İSLAM'IN İLK DÖNEMLERİNDE ÖRTÜŞEN AKIMLAR: TASAVVUF ŞEYHİ VE ŞÎÎ İMAM

Abstract

This article analyzes the possible connection between the rise of sufi authority invested in the sufi shaykh and the aftermath of physical disappearance of the last Twelver imam in 260/874. This article first outlines some of the common expectations of religious authority in early Islamic history, one of the most significant being the quest for an infallible prophetic-like authority. I argue that there were shared authority models underpinning both an imam and a sufi shaykh that resulted from a set of common expectations of a religious leader. It is shown that after the “occultation” of the last Twelver imam it was the sufi shaykh and the Ismâ‘ili Âghâ Khân who most authentically carried on the tradition of infallible authority.