Performing Sufi Living in Contemporary Turkey

322 Pages·2017·1.72 MB·English

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dna etagitsevni ruoy .mialc

daolnwoD :etad .92 .raM 9102
Performing Sufi Living in Contemporary Turkey

By

Hasret Esra Çizmeci, BA, MFA, MA
A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
PhD

Department of Drama, Theatre and Performance
University of Roehampton
2015
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ABSTRACT
In 1925, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, at the
beginning of the Republican Era of Turkey, passed a series of decrees that prohibited
the production and maintenance of Sufi lodges in Turkey and the practices of Sufi şeyhs
and dervishes. This legal act was part of Atatürk’s social reforms that were designed to
convert the newly found Republic of Turkey into a secular, modern state. Atatürk
believed that Sufi dervish lodges should be closed immediately in order to transform the
long-existing religious Ottoman culture into a rapidly evolving intellectual culture
educated through Western scientific knowledge. This project examines how, despite
legal restrictions prohibiting Sufi lodge production, devotees continue to create space
for their devotional living in present-day Turkey. Through extensive field research in
Sufi communities, this project investigates how Sufi religious practices are maintained,
adapted, mobilized, and empowered through embodied acts of Sufi followers. Using
Dwight Conquergood’s concept of “dialogic” performance, I analyze the ritual and
everyday life experience of Sufi devotees in a variety of temporary and permanent
sacred spaces through my coperformative witnessing. I argue in this study that the
multifaceted urban Sufi devotional living in contemporary Turkey may be discerned
most vividly by analysis of production of Sufi sacred spaces, the performance of Sufi
rituals, and embodiment of Sufi beliefs and values in everyday life in a variety of urban
commercial sites such as museums and cultural centers and private houses and
apartment buildings converted to Sufi lodges. With their embodied acts, devotees
revive, reformulate, expand, and mobilize Sufism as a way of living that is a synthesis
of secular and religious values of the Turkish state.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Abstract............................................................................................................. 1

Acknowledgements.......................................................................................... 8

Chapter One Introduction............................................................................... 8

Performance as an Object and Methodology.................................................... 17

Methodology..................................................................................................... 22

Urban Sufi Living.............................................................................................. 31

Making Space(s) For Sufi Living...................................................................... 34

Modernity and Secularism................................................................................. 40

Spirituality and Religion.................................................................................... 46

Conclusion......................................................................................................... 49

Chapter Two Comprehending the Practice of Sufi Living in Turkey: Key

Theoretical Changes and Historical Indications ............................................... 56

Tasavvuf: Origins, Key Theories, Concepts, and Practices.............................. 56

God’s Unity...................................................................................................... 60

Tarikat.............................................................................................................. 61

Spiritual Journey — Nefs Training................................................................... 65

Rituals, Poetry, and Music................................................................................ 72

Secularism and Islam in the Turkish State....................................................... 73

Secularization of Sufi Cultural Beliefs and Values as Cultural Heritage......... 87

Conclusion........................................................................................................ 94
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Chapter Three Making Space for Sufi Devotional Living............................ 96

An Office Converted into a Worship Space.................................................... 100

Witnessing the Devotion at a Historical Lodge............................................... 105

Yenikapı Mevlevihanesi (Mevlevi Lodge) ..................................................... 117

Narin dede: Making Space for Practicing and Teaching Sufi Living............. 134

Dede Efendi House.......................................................................................... 144

Narin dede at the Four Seasons Hotel............................................................. 153

Conclusion....................................................................................................... 159

Chapter Four A Sufi Master and His Devotees: Converting an Apartment
Building and a Wooden House into Dergahs................................................. 162

Underground Sufi Living................................................................................ 163

Dergah as a “Practiced Place:”
Home, School, and Community and Worship Center..................................... 169

Efendi as Poet, Composer, Father, and Teacher Sacralizing the Spaces and
Mobilizing Sufi Living.................................................................................... 173

Owning and Transforming the Space into a Dergah:
Devotees Train Through Service.................................................................... 179

The Embodiment of Divine Energy: Collective Zikir..................................... 194

Performing Meşk for Divine Inspiration.......................................................... 212

Conclusion....................................................................................................... 214

Chapter Five Sanctifying the Touristic Konya:
Inscribing Sufi Values on Shrines Shrines Converted into Museums,
Cultural Centers, Mosques, Streets, and Hotels.............................................. 216

th
Konya: The City of Rumi’s Urs (December 17 ) .......................................... 220

Pilgrimage to Konya with the Underground Sufi Group................................. 227
4

Converting a City Hotel into a Dergah........................................................... 231

Şems-i Tebrizi’s Mosque................................................................................. 236

Traveling to, Within, and Between Sufi Master’s Tombs:
Embodying the Divine Meaning in the Buses
and Making Shrines Alive with Sufi Devotion................................................ 240

Performing Zikir Outside the Walls of Rumi’s Shrine.................................... 244

Shaking the Dining Room with the Embodiment of Divine Energy on Rumi’s
th
Urs (December 17 ) ...................................................................................... 246

Whirling Ritual............................................................................................... . 253

Bürhan............................................................................................................. 255

Conclusion: From Pilgrimage to Everyday..................................................... 262

Chapter Six Conclusion................................................................................. 266

Appendices....................................................................................................... 281

Bibliography.................................................................................................... 284
5
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to commend my thesis committee at Roehampton University — Ioana
Szeman (Director of Studies), Josh Abrams, and Susanne Greenhalgh — for their
expertise, incredible support, care, patience, and critical questions. They guided me
throughout this interdisplinary research project with intense discussions about the
multifaceted social, political, and religious conditions of Sufi living in Turkey. Dr.
Szeman gave me strategies to work as an ethnographer as I participated in the activities
of Sufi communities, guided me to invaluable sources, and challenged me to bring forth
my critical voice throughout the writing process. Dr. Greenhalgh helped me with her
expertise as a researcher and writer and guided me to see each concept more critically as
I struggled with the interdisciplinary nature of my project. Dr. Abrams challenged me
with complex questions about Sufi religious life and the roles embodied by spiritual
leaders and devotees, motivating me as a researcher to ask questions about Sufi
devotion in relation to social and poltical conditions in Turkey. My supervisors shared
my excitement, discoveries, challenges, and fears with kindness until the end. I could
not have produced this project without their expertise and guidance.

I would very much like to thank my mother, Deniz Yolal, for her love, support, and
protection. Her caring and encouraging words journeyed with me as I travelled from
one place to another to meet with devotees, reminding me that every human being is
more than just the social, religious, and economic labels that society produces. She
never got tired of reading my work and offering me insight about Turkey and Islam. I
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would also like to express my gratitude to my father, Bülent Çizmeci, grandmother İffet
Yolal, and brother, Akın Çizmeci, who always motivated me with their caring words.

Thank you as well to all my friends in İzmir, İstanbul, and New York, especially
Charles C. Bales, my classmate and close friend who, from my first day as a graduate
student in New York and later as a Ph.D. student in London, guided and supported me
in my academic journey and was always there to read and offer feedback to help me
improve my work. This journey would have been lonely and stressful without him. I
would also like to thank Selen Akçalı and John Michael Rossi, who also provided
incredible support as I struggled with my writing by reading and offering feedback on
the thesis and by taking the time to talk to me in person to help me clarify my ideas and
concepts. In addition, I am grateful for having such loving friends like Defne Gürmen,
Melih Korukçu, Burcu Salihoğlu, Ahhan Şener, and Efe Yöndem who cherished my
growth as a person, as an artist, and as a scholar throughout the process.
My journey in academia introduced me to many beloved mentors in İstanbul, New
York, and London, especially Günay Öz, Mehmet Birkiye, Amy Hughes, Helen
Richardson, and Judylee Vivier, who all provided love, care, and support as I sought to
find my own path.

I am also indebted to Roehampton University’s Sacred Heart Scholarship which
generously supported me financially, covering my tuition and living expenses for the
past four years. This project would not have been possible without the Sacred Heart
Scholarship.
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Finally, I would like to offer my sincere gratitude to all of the Sufi devotees (whose
names I cannot provide to respect their privacy) with whom I shared my journey in
Turkey. They strengthened my theoretical and practical understanding of devotional
living and my idea of unity and peace.

Thank you all very much for your kind hearts.
8
Chapter One
Introduction
This ethnographic research project examines the generation of Sufi living in a
variety of private, semi-public, public, secular, and sacred urban spaces in present-day
Turkey. Sufi devotees, through the organization of Sufi gatherings in private homes,
museums, theaters, and cultural centers, mobilize Tasavvuf (Sufism) as a way of living
that is a synthesis of the religious and secular values of the Turkish state. Using an
ethnographic methodology and theories derived from performance studies, I examine
the multiple ways in which the Sufi way of living is formed, such as through the
1
authority of the spiritual teacher (şeyh); the individual and collective performance of
Sufi rituals; nefs (self or soul) training; and most importantly, the practice of Sufi
doctrines in everyday life through the production of sacred spaces. In the urban
landscapes of present-day Turkey, individuals from different cultural, religious, ethnic,
national, and social backgrounds practice Tasavvuf in a variety of ways. Some devotees
perceive the Sufi way of living as studying and/or practicing certain aspects of
Tasavvuf, such as its rituals, religious poetry, and music, or attending religious talks.
These devotees claim that by performing certain aspects, they increase the quality of

1
Şeyh literally means elder and is the title given to the spiritual master and
leader of a Sufi order. Since this study is about individuals in Turkey, I employ the
religious terms that are common to Turkish, Persian, and Arabic in their Turkish
versions and in italics. I use some of the terms interchangeably, such as order and
tarikat (plural of turuq, meaning way or path); gathering and sohbet (referring to talk
sessions); devotee, student, or mürit (also meaning student or pupil); and spiritual
guide/master, şeyh and mürsi̧ t (also meaning spiritual teacher) as used by followers.
While the şeyh of the secluded order calls his devotees dervishes, mürits or students,
other spiritual teachers I conversed with only use the term students. I will explain the
specific meaning and function of these terms in present-day Sufi living as they are used
in different Sufi groups and orders as I analyze the practices of each individual.