Abstract

The beliefs and practices which can be seen around the tombs of walis in Islamic societies are generally taken as the indicators of peasant or women’s religiosity in the tension between orthodoxy and folk religion by numerous scholars. These beliefs play a significant role in Turkish culture. Thus this paper is based on the investigation of the validity of the aforementioned assumptions. For, this paper focuses on the practices and beliefs occur around the tomb of a 16th century Ottoman Sunni scholar Mehmed b. Pir Ali (Mehmed Birgivi or Imam Birgivi) which attract people from various social levels and classes. This paper consists on the data obtained from the observations on the field and people performing around the tomb. When the data gathered from the field combined with the data obtained from the related literature, the outcome is likely to be that there is not a discontinuity between folk religious practices (such as offering vows, sacrificing animals and etc.) and orthodox Islamic values and practices.

Full Text
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