

A b u Hamid, Syekh Yusuf: seorang ulama, sufi dan pejuang (Jakarta: Yayasan Obor Indonesia, 1994); Martin van Bruinessen, "The tariqa Khalwatiyya in South Celebes", in: Harry A. Poeze & Pim Schoorl (eds), Excursies in Celebes (Leiden: KITLV, 1991), pp. 251-69.

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elsewhere in the Muslim world. In the heyday of imperialism we find time and again sufis in the forefront of the resistance movements. 1 Jihad, "Holy War," was as much part of the idealised image of the sufi as was withdrawal from the world. At times of relative quiet the concept of jihad was given a metaphorical interpretation and explained as the struggle against one's own base nature, but when the House of Islam was under threat no sufi would preach quietism. The greatest Indonesian sufi author of the 18th century , Abdussamad Palimbani, who spent most of his life in Arabia, is best known for his Malay adaptation of GhazalT's quietist Ihya. However, he also wrote a treatise on jihad, and he sent letters to the rulers of the twin Central Javanese kingdoms of Surakarta and Yogyakarta, who by then acquiesced in Dutch overlordship, obliquely reminding them of their religious duty of jihad?

Withdrawal from or intervention in the world? The company of kings seems hardly the most appropriate environment for those who seek spiritual advancement and nearness to God. Islamic literature abounds with warnings, and Sufis seeking that company are likely to be suspected of personal ambitions. A famous saying attributed to the Prophet himself has it that rulers (umara) who pay their respects to the 'ulama are the best of rulers but that 'ulama calling upon rulers are the worst of their class. In the sufi literature one can, however, also find justifications for such social and political involvement. One of the eight principles of the NaqshbandT path, that were first formulated by 'Abdulkhaliq Ghujdawani, is named in Persian khalwat dar anjuman, "seclusion in the midst of society". This is commonly interpreted as being inwardly focussed on God whilst outwardly taking active part in the life of the community. Many NaqshbandTs have taken this principle as an injunction to political acti\ ism; at the very least it amounts to a rejection of the otherworldliness that outsiders often expect of sufis. It is no coincidence that especially the Naqshbandiyya has acquired the reputation that its shaykhs were much inclined to associate with the high and mighty. It has been noticcd that at many times and places the Naqshbandiyya in its proselytisation tended to start at the top of the social pyramid. In this respect it differed much from orders like the Qadiriyya and the Rifa'iyya, which at most places found their following at the lower rungs of the social ladder. ' T h e most celebrated sufi leading resistance against 19th-century imperial expansion probably was the Caucasian Naqshbandi Shaykh Shamil, w h o held out for d e c a d e s against Russian armies. See M o s h e G a m m e r , Muslim resistance to the Tsar: Shamil and the conquest of Chechnia and Daghestan (London: Frank Cass, 1994). Similarly, in the early 20th century, it was the Sanusiyya order that led the resistance against the Italian occupation of Cyrenaica in present Libya. ^ M. Chatib Quzwain, Mengenal Allah: Suatu Studi mengenai Ajaran Samad al-Palimbani (Jakarta: Bulan Bintang, 1985), pp. 16-7,22-3.

Tasawuf

Syaikh

'Ahdus-

S U F f S AND

SULTANS

239

The obvious justification sufis could give for their doubtful association with the powerful was that this enabled them to most effectively practise alamr bi'l-ma'ruf wa'l-nahy min al-munkar, "enjoining the good and prohibiting the forbidden," which is every Muslim's duty. By associating with the ruler they might gently guide him towards more islamic policies, which would be useful to the entire Muslim community. Self-serving though this argument may often have been, it is nevertheless true that this is what often appeared to happen. The colonial literature abounds with references to sufi shaykhs who are said to have incited initially "tolerant" indigenous rulers to "fanaticism." In order to influence the ruler, a sufi of course needed not seek his physical company. It could be done just as well by correspondence, a method that made the sufi less vulnerable to criticism. Letters of admonition constitute a well-known distinct genre of sufi literature. The most celebrated example of the genre is the letters sent by the Indian NaqshbandT, Ahmad Sirhindi (1564-1624). His collected letters ( M a k t u b a t ) , which were eagerly copied by disciples and admirers, and were later translated into Arabic and Turkish, contain a number of epistles to the Mughal rulers of his day. Sirhindt's admirers credit him with a religious reorientation of the court, from the syncretic din-i ildhi espoused by Akbar to the more orthodox Islam embraced by his successor Jahangtr. T w o of the Indonesian sufis mentioned above also had recourse to this method. Yusuf Makassar sent from Banten a letter of admonition to Daeng Karunrung, a princeling of Gowa who kept resisting the Dutch after the conquest of this kingdom. A b d u s s a m a d Palimbani, as said, did the same to the Central Javanese rulers, whom he had never met.

Sufis against sultans Admonishing a king, as may be imagined, was not always without risk. Most Muslim rulers welcomed such religious legitimation as sufis could lend to their positions but were wary of criticism, however carefully phrased, that could be construed as delegitimising. Especially sufis who had an independent power base in the form of a popular following constituted potential threats. This threat was even more serious when the sufi in question was based in a peripheral region not firmly controlled by the central government. Such was for instance the case of the popular Naqshbandi shaykh Mahmud UrmawT of Diyarbakir, who was executed by the Ottoman Sultan Murad IV in 1639. Only a few years earlier the shaykh still had accompanied the sultan in the military campaign to reconquer Yerivan, on the Caucasian frontier, from Persian hands. Although the shaykh's presence contributed to

240

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AND

HERETICS

the success of the campaign, the sultan had had misgivings about the large numbers of people who came to pay their respects to the shaykh each day. In 1638-9 Sultan Murad led a second military campaign to the east, this time to retake Baghdad from the Persians. These two large campaigns, one so soon after the other, placed an enormous burden on the region's populace, for large amounts of grain were requisitioned to feed the troops and animals. When the sultan was on his way to the east, Shaykh Mahmud led a delegation of notables to welcome him with precious gifts. After first having pleased the sultan by predicting a great victory, the shaykh complained of the grain requisitions and requested a reduction. This, combined with his wide influence in the east, must have the sultan apprehensive about the shaykh's intentions. On the return journey from Baghdad he had Shaykh Mahmud strangled. Having made himself the spokesman of popular discontent, however courteous, the shaykh appeared to be a potential rebel, and a dangerous one at that. 1 Two and a half centuries later, in 1880, another Kurdish Naqshbandi, Shaykh 'Ubaidullah of Nehri, actually did lead a large-scale rebellion in the border region of the Ottoman and Persian empires. Central government control over this region was weak then, and the Ottoman state especially had recently been severely shaken by the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78. The government had armed the Kurdish tribes in defense of its territory, and the shaykh himself, who was the most widely respected authority in the region, had led a large contingent of tribesmen in this jihad against the invading Russians. When the war was over, the shaykh was unwilling to relinquish his control of the mountains. The shaykh contested the Ottomans' and Persians' right to rule the region, accusing both governments of causing ruin and lawlessness through the corruption and ineptitude of their officials. In 1879 the shaykh's men in fact attacked the Ottoman army column that was despatched to bring the region under control. The government took a conciliatory stand and attempted to solve the problem by paying the shaykh a monthly allowance. The following year, a large tribal force loyal to Shaykh 'Ubaydullah invaded Iran and temporarily took control of the fertile Urmia - Sawj Bulaq plain in northwestern Iran. While continuing to plead loyalty to the sultan (though not to his officials), the shaykh informed a British missionary in Urmia that his aim was the establishment of an independent or autonomous Kurdish state. This was the first Kurdish rebellion with clear nationalist overtones. The uprising failed, for the disorganised tribal forces were no match for the Persian troops that were despatched against them. The shaykh himself was captured by the Ottomans, who sent him into exile to Mecca, where he died a few years later. 2

Martin van Bruinessen, "The N a q s h b a n d i order in 17th-century Kurdistan", in: M a r c G a b o r i e a u , A l e x a n d r e Popovic & Thierry Z a r c o n e (eds), Naqshbarulis: cheminements et situation actuelle d'un ordre mystique musulman (Istanbul-Paris: Editions Isis), pp. 337-60. 2

I n spite of its great importance in the history of the region, Shaykh 'Ubaydullâh's rebellion has not been the subject of much serious scholarly attention yet. Besides an unpublished dissertation by Wadie Jwaideh (The Kurdish nationalist movement, Syracuse University, 1960), the most useful material is to be f o u n d in: .lohn J. Joseph, The Nestorians and the Muslim neighbors (Princeton University Press, 1961).

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AND

SULTANS

241

Sufis as worldly rulers and political leaders I began this paper with mentioning worldly rulers who became sufis; Shaykh 'Ubaidullah exemplifies the reverse case, the sufi shaykh w h o temporarily became a worldly ruler. This is not at all an uncommon phenomenon, although it only occurs under specific circumstances. It typically belongs to the periphery of larger states, especially in tribal societies. The dynamics of this process have been beautifully described by EvansPritchard in his classic study of the Sanusiyya in Cyrenaica. 1 Tribal society is essentially fissiparous and conflict-ridden, and it usually lacks the kind of overriding authority capable of integrating the various tribal groups. In the second half of the 19th century, it was the Sanusiyya which provided the Beduin tribes of Cyrenaica with precisely such an integrating structure. The order was hierarchically organised, with a central lodge at Jaghbub and numerous other lodges dispersed throughout the region, each led by a khalifa obedient to the head of the order. Each of the lodges was located in the territory of a particular tribe. The Beduin tribes had long held holy men, marabouts, in great veneration. The Sanusiyya brotherhood gave them a whole network of such holy men, none of them Beduin themselves (and therefore not party to Beduin conflicts). The network replicated the structure of the tribes and superimposed a hierarchical order onto it, which quite naturally gave the Sanus! family (the descendants of the order's founder, Muhammad al-Sanusi) a coordinating role. T w o long wars in which the Beduin resisted invading Italians (1911-17 and 1923-32) propelled the Sanusiyya into a more explicitly political role. When finally Libya became an independent state, the head of the order and of the SanusT family, Muhammad Idris, became its first king. Similar developments took place in Kurdistan in the second half of the 19th and the early 20th century. For centuries the Ottomans had ruled this part of their empire indirectly, through Kurdish dynasties that enjoyed a large measure of autonomy. This system was gradually replaced by one of direct rule through centrally appointed governors and an expanding bureaucracy. The last of the Kurdish emirates were abolished in the early 19th century. This resulted in a period of chaos and lawlessness, for the centrally appointed Ottoman officials lacked the authority to maintain law and order in the region. Conflicts between tribes were no longer held in check, the peasantry not protected from rape and plunder, there was no redress for injustices. The power vacuum that existed was filled quite naturally by sufi shaykhs, most of them of the NaqshbandT order. 2

' e . E. Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyrenaica (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949). This process is described and analysed in my Agha, shaikh and state: the social and political structures of Kurdistan (London: Zed Books, 1992), pp. 224-34. 2

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The role of sufi shaykh tended to be hereditary among the Kurds, and certain families, including that of Shaykh 'Ubaidullah, had been established in the region for centuries. The number of Kurdish shaykhs significantly increased in the period under consideration due to the missionary efforts of the charismatic Kurdish Naqshbandi shaykh, Mawlana Khalid, who returned from India in 1811 and in the brief period until his death in 1827 appointed well over thirty khalifas to various parts of Kurdistan alone. These deputies in turn appointed their own khalifas, and soon there was hardly a region left that did not have its local shaykh, who was part of Mawlana Khalid's network. Even some of the old established shaykhly families became part of the same network. Thus Shaykh 'Ubaidullah's grandfather, who like his ancestors had been a Qadiri, requested an initiation and ijaza in the Naqshbandiyya from Mawlana Khalid. These sufi shaykhs had a core of active followers around them, who under their supervision practised the devotions of one of the sufi orders, but besides they performed a whole range of other functions for a wider following: they were healers, advisers, clairvoyants, holy men whom people visited to receive their blessing, and - a highly important function - they mediated in all sorts of conflicts. It was only men of extraordinary qualities, such as a venerated shaykh or a powerful scion of one of the Kurdish ruling houses, who could make peace in tribal conflict. By the late 19th century we find that several of these Kurdish Naqshbandi shaykhs have acquired considerable political and economic power due to their ability to mediate in, and to manipulate, tribal conflicts. It is not a coincidence that for half a century, beginning with Shaykh 'Ubaidullah's rebellion, most of the Kurdish uprisings are led by Naqshbandi shaykhs. T h e first great Kurdish revolt in republican Turkey, commonly named for its chief leader Shaykh Sa'Td, is a case in point. 1 The uprising had been planned by nationalist officers and intellectuals, and the bulk of the participants were tribesmen under their own chieftains. As soon as fighting broke out, the leadership of the uprising shifted as by itself from the officers and intellectuals to Shaykh Sa'id and a few fellow shaykhs. Only they could overcome the mutual suspicions among neighbouring tribes, impose a peaceful solution to feuds, and coordinate the military actions of the various tribes. In present Iraq, it was the shaykhs of Barzan, descendants of a khalifa of Shaykh 'Ubaidullah's father, who repeatedly led popular rebellions. The Barzant family gathered a large following around it that gradually became a sort of tribe itself. These sha\ khs were at once religious and secular leaders, ^Studied in: van Bruinessen,

Aghu, shaikh and state,

pp. 279-99.

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engaging in alliances with some tribes and warring against others. By the middle of this century, Shaykh A h m a d Barzani had evolved from a shaykhcum-tribal leader to a national leader of the Iraqi Kurds; his younger brother Mulla Mustafa (who was not a shaykh himself) became the greatest Kurdish leader of this century and a powerful symbol of Kurdish nationalism. The prominent political roles played by these Kurdish NaqshbandTs may have owed something to the world-affirming element in Naqshbandi tradition, but they were in the first place a response to the concrete socio-political situation. In the southern part of Iraqi Kurdistan we find the leading shaykhs of another order, the Qadiriyya, playing similar roles. T h e Barzinjis were an old established shaykhly family, which had been patronised by the (Kurdish) rulers of the Baban emirate. A f t e r the deposition of the last emir in 1850, the B a r z i n j i shaykhs became the chief indigenous authorities of the region, commanding the loyalties of various tribes as well as the non-tribal peasantry. When the British occupied Mesopotamia in the First World War, they soon discovered that Shaykh Mahmud Barzinji held the key to southern Kurdistan. They attempted to coopt him by giving him administrative functions, but the shaykh had different ideas and repeatedly proclaimed his independence, once even explicitly a d o p t i n g the title of "king of K u r d i s t a n " ( h u k m d a r - i Kurdistan).

Conclusion The examples given above can easily be supplemented with numerous similar cases from other times and places. The political role of sufi orders in the struggle against traditional elites and colonial powers in Asia and Africa during the past century is well enough known not to need further comment. On the other hand, it should be emphasised that this has by no means been the general attitude of the orders, and that accommodation even with infidel rulers has perhaps been a more common attitude than resistance. Nor is it possible to distinguish between activist sufi orders and quietist ones; in most we find both attitudes represented. This is aptly illustrated by the case of the Naqshbandiyya in republican T u r k e y , which was most directly involved in early political p r o t e s t m o v e m e n t s a g a i n s t s e c u l a r i s i n g p o l i c i e s , then s u c c e e d e d in quietistically surviving underground, and f r o m this underground position has once more become a political force to be reckoned with, due to the electoral importance of its following. 1

See Hamid Algar, "Der Nak§ibendi-Ordcn in der republikanischen Türkei", in: Jochen Blaschke & Martin van Bruinessen (eds), Islam und Politik in der Türkei (Berlin: Parabolis, 1989), pp. 167-96; Thierry Z a r c o n e , "Les Naksibendi et la République Turque: De la persécution au repositionnement théologique, politique et social (1925-1991)", Turcica XXIV (1992), 133-51.

WHEN HAJI BEKTASH STILL BORE THE NAME OF SULTAN SAHAK: NOTES ON THE AHL-I HAQQ OF THE GURAN DISTRICT

After Sultan Sahak, the last great Divine Manifestation, had completed the revelation of his esoteric teachings (haqiqat) to his first disciples among the Guran, he took his leave of them. Disappearing from the Guran country without a trace, he reappeared in Anatolia, in the form of Haji Bektash. He taught mystical doctrines and techniques (tariqat) in those lands for almost a hundred years, and then returned to the Guran country. In the perception of his disciples there, he had been away for only an hour. (Ahl-i Haqq legend)

Haji Bektash' popularity and influence have by and large remained restricted to the former Ottoman territories, but not entirely so. In Iran, his name is well known among the Ahl-i Haqq, a syncretistic sect that may, all in all, have several million followers. 1 Pockets of Ahl-i Haqq are to be found in many parts of Iran and among various ethnic groups: among Azari around Tabriz, Persian speakers in northern Iran, Kurds of the Hamadan region, Lur south and west of Kermanshah, and finally, the oldest surviving Ahl-i Haqq community, the Guran, living in the mountains north of the BaghdadKermanshah road. The oldest sacred texts of the Ahl-i Haqq are in Gurani, the (north-west Iranian) language that is associated with the Guran, although not all Guran speak Gurani, nor are all Gurani speakers Guran. 2 In Iraq too, there is a number of enclaves of Ahl-i Haqq (called Kaka'i there), especially in the districts between Kirkuk and Khaniqin. Most of these Kaka'i speak Kurdish or Gurani dialects, but there are also Turcoman Kaka'i, in the same region.

T h e Ahl-i Haqq sect (or religion) was first m a d e k n o w n to the W e s t in an enthusiastic description by the C o m t e de Gobineau, and w a s studied in depth by V. Minorsky and W. Ivanow; the numerous books and articles by M. Mokri (only some of which are mentioned in the bibliography) present essential source materials. 2 See the discussion in Minorsky 1943 and Bruinessen 1992, ch. II.I-m.

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Ahl-i Haqq beliefs: successive divine incarnations The various Ahl-i Haqq (AH) communities differ to some extent in their beliefs, traditions and practices; the Guran are on the whole the most 'heterodox' among them, while some of the Persian urban communities have attempted to be accepted into the fold of orthodox (ithna'ashari) Shi'i Islam. They all share, however, certain basic tenets of belief: the transmigration of human souls (tanasukh), and the repeated manifestation of God, accompanied by four or more angels, in human form. Like many other 'pseudo-islamic' sects, the AH recognise 'Ali as one of their divine incarnations. He is, however, surpassed in importance by Sultan Sahak, the reputed founder of the AH religion. This Sultan Sahak appeared among the Guran in the mid- or late 15th century, 1 and was, in the view of the Guran, the last great divine incarnation. Other AH communities, however, recognise several later incarnations, leaders or reformers of the religion, such as Atesh Beg, who introduced the AH religion to Azarbaijan, whence it spread all over northern Iran. When the Divine Principle appeared as 'Ali, say the Guran, he revealed shari'af, in a later incarnation, as Shah Khushin, he revealed tariqaf, next, as Shah Fazl, he brought ma'r if at. The revelation was finally completed with the arrival of Sultan Sahak, who taught haqiqat. Not unnaturally, the Guran tend to consider the last revelation, which they follow, as superior to the previous ones. The use of such terms as 'shari'atC o r ' k h a n a q a h i ' (i.e., associated with a khanaqah or dervish lodge, and therefore with a tariqat) for their Shi'i neighbours is slightly derogatory, and implies that the latter still are on a lower level of understanding, however superior they may be in other respects. Sultan Sahak brought his haqiqat teachings not to Persians, Kurds or Turks first, but appeared, and made his first disciples, among the simple Guran.

Sultan Sahak and Haji Bektash The identification of Haji Bektash with Sultan Sahak, made by various AH communities, shows among other things that the AH considered the Bektashi (and Alevi, as we shall see) as a closely related religious community — although still of a lower level of esoteric knowledge. In the Guran version of the story, 2 Sultan Sahak. having revealed the haqiqat among the Guran, vanished and re-appeared in the form of Haji Bektash, in order to spread the

' This date is established in Bruinessen, forthcoming. 2

Laid d o w n in written form in se\eral kalam or religious poems of the AH, and also retained in oral lore. I heard it in several Guran villages during my visits in 1975 and 1976. Variant f o r m s are recorded in Khan 1927:32 (oral); Suri 1344:46-7 (a kalam), Jaihunabadi 1966:404-9 (an early 20th-century Persian reformulation, based on Gurani kalam).

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tariqat-i 'Alawiya in Anatolia or, as some say, in Syria. This means that the Guran must for some time have been aware of the presence of communities known as Alevi/'Alawi in Turkey and Syria, and of the similarities between these sects' beliefs and practices and their own. (Significantly, however, Haji Bektash is said only to have taught a tariqat, thus keeping the superiority of the Ahl-i Haqq, or ahl-i haqiqat, intact). Most AH communities know this story, but its form varies. According to some, it was not Sultan Sahak who transformed himself into Haji Bektash but a later theophany, Muhammad Beg; 1 the followers of the Ateshbegi branch hold that it was their own saint, Atesh Beg, 2 who performed this feat. And according to one of the best informed keepers of the Guran's traditions, kalamkhan Ka Karim of Tutshami, Haji Bektash was not an incarnation of the Deity himself, as Sultan Sahak was, but of his closest and most powerful angel, Satan. 3 These variations suggest that the similarity of Bektashi and Alevi or 'Alawi to the A H has been recognised not just once, but repeatedly, by various sub-sects and at various times, or that there has been a continuous contact between these sects over a longer period. Some variants of the story make even more elaborate identifications. In each of his incarnations, the Deity is accompanied by a number of angels and other spiritual beings. In the case of 'Ali, for instance, these appeared in the guises of companions like Salman Farsi, Qanbar, Khalid ibn Walid and Fatima. Similarly, when Sultan Sahak became Haji Bektash, several of these angels followed him. The Persian Shahname-ye Haqiqat, probably following older Gurani kalam, mentions six pir who were the incarnations of major spiritual beings: Qayansuz Abdal, Gul Baba, Pir Kabar, Ka 'Arab, Shamsuddin and Safiuddin; other incarnations mentioned are Malak Tawus(!) and a certain Z a h a b . 4 Of these names, only the first two are recognizable as those of Bektashi saints; the fifth and sixth bring to mind the Tabrizi and Ardabili mystics of those names, who are highly respected in both the Alevi and the A H traditions. It seems obvious that the author, who compiled his text in the early 20th century, had no direct acquaintance with Alevi or Bektashi, and only adopted from older texts names (some of them distorted) that were vaguely associated with them. There is more precision in the materials collected in Iraq 1 2

Ivanow 1953:144, T 1 2 5 (a ms. acquired in Khurasan).

A c c o r d i n g to the G u r a n kalamkhan Ateshbegi communities of Azarbaijan.

Ka A ' z a m of Gahvvara, w h o regularly toured the

3 A m o n g the Guran, there is a sub-sect of the A H that venerates Satan as the Lord of this world and denies he is the Evil One. See my forthcoming paper on this 'Satan-worship'. These Guran identify Satan with Dawud, one of the angels in the A H pantheon. Jaihunabadi (stanzas 7832-8) identifies Haji Bektash with both D a w u d and Sultan Sahak: he w a s a full incarnation of the former, while the latter inhabited the same body 'as a guest' (see the discussion below). 4

Jaihunabadi 1966, stanzas 7846-7. T h e author was a Kurd of the H a m a d a n region, well versed in the oral and written Gurani traditions but reworking those into a synthesis entirely his own.

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by Edmonds (1969:94). His Kaka'i informants dictated to him Gurani kalam mentioning the following pir as incarnations of the major angels: Qayghusiz Abdal, Gul Baba, Shahin Baba, Qaftan(?), Qizil Dede, Turabi Orman, and either Balim Sultan or (in another kalam) Viran Abdal. This list suggests a better acquaintance with Bektashi lore — not astonishing in a community living in former Ottoman territory — although here too, some of the names are unfamiliar or distorted, and no system can be detected in this seemingly random collection. 1 What can we conclude from the above? Nothing very spectacular yet: the Ahl-i Haqq know the names of Haji Bektash and a few other Bektashi saints, so there must have been contacts, probably at several times and places independently. Moreover, the Ahl-i Haqq consider the Bektashi and Alevi as kindred communities. Our story illustrates, however, and may clarify, several central elements of the AH religion: a 'structuralist' world-view and the idea of cyclical history through the repetition of divine incarnation; the elasticity of time; the various types of incarnation recognised; and processes of selfdefinition with respect to other sects and religions by means of 'theological' explanation. I shall return to these points later, but wish to say a few more things about the Bektashi/Alevi nexus.

Contacts of Ahl-i Haqq with Bektashi and Alevi The Kaka'i of Iraq, especially the Turcomans among them, may for centuries have had regular contacts with Bektashi, if only indirectly through the Janissaries stationed in the garrison towns of the area. But even in Iran, there must at one time have been direct contacts. Evliya Celebi, who travelled through western Iran on a diplomatic mission in 1656, noticed Bektashi convents in the towns of Nihawand and Hamadan, 2 near both of which there lived (and still live) considerable numbers of AH. It is not clear until when these Bektashi settlements in Iran survived, nor how close their relations with the Ottoman Bektashi were. We have direct evidence, however, of contacts between the AH of the Guran district and Alevi of Anatolia and Syria about a century age. The American missionary Trowbridge, working at 'Aintab (present Gaziantep) noticed that his Alevi acquaintances considered as their highest spiritual leaders an AH sayyid family in the Guran district. During the

1 There is a Turabi Baba buried in Konitza, Epirus (Hasluck 1929: II, 536) and a Shahin Baba in Kupekli, Thessalia (ibid.: 533). These are both rather far f r o m Iraq, and neither of these saints is very widely known. By Viran Abdal the poet Virani Baba could be meant, but there is also a simple Hurufi text of that name (C. Huart 1909:xx). Qaftan might in fact be Haji Bektash' mantle {qaftan): the AH believe that spirits may also inhabit certain objects (such as 'All's Zulfiqar) and endow these with supernatural powers. 2

Seyahatname vol. IV. Ms. Bagdat Ko§kii 305, fol. 307r, 3tOr. The relevant sections are extremely defective in the printed edition.

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late 19th century, these sayyid had sent their envoys to those distant districts, and the latter had apparently succeeded in convincing the Alevi of the basic identity of the two creeds and of the sayyid's semi-divinity. T h e sayyid's homestead (or rather, their hearth, ojaq) in Tutshami had become a place of pilgrimage for Trowbridge's Alevi as well as for the Guran Ahl-i Haqq. 1 T h e s e two, rather fortuitous, observations show that there have been various sorts of contacts between the (Guran) A H and Alevi/Bektashi groups. Such contacts may account for the identification of Haji Bektash with the m a j o r A H saint; they do, however, not explain why A H and Alevi/Bektashi recognised each other's creeds as similar or identical. T o the uncommitted outside observer, there are quite significant differences between the beliefs and practices of the 'Alawi (Nusairi), the Alevi (Qizilbash), the Bektashi and the Ahl-i Haqq; these sects moreover have distinctly different historical origins. N e v e r t h e l e s s , they have a large n u m b e r of cultural traits in c o m m o n ; underneath the real differences there is a c o m m o n substratum. Part of this substratum may belong to West Asia's pre-Islamic past, part seems to be Turkic/Central Asian in origin, another part results f r o m c o m m o n later influences. All the p r e - i s l a m i c e l e m e n t s t h a t O c a k d e t e c t e d in B e k t a s h i menaqibname (Ocak 1983), many of which are distinctly Turkish, are also abundantly present in the sacred scriptures and the oral traditions of the Guran. 2 The popular religious practices and legends of the Guran Ahl-i Haqq show especially striking similarities to those of the Dersim Alevi. T h e s e two groups are also linguistically close, while both are quite different f r o m their direct neighbours: most of the Dersim Alevi speak Zaza, an Iranian language closely related to Gurani and only distantly to Kurdish proper. The available evidence suggests for these two particular groups a common cultural origin, associated with early medieval Dailam; essentially Iranian but with many later Turkish admixtures. 3 Some of the elements the various sects have in common may be due to relatively recent external influences. There is for instance the well-known story of the miracle-worker who, mounted on a wild lion and wielding a venomous snake as a whip, challenged Haji Bektash but was defeated when the latter caused the wall on which he was seated to run about. The story was known to

1 T r o w b r i d g e 1909:342-3. More on these sayyids and their relations with the Alevi in my forthcoming "Satan's Psalmists". 2

N u m e r o u s Gurani texts have been edited and analyzed by Mokri (especially Mokri 1962 1966,1967, 1968). Cf. Roux 1969.

3

O n the beliefs and practices of the Dersim Alevi, see Andranik 1900, Oztiirk 1972, B u m k e 1979. Theories on their relationship with the Guran are discussed in Bruinessen 1992, ch. II, 1m.

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Bektashi all over the Ottoman Empire, with various rival saints being cast into the role of the challenger. The Alevi of Dersim tell the same story with two of their local saints as its protagonists. It is also part of the Guran's religious lore; here it is Sultan Sahak who orders his associate Davvud to ride the wall. The same story is even told as far as India, with various pairs of saints in the leading roles. In fact, it can be shown that the various themes that make up this story are of Indian origin. Religious lore of this kind, as well as various yogi-like practices such as walking on fire, were probably carried to the west by Qalandar-type vagrant dervishes. 1 Especially during the 13th-15th centuries, large numbers of these half-naked, mendicant dervishes, repositories of antinomian mysticism and popular religious and magical lore, roamed about the entire islamic world, from India to the Maghrib. Their role in the formation of the Ahl-i Haqq, the Bektashi order and the various Alevi sects can hardly be overestimated. Although their numbers rapidly declined after 1500, they are still frequently mentioned as late as the 17th century, and they may have formed one of the major channels of communication between the various sects mentioned. In the following paragraphs, I shall discuss some of the major elements of AH cosmology. Unless stated otherwise, this refers to the AH of the Guran district; other sub-sects may not share all these beliefs, or give them different interpretations. I shall not explicitly point out all correspondences and differences with Alevi-Bektashi lore. To the expert these will be obvious; to others not very relevant.

Earlier divine incarnations Establishing who is God, is also a way of defining who one is oneself. By identifying earlier incarnations of Soltan Sahak, the AH declare where they stand, if not politically, at least philosophically. A list of these incarnations serves as a legitimation as well as a declaration of allegiance; its function is not unlike that of a sufi's silsila. Of the four greatest divine incarnations recognised by the AH, the first was 'Ali. Interestingly, Muhammad is not important at all; moreover, he is thought to belong to a group of seven beings that are the dark counterpart to the radiant angelic heptad presided over by 'Ali. The A H thus associate themselves with Shi'i Islam, and more strictly with the extremist Shi'a. They consider all sects that deify 'Ali as brothers in faith, almost irrespective of the The genealogy of the tale of the miracle contest is traced in Bruinessen 1991. On the Qalandar, see: Digby 1984 and Yazici 1974. | Since this article was written, two important studies on the Qalandariyya h a \ e appeared, that should be mentioned here: Ocak 1992 and Karamustafa 1994. ]

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other tenets held. The ithna'ashari Shi'a is considered as a more distant relative, having accepted only 'Ali's shari'at teachings. Most A H branches in Iran prefer to call themselves Muslims, but several of my Guran informants emphatically denied that their beliefs had anything to do with Islam. T h e second great manifestation, bringer of the tariqat, was Shah Khushin. In him we do not recognise a specific historical person, but rather a certain class of popular mystics. The legends about him seem to be related to the incursion of large numbers of Qalandar-type dervishes into western Iran. 1 T h e d e i f i c a t i o n of Shah K h u s h i n , t h e r e f o r e , may be read as an acknowledgement of spiritual indebtedness to Qalandar-ism. It is not the only acknowledgement: the term Qalandar has strong honorific overtones among the A H ; one of the most beloved later saints of the Guran was called 'Ali Qalandar. In the name of the third great manifestation, Shah Fazl, we may recognise that of Fazlallah Astarabadi, the founder of the Hurufi sect (d. 1393). One of his associates in the AH myths is called Nasimi, obviously the Turkish Hurufi poet of that name, who was flayed alive in Aleppo in the early 15th century. 2 The association of the AH with the Hurufi is vague. There may have been Hurufi in or near the Guran district at the time when the AH took its form: one of Fazlallah's major disciples, Ahmad Lur, obviously hailed from Luristan, and as late as 1656 Evliya Celebi claimed there were Hurufi in Hamadan. 3 These Hurufi or Hurufi-influenced groups may gradually have been incorporated into the new sect. The Hurufi believed, like later the A H , in a series of successive divine incarnations, the latest of them being Fazlallah. This seems to be the major reason for the latter's incorporation into the AH pantheon. It is virtually the only belief the AH have in common with the Hurufi. The cabbalistic speculations typical of Hurufism are (at present) unknown among them. 4 With such an acknowledged spiritual pedigree, it is not astonishing that the A H consider the Bektashi, w h o are heirs to the same three traditions, as very close to themselves, and Haji Bektash as identical with their founder 1

2

Bruinessen 1991; cf. Ivanow 1953:17-8.

Nasimi's poetry, incidentally, w a s not only popular in Bektashi circles but also a m o n g Q a l a n d a r - t y p e vagrant dervishes, as noted by the 16th-century Italian traveller M e n a v i n o (quoted by G. Jacob, Abh. Philos.-Philol. Kl. Kiin. Bay. Ak.d.W. 24 (1909), Abt.3, p. 20). 3 In an, admittedly, rather imprecise statement (op.cit., f. 310v): the people of Hamadan are "... ctimle ve rafizi ve mu'tezili ve musebbehi ve hurufi mezhebinde bi-mezheb havarici tayfeler", which almost reads like a random list of sects offensive to the orthodox Sunni. T h e Mu'tazili may seem out of place in this list of extremist Shi'i sects. Their inclusion may be related to the fact that the h e r e s i o g r a p h i e s m e n t i o n several Mu'tazili as p r o p o u n d e d of the d o c t r i n e of reincarnation (Freitag 1985:113-127). 4 1 found one other idea possibly of Hurufi origins in an A H text: the emergence of mankind (in this case, the angels) from the lines of God's face.

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S u l t a n S a h a k (or with o n e of t h e o t h e r g r e a t e s t saints). T h e y s h o w a r e m a r k a b l e a p t i t u d e f o r a s s i m i l a t i n g o t h e r r e l i g i o u s t r a d i t i o n s into their c o s m o l o g y . T h e m a j o r Semitic prophets are identified as incarnations of the various a n g e l i c b e i n g s e m a n a t e d f r o m the D i v i n e E s s e n c e , and so are the heroes of old Iranian myths and legendary history. Even Jesus is recognised as an incarnation, though not of G o d himself but of the archangel Jibra'il. T h e Deity (i.e., Sultan Sahak) rarely m a n i f e s t s himself alone; he is believed to be a c c o m p a n i e d by four, or six or seven angelic b e i n g s (together the haft tan, or l u m i n o u s h e p t a d ) , a n d in the m o s t c o m p l e t e m a n i f e s t a t i o n s by a w h o l e p a n o p l y of other spiritual beings. 1 shall refer to t h e s e c o m p a n i o n s by the n a m e s they had in the period of Sultan Sahak. T h e f o u r archangels were called B e n y a m i n (Jibra'il), D a w u d (Mika'il), P i r M u s i (Israfil) and M u s t a f a ('Azra'il); a f e m a l e spirit, R a m z b a r , and a n o t h e r m a l e , B a b a Y a d i g a r , c o m p l e t e d the seven. A dissenting view does not c o u n t Sultan Sahak a m o n g the haft tan, and adds Shah Ibrahim instead. S o m e A H have gone so far as to m a k e detailed lists i d e n t i f y i n g each of the haft tan and at least o n e o t h e r heptad, the

haftawana

( t h e f o r m e r ' s m o r e w o r l d l y c o u n t e r p a r t ) w i t h s p e c i f i c p e r s o n s in

the

e n v i r o n m e n t of the various incarnations. 1

Cyclical time Such identifications appear to be based on the idea that certain basic events recur time and again, and that all m a j o r saints and mythical heroes can be r e d u c e d to a limited n u m b e r of a r c h e t y p a l roles. I h a v e heard G u r a n villagers, a f t e r we had listened to a ballad on the old Iranian t h e m e of F a r h a d a n d Shirin, s e r i o u s l y d i s c u s s w h o F a r h a d a n d Shirin 'really' w e r e . T h e characters of the persons, and the m a j o r events in the legends about t h e m are believed to indicate of which of the spiritual beings they are the e m b o d i m e n t s . O n e striking e x a m p l e of f r e q u e n t l y r e c u r r i n g e v e n t s is that of d e a t h by b e h e a d i n g . T h e angel w h o manifested himself in Husain w a s not only killed that one time in Karbala, but in m a n y other incarnations as well: he w a s a l s o Y a h y a ( J o h n the B a p t i s t ) and 'Ali Q a l a n d a r , a n A H saint b e h e a d e d by u n b e l i e v e r s ; and in the s t o r j of S h a h Fazl b e l o w we shall see him in yet a n o t h e r guise. All other events of esoteric significance are also repetitive; the sacred history of the A H is cyclical. In each period or cycle ( d a u r a ) essentially the same d r a m a unfolds itself, enacted by the h u m a n incarnations of always the s a m e spirits. T h e circularity is not perfect, however: the A H admit of a gradual evolution, there being a clear progress f r o m the revelations b r o u g h t by 'Ali t o those of Sultan Sahak. M o r e o v e r , the protagonists in the d r a m a seem at t i m e s to switch roles. In every daura

there is at least o n e virgin birth; the virgin

' For a number of such lists, including one of the t w o heptads around Jesus, see: E d m o n d s

1969:94.

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( w h o usually delivers the child f r o m her m o u t h , or in s o m e other preternatural w a y ) is a l w a y s the s a m e , but the child is not. S o m e t i m e s it is the Deity h i m s e l f , at other times one of the angels. A s an illustration of how A H p o p u l a r d e v o t i o n r e c o g n i s e s in widely k n o w n l e g e n d s , historical events, and ideas the e s s e n c e of its sacred history, and incorporates them

into its m y t h s , t h e r e b y g i v i n g t h e m n e w

and

unconventional m e a n i n g s , I shall retell one of the less k n o w n episodes.

The daura of Shah Fazl S h a h Fazl a p p e a r e d into the world with six c o m p a n i o n s , t o g e t h e r the haft tan. T h e f o u r a r c h a n g e l s a s s u m e d the personalities of M a n s u r [al-Hallaj], Nasimi, Z a k a r i y a and T u r k a ; the one f e m a l e spirit of the heptad (the primordial virgin m o t h e r ) that of ' A i n a , while the sixth c o m p a n i o n , the o n e w h o s u f f e r e d b e h e a d i n g in m a n y of his m a n i f e s t a t i o n s , a p p e a r e d as a l a m b , called Barra. T h e s e c o m p a n i o n s f o l l o w e d the shah on his peregrinations through often wild and deserted lands. At times w h e n they w e r e c o m p l e t e l y w i t h o u t f o o d , S h a h Fazl w o u l d tell his h u m a n c o m p a n i o n s to slaughter and eat Barra, taking care not to break any of his bones. A f t e r their meal, the bones w e r e carefully placed in f r o n t of S h a h Fazl, w h o then struck t h e g r o u n d with his magical s t a f f , bringing B a r r a back to life. M a n y t i m e s the l a m b B a r r a w a s thus s a c r i f i c e d , and each t i m e Shah Fazl resuscitated him f r o m the bones. O n e day Shah Fazl had gone s o m e w h e r e alone, leaving his c o m p a n i o n s behind w i t h o u t f o o d , and w a s late in returning. A f t e r a f e w days, the f r i e n d s b e c a m e q u i t e h u n g r y , a n d eagerly e y e d B a r r a : h a v i n g e a t e n h i m so o f t e n a l r e a d y , w h a t w r o n g w o u l d there be in e a t i n g h i m a g a i n ? ' A i n a s t r o n g l y o b j e c t e d , the l a m b w a s Shah Fazl's and they had no right to kill h i m ; disaster w o u l d certainly befall t h e m if they did. T h e f o u r m e n , very h u n g r y by then, did not listen to her but cut Barra's throat and prepared a meal. T h e y carefully a v o i d e d b r e a k i n g the bones and collected t h e m as usual, but w h a t e v e r they tried, they failed to resuscitate Barra again. S u d d e n l y o v e r c o m e with f e a r of Shah Fazl's anger, they hid the bones in a distant place. W h e n S h a h Fazl f i n a l l y r e t u r n e d , he i m m e d i a t e l y n o t i c e d B a r r a ' s absence and asked for him. T h e f o u r men replied that Barra had run a w a y , they did not k n o w where. T h e shah then loudly called out Barra's n a m e , and f r o m the distance the bones answered moaningly. Shah Fazl sent the c o m p a n i o n s to collect the bones and put t h e m in f r o n t of h i m , then asked Barra's bones w h a t had h a p p e n e d to him. "They had no patience and killed m e ; only ' A i n a tried to stop them". T h e shah continued his questioning:

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"Who cut your throat?" "Turka" "Who flayed you?" "Nasimi" "Who dragged you over the woodfire?" "Mansur" "Who cut up your meat?" "Zakariya"

Shah Fazl then caused these four companions to suffer the same treatment: Turka's throat was slashed, Nasimi flayed alive, Mansur burnt on the pyre, and Zakariya cut to pieces. When Mansur was burnt, his ashes flew in all directions; one particle happened to fall on a piece of wood floating in the river. So strong was Mansur's repentance at not having listened to 'Aina, that even these ashes kept c a l l i n g o u t "'Aina

haqq,

'Aina

haqq...".

T h e river c a r r y i n g t h e l o g w i t h t h e

wailing ashes passed by a garden belonging to Mulla Rumi, and the Mulla's virgin daughter happened to be fetching water when the log approached this spot. Hearing a voice moaning "'Aina haqq...", she looked around for who was crying, and discovered that the voice came forth from the ashes on the log floating by. In astonishment she let out a "Wai", her mouth fell wide open. Just then, the last bit of ashes jumped up and entered her mouth; surprised, she swallowed it. Within months, she was visibly pregnant, and her reputation and the Mulla's were accordingly damaged. All calumny stopped, however, when she gave birth preternatural 1\, from her side. The boy thus born was given the name of Shams-i Tabriz... 1

Themes in the Shah Fazl tale Hallaj, Nasimi and Shams have long exercised a strong appeal to the popular imagination, the former two for the way they met their ends, the last for the romantic way he entered, and departed from, Rumi's life, all three for their 'intoxicated' mysticism. Various elements of the tale above are not unique for the AH. The miraculous birth of Shams-i Tabrizi is the subject of

' I owe this version of the tale to kalamkhan Baba A'zam Manu'i of Gahwara. It is much more elaborate than any published version known to me. The tale is alluded to in many kalam, which as usual do not narrate it in full but assume it to be well known among the hearers (e.g. Mokri 1967, verses 99-114; Suri 1344:177). The tale itself was apparently handed down orally only, and elaborated upon by successive generations of kalamkhan, the persons who know not only the kalam (one form of sacred scripture) but also the oral traditions on which the kalam are comments.

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various popular legends in Iran, to which Ivanow has earlier drawn attention. 1 It has also been observed that certain Alevi, as well as some of the AH, attribute the famous words " A n a ' l - h a q q " to Shams rather than Hallaj (Roux 1969:66). Our tale not only gives an unconventional interpretation to this mystic's utterance but also explains why it belongs to both Hallaj and Shams. This way of reconciling several seemingly contradictory traditions, and of combining events of different times and places into a new meaningful order is, in my opinion, one of the most characteristic traits of the AH cosmology. In this system, perceived similarities between historical or legendary persons are explained in either of two ways. Most commonly, these persons are considered as incarnations of the same spiritual being; once the identification has been made, more elements of the life of one may be projected onto that of the other. Alternatively, they may be placed into the same cycle of sacred time, as c o n t e m p o r a r i e s esoterically if not temporally. The similarity in the circumstances of their lives is then ascribed to the specific daura in which they appear. The deaths of Nasimi and Hallaj, though taking place at quite different times, had enough in common to be thus combined. The number of four being of great importance in A H lore — the four archangels are associated with the four elements, the four seasons, the four directions of the compass; four degrees of religious knowledge were revealed by f o u r m a j o r divine incarnations, etc. — it is not surprising that they were given two companions who also suffered violent deaths. One might have expected Fazlullah himself to be cast into the role of one of the other victims; after all, he was also done to death himself. But he, as the Deity Himself, was already given another role to play. Zakariya and Turka cannot easily be identified with any historical persons; they were probably invented because the logic of AH cosmology demanded their existence. Apart from legends on popular sufi saints, we may discern various elements of older religious traditions. The sacrificial lamb, that had time and again come into the world just in order to be killed, and that in this tale redeems the companions f r o m famine, reminds one of another religion originating in the Middle East. Missionaries working in Iran perceived other similarities with Christianity as well, but these may mean no more than that both religions borrowed and recombined elements from the same rich stock of ideas of the Hellenistic world. Virgin birth, very important in AH mythology, is another case. It is logically connected with the fact that in none of his

Rumi finds a human skull possessing dangerous magical properties, and tries to destroy these by p o u n d i n g the skull to powder. Rumi's daughter accidentally eats the p o w d e r , becomes pregnant and gives birth to Shams (Ivanow 1948:12). The numerous variants on the theme of the impregnating head/skull in Alevi-Bektashi legends are well known (e.g. Hasluck 1929:1,146-7; Molyneux-Seel 1914:64-5; Birge 1937:56).

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incarnations the Deity (and, in fact, any of the haft tan) ever engages in physical procreation. I believe that these themes owe more to the highly negative attitude of gnosticism towards sexuality than to any direct Christian influences. The resuscitation of an animal f r o m its bones is a theme that occurs almost all over the world: 1 in the present context, it may have Central Asian, or possibly Indian, origins. Apart from the tale of Barra, there is one other well-known A H myth in which this occurs. Sultan Sahak catches f r o m the river a cooked fish, to feed a rival saint. When later another fish accusingly asks Sultan why he has killed her spouse, he takes the (unbroken) bones and f r o m them brings the fish back to life. 2 My A H informants told me that the bones of animals slaughtered for their ritual meals marking the beginning of the seasons should under no circumstance be broken, and referred to these myths as the origin of this custom.

Concepts of the soul and of reincarnation T h e resuscitations in these A H myths are related to one of several concepts of the soul that are held simultaneously by the AH: the soul as identical with, or closely associated with, the most imperishable parts of the body, the dry parts that d o not putrefy. Mansur's ashes are in that sense a strict parallel to Barra's bones. They constitute the link between Mansur and Shams in a 'primitive' theory of transmigration of the soul. Very similar concepts of transmigration, incidentally, are still widespread in popular belief in South India, alongside the more sophisticated theories of 'high' Hinduism. T h e A H , too, s u b s c r i b e to various t h e o r i e s of

transmigration

simultaneously without being worried about apparent incompatibilities. In the tales about the births of divine incarnations, we may see initially distinct concepts gradually merge. Shah Khushin was conceived f r o m a particle that detached itself from the sun and entered the mouth of a virgin, who later gave birth through her mouth. The difference with Shams is that the solar particle was not a 'body soul' like Mansur's ashes. Similar again was the birth of Baba Yadigar, the youngest of Sultan Sahak's companions and in secular time his successor. Sultan Sahak and the older companions had ritually eaten a pomegranate, the fruit of a magical tree. One seed of the fruit had spilt on the floor, and Sultan's servant (a virgin, of

1 2

Examples in Eliade 1964:160-5; Hertz 1960| 1909|:70ff.

In the myth referred to in note 14 above. The theme is discussed more extensively in Bruinessen 1991.

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course) found it and ate it. After sufficient time had passed, she sneezed and a child came forth f r o m her mouth. Sultan Sahak then ordered one of the companions to place the child in a blazing oven. After three days he ordered the oven to be opened again, and out stepped the full-grown Yadigar. 1 According to some of the Guran, Sultan Sahak then breathed some of his own essence into the young man. The soul or spirit appears here as breath, and the same spirit can apparently manifest itself in two persons simultaneously. Yadigar thus was not only the incarnation of a high spiritual being (the same that had earlier appeared as Husain and as Barra), his body was also host to the Deity himself. The AH recognise two distinct types of incarnation (with respect to divine spirits). The form discussed so far, in which the spirit assumes a body, in a way that is often compared to the putting on of a new dress, is sometimes called zuhur, 'manifestation'. In the second form, hulul, the spirit dwells as a guest in a body already possessing a soul, divine or human. My Guran informants did not agree whether hulul is temporary or permanent. Some of the cases of which they told me were reminiscent of spirit possession, and were clearly temporary; in others, like Yadigar's, the divine guest seemed to be a permanent presence. A slightly variant form yet is incarnation in an inanimate object, which is referred to in a few A H legends. The magical powers attributed to objects such as 'Ali's sword Zulfiqar or the regalia of some of Iran's legendary kings are explained by the presence in them of one of the haft tan - usually the one identified with the angel of death, 'Azra'il. Properly speaking, this is neither zuhur nor hulul (the Guran avoid these terms here); it resembles, however, the presence of the spirit in Mansur's ashes. There is no strict limit to the number of spirits that may dwell in the same body. In most of the myths, there is at most one 'guest' in addition to the owner of the body. Political expediency, however, seems to have produced some doctrinal innovation. The highly ambitious (and successful) religious and political leader, Sayyid Baraka, who died in 1863, was believed by the Guran to be a complete manifestation of one of the angels, and in addition to be host to five other spirits, among which the Deity himself. In discussing the concept or concepts of transmigration, we can further leave hulul and incarnation in immaterial objects aside, since all reincarnation myths refer to zuhur only. So far, we have encountered spirits transmigrating in the form of ashes, a light particle and a pomegranate seed. The most important of the forms in which the divine spirit migrates, however, is that of a bird — not a crane as in the Haji Bektash legend or a pigeon as in early Christian lore, but a falcon or eagle (baz), a bird with a prominent place in A f t e r Safizade 1352:27-8 and various oral accounts. The 'baking' of Yadigar is remarkably similar to Alevi tales in which the young 'Ali is hidden in a furnace for seven days, or the young Imam Baqir ( M u h a m m a d b. 'Ali al-Baqir, Husain's grandson) put into a copper (baqir) cauldron heated on a fire (Hasluck 1929:1,147).

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pre-Islamic Iranian as well as Sufi tradition. 1 Shah Khushin is vaguely associated with this bird, but it appears most clearly in the myths surrounding Sultan Sahak's birth. Three of the companions were already in the world, biding his arrival. When they came to the house of the aged Sayyid 'Isi, they smelt the fragrance of the divine and felt that this would be the place where the Deity would manifest himself. Not seeing anybody there who might become mother to the incarnation, they requested Sayyid 'Isi to marry a young woman, Khatun Dairak. Because of the sayyid's age, Khatun Dayrak must still have been a virgin when a white falcon appeared and alighted on her lap. She embraced the bird and suddenly found it changed into a child. 2 In a less chaste variant of this myth, the bird descends between Khatun Dayrak's opened legs, she conceives, and almost at once gives birth to Sultan Sahak (Mokri 1970:39). It is obvious that the bird is in some sense identical with the Deity, but much less clear what precisely this sense is. Speaking of the Deity, the AH rarely if ever use the names of Allah or Khuda. Often, they just speak of Sultan Sahak, even when referring to the Deity's other manifestations: '"Ali was in reality a manifestation of Sultan Sahak", or "Haji Bektash was a great saint, he was Sultan Sahak." When they wish to abstract from the particulars of Sultan Sahak's earthly life, they use the term zat, 'essence' or 'self. Was the falcon the zat'i Or was it only another manifestation of the zat'ì A bird, after all, can hardly be considered as a disembodied spirit? My ontological questions were quite irrelevant to my Guran informants. The falcon was a falcon; it was also Sultan Sahak or, if I preferred, Shah Khushin; and in Reality it was also the zat. Speculations as to where and how the Deity and the other spirits exist between their successive incarnations was entirely alien to the Guran with whom I talked. Disembodied spirits existed in my imagination but appealed little to theirs. Despite the fact that the haft tan and other superhuman spirits move on from one incarnation to the next, something of them appears to linger in the places where they once lived. Yadigar, for instance, in some ill-defined sense is still present in his shrine in Zarda, in the heart of the Guran country, which has become the major place of pilgrimage for all Ahl-i Haqq. Such a presence is not necessarily associated with a grave. One spring in the area is venerated because another incarnation of Yadigar 'went into occultation' (ghaib shud) there, and another spring because it is 'owned' by another saint. Both are ' T h e 'Royal Eagle 1 , shahbaz, is discussed extensively in Mokri 1967:23-43 and Mokri 1968. T o Mokri's erudite exposé we might add that in Indian sufism, the title of Baz was added as an honorific to the names of some dervishes of outstanding spiritual achievement, such as the f a m o u s La'l Shahbaz Q a l a n d a r of Sehvvan and Shaikh A b u B a k r Baz-i Safid. Cf. Rizvi 1978:306-7. 2

After kalamkhan Ka Karim of Tutshami. T h e same myth in Ivanow 1953:121 (pp. 60-66 of the Persian text) and in Mokri 1970:179.

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believed to be present in these springs, j u s t as Y a d i g a r and others are in their s h r i n e s . M y i n f o r m a n t s e m p h a t i c a l l y resisted calling this v a g u e p r e s e n c e 'karamat',

p e r h a p s b e c a u s e this t e r m is t o o m u c h a s s o c i a t e d with M u s l i m

saint w o r s h i p . T h e y believed that the saints t h e m s e l v e s w e r e actually present there, t h o u g h in a different, occult, f o r m of existence, in w h i c h the passing of s e c u l a r time has no meaning. At o n e time they w e r e physically present here and u n d e r w e n t s o m e transformation: they died or o t h e r w i s e left this world. In o n e time d i m e n s i o n , they then went on to their next incarnations, but there is y e t a n o t h e r sort of t i m e in which they h a v e a l w a y s been and will a l w a y s remain present in these places of transformation.

The rebirth of the common human soul and eschatology S o f a r I h a v e only spoken of the transmigration of the Deity and o t h e r spiritual b e i n g s f r o m o n e incarnation to the next. T h e belief in s u c c e s s i v e d i v i n e m a n i f e s t a t i o n s n e i t h e r i m p l i e s , n o r is it i m p l i e d by, a belief in r e i n c a r n a t i o n in g e n e r a l . T h e A H , h o w e v e r , d o believe that e v e r y o r d i n a r y mortal soul returns in another body a f t e r death. T h e m o r e e d u c a t e d G u r a n use the c o m m o n A r a b i c term tanasukh

f o r this p r o c e s s of h u m a n r e i n c a r n a t i o n ,

and to explain it the s a m e images of a d u c k diving and e m e r g i n g at a n o t h e r place, or of a person laying off o n e set of clothes and putting on another, are e m p l o y e d that a l s o serve as s i m p l e m e t a p h o r s f o r t h e s u c c e s s i v e d i v i n e incarnations. In f a c t , the individual e m b o d i m e n t of h u m a n soul as well as of divine spirit is called its dun or jama, v i e w s of the G u r a n o r tanasukh

both of which w o r d s m e a n 'garb'. T h e

are not very sophisticated, a n d they d o not

a p p e a r to entertain any curiosity c o n c e r n i n g w h a t might h a p p e n to them a f t e r death. T h e i r f u n e r a l practices, a l m o s t identical to t h o s e of t h e s u r r o u n d i n g M u s l i m s tribes, a p p e a r to imply that death is a tragic, irreversible, o n e - t i m e e v e n t , rather than t h e liberation of w h i c h a m o r e p h i l o s o p h i c a l l y

minded

i n f o r m a n t spoke. 1 have, in spire of m u c h querying, not heard any speculations as to w h o and w h e r e one might h a v e been d u r i n g those p r e v i o u s lives. W h e n q u e s t i o n e d , m o s t G u r a n would a d m i t that incarnation in a n i m a l b o d i e s is a p o s s i b i l i t y , but n o o n e e v e r told m e s o s p o n t a n e o u s l y . T h e c o n c e p t of reincarnation

seems only tenuously

r e l a t e d to n o t i o n s of r e w a r d

and

p u n i s h m e n t in the f o r m of higher or l o w e r rebirth.

Other

branches

of

the A H

have

developed

various

ways

of

a c c o m m o d a t i n g the belief in reincarnation with partly Islamic, partly Gnostic e s c h a t o l o g y . 1 T h e G u r a n , h o w e v e r , s h o w e d no interest at all in such questions as w h e t h e r the chain of incarnations is finite and h o w it might end. Several Gurani kalam refer obliquely to a last j u d g e m e n t expected to take place in the 1

See Minorsky's Encyclopaedia

of Islam

article (1960); cf. Minorsky 1920-1921,

passim.

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plain of Shahrazur, but thai was about all that my informants could tell me. Only my philosophically minded friend had more explicit messianic expectations; I do not dare to guess how widely such ideas are shared. In the last days, he told me, all men will be gathered in a wide plain and 'Ali will appear, brandishing his Zulfiqar. This terrifying weapon will not hurt those whose souls are pure, but all others will be beheaded and this will be the definitive end. Not even this informant had any idea as to what the mode of existence of the pure souls will be after this last judgement. The Guran AH all appeared to be in agreement that the notion of Paradise (bihisht) as another sort of world is a Muslim misconception; for them, bihisht is a state of mind (hat!) alone.

The Guran district as a mirror of world history For the AH, to recapitulate, sacred time is cyclical, and the major events of each cycle are, with certain reservations, basically identical. We find the same idea in the early lsma'iliya and, in one form or another, in almost all ghulat sects. This does not mean, of course, that the AH have a different sense of time from those who see time as linear. In daily life, they adopt the same pragmatic attitude towards time as anybody else. Circular time belongs to a different order of reality than everyday life; it is the time dimension in which events of cosmic significance take place, and with which one only deals during and by means of ritual acts. 1 An AH would be hard pressed if asked for a summary of these ever-recurring sacred events. Much of this sacred history remains hidden from the ordinary mortal, and even for the Ahl-i Haqq only a tip of the veil has been lifted. Only a few of the cosmic events are known and partly understood : the m\stery of virgin birth, the Deity's incarnation and revelation, the decapitation of Husain ; and, as part of the Guran claim, a struggle between the forces of light and of darkness, represented by the haft tan and haftawana, respectively. T he cosmic events consist of the acts of the Deity and his companions. Hven though there might be disagreement as to their meaning, all agree that the essential aspects of these events are repetitive, recurring in every cycle. This idea has an interesting corollary: since most or all events of cosmic significance are repeated in every cycle, they must also all have taken place in the Guran country, where the most important of all cycles was enacted. Cosmologically speaking, every meaningful event that ever occurred anywhere has also taken place in the Guran country. It is not necessary to make pilgrimages to far-away places, for every sacred spot on the globe has its

' Cf. the similar discussion of non-linear time concepts by Maurice Bloch, "The past and the present in the present," Man, 12 (1977) : 278-292.

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equivalent here. The Ka'ba in Mecca, the world axis of Islam, has its parallel in the shrine of Yadigar, in the Dalahu mountains just north of Sar-i Pul-i Zuhab, which is the major gate connecting our manifest world with the hidden one, and the most important centre of pilgrimage. (It does not, however, constitute the qiblat of the AH : the favoured direction in ritual is the south.) 1 In a small area around the shrine, there are numerous other sacred places. One of the other haft tan, Dawud, lies buried nearby; another, Mustafa, is somehow present in a tree that he planted at a place where he once rested. The shrine of the fourth, Benyamin, is in the nearby town of Kirind, and whoever might wish to pay their respects to the haft tan collectively can do so at Aftab-i Sharif, a high place overlooking the shrine, with a wide view towards the south, where the seven used to meet. The drama of Karbala was enacted several times among the Ahl-i Haqq, once at Aftab-i Sharif, where Yadigar (or another incarnation of the same angel) was killed by the primordial enemy. His head disappeared in the spring Qaslan or Kosar (Kauthar) in the same area, and his zat is believed still to be present in that spring. This is, incidentally, the same spring Kauthar that Muslims believe to be in Paradise. The Guran look with pity upon those Shi'ites who go all the way to Karbala on a pilgrimage that has no greater value than a visit to the Kosar. Pilgrimages to the shrine of Imam Riza in Mashhad, the major holy centre in Iran, are equally superfluous. Imam Riza was an incarnation of Dawud (who is also the angel Mika'il, and who according to some was Haji Bektash). A visit to the simple tomb of Dawud, in the foothills leading up to Yadigar's shrine, is sufficient to achieve the same effect. Dawud was also, in the belief of one AH sub-sect among the Guran, the same as Iblis, whom the Muslims call Satan because of his refusal to worship man. To them Iblis is not the king of evil and the warden of hell, as the Muslim claim — hell, after all, is not a place but a state of mind — but the Lord of this world. Whoever wishes success in a worldly enterprise would be well advised to pay a visit to Dawud's shrine and invoke his support. 2 The other heptad, haftawana, the dark and material counterpart of the luminous and spiritual haft tan, is represented in the Guran territory by the shrine of one of the seven, Sayyid Muhammad, in nearby Zarda, and also by a second spring, named Anahita, in which the essence of the latter's son Shah

A c c o r d i n g to s o m e of my informants, the dead are buried lying on their right side, facing towards the south, "the qiblat of Sultan Sahak." W h e n sacrificial animals are slaughtered, their heads should ideally also be turned into the same direction. This may be a remnant of an ancient solar cult. j On the place of " S a t a n w o r s h i p " in the beliefs and practices of the G u r a n , see M. van Bruinessen, "Satan's psalmists...", art.cit.

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HERETICS

Ibrahim dwells. The Guran may roughly be divided into the devotees of Yadigar and those of Ibrahim; the two halves adhere to different cosmologies, and there is a definite rivalry between them. (In reality, Yadigar and Ibrahim appear to have been rivals for the succession to the leadership on the early A H community.) The f o r m e r tend to associate the haftawana with evil and to liken Ibrahim to Husain's murderer Yazid. They do not m a k e special pilgrimages to the said two holy places, but when passing them are highly respectful. Ibrahim's devotees do visit Yadigar's shrine, the holiest of the holy for their religion, and then continue to their own spring, the Anahita, while the Yadigari go to the spring Qaslan. It is not only these two heptads that are present in the area around Yadigar's shrine, other members of the A H pantheon are also represented here. Overlooking the Qaslan is a spot where the chil tan, the primordial forty dervishes, used to sit (and somehow still linger). From there, one can almost see the group of twelve trees reputedly planted by the twelve imams. T h e Deity himself, in his Guran incarnation of Sultan Sahak, is not directly present here; he lies buried some 100 kilometres to the north, near Nosud in Hawraman. Strangely enough, his shrine has not become a m a j o r centre of pilgrimage for the AH. Those who wish to worship the Deity commonly do this at the shrine of Yadigar, whose body had been host to a manifestation (.hulul) of the Deity as well. The Deity is also present in yet another form, not far f r o m the shrine, in a place called Bahlul, after one of his minor manifestations. Bahlul was a legendary "holy idiot" of Baghdad, who is believed "in reality" to have been the brother of the Caliph Harun ar-Rashid. T h e c o m p a n i o n s appeared as, a m o n g others, the great mystics Hasan Basri and Ma'ruf Karkhi. Bahlul is popular among the Guran. maybe because of the antinomian behaviour and the resistance against his brother's tyranny with which the A H legends credit him. His name lives on in one of the seasonal sacrificial meals of the Guran Ahl-i Haqq, which is called ma I Bahlul and which takes place at the onset of the Kurdish winter (in late October). 1 The Guran believe that Bahlul did not die but went into occultation. and that he still dwells in several places, including the one just mentioned. This was also the place where, in another popular A H legend, Kai Khusrau, the hero from the Shahnama, passed into the invisible world, together with his paladins. Several other heroes of the old Iranian epics, which are still very much alive in popular tradition, are also present in this area in various ways. T h e nearby town of Qasr-i Shirin is a permanent reminder of the epic love stories

' T h e other seasons are associated with D a w u d (spring), B e n y a m i n ( s u m m e r ) and Pir Musi (autumn).

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i n v o l v i n g the b e a u t i f u l Shirin, king K h u s r a u and the strong F a r h a d . Shirin w a s an incarnation of B e n y a m i n (surprisingly not of the f e m a l e spirit, R a m z ) , h e r l o v e r F a r h a d w a s Davvud, and K h u s r a u n o n e less than Y a d i g a r . T h e i r adventures therefore were re-enactments of the same scenario that had unfolded a m o n g t h e G u r a n , in the daura

of S u l t a n S a h a k . T h e p r e s e n c e of t h e

i m p o s i n g late Sasanian castle of Y a z d a g a r d II, within w a l k i n g d i s t a n c e f r o m Yadigar's shrine, s e e m s to prove to the G u r a n that many of the Iranian legends even literally took place here. A n o t h e r great legend is associated with the uncompleted Sasanian rock relief called Dukkan-i Da'ud, near the place where the ancient trans-Zagros road passes through its n a r r o w e s t defile, not f a r f r o m Sar-i Pul. T h e rock relief is f r e q u e n t l y visited, c a n d l e s are lighted in f r o n t of it, and g r a d u a l l y a large c e m e t e r y has spread a r o u n d it. In the e y e s of the G u r a n , this is an a n c i e n t b l a c k s m i t h ' s w o r k s h o p , b e l o n g i n g to D a w u d in his incarnation as K a w a the B l a c k s m i t h . K a w a , the only c o m m o n e r in the S h a h n a m a w h o killed a king, the tyrant Z a h h a k , has been adopted by the Kurds as their national hero and is associated by t h e m with the onset of s p r i n g (Noruz). In the p r e s e n c e of the rock relief that w a s his w o r k s h o p , the G u r a n see a proof that he, too, o n c e lived here.

Nature worship T h e r e are u n d e n i a b l y n u m e r o u s e l e m e n t s of n a t u r e w o r s h i p in t h e beliefs and practices of the G u r a n A H that I h a v e m e n t i o n e d above. T h e f o r m of this n a t u r e w o r s h i p is very s i m i l a r to t h a t f o u n d a m o n g t h e A l e v i , especially those of D e r s i m . A trace of sun w o r s h i p may be discerned in the story of S h a h Khushin's conception f r o m a particle of s u n l i g h t ; another m a y b e in the n a m e of the haft tan's p l a c e of a s s e m b l y , A f t a b - i S h a r i f ( " E x a l t e d S u n " ) . A f t a b - i Sharif significantly o f f e r s a f a r view to the south, w h i c h is also the sacred direction f o r the G u r a n , "the qiblat of S u l t a n S a h a k . " T h e f o u r s e a s o n s , w h o s e b e g i n n i n g s are m a r k e d with ritual meals, h a v e a l s o an o b v i o u s c o n n e c t i o n with the sun. T h e sun m a y be said to consist of light and fire; it is f r o m his s a m e c o m b i n a t i o n , nar u nur, that m y m o s t learned i n f o r m a n t said Satan (i.e., D a w u d ) w a s created. Fire, in combination with light or j u s t by itself, is sacred to the Guran A H . T h e rebellion of the blacksmith K a w a (a m a s t e r of fire, f o r w h o m the G u r a n light candles) is associated with N o r u z (return of the sun), a n d in central and s o u t h e r n K u r d i s t a n this e v e n t is c e l e b r a t e d by lighting bonfires. T h e hearth ( o j a q ) , especially that in the house of a sayyid lineage, is t h e sacred centre a r o u n d which life revolves; the lineage itself is also called ojaq. In the house of the s a y y i d s of T u t s h a m i , visitors reverently kiss the fireplace. T h e practice of fire-eating or the fire-walk used to be part of the jam, the ritual a s s e m b l y of the G u r a n A H .

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The number of four has great cosmic significance for the AH. Many things come in fours, and usually each of the four is associated with one of the four archangels. Mortal man was created out of the four elements, and each of these was contributed by one of the angels: earth by Benyamin and water by Pir Musi. Fire, in this connection, was not brought by Dawud (Kawa) but by Mustafa, for Dawud is above all associated with the element air (or rather, wind). One of his epithets in Gurani is Ko-sawar, "rider of a grey steed;" there are several indications that the mythical grey horse he rode was in fact the wind. 1 The four elements are often mentioned in kalam because of their central place in the quaternary structure of the cosmos: four elements correspond with four seasons, four basic personality types, four angels, four degrees of religious revelation. I have not encountered any explicit worship of the elements, except for the great respect shown to (the fire in) the ojaq. Water receives its due in the remnants of spring worship: we have seen Yadigar and Shah Ibrahim worshipped in the springs Qaslan and Anahita. 2 There is yet a third sacred spring in the same area, the Kani Shifa, which is believed to have, as its name implies, curing properties. Similarly, there are what appear remnants of tree and stone worship. Mustafa is present near Yadigar's shrine in the form of a tree he planted there during one of his sojourns. The tree must have been singled out for special attention because of a large vulva-shaped hole in its stem. (One wonders whether this is perhaps the remnant of a fertility cult rather than a tree cult.) Other, less quaint-looking trees are also worshipped however, or at least paid special respect. In the course of a visit to the shrine, Sayyid Baraka, the ambitious nineteenth-century religious leader, met Yadigar in person, holding a branch in his hands. As a souvenir and proof of their meeting, Yadigar gave Baraka the branch; the latter planted it, so that there is now a tree associated with both saints. Most striking, perhaps, is the group of twelve trees grown together, which the Guran believe to have been planted by the twelve imams.

' S e e the kalam published in M. Mokri, "Le kalam gourani sur le cavalier au coursier gris, le dompteur du vent," Journal Asialique, 262 (1974 : 47-93 and the editor's learned but not always relevant c o m m e n t s . Gurani ko (Persian kabud) is the colour of a slightly overcast sky. M y Guran informants explained that the name Ko-sawar means that Dawud rides along the heavens. It was only in the context of the slory of man's creation that they explicitly identified him with the wind. 2 T h e Shahname-ye Haqiqat, which is largely but not entirely based on older Gurani kalam, interestingly says that Yadigar and Ibrahim (called Ruchyar here) were created from God's two eyes — an obvious play on Arabic 'ayn or Persian chashm! chashma, which mean both "eye" and "spring." T h e same passage has Dawud created out of God's breath (wind!), Pir Musi f r o m God's mouth (water), and Mustafa from God's anger (fire). T h i s is one of the few A H texts in which traces of Hurufism may be detected.

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B e s i d e s these specially n a m e d trees, trees near holy g r a v e s (those of Yadigar, Davvud as well as lesser men) are, like everywhere in the M i d d l e East, the apparent carriers of the healing p o w e r s and general blessing attributed to the buried p e r s o n , and visitors tie strings and bits of cloth to t h e m w i t h o u t precisely k n o w i n g why. On the high m o u n t a i n ridge o v e r l o o k i n g Y a d i g a r ' s s h r i n e , m a n y large s t o n e s h a v e b e e n e r e c t e d . T h e r e is n o s p e c i a l

cult

s u r r o u n d i n g t h e m n o w , but my i n f o r m a n t s told m e t h e s e s t o n e s had been a n i m a l s , that had c o m e to pay their r e s p e c t s to Y a d i g a r and that had been t r a n s f o r m e d i n t o s t o n e s b e c a u s e of

their d e s i r e n e v e r to l e a v e t h e saint

anymore. T h e s e survivals of nature w o r s h i p s h o w m a n y similarities to similar b e l i e f s and p r a c t i c e s e l s e w h e r e in the w i d e r region, e s p e c i a l l y a m o n g t h e Alevis of D e r s i m . It should be stressed, h o w e v e r , that they are not m u c h m o r e t h a n s u r v i v a l s , p e r i p h e r a l to t h e m a j o r t e n e t s of t h e A H r e l i g i o n . T h e contemporary Guran do not hold essentially different beliefs regarding light and trees than the a v e r a g e E u r o p e a n Christian w h o lights a c a n d l e in his or her C h r i s t m a s tree. T h e w o r s h i p of trees, rocks and springs has been legitimised by associating t h e m with divine or angelic incarnations, and the believers are u n a w a r e of the older origins of their cult.

Conclusion: the Alevis, Haji Bektash, and the Ahl-i Haqq During

the

1970's,

l e f t i s t s in T u r k e y

rediscovered

the

anti-

e s t a b l i s h m e n t , " r e v o l u t i o n a r y " e t h o s of t h e A l e v i tradition. H a j i B e k t a s h b e c a m e f o r s o m e a proto-revolutionary hero, a fighter against o p p r e s s i o n , and the annual festival in his village turned into a left-wing cultural manifestation. Sultan S a h a k n e v e r rose to the s a m e position in Iran, but there is a distinct a n t i - e s t a b l i s h m e n t s e n t i m e n t in the A H tradition too, especially a m o n g the Guran, which contributed

to m a k i n g m a n y of t h e m e a r l y and

active

participants in the Iranian revolution. T h e m y t h o l o g y takes a very f a v o u r a b l e view of rebellion. T h r e e of the m y t h i c a l h e r o e s m e n t i o n e d a b o v e rebelled against injustice. T h e r e w a s Bahlul (the Deity himself) w h o , pretending to be mad, resisted Harun al-Rashid's oppression. And there was K a w a

the

blacksmith, a simple artisan w h o killed the tyrannical king Z a h h a k . A n d , last but not least, there was Davvud in his guise of Iblis, w h o even refused to obey G o d ' s c o m m a n d b e c a u s e it w a s unjust. ( " W o u l d n ' t you r e f u s e to obey too, if y o u r king g a v e you an u n j u s t c o m m a n d ? " o n e i n f o r m a n t rhetorically asked m e , in the c o u r s e of his a c c o u n t of the Iblis tragedy.) H a j i Bektash' T u r k i s h admirers m i g h t h a v e been delighted to hear that f o r this i n f o r m a n t and his cobelievers, H a j i Bektash w a s the s a m e as Iblis, the world's first revolutionary.

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HERETICS

References Antranik 1900 Dersim (in Armenian). Tbilisi. Birge, J.K 1937 The Bektashi

Order of Dervishes.

London: Luzac.

Bloch, Maurice 1977 "The Past and the Present in the Present", Man 12, 278-292. Bruinessen, Martin van 1991

"Haji Bektash, Soltan Sahak, Shah Mina Sahib, and various avatars of a running wall", Turcica XX1-XXIII, 55-69.

1992

Agha, Shaikh and State: The Social Kurdistan. London: Zed Books.

(forthcoming)

and

Political

Structures

of

"Satan's Psalmists: On some heterodox beliefs and practices

among the Ahl-e Haqq of the Ciuran district". Bumke, Peter J. 1979

"Kizilba§-Kurden in Dersim (Tunceli, Türkei). Marginalität und Häresie", Anthropos 74, 530-548.

Digby, Simon 1984 "Qalandars and related groups", in: Yohanan Friedmann (ed.), Islam in Asia, vol. I: South Asia. Jerusalem: Magnes Press. 60-108. Edmonds, C.J. 1957 Kurds, Turks and Arabs. London: Oxford University Press. 1969 "The Beliefs and Practices of the Ahl-i Haqq of Iraq", Iran 7, 89-106. Eliade, Mircea 1964 Shamanism:

archaic

techniques

of ecstasy.

Princeton:

Princeton

University Press. Freitag, Rainer 1985

Seelenwanderung

in der islamischen

Häresie.

Berlin: Klaus Schwarz

Verlag. Hasluck, F.W. 1929

Christianity

and Islam under the Sultans.

Oxford: Clarendon Press. 2

vols. Hertz, Robert 1 9 6 0 j l 9 0 9 | "The Collective Representation of Death", in: Robert Hertz, Death and the Right Hand (ed. Rodney Needham). Glencoe, 111.: T h e Free Press. Huart, C. 1909

Textes persans

relatifs

London: Luzac. Ivanovv, W. 1948 "Satpanth", in: Collectanea 1953

The Truth-W'orshippers Society.

ä la secte

des Houroüfts.

Leiden: Brill &

I. Leiden: Brill, for The Ismaili Society. of Kurdistan.

Leiden: Brill, for T h e Ismaili

THH A H L - I

HAQQ OF T H E G U R A N

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Jaihunabadi, Hajj Ne'raatollah Mojrem Mokri 1966 Shahname-ye Haqiqat. Le Livre des Rois de Vérité. Histoire Traditionnelle des Ahl-e Haqq. Texte persan publié, avec une introduction ... par M.Mokri. Teheran/ Paris: Bibliothèque Iranienne. Karamustafa, Ahmet T. 1994 God's unruly friends: dervish groups in the Islamic later middle period, 1200-1550. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. Khan, Saeed 1927 "The Sect of Ahl-i Haqq", The Moslem World XXVII, 31 -42. Mélikoff, I. 1982 "Recherches sur les composantes du syncretisme Bektachi-Alevi", in: Studia turcologica memoriae Alexii Bombaci dedicata. Napoli. 379395. Minorsky, V. 1920

"Notes sur la secte des Ahlé Haqq", Revue du monde musulman

40-41,

19-97. 1921

"Notes sur la secte des Ahlé Haqq - II", Revue du monde musulman

44-

45, 205-302. 1943

"The Guran", Bulletin

1960

11, 75-103. "Ahl-i Hakk", Encyclopaedia

of the School of Oriental

and African

Studies

of Islam, new edition, vol. I, 260-3.

Mokri, Mohammad 1962 "Le 'secret indisible' et la 'pierre noire' en Perse dans la tradition des Kurdes et des Lurs Fidèles de Vérité (Ahl-e Haqq), Journal Asiatique 250, 369-433. 1966 La légende de Bizan-u Manija. Version populaire du Sud du Kurdistan. En langue gouranie (Episode du Shahnama, épopée iranienne). Paris: Klincksieck. 1967 Le chasseur de Dieu et le mythe du Roi-Aigle (Dawra-y Damyari). Wiesbaden: Harrassovvitz. 1968 "Kalam sur l'aigle divin et le verger du Pirdiwar", Journal Asiatique 255, 361-374. 1970

"L'idée de l'incarnation chez les Ahl-i Haqq", in: Mohammad Mokri, Contribution scientifique aux études iraniennes. Recherches de kurdologie. Paris: Klincksieck. 1974 "Le kalam gourani sur le cavalier au coursier gris, le dompteur du vent", Journal Asiatique 262, 47-93.

Molyneux-Seel, L. 1914 "A Journey in Dersim", Geographical

Journal 44, 49-68.

Ocak, Ahmet Ya§ar 1983 Bekta§i Menakibnamelerinde islam oncesi inanç motifleri. Istanbul: Enderun. 1992 Osmanli Imparatorlugunda marjinal sûfîlik: Kalenderiler (XIV XVII. yttzyillar). Ankara: Tiirk Tarih Kurumu.

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Öztürk, S. 1972 Tunceli'de

Alevilik.

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HERETICS

l.Ü.Ed.Fak.Sos.Böl. mezuniyet tezi, no. 7472.

Rizvi, Saiyid Athar Abbas 1978 A history ofSufism in India, vol.1: Early Sufism and its history in India to 1600 AD. New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal. Roux, J. P. 1969 "Les Fidèles de Vérité et les croyances religieuses des Turcs", Revue de l'histoire

des religions

175, 61-95.

Safizade, Sadiq 1352/1973 Buzurgan-i

Yarsan: 'Ahl-i Haqq'. Tehran.

Suri, Masha'allah 1344/1965 Surudha-yi

dini-yi Yarsan. Tehran: Amir Kabir.

Trowbridge, Stephen van Rensselaer 1909

"The Alevis, or Deifiers of Ali", Harvard

Theological

Review,

no. II,

340-353. Yazici, Tahsin 1974

"Kalandar", "Kalandariyya", Encyclopaedia IV, 472-4.

of Islam, revised edition,

T H E A H L -1 H A Q Q O F T H E G U R A N

DISTRICT

K a Karim, Ahl-i Haqq kalâmkhân T u t s h a m i

269

HAJI BEKTASH, SULTAN SAHAK, SHAH MINA SAHIB AND VARIOUS AVATARS OF A RUNNING WALL

yuruten cansiz diivari Haci Bekta$-i Veli ...

I. First Avatar: in Pirdiwar The Ahl-i Haqg of Dalahu in southern Kurdistan relate a legend of Sultan Sahak, the reputed founder of their sect (who must have flourished in the mid15th century), that must sound familiar to anyone acquainted with Bektashi lore: When Sultan Sahak was ready to reveal his esoteric teachings to the world, he decided to settle with his first four Companions in Hawraman, in a place called Pirdiwar on the upper course of the river Sirwan. Dawud, one of the Companions, was a master bricklayer and started building a house for them not far from the river. The chosen spot, however, appeared to belong to the area over which a certain Pir Mika'il, a mystic of great magical powers, had long exercised spiritual authority. The Pir was greatly annoyed by the arrival of the new pretender and his disciples, and decided to chasten them with a show of his occult powers. Mounted on a wild lion, wielding a venomous snake by way of a whip, he rode like a fierce warrior towards Pirdiwar. Sultan Sahak, aware of the Pir's approaching, ordered Dawud to mount the wall that he was building, and to ride out on it to meet Pir Mika'il and ask what he wanted. By the power of the Sultan, the wall gallopped away, happy to carry Dawud on its back. The two riders met on the banks of the Sirwan, on opposite sides. Dawud friendly greeted the Pir but the latter was irritated and said "What is this? I had expected to see Shaykh Sahak, a man said to be of some spiritual accomplishment, but what I see is only an ordinary sorcerer's apprentice, playing tricks with walls!". Dawud patiently answered: "I am but the Sultan's faithful retainer (ghulam); outside of the Sultan nothing has existence!". Pir Mika'il ordered Dawud to call his master, but before the latter could even turn around, Sultan Sahak suddenly appeared. The river Sirwan roared with happiness at the Sultan's presence; its noise was so loud that the men on the banks could hardly hear each other. The Sultan challenged the Pir to silence the river, which he failed to do. Thereupon Sultan Sahak, who is the Lord of the Waters, told the river to be silent and was immediately obeyed. The Sultan ordered Dawud to spread his magical carpet (qalichayi qudrat) on the river and

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sat down on it. Seeing thai Pir Mika'il was hungry, the Sultan stretched a hand into the water, produced a cooked fish and handed it to the Pir, telling him not to break a single bone when eating it. When the Pir had finished his meal, another fish appeared at the surface and spoke to the S u l t a n , " What have you done to my mate? Have you given it to that glutton over there? I want it back! Please give my mate back to me, o Lord of the Waters!". The Sultan then took the (unbroken) bones back from Pir Mika'il, restored the fish to life and threw it back into the river. Having seen all this, Pir Mika'il recognized Sultan Sahak's spiritual superiority and became one of his faithful disciples 1 . This legend consists of a number of seemingly unrelated themes, each of which provides intriguing cues as to the origins of this sect - and of related sects, for that matter. T o the Ahl-i Haqy of Dalahu themselves, it is one of the most important and significant of their legends; they tell it very often, and it exists in several versified versions. T h e y associate one central ritual prescription with it. T h e bones of their sacrificial animals should never be broken and always be kept together, "so that", as several informants believed, "Sultan Sahak may set their souls free". As the rationale of this rule they quote the fish' restoration to life from its bones and similar miracles in other l e g e n d s 2 . I shall revert to this theme later but first take a closer look at the miracle involving the running wall. T h e t h e m e of a contest between a lion-riding, s e r p e n t - w i e l d i n g challenger and a superior newcomer who makes a wall run about has a wide geographical distribution. At the time of fieldwork I was not yet aware of this fact, but I am convinced that my Ahl-i Haqq friends would not at all have been surprised to hear that the same legend is told elsewhere with Haji Bektash as the victorious saint. Sultan Sahak is believed to have manifested himself in the world m a n y times, in various h u m a n f o r m s , and Haji Bektash is recognised as one of these. Certain events of cosmic significance, moreover, are believed to have repeated themselves in each of these cycles. There is, in fact, no reason why Sultan Sahak, in some other guise again, may not be sending his wall running towards some other lion-riding challenger this very moment, somewhere in the world. The question arises, even from an Ahl-i Haqq point of view, what the (cosmic, or sociological) meaning is of an event so often occurring.

' A f t e r a kalâm recorded at the shrine of Baba Yadigar and additional explanations by the resident dervishes and sayyids there. Almost identical versions, also from southern Kurdistan, in: M. Mokri, "Le 'secret indisible' ...". Journal Asiatique 250, 1962, p. 382 and Mâshâ'llâh Suri, Surûdhâ-yi dinî-yi Yârsân, Tehran: Amir Kabir,1344, pp. 103-112. A Persian version f r o m northern Iran in: W. Ivanow, The Truth-Worshippers of Kurdistan, Leiden: Brill, 1935, 156-157, T 1 6 4 - 1 6 5 . A very distorted version, finally, is given in V. Minorsky, "Notes sur la secte des Ahlé Haqq", Revue du Monde Musulman 40-41, 1920, p. 90. 2

S e e the legend of the lamb Barra, that was daily slaughtered and eaten, and then restored to life f r o m its bones, in: Martin van Bruinessen, "When Haji Bektash still bore the name of Sultan Sahak: notes on the Ahl-i Haqq of the Guran district", in: Alexandre Popovic & Gilles Veinstein (eds), Bektachiyya: etudes sur l'ordre mystique des Bektachis et les groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach, Istanbul: Éditions Isis, 1995. pp.' 117-138.

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II. Bektashi-Alevi Avatars There are various accounts of this contest with Haji Bektash in the victorious role, the earliest version probably being that of the Vilayetname, a late 15th-century hagiography of the saint. T h e c h a l l e n g e r here is Haji M a h m u d Hayrani, apparently a disciple of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi. In this account, Haji Bektash spreads his prayer mat (another magical carpet?) on a rock which he then orders to walk about, causing Haji M a h m u d to repent and acknowledge Haji Bektash' superiority. 1 In later versions, it is not a rock but a wall on which Haji Bektash rides, and the identity of the challenging mystic (always with lion and snake) is variously given as A h m a d Badawi, 2 Ahmad Rifa'i, 3 or Haji B a y r a m . 4 The fact that these three saints are also the founders of three rival mystical orders strongly suggests that Bektashi dervishes have adapted the story in accordance with their needs, in order to claim their own order's superiority to whatever order happened to be their chief rival. An extreme case of such adaptation is that by the devotees of the Greek saint Charambolos, a Christian alter ego of Haji Bektash. They have their saint ride the wall and thus prove his s u p e r i o r i t y over a l i o n - r i d i n g p r o p h e t Muhammad. 5 In the present Bektashi environment, the story is no longer associated with rivalries between dervish orders, and it is no longer seen as one of a miracle contest. My Alevi and Bektashi informants unanimously mentioned as the lion's rider Karaca A h m e d , a well-known Bektashi saint himself. A relatively recent inscription in Karaca Ahmed's tiirbe in iskiidar, in fact, refers to the miraculous feats in terms suggesting harmony rather than conflict: the saints are riding out t o g e t h e r . 6 T h e legend is made to express internal consensus rather than external conflict and rivalry.

V i l a y e t - n a m e : M a n a k i b - i H ü n k a r Haci Bekta§-i Veli, hazirlayan A b d u l b a k i Gölpinarli, Istanbul: inkilap, 1958, pp. 49-50. Cf. J.K. Birge, T h e Bektashi order of dervishes, London: Luzac, 1937, p. 39. 7 ''Gölpinarli in Vilayet-name, p. 119 (after the 16th-century shaykh U f t a d e , as quoted by his disciple Aziz M a h m u d Hiida'i). F. W. Hasluck, Christianity and Islam under the Sultans, vol. I, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1929, p. 289 (an Albanian tradition, quoted after A . Degrand). 4

L e Comte de Cholet, Voyage en Turquie d'Aste: Armenie, Kurdistan et Mesopotamie, Paris: Plön, 1892, p. 47. De Cholet heard the story, and was shown remnants of the wall, in Kirfehir. 5

Hasluck, op. cit., p. 289 n

^Karaca A h m e d already figures in the Vilayet-name, and there is no indication of an initial rivalry between him and Haji Bektash. In that text, the challenger on the lion still was Haji Mahmud Hayrani (who also became a Bektashi but is now almost forgotten). It is unclear when Karaca A h m e d w a s first cast into this role. T h e inscription is dated 1318/ 1900-1901; it is a poem that has as its refrain: yürüten cansiz diivari Haci Bektaj-i Veli / bindin arslana gazanfer Karaca A h m e d Veli ("It was Haji Bektash w h o made the inanimate wall run; you mounted a lion, o heroic Karaca A h m e d " ) . T h e entire poem is quoted in a book published under the auspices of the tiirbe: M e h m e t Yaman, Karaca Ahmed Sultan Hazretleri, Istanbul,1974, p. 186.

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Thus far we have seen Haji Bektash himself as the rider of the wall (or rock, as the case may be). The Kizilba§ (Alevi) Kurds of Dersim, however, tell precisely the same story with different protagonists. The rider of the lion, in this Dersim version, was the mythical ancestor of the Kurey^an tribe, and the man who mounted the wall was Baba Mansur, the eponymous ancestor of the Bamasuran (= Baba Mansuran). It is recognised, however, that Baba Mansur did not win the contest by his own superiority; he made the wall run about "by the power of Haji Bektash". 1 The Bamasuran and Kurey§an tribes now act as pir ("spiritual instructors") and reyber (rehber, "guides"), respectively, to the other Dersim tribes, called toliw (talip, "disciples") in this connection. The pir form the channel of communication between the toliw tribes and Haji Bektash (or the gelebi in Haci Bekta§ Koyii), while the reyber mediate between the toliw and their pir? The legend of the equestrian miracles must, in its various forms, have enjoyed wide popularity in Asia Minor, as is attested by the fact that several places boast(ed) the remnants of the running wall. Baba Mansur's wall, still venerated by the local Kizilba§, was pointed out to Molyneux-Seel at the village of Kardere, on the northern flank of the Baba Dujik mountain, 3 while Bumke was told it is to be seen in Mohonu near Mazgirt. 4 Local belief still has it that the rock at Haci Bekta§ Koyii was the saint's mount. 5 De C.holet was shown the remnants of the wall in nearby Kir§ehir, 6 while in the 17th century Evliya (Jelebi saw Haji Bektash' wall at a place called Saru Beg. 7 Pictorial representations are also well known, both in the Balkan and in Anatolia (Figs. 1 and 2).

M o r e precisely, by the destur of Haji Bektash. "Destur" is a polysemic term, that carries, a m o n g the Bektashi and Alevi, beneath its surface meaning of "instruction", "order" and "rule" the m o r e special meaning of "initiation" or "secret teaching". T h e toliw tribes (see below) receive their destur from their reyber (usually Kureyiam; the latter receive theirs from the pir ( B a m a s u r a n or another pir tribe. Sari Saltiq); the pir finally receive their destur f r o m Haji Bektash. |This is, at least, what 1 was told by some informants in the early 1980s. Over a decade later, the existence of such a hierarchical relationship between Haji Bektash and the Bamasuran tribe or the Alevis of Dersim in general is denied by many. T h e connection with the contest between M a h m u d Hayrani and Haji Bektash is, however, strengthened by a K u r e y j a n author, w h o claims that the eponymous ancestor of this seyyid tribe, Baba Kurey§, descended f r o m M a h m u d H a y r a n i ; see Seyyid Hac( M u s t a f a Akliba§inda, Ehliheyt nesli Seyyid Mahmud Hayrani ve evlätian. N.p., 1993. | ^ O n these roles, see: S. Öztürk, Tunceti'de Alevilik, I.¡.Ed. Fak. Sos. Böl. mezuniyet tezi, no. 7 4 7 2 (1972); Peter J. Bumke, "Kizilba^-Kurden in Dersim (Tunceli, Türkei): Marginalität und Häresie", Anthropos 74, 1979, pp. 530-548. ^L. Molyneux-Seel, "A journey in Dersim", The Geographical Journal 44, 1914, 58. ^ B u m k e , art. cit., p. 537. A letter in the Kurdish journal Roja Nu 17/1987, pp. 3-4, also refers to "the wall of Bamansur" in Moxindi (= Mohonu). 5 A h m e t Y a j a r Ocak, Bektaji menakibnamelerinde islam oncesi inane motifleri, Istanbul: Enderun, 1983, p. 78. 6 D e Cholet, op. cit., p. 47. 7 According to Lucy M. J. Garnett. Mysticism and magic in Turkey, London: Pitman, 1912, p. 163. I have not yet been able to locate the passage in the Seyahatname to which she refers.

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Given the legend's popularity among Bektashi and Alevi, it is not surprising that the same theme occurs among the Ahl-i Haqq. There have been several periods of more or less intensive contacts between these communities, 1 and one might assume the contest of Sultan Sahak and Pir Mika'il to be just another adaptation of a Haji Bektash miracle. The same legend is also recorded among the Yezidis. 2 Here it is the most important Yezidi saint, Shaykh 'Adi, who shows his superiority by making a rock walk, and his challengers are, not surprisingly, well-known Muslim saints. In a qasida attributed by the Yezidis to Shaykh 'Adi himself, the saint says (in Kreyenbroek's translation): I lived at Lalish in glory and happiness al-Qadiri came to me and likewise ibn al-Rifa'i and Abu'l-Wafa, oh young man, came to me riding a lion. And I rode something without life, without body: a massive rock which followed after me The same story recurs in other Yezidi texts, two of which are also given by Kreyenbroek. One of them begins as follows: Shaykhs came who would perform miracles their steed a lion, their whip a snake (borr §er e, qamgiye wan mar e) They enquired about Shaykh 'Adi.... Shaykh 'Adi then orders his disciple Mehmed Reshan to mount a rock and thus to show his spiritual superiority. 4 In the case of the Yezidis, it is not entirely impossible that they also borrowed this legend from Bektashi or Alevi sources but the nature of their contacts with their Muslim neighbours does not make this very likely. The hypothesis of Bektashi influence becomes untenable, however, for the more distant avatars of the same legend.

^Martin van Bruinessen, " When Haji Bektash ..." 2

[ T h e following paragraph on the Yezidis was not part of the original article and was added for this reissue.J Q J

R . Frank, Scheich 'Adi, der grosse Heilige der Jezîdîs. Berlin, 1911, pp. 120-1; also quoted in Philip G. Kreyenbroek, Yezidism - its background, observances and textual tradition. Lewiston: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1995, p. 48. "^Kreyenbroek, Yezidism, pp. 290-300.

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III. In the Indian environment A popular religious print that 1 bought some years ago in Multan (southern Punjab, Pakistan), shows two Indian Muslim saints engaged in precisely the same miracle contest (Fig. 4). The challenger, who here too comes from the left, rides a tiger (often an Indian equivalent to the Hon), using again a snake as his whip; his superior rival, on the right, is shown squatting on a piece of wall that has just detached itself. Just as in the Ahl-i Haqq version, the contest takes place near a river. Haji Bektash' wall in Fig. 1, incidentally, looks like a masonry bridge, which also suggests a river — an observation to which I shall revert later. The captions identify the protagonists as Shah Madar Sahib (on the tiger) and Shah Mina Sahib, two well-known early 15th century sufis; the inset in the centre shows the latter's shrine in Luc know. 1 The literature on these saints 2 makes no mention of the contest depicted here (although I found it to be known in oral lore). It is, however, instructive to sketch the very contrasting reputations of both saints. Shah Mina's Malfuzat (recorded conversations) present him as a perfectly orthodox sufl of the learned, "high" tradition. Shah Madar on the other hand was a peripatetic miracle-worker, a Syrian Jew turned Muslim, who had wandered eastward in the track of several generations of vagrant dervishes and ended up as a popular saint in India. A 17th centurv hagiography, the Mir'at-i Madari, shows him performing the most outlandish miracles. He became the patron saint of the Madari dervishes, who were probably the most yogi-like of the various Qalandar-type sects in late medieval India, and conspicuously antinomian. 3

' S h a h M a d a r died in 1436; his t o m b in M a k a n p u r (near Kanpur) attracts large n u m b e r s of Muslims as well as Hindus. Shah Mina was a younger contemporary, living in nearby Lucknow. On the cult around his shrine, see: Beliefs and practices associated with Muslim pirs in two cities of India (Delhi and Lucknow) (Census of India 1961, vol. I, M o n o g r a p h Series, part VII-B), New Delhi, 1966. " T h e saints are mentioned in mosl general works on Indian sufism, and both have their own hagiographies. I am endebted to Simon Digby, an authority on medieval Indian Islam, for communicating me the summaries of the texts briefly mentioned below. 3"... like yogis they smeared their bodies with ashes, wore their hair long, beat themselves with chains, practised celibacy and most of them refrained f r o m eating meat. Like yogis, they were habituated to the intoxicant bhanI...) Muhsin Fani [the late 16th century author of Dabistdn i madhahib] classifies them as Hindus w h o had adopted bi-shar' Sufism, and w h o regarded Shah Madar as superior to the prophets of Islam". Aziz A h m a d , Studies in Islamic culture in the Indian environment, Oxford: Clarendon, 1964, p. 162. Cf. also John Subhan, Sufism, its saints and shrines. New York: Samuel Weiser, 1970 (1938], pp. 302-306. "... like yogis they smeared their bodies with ashes, wore their hair long, beat themselves with chains, practised celibacy and most of them refrained f r o m eating meat. Like yogis, they were habituated to the intoxicant bhang. (...) Muhsin Fani [the late 16th century author of Dabistdn-i m a d h a h i b | classifies them as Hindus w h o had adopted bi-shar' Sufism, and w h o regarded Shah Madar as superior to the prophets of Islam". Aziz A h m a d , Studies in Islamic culture in the Indian environment, Oxford: Clarendon, 1964, p. 162. Cf. also John Subhan, Sufism, its saints and shrines, New York: Samuel Weiser, 1970 | 1 9 3 8 | , pp. 302-306.

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It seems probable that the tale of the contest, whatever its origins, was adopted by the devotees of Shah Mina to proclaim the superiority of their saint and his orthodox sufism over the unruly but magically powerful Madari dervishes. Given the dates of these saints, this can hardly have happened before the second half of the 15th century, which is also the period when the contest was first mentioned in a Bektashi context (assuming that it is not a later interpolation in the Vilayetname).

The Bektashi version can therefore hardly

have been a borrowing from the Shah Mina tale. Borrowing in the other direction, although chronologically possible, seems unlikely for another reason. The legend conforms to a pattern typical of medieval Indian, yogiinfluenced, sufi anecdotes, studied by Digby and Rizvi. 1 It is therefore perhaps not surprising that we found exactly the same anecdote told about two other, less well-known Indian Muslim saints, Sayyid Tajuddin Shersawar and Shaykh Qutbuddin Mannawar Hansoi. 2 Moreover, we find the miracles of our legend separately, not yet combined into a contest, in a number of earlier Indian Muslim sources. Thus, it is said of the 14th century Panjabi sufi Abu Ali Qalandar that he "used to ride about on a wall." 3 The running wall occurs earlier still in one of the conversations of Shaykh Nizamuddin of Delhi (recorded in 1308), in a reference to Shaykh Luqman of Sarakhs (10th century). The latter was known as negligent in the externals of the shari'a, but when pious men came out to censure him, he told the wall on which he happened to be sitting: "By the command of God, start moving!", and rode out to meet his critics. 4 The same Luqman appears in various anecdotes in the Asrar-i TawhTd, a collection of sayings attributed to the Khurasani shaykh Abu Sa'id b. Abi'lKhayr (d. 1049), that was compiled around 1180. The running wall does not occur here, but there is a passage in the Asrar where it is said of none other

Simon Digby, "Anecdotes of jogis in sufi hagiography", unpublished paper; S.A.A. Rizvi, "Sufis and Natha yogis in medieval northern India", Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia 7 (1970), pp. 119-133. One example on this pattern: "one contestant levitates, the second does not levitate but sends his slipper levitating, to beat the first d o w n to earth" (Digby, personal communication). 2

J a g a t S. Bright. Muslim Miracle Makers, B o m b a y etc.: Jaico Books, 1984, p. 86. Shaykh Shersawar ("Lion-rider") is said to lie buried outside the town of Narnaul, near Khetri in Rajastan. The author claimed to have found this true story in "Urdu books" but informed me that having perused them he had given them away, and could therefore not provide further detail. 3 W . Crooke, The popular religion and folklore of northern India, vol. I, Delhi, 1968 [1893], p. 218. This saint lies buried both at Karnal and Panipat, and there is moreover "a shrine erected over the place where he used to ride the wall" (ibid., 219). 4 Fawa'id al-fu'ad, book I, 7th majlis (Lahore ed., 1966, p. 13). I o w e this reference to Simon Digby. Sarakhs is a town in southern Khurasan.

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than the great Bayazid Bistami, that he rode a lion and used a venomous as a whipl'

snake

I believe that we are here close to the time and place where these miracles first entered into popular sufi lore. It seems reasonable to assume that their combination into a contest also took place in Khurasan, at a somewhat later date, and that the legend thence spread both to the west and to India. But even Bayazid was not the first to grab a snake and mount a tiger, nor Luqman the first to order a wall to run about.

IV. Beyond the Islamic World An indologist friend drew my attention to the occurrence of the same miracles in the legends of the eighty four siddhas of the Hindu-Buddhist tradition. 2 These siddhas are the mythical originators of a religious-magical movement that became highly popular among the Hindus of northern India from the 11th or 12th century on. This movement, quite unconnected with the high, Brahmanic tradition, formed "the point of convergence for a large number of religious, magical and alchemical traditions and practices, most of them Sivaistic, but some of them Buddhist." 3 The siddhas, believed to have reached "magical perfection", occur prominently in popular Hinduism as well as in Tibetan Buddhism and even in some Sikh legends. 4 The oldest extant legends of these siddhas are preserved in Tibetan only, in a text that was translated from a Sanskrit original compiled in the late 11th or early 12th century. 5 One of the eighty-four, Guru Dombipa, was a king who was forced to abdicate because he had chosen a low-caste woman (dombi) as his consort in Tantric exercises. The king accepted his social descent into the woman's caste, the Dom, singers, dancers and jugglers, and retired with his consort into the woods, where they practised for twelve years. At the end of this period the

"Shaykh guft: Bayazid shirt ra markab kardi wa mar-i aff ra taziyana (kardi)." M u h a m m a d ibn a l - M u n a w w a r , Asrdr-i tawhid f i maqamat al-shaykh Abu Sa'id, Tehran ed., p. 266. Kindly communicated to me by John O'Kane, who is preparing a translation of the Asrar. 2 I o w e most of the references for the following paragraphs to Frans Janssen of Utrecht, a specialist of Indian iconography, w h o also helped me find Tibetan pictorial representations of the tiger-riding Dombipa, and sent me the book above. ^Mircea Eliade, Yoga: immortality and freedom, Princeton: University Press, 1969, p. 302. 4

E l i a d e , Yoga, pp. 301-307; G e o r g e W e s t o n Briggs, Gorakhnath and the Kanphata yogis, Calcutta. 1938, p. 137; Haridas Bhattacharyya (ed.), The cultural heritage of India, vol. IV: The religions, Calcutta: The Ramakrishna Mission, 1956, pp. 273-279. 5 Caturasiti-siddha-pravriti, by Abhayadatta. Translations of the Tibetan text: Albert Griinwedel, "Die Geschichten der vierundachtzig Zauberer (Mahasiddhas)", Baessler-Archiv 5, 1916, pp. 137-228; James B. Robinson, Buddha's Lions: The lives of the eighty-four siddhas, Berkeley, C a t : Dharma Publishing. 1979.

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couple emerged from the wilderness "on a young tigress, using a poisonous snake as a whip"} The now perfect yogi refused his former subjects' offer to make him king again and demanded to be burned alive. In the pyre the couple transformed into the deity Hevajra and his consort. This siddha ovves his name to the low caste Dom into which he had willingly descended. (This descent is reminiscent of the attitudes of the later Malamati dervishes, who on purpose sought society's contempt.) These Dom exist until this day as a gypsy-like caste, specialising in various forms of entertainment and services related to cremation. One of their most favourite places of pilgrimage used to be ... the shrine of Shah Madar in Makanpur! 2 This makes one wonder whether the shrine is not the location of some older Dombipa sanctuary, that later became adopted by Madari dervishes and considered as the shrine of their own tiger-riding patron saint. There are no moving walls in this Tibetan account of the siddhas, but we find one in a later legend. A 17th-century hagiography of Guru Nanak, the founder of the Sikh religion, relates a meeting of the saint with the eighty-four siddhas. They performed various miracles before him; one of them caused a wall to run about? Does this mean that these siddhas are the nearest previous avatars of our Ahl-i Haqq and Bektashi miracle-workers, or can we find closer relatives elsewhere?

Intermezzo: Resurrection from the bones In the Tibetan text, one of the other siddhas, Guru Virupa (who incidentally was Dombipa's Tantric teacher), kills and eats pigeons, and later restores them to life from the feathers. 4 This too is not an uncommon feat. The great yogi Gorakhnath, who is usually considered as one of the siddhas, is similarly said to have resurrected deceased humans from their skins or from

' R o b i n s o n , op. cit., p. 35; Grunwedel, art. cit., p. 148. Iconographically, representations of Dombipa are of various types; most present him seated on the tiger, some have the snake as well (Figs. 5-7). T h e r e are several other lion- and tiger-riders in the Indian and East A s i a n antheons; it is the poisonous snake that most clearly distinguishes Dombipa f r o m the others. George Weston Briggs, The Doms and their near relations, Mysore, 1953, p. 481. ^ T h e Janam-sakhis, translated by Ernest T r u m p p in the Introduction to his The Adi Granth, London, 1877, p. xlvi. T h e same anecdote, apparently after oral sources, in: J. C. O m a n , The mystics, ascetics, and saints of India, London, 1903, pp. 31-33. In another episode in the Janamsakhis, Guru N a n a k is challenged by f e m a l e sorcerers performing similar acts: "one came mounted on a tree, another came mounted on a deer skin, another on the m o o n , another on a wall, another brought with her a tiger, another came beating a drum" (Trumpp, op. cit., p. xix). ^Griinwedel, art. cit., p. 145; Robinson, op. c i l . , pp. 28-29.

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their ashes, 1 and there are numerous Indian folktales in which similar miracles occur. 2 This is the same theme that also occurs in several Ahl-i Haqq legends, including the one quoted above. 3 It is also well-known in the Bektashi environment. In these two cases, however, there is an additional element: life is restored from the bones rather than other physical remains, and there is an insistence that the bones should not be broken. 4 The general theme is known all over the world, 5 but this specific form seems to be typically Central Asian. The pre-Islamic Turks and Mongols took care not to break the bones of their sacrificial animals, to collect them all and to either bury or burn them, believing that this made the animal's resuscitation in another world possible. Damage or disappearance of one of the bones would result in the animal's being crippled. 6 In this case, the similarity of a theme in Ahl-i Haqq and Bektashi lore with that of the siddhas does not necessitate in any way the assumption of direct contacts between both families of traditions. The direct origins of the former seem to lie in the Turco-Mongol world. Roux has demonstrated a host of such Turkish elements in the Ahl-i Haqq texts published by Mokri. 7 Could it be that our anecdotes of tiger and wall belong to the same class of Turkish elements (which might, in this case, have either been borrowed from, or been the source of, the siddha legends)? 1 believe not, although it is probabh impossible to trace the precise origins and peregrinations of these motifs. For one thing, they have not, to my knowledge, been recorded in pre-Islamic Turco-Mongol lore. It seems likely that they were borrowed by Khurasani dervishes from wandering yogis, together perhaps with some of the Tantric practices that the tiger and viper 'Briggs, Gorakhnath,

pp. 189-190.

2

Stith T h o m p s o n and Jonas Bal vs. The oral tales of India, Bloomington: Indiana UniversityPress, 1958, motifs E30-E42 •Vrom the Ahl-i Haqq it spread into more orthodox Muslim lore as well, and b e c a m e popular as far as Indonesia. Ja'far al-Bar/inji (1690-1766), whose f a m i l y not only originated f r o m the heartland of the Ahl-i Haqq hul was even related to the historical Sultan Sahak, wrote a hagiography of ' A b d al-Qadir Jilani (Lujjayn al-dânî), in which the saint restores to life the bones of a chicken he has just eaten. T h i s work is extremely popular in Indonesia, and the a n e c d o t e in question b e c a m e the subject of a p o l e m i c b e t w e e n m o d e r n i s t critics a n d traditionalist apologetes. T h e same theme was also known in medieval Central Asian Islam: it occurs in one manuscript of Rabghuzi's Qisas alanhiyâ', but appears to have been purged f r o m another redaction (H. Boeschoten. personal communication). 4 E.g., Vilayet-name, p. 72. •'Numerous examples in: Mircea Hliade, Shamanism: Archaic techniques of ecstasy, Princeton: University Press, 1964. pp. 160-165; Robert Hertz. "The collective representation of death", in: Hertz, Death and the right hand, (ilencoe, III.: The Free Press, 1960, esp. pp. 70ff. 6 O c a k , op. cit., pp. 123-124 (after l.-P. Roux). 7

J e a n - P a u l R o u x , "Les Fidèles de Vérité et les croyances religieuses turques", Revue l'Histoire des Religions 175, 1969. pp. 61-95.

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seem to symbolise. Many of the yogi-type Indian sufi anecdotes referred to above appear also to have their origins in 10th to 12 th -century Khurasan. The interaction of Muslim mystics with vagrant Buddhist and Hindu ascetics was apparently more fruitful here than later in India itself.

The Meaning of the miracle contest Whatever the meaning of the tiger and serpent in the Tantric context, in the Muslim environment, and especially when contrasted with the running wall, they seem to symbolise the vagrant, ascetic, magical, ecstatic and, perhaps, antinomian spiritual way, as opposed to the settled, sober and more s/zaW'a-oriented varieties. It is significant that the earliest sufi who is said to have mounted a lion and used a serpent as a whip was Bayazid Bistami, the archetype of the intoxicated, nonconformist mystic. And it certainly befits Shah Madar's reputation that later legend put him on a tiger too — whatever the role of the Dom in this process may have been. We know nothing about the personalities of the other lion-riders, Pir Mika'il (among the Ahl-i Haqq) and Mahmud Hayrani, but in these two cases the legend is almost explicitly associated with a process of subjection of a formerly vagrant and undisciplined spiritual tradition to the authority of a settled "orthodoxy". The contrast between two distinctive spiritual styles is also evident from the wording of the Ahl-i Haqq tale and the iconography of the other two cases (Figs. 1 and 4). The lion (or tiger) and the venomous serpent are associated with the wilderness, and mastery over them reeks of (non-Islamic) magic. The wall, on the other hand, suggests settled life and civilisation. Haji Bektash' wall in Fig. 1 looks like a bridge; in the Ahl-i Haqq tale and in Fig. 4, the contest takes place near a river. The river is associated with irrigated agriculture and settlement (see the lush fields in Fig. 4), which is again in stark contrast with the mountains or desert whence the lion-driver comes. Haji Bektash' prayer mat (in Fig. 1 it is a skin) denotes adherence to the shari'a; note also the tasbih in his hand. Shah Mina in Fig. 4 is performing his wudu' when Shah Madar arrives, as is shown by the water jug standing beside him and moreover indicated in the caption. It is probably not accidental that the lion-rider in these pictures, as well as in the few other representations I have seen, comes from the left and the man on the wall from the opposite direction. The left-right dichotomy is part of the symbolic classifications in most cultures, and the connotations of the

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two sides are almost universal. 1 We do not have to think of the left and right Tantras in order to immediately understand that the man on the wall is righteous and the one on the lion has something sinister: Ostensibly then, the contest symbolises a process that has taken place in many parts of the world more or less independently: the victory of a "high" over a "popular" mystical tradition, of the settled, staid and "square" over the vagrant, weird and "hip". More precisely, perhaps, it seems to refer to the decline of Qalandarism and its incorporation into settled orders. T h e first Qalandar,

ferocious-looking, extremely poor, mendicant vagrant dervishes

with a conspicuous disrespect of canonical religious obligations and a strong penchant for intoxicants, had made their appearance in Khurasan in the late 10th or early 1 lth-century. Their numbers were swelled under the impact of the Mongol invasions, as many of the uprooted joined them, and their wanderings took them far beyond the boundaries of Khurasan. Qalandarism expanded westward to Asia Minor, Syria and Egypt in the early 13th century, and not much later to northern India as well. This was not a one-way traffic; during the 13th and 14th centuries, numerous Qalandar-type vagrants moved from Asia Minor to India (Shah Madar himself, who hailed f r o m Syria, was part of this massive west-east movement). During the following few centuries, Qalandar

could be met travelling anywhere between Bengal and the Atlantic

coast. 2 Tendencies towards organisation and settlement became apparent among the Qalandar from as earl\ as the 13th century on, in Asia Minor and Egypt as well as in India. They probably influenced and were gradually absorbed into, the popular religious movements whose heirs we find among the Bektashi, the Alevi and the Ahl-i Haqq. The Indian Madari were one Qalandar-type sect that persisted as such at least into the 17th century. By the mid-17th century, Qalandar and related groups were still numerous and influential among the popular masses in Iran, but they were apparently no longer vagrants and had become sedentary in khanaq&h and zawiya? It is this process of settlement and incorporation, I believe, that we find reflected in the various avatars of our miracle contest. It can hardly be accidental that in all environments where the

See Robert Hertz, "The pre-eminence of the right hand: a study in religious polarity", in: Hertz, Death and the right hand; R. N e e d h a m (ed.), Right and left: essays on dual symbolic classification, Chicago: University Press, 1974. 2

T . Yazici, "Kalandariyya", E.1.2: Simon Digby, "Qalandars and related groups", in: Yohannan Friedman (ed.), Islam in Asia, vol. I: South Asia, Jerusalem: M a g n e s Press, 1984, pp. 60-108; S.A.A. Rizvi, A history of sufism in India, vol. I, Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal,1978, pp. 301321. •'Said Amir Arjomand, The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam, Chicago/London: University of Chicago Press, 1984, pp. 118 119. Evliya (Jelebi mentions in the west Iranian town of Nihavand, which he passed in 1655-1656, six convents of "Haydari and Bektashi and Qalandari and W a h i d i d e r v i s h e s " , s u g g e s t i n g he c o n s i d e r e d all of these as m o r e or less akin (Seyahatname, Ms. Bagdat Kö§kii 305, fol. 307r).

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anecdote was adopted there are clear Qalandar connections. It is even most likely, given the times and places where we see the anecdote emerge, that it was Qalandar who spread it, in its various forms, to all corners of the Islamic world. This raises a few questions: why would the Qalandar spread an anecdote that presents them as the losers in the contest? And why is it precisely heterodox sects like the Bektashi, Kizilba§ and Ahl-i Haqq that present their founders or ancestors as the orthodox victors? The apparent contradictions are resolved if we assume the struggle between two varieties of mystical attitude to have been internal to the Qalandar-lype movements. Moreover, the original Bektashi and Ahl-i Haqq seem to have been closer to Islamic orthodoxy than later generations. The historical Haji Bektash and his followers were probably shari'a-abiding Sunnis, and only in a later phase did the order incorporate the extremist Shi'i (ghuluww) and pre-Islamic Near Eastern mystical ideas that made it attractive to, among others, Qalandar. The incorporation of Qalandar into the order may in fact have contributed much to the Bektashi's relaxed attitude towards the shari'a. The settled, orthodox saint on his wall had thus at first out-miracled the vagrant lion-riding magician, but once the latter was accepted as a disciple his steed proved to be a Trojan horse. There was a similar development among the Ahl-i Haqq. Sultan Sahak's successor Baba Yadigar emerges from a contemporary document (early 16th century) as an ordinary Muslim shaykh, 1 w h e r e a s later generations increasingly stressed the heterodox or non-Islamic aspects of their beliefs. 2 The development among the devotees of Shah Mina Sahib appears to have been along similar lines too. His Malfuz&t present him as a sober and orthodox sufi, but a 20th century Urdu hagiography not only mentions a meeting with Shah Madar but even makes him a disciple of the latter (beside other teachers). 3 Although this work too does not mention our anecdote (the source for my Punjabi print, Fig. 4, remains as yet unclear), the guardian of Shah Mina's shrine was well aware of it when I interviewed him, and so were many pilgrims visiting. Like the present Bektashis, they preferred to interpret the anecdote not as one of a contest but as one of two men of diverse spiritual powers joining forces: "both performed extraordinary miracles and it is not for us to judge which was greater". The guardian of Shah Madar's shrine, on the other hand, seemed rather embarrassed when I enquired about the anecdote. He was well aware of it, but vehemently denied a connection with Shah Madar;

M. Mokri, "Etude d'un titre de propriété Klincksieck,1970, pp. 303-330.

in; Mokri,

Rëchërches da kurdologie

Paris*

^ S e e my f o r t h c o m i n g "Satan's psalmists. O n some heterodox beliefs and practices among the Ahl-i Haqq of the Guran district". ^Simon Digby, personal communication.

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the lion-rider had been someone else. 1 This perhaps reflects an earlier rivalry between followers of the two saints, in which the legend was used to prove Shah Mina's superiority. The anecdote thus seems to have successively performed three different functions, and communicated three somewhat distinct meanings. Initially, it symbolised the unruly vagrant, mendicant, drug-using dervishes' accepting settled life and the discipline of established orders. In a later phase, it came to be used, like many similar sufi anecdotes (cf. note 20), in rivalries with the followers of other saints or sufi orders, as a claim to spiritual superiority. T h e opposition of settled versus vagrant receded into the background, and the meaning conveyed became the same as in the Biblical and Qur'anic tale of Moses and the Egyptian magicians: true versus false supernaturalism. In the last phase, finally, a form of accommodation between previous rivals has been reached, or perhaps a recognition of heterogeneous ancestry. The anecdote is no longer perceived as expressive of conflict but of convergence and integration. The two m o u n t s represent d i f f e r e n t but e q u i v a l e n t f o r m s of spiritual achievement. The real heroes of our anecdote, the vehicles of its various avatars, are the Qalandar and their Buddhist or Hindu predecessors. The many similarities between the Bektashi and Qizilbash on the one hand, and the Ahl-i Haqq on the other, are probably due as much to a heavy impact of Qalandarism on both, as to an older Near Eastern substrate that they may have in common. These sects not only readily accepted our anecdote with its strong Indian flavour, so different from the main run of Muslim miracle tales, 2 they also have other beliefs and practices that superficially remind one of India, notably the beliefs in divine incarnations and in metempsychosis. Although the latter are almost certainly of Near Eastern rather than Indian origin, they make the educated a m o n g these sects perceive Buddhism and Hinduism as kindred religions. Earlier generations, when hearing of Indian religious ideas, can hardly have reacted differently. In Ahl-i Haqq tradition there are, in fact, several explicit references to Indian connections. 3 It must have been the Qalandar

and their wide-ranging network that

were responsible for most of the contacts and mutual influences a m o n g initially

independent but somewhat similar heterodox sects in India and

' i n retrospect, I suppose he meani Ihe Tajuddin Shersawar mentioned above ; at the time of my visit to both shrines, in May 1986. I was not aware of the existence of a saint of this name, and thought he spoke of an anonymous she'r-sawär. 2

S i g n i f i c a n t l y , no miracles r e s e m b l i n g those in our anecdote are m e n t i o n e d in R i c h a r d G r a m l i c h ' s recent e x h a u s t i v e s t u d y . Die Wunder der Freunde Gottes: Theologien und Erscheinungsformen des islamischen Heiliqenwunders (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1987). ^Examples in: van Bruinessen," When Haji Bektash ...".

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western Asia. Considering their reputation as the primordial "rolling stones", it seems highly appropriate that the idea of orthodoxy in their environment assumed the form of a running wall.

POSTSCRIPT A large number of other occurrences of saints riding lions or tigers, alone or in combination with saints riding rocks or walls, has come to my attention since this article was first published. An extensive survey of this theme in Indian Sufi hagiographies is given by Simon Digby in: "To ride a tiger or a wall? Strategies of prestige in Indian Sufi legend", in: W. M. Callewaert & R. Snell (eds.), According

to tradition:

Hagiographical

writing

in India (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 1994), pp. 99-129. A well-documented study by Julian Raby, arguing that the "Islamic" theme of the lion-rider should be distinguished from the Biblical one of the lion-slayer, and that a particular drawing by the Central Asian artist known as Siyah Qalem represents not the former but the latter, is accompanied by a whole series of iconographical representations of both types ("Samson and Siyah Qalem", Islamic

Art 1

(1981), 160-3). Among the Yezidis, the name §ersuvvar, meaning "lion-rider", appears to have been attributed to a number of their leaders. In 1671, the new French consul in Aleppo, Joseph Dupont, reported that "the spiritual leaders of the Yezidis, despatched from distant lands by a high priest named Chersouar, had been assembled for several months near St. Simeon Stylites' monastery..." (quoted in John S. Guest, The Yezidis, London, 1987, p. 53). Of the KhalitT, a large Yezidi tribe, described as a robber tribe living on the banks of the Batman river around Bitlis (sic!), it was reported that they "owed direct allegiance to the high priest Chersouar and to his delegates now assembled on the Jebel Seman" (ibid.). We may perhaps recognise the same name in that of a large rock near Beyazit in eastern Turkey, §eresyar, on which the remnants of an old fortress can still be seen. According to local tradition, this was where Yezidis and Armenians from the 7th to the 11th century entrenched themselves against the Muslims (S. MihotulT, Arya uygarliklanndan Koral, 1992, 289-90; photograph of the rock at 292).

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oncesi inanç motifleri.

Istanbul:

Enderun. Oman, J.C. 1903 The mystics, ascetics, and saints of India. London. Rizvi, S.A.A. 1970 "Sufis and Natha yogis in medieval northern India", Journal of the Oriental Society of Australia 7, 119-33. Robinson, James B. 1979 Buddha's lions: the lives of the eighty-four siddhas. Berkeley, Cal.: Dharma Publishing. Roux, Jean-Paul 1969 "Les Fidèles de Vérité et les croyances religieuses turques", Revue de l'histoire des religions 175, 61-95. Subhan, John 1970[ 19381 Sufism, its saints and shrines. New York: Samuel Weiser. Suri, Masha'llah 1344/1965 Surudha-yi dini-yi Yaresan. Tehran: Amir Kabir. Thompson, Stith & Balys, Jonas 1958 The oral tales of India. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Trumpp, Ernest (ed. & tri.) 1877 The Adi Grant h. London. Yaman, Mehmet 1974 Karaca Ahmet Sultan hazretleri.

Istanbul.

288

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HERETICS

Fig. 1. Haji Bektash, Seated on a brick wall, comes to meet a lion-riding challenger (Mahmud Hayrani or Karaca Ahmed?). Picture of unknown origin, reproductions of which were sold in Haci Bekta§ Koyii in 1979.

AVATARS

¿/¿ra/eH

casts/z

OF

A RUNNING

abvar/.^aci

JS/nd/n ars/afia jaia/t/er

WALL

289

i Ue/F

Xaraca 04/rmtJ ( / ' f / /

Fig. 2. Haji Bektash, seated on a wall, meets a lion-riding Karaca Ahmed. (From the cover of Mehmet Yaman, Karaca Ahmet Sultan hazretleri. Istanbul, 1974).

290

MULLAS.

SUFIS

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HERETICS

Fig. 3. The rock in Haci Bekta§ Koyii that is identified as Haji Bektash' lifeless mount. Women say prayers in front of the rock and a man stretches out on top in order to partake of Haji Bektash' blessings.

Fig. 4. Shah Madar, mounted on a tiger and wielding a viper as a whip, meets Shah Mina Sahib of Lucknow, who is seated on a wall that has just begun to move. Polychrome lithograph, acquired in Multan, 1979.

292

MULLAS,

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Fig. 5. Guru Dombipa, riding a tiger and wielding a snake. From a Nepalese postcard, kindly sent to me by Simon Digby (the postcard incorrectly identifies this rishi as Nagarjuna).

Fig. 6. Guru Dombipa. Tibetan blockprint, courtesy Frans Janssen

294

MULLAS.

SlIFIS

AND

HERETICS

Fig. 7. Guru Dombipa and his consort riding a tiger and using a poisonous snake as a whip. Fragment of a Tibetan thanka (published integrally in: Toni Schmid, The eighty-five siddhas, Stockholm, 1958, plate II).

A KIZILBASH COMMUNITY IN IRAQI KURDISTAN : THE SHABAK

Iraqi Kurdistan is home to a n u m b e r of heterodox religious communities, of which the Yezidi and the Kaka'i are the best known. 1 Both of these religions show numerous similarities with the religion of the Kizilbash or Alevi of Anatolia, but there are also clear differences. There is, however, also a small community in northern Iraq, the Shabak, that appears to adhere to the same beliefs and practices as the Anatolian Alevis, although they live far f r o m the nearest Alevi c o m m u n i t y and are in regular contact with neighbouring communities adhering to other heterodox traditions. The Shabak live in several dozen villages east of Mosul, in a triangle bounded by the Tigris and the Greater Zab. 2 In 1925 their numbers were estimated at around 10,000 ; the I960 Iraqi census enumerated 15,000, living in 35 villages. 3 Recent estimates tend to be considerably higher, and one local source even claims that there are 100,000 Shabak scattered over some 60 villages, with several thousand of them presently living in the city of Mosul. 4

Ethnic affiliation Most Shabak are multilingual, which has given rise to contradictory claims about their ethnic identity. They have been declared Turcomans or Kurdish speakers or even Arabs, and individual Shabak have frequently accepted one or the other of these designations when it was expedient. Outsiders have commonly regarded them as Kurds, like the other heterodox groups of the region, and this is how most of the Shabak appear to have thought of themselves, if they ever thought of a more encompassing identity than that of their own sect. The language of their prayers and religious ritual, however, is Turkish (as it is in the case of the Kurdish Alevis of Anatolia), which may be the reason why they have sometimes been thought to be Turcomans. Their mother tongue, however, or at least that of most Shabak, is a dialect of the Gurani branch of Iranian languages, which is also spoken by ' T h e religion of the Kaka'i is the same as that which in Iran is called Ahl-i Haqq. T h e best study still is E d m o n d s 1969; see also E d m o n d s 1957, pp. 182-201. T h e best recent study of Yezidi religion is Kreyenbroek 1995. J. Edmonds' careful account of his visit to the Shabak's Yezidi neighbours (Edmonds 1967) contains a list of Shabak villages and has a good m a p showing the most important villages of these and the other heterodox communities in the region. •^Vinogradov 1974, p. 208. ^Interviewed by Michiel Leezenberg (1997, p. 159).

296

MULLAS.

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AND

HERETICS

the Kaka'i and various small sects and tribes in the neighbourhood, notably the Sarli and the Bajalan tribe (but not by the Yezidis, who speak Kurmanji). 1 The name of the Shabak has also given rise to speculations as to their ethnic origins. Vinogradov relates a popular etymology of the name from the Arabic verb shabaka, 'to intertwine, interweave', reflecting their view of themselves as a community of heterogeneous origins held together by allegiance to a common tariqa (Sufi order) and to the same spiritual leaders. 2 Until the land reforms of 1958 and 1963, virtually all Shabak were landless share-cropping peasants. The land on which they worked was owned by citydwelling sayyid families, w ho claimed to have possessed this land since the mid-18th century. These sayyid families, held in high respect by the Shabak for being ahl al-bayt (descendants of the Prophet), were their patrons in a political sense also, mediating between the Shabak on the one hand and the state and wider society on the other. A family legend, recorded by Rassam from a member of the major landholding family, has it that during the Persian siege of Mosul in 1743 the naqib al-ashraf of the city, by performing a minor miracle, succeeded in persuading the shah to lift the siege. As a reward for this feat, the naqib was granted extensive landholdings outside the town. He or his descendants then allowed the poor Shabak to settle on their land. 3 Apocryphal though this story may be. it suggests a possible explanation of how a persecuted heterodox community came to live so near a major town rather than in more inaccessible mountain terrain. Association with the urban sayyids (who were Twelver Shi'is) also gave the Shabak a certain protection from religious persecution. There have been Shabak who claimed to be Twelver Shi'is themselves, and a process of gradual Shi'isation appears to be taking place.

Religion Like other heterodox groups, the Shabak have been the subject of much malignant speculation as to the true nature of their religious beliefs and practices, and the earliest publications about them are full of misinformation. 4 In the 1950s, a Sunni resident of Mosul, Ahmad Hamid al-Sarraf, who had won the confidence of some members of the community, published a study of the community and its beliefs and rituals, that for the first time gave

' S o m e distinctive characteristics of the Gurani dialects of the Shabak and the Kaka'i are described in Leezenberg 1997. ^Vinogradov 1974, p. 210. ^Vinogradov 1974, pp. 211-12; see also Rassam |= A. Vinogradov) 1977. ^ T h e description of the Shabak b\ the Carmelite Father Anastase-Marie (Al-Karmali 1902) has been the source of much misunderstanding and biased secondary literature.

T H E

297

S H A B A K

an unbiased presentation of the S h a b a k . ' Al-Sarraf moreover reproduced a sacred book of the Shabak, the Kitab al-manaqib

or Buyuruq,

in the original

Turkish with an Arabic translation. Al-Sarraf's work made it unambiguously clear that the Shabak's religion is closely related to that of the Anatolian Alevis (Kizilbash). One of the Shabak invocations (gtilbenk), as given by alSarraf, explicitly refers to Haji Bektash and the adepts of Ardabil erenleri,

(Erdebil

i.e., the Safavids) as the f o u n d e r s of their spiritual path. 2 T h e

Shabak have ritual meetings in which religious poems are sung or recited, and some of these are explicitly attributed to the Safavid Shah Isma'il (by his takhallus

of HatayT) and the Anatolian Alevi saint Pir Sultan Abdal. A basic

tenet, expressed in several poems and invocations, is the belief that Allah, M u h a m m a d and Ali constitute a trinity, in which Ali appears as the dominant manifestation of the divine. The deification of Ali is quite explicit in one nefes (Alevi religious poem) quoted by al-Sarraf. 3 It is a variant form of a nefes that is well known among the Anatolian Alevi and more explicit than the latter. 4 Even though the text appears to be corrupt at a few places, the poem is well worth quoting in full : Yedi iklim gar ko^eyi seyr ettim ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim yaradubdur on sekiz bin alemi rizkin vermege ganidir gani bir ismin Alidlr bir ismin Allah §iikiir b.rl.giyei?) el-hamdulillah dinimiz kavidir vallahi ve billahi ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim Ali gimen er gelmedi cihane ona da tuttular yuz bin bahane yedi kere durdum ulu divane ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim

Al-Sarraf 1954. This is the best study of the Shabak that exists. Part of this book is summarised in English in M o o s a 1987. T h e author of the latter work, a Christian, is also a former Mosul resident w h o had personal contacts with Shabak. His book, however, is an unsystematic and uncritical compilation of material from other written sources. 2

Haci Bektag veli kizil pirteri, Erdebil erenleri bu yolu bize kurmui: "Haji Bektash' red pir and the adepts of Ardabil have founded this spiritual path for us" (Al-Sarraf 1954, p. 96). T h e complete text of this gtilbenk is as follows: Tevelli tecelli kabul ola / istekleri miiyesser ola / akjamin hayri gele jerri def ola / gert;ege hu, batila yuh ola / sirri sir edenin demine hu! / Haci Bektai Veli kizil pirleri / Erdebil erenleri bu yolu bize kurmu$ / Hu diyelim erenlerin demine / Allah Muhammed Ali, Hakk dost, pir dost / Hakka jah, batila uf! 3 Al-Sarraf 1954, pp. 113-4. The author does not use the term nefes but speaks of qasida. It is not clear which term the Shabak themselves use f o r their religious poetry. ^ T h e Anatolian variant is found in several collections, e.g. Oztelli 1973, p. 35; Ozkirimli 1985 p. 151; Yildirim 1991, vol 1, p. 298.

298

M IJ L L A S . S U F I S

AND

HERETICS

Hakk buyurmu§ levh iisttinde kalemi nur He doldurmu$ ciimle alemi Alini gagiran mahrum kalir nu ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim indim yer bahrine ilgar eyledim sari okiiz tu\in say dun fark eyledim gikdim gdk yiizine sexran etdim ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim cennet alamn kapusi divan ta$ la'ldir atarifi gevherdir ta$i Alidir belin kirklarin ba§ ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim Pir Sultan Abdal dztidir Ali dilim boyle soyle: ben oziim eli Allah Muhammed kendii dzudir Ali ben Aliden gayri ala gormedim I travelled through the seven climes, the four corners [of the world] / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali / He created the eighteen thousand worlds / He is munificent in providing sustenance, munificent // One of your names is Ali, another is God / thanks (...), praise be to God / our religion is powerful, by God / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali // No saint like Ali ever came into the world / They found him a hundred thousand excuses (?) / Seven times I stood up to the great council / I saw no elevated one but Ali '/ God ordered the Pen to write on the Tablet / He filled the entire world with light / Will anyone remain deprived who appeals to Ali? / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali / / 1 descended into the sea and rose up again / 1 counted the hairs of the yellow ox, distinguishing them one by one / 1 rose to the skies and had a vision / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali // The gate, the wall, the stones of heavenly Paradise / they are rubies all over, jewels all stones / the head of (...), of the Forty is Ali / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali // Pir Sultan Abdal is Ali himself / my tongue, say it thus: 1 am myself his hand / Allah and Muhammad, they are the same as Ali / 1 saw no elevated one but Ali. In the last strophe, the poet identifies himself as Pir Sultan Abdal, the famous Alevi saint who was hanged in Sivas, perhaps in the late 16th century. The Anatolian variant of this nefes is attributed to another poet, Kul Himmet, who is often said to have been a disciple of Pir Sultan. Apart from the first strophe and the hemistich that is repeated at the end of each following strophe,

T H E

S H A B A K

299

it differs somewhat from the nefes as sung by the Shabak, but they clearly derive from a common original. 1 The fact that the Shabak know this nefes (and that they attribute it to Pir Sultan) is another indication of their close relationship with the Anatolian Kizilbash-Alevi. It has been suggested by some Iraqi authors that the Shabak are themselves originally Anatolian Ktzilbash, who fled to the south after the battle of Chaldiran in 1514. 2 Our nefes cannot have been composed before the lifetime of Pir Sultan, which means that there must have been an influx of people and/or ideas from Anatolia well after Chaldiran, and perhaps considerably later than the 16th century.

The Buyuruq The 'sacred book' of the Shabak, the Kitab al-Manaqib or Buyuruq (burukh, in the local pronunciation) consists of two parts. The first part is a question-and-answer dialogue between Shaykh Safi al-Din and his son Sadr alDin on the adab of the tariqa, in which there is no indication of extremist Shi'i influences; the second part, the Buyruk proper, is similar to, though not identical with, the Buyruk texts that are held sacred by the various Alevi communities of Anatolia. 3 It consists of various teachings and instructions associated with the Imams Ali and Ja'far al-Sadiq and discusses the relationship between teacher (murebbi) and disciple (talib), and the institution of ritual brotherhood (musahiblik). The relation between this sacred text and the actual beliefs and practices of the Shabak remains opaque. Being a Sunni Muslim himself, al-Sarraf notes that the Shabak do not perform the salat, do not fast during Ramadan, do not give zakat and do not perform the hajj, but he adds that for each of these obligations they have their own alternatives. Instead of salat they hold ritual

T h e c o m p l e t e text is (lines c o r r e s p o n d i n g to t h o s e in the S h a b a k n e f e s arc italicised): Yedi iklim dort ko$eyi dolandim / Ben AWden gayri bir er gormedim / Kismet verip alemleri yaradan / Ben Ali'den gayri bir er gormedim // Bir ismi Ali'dir, bir ismi Allah / I n k a r i m yoktur, h e m vallah h e m billah / M u h a m m e d , A l i y o l u n a A l l a h e y v a l l a h / Ben Ali'den gayri bir er gormedim // 0 1 kudret bendini k i r d i m , g a r k ettim / Sari okiiz tiiyiin saydim./ark ettim / Ar$-i muallayi gezdim, seyretlim / Ben AWden gayri bir er gormedim II Ali gibi er gelmedi cihana / Ona da buldular ttirlii bahane / Yedi kez vardim ben ulu divane / Ben Ali'den gayri bir er gormedim II Cennet bahfesinin nedendir ta$i / Incidir topragi, hikmettir i§i / Yiiz yirmi bin p e y g a m b e r l e r ba§i / B e n Ali'den gayri bir er g o r m e d i m // K u l H i m m e t ' i m eydiir, K i r k l a r a beli / D i l i m m e d h i n s o y l e r , a s l i m i z deli / Evveli M u h a m m e d , ahiri Ali / Ben Ali'den gayri bir er gormedim (Oztelli 1973, p. 35). 2

T h u s M o o s a (1988, p. 6), f o l l o w i n g the Iraqi a u t h o r al-Shaybi. V i n o g r a d o v ( 1 9 7 4 , p. 210) also f o l l o w s this h y p o t h e s i s , a d d i n g the s u g g e s t i o n that the S h a b a k , like o t h e r h e t e r o d o x groups in the region, s o u g h t t o a s s o c i a t e t h e m s e l v e s w i t h t h e B e k t a s h i order in o r d e r to p r o t e c t t h e m s e l v e s against political suspicions. 3

T h e m o s t reliable p u b l i s h e d text is A y t e k i n 1958. S e e the study of Buyruk Beaujean (1997).

texts by A n k e Otter-

300

M U L L A S .

S I J F I S

A N D

H E R E T I C S

meetings in the house of the pir (a hereditary religious leader), where they recite invocations (giilbenk).

Instead of Ramadan, the Shabak fast during the

first nine days of M u h a r r a m , and instead of zakat substantial khums,

they pay the more

a fifth of agricultural produce, to the ahl al-bayt

(this

being the landlord's share). They do not visit Mecca but frequent holy shrines, in their own region but more recently also in Najaf and Karbala.

The Shabak and other sects T h e S a f a v i - K i z i l b a s h affiliation d i s t i n g u i s h e s the S h a b a k f r o m neighbouring heterodox communities, the Yezidi to their north and the Sarli to their southeast. The latter are. like the Kaka'i, a branch of the Ahl-i Haqq; they speak a Gurani dialect very similar to that of the S h a b a k .

Another

neighbouring Gurani-speaking community, the Bajwan or Bajalan, 1 are often said to be a section of the Shabak or vice versa. The Bajwan, however, are tribally organised and led b\ tribal chieftains, whereas the Shabak are nontribal peasants, share-cropping on land belonging to urban-based sayyid families who have great moral authority over them due to their descent from the Prophet and Ali. The Shabak intermarry freely with Bajwan, Sarli, Kaka'i and Shi'i Turcomans of the region, resulting in the boundaries between these religious communities becoming fuzzy.

Hierarchy and ritual The Shabak community is structured by a spiritual hierarchy similar to that of the Alevi, Ahl-i Haqq and Yezidi. Each adult is affiliated with a pir, his spiritual elder (occasionall} also called dede by al-Sarraf). This is a hereditary function, and each family tends to continue its affiliation with a particular pir lineage from generation to generation. All rituals have to be led by a pir. In most he has to be assisted by a rehber

or guide, and in the m a j o r annual

celebrations, twelve functionaries have to be present: pir, rehber, (hamil

al-jiragh),

broom-bearer ( h a m i l al-miknasa),

lamp-bearer

cup-bearer ( s a q q a ) ,

butcher, four attendants ( k h a d a m ) and two gate-keepers (bawwab). The Alevi communities of Anatolia also know these twelve functionaries {on iki

hizmet),

although the names given to each vary. 2 The Shabak pir are t h e m s e l v e s hierarchically ordered, and there is a supreme spiritual authority known as the baba.

' S e e MacKenzie 1960. 2

Al-Sarräf 1954: 101-3 (the butcher is not mentioned explicitly by al-Sarräf but is listed in Moosa's summary, p. 123). In Anatolia the titles of the on iki hizmet may also vary from place to place. A good overview is given in Birdogan 1990: 277-285.

THE

SHABAK

301

The regular ritual meetings are held in the house of the pir. There are three m a j o r annual celebrations, one on new year's e v e (celebrated in December), another during the night of ashura. forgiveness' (d'zur gecesi),

The third is the 'night of

during which public confessions of guilt are made

and conflicts in the community settled. 1 It is these three nightly celebrations, in which both sexes take part, that in the early literature on the Shabak and Sarli are referred to as the laylat

al-kafsha,

unspeakable abominations (the verb kafasha

with the usual accusation of meaning, in the local Arabic

dialect, 'to grab'). Minorsky's suggestion of deriving the name f r o m more innocent Persian kafsh, 'footwear', has been adopted by several later authors, such as Moosa, who sees the taking off of slippers as the origin of the name. The Shabak themselves do not appear to use the name at all, however. Pilgrimages constitute another important part of the ritual calender. T w o important local shrines, visited at 'id al-fitr and 'id al-adha,

are named

Ali Resh ("Black Ali") and Abbas. The Shabak identify the f o r m e r with the fourth Imam, Ali Zayn al-Abidin b. Husayn, and the latter with Husayn's younger brother Abbas, w h o was also killed at Karbala. A different type of ziyara consists of the stoning of the alleged grave of Ubayd Allah b. Ziyad, the Umayyad governor of Iraq who was responsible for the tragedy at Karbala. This takes place throughout the year. 2

Changing ethnic identity The fact that the Shabak's m a j o r places of pilgrimage are all in the environs of their present habitat shows that they long ago struck root there and no longer retain attachments to a region of origin. It is only the content of their beliefs that connects them with the Anatolian Alevi. Their language, however, is neither Turkish nor any of the northern Kurdish dialects but Gurani, the language of the Sarli and other Ahl-i Haqq, and the outsiders with w h o m they have most frequent social contacts are the Sarli and the Shi'i sayyids of Mosul. They are, in many ways, people in between. There have been various efforts to make the Shabak change their ethnic or religious affiliation. Like other heterodox groups, they are subject to some social pressure to conform outwardly to more "orthodox" forms of religion. In the late nineteenth century, during the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid II, they were converted by force to the Ottoman state religion, the Hanafi madhab of

' T h i s is the ritual known in Anatolia as the gorgti 2

Al-Sarraf 1954: 103-4.

cemi.

302

MULLAS

SUFIS

AND

HERETICS

Sunni Islam. 1 This event does not appear to have made a lasting impact on the community, for by the earl\ twentieth century they had reverted to the beliefs and practices of their ancestors. More recently some of the Shabak appear to identify themselves as Twelver Shi'is, probably under the influence of their patronage relationship with the sayyids of Mosul. In the early 1980s, a certain Aziz Shabak (a former associate of the secular politician Jala] Talabani) succeeded in receiving Iranian financial patronage for a short-lived Kurdish Islamic political movement. Both Kurds and Turcomans have considered the Shabak as a minority within their own ethnic group. Since the 1970s, the Shabak (as well as the other religious minorities of the region) have been subjected to concerted efforts on the part of the Iraqi government to arabicise them. Following the 1987 census, in which people had been asked to state to which "nationality" i Arab or Kurd T they belonged, these efforts culminated in the destruction of around 20 Shabak villages and the deportation of their inhabitants in the course of the genocidal Anfal campaign of 1988. 2 Since the establishment of a "safe haven" in northern Iraq in 1991, Turkey has made some efforts to have the Shabak and other heterodox minorities in the zone define themselves as Turcomans, distributing relief aid through the Turcoman parties to all who declared themselves Turcoman.

Bibliography AYTEKIN, S., Buyruk. Ankara, 1958. BIRDOGAN, N., Anadolu'nun giili kültürü Alevilik. Hamburg, 1990. van BRUINESSEN, M., '"Aslini inkar eden haramzadedir': the debate on the ethnic identity of the Kurdish Alevis", in : K. K E H L - B O D R O G I , B. KELLNER-HEINKEI ,E & A. OTTER-BEAUJEAN (eds.), Syncretistic religious communities in the Near East. Leiden: Brill, 1987, pp. 1-23. BUMKE, P., "Kizilba§-Kurden in Dersim (Tunceli, Türkei): Marginalität und Häresie", Anthropos 74, 1979, 530-548.

'Deringil 1998: 71,73 (referring to Ottoman archival documents). It was the Ottoman governor of Mosul, Omer Vehbi Pa§a, who in 1892 carried out these forced conversions of Shabak and Yezidis and built mosques in their v illages. 2 O n the Anfal and its effects, see Human Rights Watch 1995. Iraq is officially a bi-national state and no other ethno-national designation apart from Arab and Kurd is accepted. The state defines all religious minorities as Arabs, and it appears that their different self-designations were the reason why Yezidis and Christians were targeted in the Anfal along with Kurds of the "forbidden" zones. According to Leezenberg (1997, p. 163-5), 22 Shabak villages were in whole or in part destroyed and their inhabitants, some 3000 families, were deported to collection centres in Erbil province. In 1990. most were allowed to return to their villages, apparently after one of their leaders had formally declared that the Shabak were Arabs.

THE

SHABAK

EDMONDS, C. J., Kurds, Turks and Arabs : politics, north-eastern —, —,

Iraq,

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in

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1957. A pilgrimage to Lalish. London : Royal Asiatic Society, 1967. "The beliefs and practices of the Ahl-i Haqq of Iraq", Iran 7, 1969, 87-

106. H U M A N RIGHTS W A T C H , Iraq's crime of genocide : the Anfal campaign against the Kurds. New Haven : Yale University Press, 1995. AL-KARMALI, Anastase Marie, "Tafkihat al-adhhän fi ta'rif thalathat adyän", Al-Mashriq 5, 1902, 576-582. KREYENBROEK, Ph.G., Yezidism: its background, observances and textual tradition. Lewiston, NY: Mellen Research Publications, 1995. LEEZENBERG, M., "Between assimilation and deportation : the Shabak and the Kakais in northern Iraq", in: K. KEHL-BODROGI, B. KELLNERH E I N K E L E & A. O T T E R - B E A U J E A N (eds.), Syncretistic religious communities in the Near East. Leiden : Brill, 1987, pp. 155-174. LUKE, H.C., Mosul and its minorities. London : Martin Hopkinson & Co., 1925. MACKENZIE, N.M., "Badjalan", Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edition, vol. I.Leiden: Brill, 1960, p. 863. M O O S A , M., Extremist

Shiites: the ghulat sects. Syracuse University Press,

1988. ÖZKIRIMLI, A., Alevilik-Bekta§ilik ve edebiyati. Istanbul: Cem, 1985. OZTELLI, C., Bekta^i gülleri: Alevi-Bekta§i girier antolojisi. Istanbul: Milliyet, 1973. OZTÜRK, S., Tunceli'de Alevilik. istanbul: I.i. Ed. Fak. Sosyoloji bölümü mezuniyet tezi, 1972. O T T E R - B E A U J E A N , A., "Schriftliche tberlieferung versus mündliche Tradition - zum Stellenwert der Buyruk-Handschriften im Alevitum", in: K. K E H L - B O D R O G I , B. K E L L N E R - H E I N K E L E & A. O T T E R B E A U J E A N (eds.), Syncretistic religious communities in the Near East. Leiden: Brill, 1987, pp. 213-226. R A S S A M , A., "Al-taba'iyya : power, patronage and marginal groups in northern Iraq", in : E. GELLNER & J. W A T E R B U R Y (eds.), Patrons and clients in Mediterranean societies. London: Duckworth, 1977, pp. 157-166. a l - S A R R A F , A h m a d Hamid, Al-Shabak min firaq al-ghulät ft'l-'Iräq: asluhum, lughatuhum, qurrähum, 'aqä'iduhum, awäbiduhum, 'ädätuhum. Baghdad : Matba'at al-Ma'ärif, 1954. al-SHAYBI, Kämil Mustafa, Al-tariqa al-Safawiyya wa rawäsibuhä ft'l-'Iräq al-mu'äsir. Baghdad: Maktabat al-Nahda, 1967 [cited in MOOSA 1988], SYKES, M., "The Kurdish tribes of the Ottoman Empire", Journal Royal Anthropological Institute 38, 1980, 451-486.

of the

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V I N O G R A D O V , A., "Ethnicity, cultural discontinuity and power brokers in northern Iraq: the ease of the Shabak", American Ethnologist 1, 1974, 207-218. Y I L D I R I M , A., Ba§langi0an Ankara, Ayyildiz, 1995.

giinumuze

Alevi

Bekta$i

deyi§leri.

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