The rehabilitation of the Bektashi order (1826-1876)

Official URL: http://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b1669284 (Table of Contents)

This thesis aims to analyze the revival process of the Bektashi Order in the course of the fifty years following its abolition in 1826. The focus of this study is the reintegration of Bektashism into Ottoman society, which was actualized concordantly with the gradual moderation of the state’s oppression after the reign of Mahmud II. The key findings of this study propose that the state’s suppression policy of the Bektashi Order evolved to soft control with time and the revival of the Bektashi Order was a restrained rehabilitation, which was allowed within the state’s prescribed limits. By discussing the state’s selective oppression policy, as well as its control mechanism of rehabilitation, this thesis aims to detect boundaries of the revival. Relatedly, this study also aims to analyze the reactions of Sunni orthodox scholars toward Bektashism when Bektashis violated boundaries of the rehabilitation, and how Bektashis defended the Order against these reactions.