Abstract
Initiation into the Bektashi Sufi order is formalized as the initiate is led through a complex ritual form replete with symbols of death and rebirth, sacrifice, and integration that are enacted as the ritual is performed and in various ways experienced by the initiate. Once having entered and become a part of the order, then, the initiate encounters other cultural forms that reflect back upon the initiation ritual, such as poems that recount and provide commentary on it, contributing to his or her understanding of the experience of initiation as they too are performed in a communal context, and showing that integration into the order is an ongoing process. This paper analyzes the initiation ritual form with respect to the relationship between the cultural symbols presented in it and the experience it is intended to have on the initiate as he or she interacts with them. It further analyzes a particular poem that recounts the initiation ritual while adding impressions of the experiences evoked in it—experiences which meld with the initiate’s own remembered experiences. Finally, it shows how these experiences are reinforced through the communal interaction that transpires as such poems are sung to music in a ritual context.
Highlights
Initiation into the Bektashi Sufi order is formalized as the initiate is led through a complex ritual form replete with symbols of death and rebirth, sacrifice, and integration that are enacted as the ritual is performed and in various ways experienced by the initiate
While the initiate may have just gone through various emotions, possibly intense ones, the affirmation formula does not address them, preferring to instead establish the appropriate relationships the initiate has just entered with God, with the mystical family of the prophet (People of the Cloak) and important figures from
These Arabic-Islamic-Sufi terms each allow a range of interpretations, but they can be summarized : şeriat = the exoteric way, as in the shari’a of Islam; tarikat = the esoteric way, such as the rites of the mystical order; marifet = knowledge, especially of the esoteric, gnostic sort; hakikat = reality. As these terms always occur in this order,2 they seem to lay out a version of the path one is to progress upon. If we take this as a model to try to understand the Bektashi intended experience, şeriat seems to stand for the pre-initiation state, when one is on the outside; tarikat comes into play when one has been initiated, has come into the order, and takes part in rituals—this is when Bektashi experience occurs; with marifet, one has come to understand what one has experienced through participation, especially the inner essence of it; and with hakikat, the experience of that essence has become reality—one has become what one is to become
Summary
Every formal initiation, though, takes place within a pre-established cultural system, so before taking up the Bektashi initiation ritual we can lay out some of the features of the tradition within which it was formalized. If we take this as a model to try to understand the Bektashi intended experience, şeriat seems to stand for the pre-initiation state, when one is on the outside; tarikat comes into play when one has been initiated, has come into the order, and takes part in rituals—this is when Bektashi experience occurs; with marifet, one has come to understand what one has experienced through participation, especially the inner essence of it; and with hakikat, the experience of that essence has become reality—one has become what one is to become Through this series, one moves from outside to inside, to knowing deeper levels of interiority, and to becoming one with interiority; the import of movement from outside to inside—of entrance—is perhaps why the four modes are known as doors (or gates, kapı). For example, among the principles the murshid inculcates into the initiate is the counsel (Noyan 1995, p. 300): Know Hakk as present in your self
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