Popular Sufism in Eastern Europe by H T Norris

Author:H T Norris [Norris, H T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Europe, Austria & Hungary, Social History, Religion, General, Islam, Sufi, Social Science, Ethnic Studies, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781134430895
Google: W9mCAgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2007-01-24T01:15:19+00:00

It is clear that in such a country the evident prosperity of the ‘tekke’, whatever the character of their inmates, would be sufficient to attract the cupidity of guerrilla captains; several dervishes are said to have been murdered because they would not or could not disclose the whereabouts of their supposed wealth.

In Epirus, itself, the Bektashiyya brotherhood was in a very weak position. Hasluck (op. cit., p. 536) drew attention to the fact that it made little headway and had few roots for growth to the south of the latitude of 40 degrees. Yannina (Ioannina) was the capital of Ali Pasha, who was an active supporter of the Bektashis, and who was responsible for both founding and restoring tekkes. However, no such tekke was founded in Yannina. All that survived was the tomb of Hasan Sharef Baba a saint of that time and the tomb of Ali himself. Its headstone was capped by the ‘crown’ (taj) of the Bektashi order. Elsewhere, a tekke, which was once situated on the road between Yannina and Metzovo, was probably built there in order to control an important pass into Thessaly. It was the region immediately to the north of Epirus which proved to be the most volatile and sensitive. Greece laid claim to this Albanian region, Orthodox Greek-speaking communities were located there, and the Bektashiyya brotherhood was strong and it had a great popular following fuelled by nationalist aspirations.

We are fortunate in possessing a correspondence dating from that time, letters which were sent by the ‘Consul General d’Angleterre’ in Ioannina, addressed to Monsieur H. C. de J Du Vallon and to Sir R. W. Graves, the Consuls General of Britain in Salonica. These letters cover the period between the 18th and 19th December, 1904 and the 11th May, 1905. The events which are described predate the accounts which are provided by Hasluck.

The correspondence opens with a short summary of the threatening situation which faced the Bektashi population at that time.

I believe it to be my duty to submit a fact of potential importance to you. However, before I proceed to do so, allow me to supply you with a specific piece of information which is closely related to that fact about which I shall be speaking to you at a later moment. Such information is necessary to enable you to understand the scope of it, the purport and its potential importance.

It is a certain fact that in this Vilayet, the Albanian population is overwhelmingly Muslim in faith. It is said that, amongst its 550,000 inhabitants, at least 300,000 are Muslims. You should also be made aware that of these 300,000 Muslims, at least 250,000 are Bektashis. The Bektashis, although they are Muslims, do not follow the rules of the Prophet Muhammad, but rather what has been attributed to his son in law, ‘Ali. Their religious practises differ enormously from those of the Orthodox Muslims. They are allowed to consume alcoholic and fermented beverages, they do not observe Ramadan, and they only observe a

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