Opposition to the Bektāshī Order in Egypt

Abstract

Since its appearance on the stage of history, the Bektāshī Order has been subject to criticisms, whose level and quality changes due to circumstances, from various societies throughout the world because of the Order’s beliefs and practices. The representatives of the Bektāshī Order in Egypt, where it has continued its activities for years, have been occasionally ex-posed to attacks from opponents in the region. The scarcity of texts produced before the 19th century, however, does not allow for objective commentary on those publications that condemn the Bektāshī Order. However, after 1826, the year when the Bektāshī Order was banned throughout the Ottoman lands, it became exceedingly difficult to find any-thing related to the early publications. In this article, activities against the Bektāshī Order that were carried out in Egypt for approximately five centuries, and some important claims that were included in the relevant publications are chronologically evaluated. In this regard, it is observed that some works referenced in this paper were actually extensions of the publications generated in Anatolia at that time. The Bektāshī Order, from its initial appearance on the stage of history forward, was equalized by certain movements, such as the Anatolian Alevism, which did not present a homogeneous structure in terms of its beliefs and practices. This situation resulted in observations and comments being made about the Order that were based on sweeping and erroneous judgments that ultimately led to negative and opposing attitudes regarding the Bektāshī Order. The fact that the Bektāshī Order “could not express itself directly and the way it should be” because it was comprised of a group of people who were of non-Arabic origin, such as Turks and Albanians, and, as a group, it did not reach out to the masses, has allowed for criticisms and accusations based on unsupported and fallacious claims.

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