Bektashi Dedebabas

Bektashism (, ) is a Sufi order of Islam that evolved in 13th-century western Anatolia and became widespread in the Ottoman Empire. It is named after the ''walī'' "saint" Haji Bektash Veli, with adherents called Bektashis. The Bektashi community is currently led by Baba Mondi, the eighth ''Dedebaba'', whose seat is at the order’s headquarters in Tirana, Albania.

The Bektashis were originally one of many Sufi orders within Sunni Islam. By the 16th century, the order had adopted some tenets of Twelver Shi'ism—including veneration of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, and the Twelve Imams—as well as a variety of syncretic beliefs.

The Bektashis acquired political importance in the 15th century when the order dominated the Janissary Corps. After the foundation of Turkey, the country's leader, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, banned religious institutions that were not part of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and the community's headquarters relocated to Albania. Salih Nijazi was the last Dedebaba in Turkey and the first in Albania. The order became involved in Albanian politics, and some of its members, including Ismail Qemali, were major leaders of the Albanian National Awakening.

Bektashis believe in the ''ismah'' of the prophets and messengers and the Fourteen Infallibles: the Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, and the Twelve Imams. In contrast to many Twelver Shia, Bektashis respect all of the Companions of Muhammad, including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Talha and Mu'awiya, with Ali considered the greatest of the Companions.

In addition to the spiritual teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, the Bektashi Order was later significantly influenced during its formative period by Hurufism (in the early 15th century), the antinomian dervish order of the qalandars, figures like Ahmad Yasawi, Yunus Emre, the Safavid emperor and head of the Safavid order and Messiah Ismail I, Shaykh Haydar, Nesimi, Pir Sultan Abdal, Gül Baba, Sarı Saltık and to varying degrees more broadly the Shia belief system circulating in Anatolia during the 14th to 16th centuries. The mystical practices and rituals of the Bektashi Order were systematized and structured by Balım Sultan in the 16th century.

According to a 2005 estimate by Reshat Bardhi, they make up 9% of the Muslim population and 5% of the country's population. An additional 12.5 million Bektashis live in Turkey. Bektashis are mainly found throughout Anatolia, the Balkans and among Ottoman-era Greek Muslim communities. The term ''Alevi–Bektashi'' is used frequently in current Turkish religious discourse as an umbrella term for Alevism and Bektashism, despite their distinct origins and separate belief systems.

History

Origins and establishment

Bektashism originated in Anatolia as the followers of the 13th-century scholar Bektash, who himself studied under the mystic Ahmad Yasawi, who was born in Sayram, now in southern Kazakhstan. The doctrines and rituals of the Bektashis were codified by the mystic Balım Sultan, who is considered the (“the Second Elder”) by Bektashis.

It was originally founded as a Sufi movement. The branch became widespread in the Ottoman Empire, their lodges scattered throughout Anatolia and the Balkans. It became the official order of the Janissaries, the elite infantry corp of the Ottoman military. Therefore, they also became mainly associated with Anatolian and Balkan Muslims of Eastern Orthodox convert origin, mainly Albanians and northern Greeks (although most leading Bektashi ''babas'' were of southern Albanian origin). In 1826, the Bektashi order was banned throughout the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Mahmud II for having close ties with the Janissary corps. Many Bektashi dervishes were exiled, and some were executed, while tekkes were destroyed and their revenues were confiscated. This decision was supported by the Sunni religious elite and the leaders of other, more orthodox, Sufi orders. Bektashis slowly regained freedom with the coming of the Tanzimat. After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk shut down the lodges in 1925. Consequently, the Bektashi leadership moved to Albania and established their headquarters in Tirana. Among the most famous followers of Bektashi in the 19th-century Balkans were Ali Pasha of Yanina and Naim Frashëri.

Dedebabate

After lodges in Turkey were shut down, the order's headquarters moved to Albania. On 20 March 1930, Salih Nijazi was elected as the Dedebaba of the Bektashi community in Albania. Prior to Nijazi, the Dedebaba was Haxhi Fejzullah in Turkey. Njazi established the Bektashi World Headquarters in Tirana. Its construction was finished in 1941 during the Italian occupation of Albania. Nijazi promoted Bektashi Islam by introducing major ceremonies at popular tekkes. After he was murdered, Ali Riza succeeded him as the Dedebaba.

Despite the negative effect of the ban of lodges on Bektashi culture, most modern Bektashis in Turkey have been generally supportive of secularism, since these reforms have relatively relaxed the religious intolerance that had historically been shown against them by the official Sunni establishment.

In the Balkans, the Bektashi Order had a considerable influence on the Islamization of many areas, primarily Albania and Bulgaria, as well as parts of Macedonia, particularly among Ottoman-era Greek Muslims from western Greek Macedonia such as the Vallahades. By the 18th century, Bektashism began to gain a considerable hold over southern Albania and northwestern Greece (Epirus and western Greek Macedonia). Following the ban on Sufi orders in the Republic of Turkey, the Bektashi community's headquarters was moved from Hacıbektaş. After the communists took power in 1945, several ''babas'' and dervishes were executed and a gradual constriction of Bektashi influence began. Ultimately, in 1967 all ''tekkes'' were shut down when Enver Hoxha banned all religious practice. When the ban was rescinded in 1990, the Bektashism reestablished itself, although there were few left with any real knowledge of the spiritual path. Nevertheless, many ''tekkes'' (lodges) operate today in Albania. The most recent head of the order in Albania was ''Hajji'' Reshat Bardhi