Any good resources about Bektashi Islam?

[Leo Iscariot]

I've recently become interested in Bektashi Islam and I'm wondering if there are any good websites about their beliefs, because most of what I can find only mostly talks about their history.

Can anyone help a guy out?

[Sean-Jobst]

I've recently become interested in Bektashi Islam and I'm wondering if there are any good websites about their beliefs, because most of what I can find only mostly talks about their history. Can anyone help a guy out?

Definitely, especially since you're also of Spanish/Iberian roots and admire the great Otto Strasser like me. I actually got to know about the Bektashis from my extensive travels through and resulting studies about Turkey and Albania; they don't exist in modern Turkey as far as I know, except in history, but are one of the large minority groups in modern Albania. Although I am solidly Heathen now and interested in my own ancestral roots, at one point several years back I was interested in Sufism but with more of a focus on the spiritual/mystical and "heterodox". But I only got to know the Bektashis academically, from what I've studied although I visited one of their sites - called tekkes - in Tirana, Albania.

The Bektashis are one such syncretic nature, absorbing elements of Christian mysticism and native Anatolian religion. It outwardly leans towards Shi'ite symbolism, but is more heterodox and considered "heretical" by both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. They were largely uprooted from Anatolia after the Ottomans squashed the rebellion of the Yenisaris (Janissaries) in the late 1820s and since that time it has been mostly an Albanian phenomenon, where it had already set up some roots (especially in southern Albania) in the earliest days of the Ottomans. It should be noted that Bektashis in Albania are even farther removed from Islam than they had been in Anatolia, with some elements of a separate religion. Their heterodox nature are well suited to Albania, which really does have a laid-back, non-chalant attitude towards religion (intermarried between all four confessional groups are common and Albanians rightly say "Albanianism" is the foremost religion there).

As for sources, look up the poetry of Yunus Emre and various studies on him. Along with Haci Bektash, the Bektashis cite him as their foremost primary source. I would recommend a Turkish historian named Ahmet Yasar Ocak, who stresses the pre-Islamic, native Anatolian origin of the Bektashis and the poetry of Yunus Emre. Ocak's views on the development of early Turkish identity I find very interesting, and his work intertwines much with early Bektashi history. This is one article I recommend:

http://www.syriacstudies.com/2017/02...-matti-moosas/

Aside from that, look up historical works about Albania and Albanian culture. I don't know where you are in the U.S., but I do know that up in Michigan there are Bektashi tekkes among the Albanian-American community. As they are actual practitioners of Bektashism, they can probably help you out more. Incidentally, you may find my pictures from a Bektashi tekke in Tirana insightful as to what one of their sites looks like:

13932874_10206611757083924_7002030828542544021_n.jpg13932874_10206611757123925_9153395538892892867_n.jpg13932874_10206611757163926_3011530647751349216_n.jpg13932874_10206611757203927_8912575269938321360_n.jpg13932874_10206611757243928_1492652263237117242_n.jpg

[Leo Iscariot]

Definitely, especially since you're also of Spanish/Iberian roots and admire the great Otto Strasser like me. I actually got to know about the Bektashis from my extensive travels through and resulting studies about Turkey and Albania; they don't exist in modern Turkey as far as I know, except in history, but are one of the large minority groups in modern Albania. Although I am solidly Heathen now and interested in my own ancestral roots, at one point several years back I was interested in Sufism but with more of a focus on the spiritual/mystical and "heterodox". But I only got to know the Bektashis academically, from what I've studied although I visited one of their sites - called tekkes - in Tirana, Albania.

The Bektashis are one such syncretic nature, absorbing elements of Christian mysticism and native Anatolian religion. It outwardly leans towards Shi'ite symbolism, but is more heterodox and considered "heretical" by both Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims. They were largely uprooted from Anatolia after the Ottomans squashed the rebellion of the Yenisaris (Janissaries) in the late 1820s and since that time it has been mostly an Albanian phenomenon, where it had already set up some roots (especially in southern Albania) in the earliest days of the Ottomans. It should be noted that Bektashis in Albania are even farther removed from Islam than they had been in Anatolia, with some elements of a separate religion. Their heterodox nature are well suited to Albania, which really does have a laid-back, non-chalant attitude towards religion (intermarried between all four confessional groups are common and Albanians rightly say "Albanianism" is the foremost religion there).

As for sources, look up the poetry of Yunus Emre and various studies on him. Along with Haci Bektash, the Bektashis cite him as their foremost primary source. I would recommend a Turkish historian named Ahmet Yasar Ocak, who stresses the pre-Islamic, native Anatolian origin of the Bektashis and the poetry of Yunus Emre. Ocak's views on the development of early Turkish identity I find very interesting, and his work intertwines much with early Bektashi history. This is one article I recommend:

http://www.syriacstudies.com/2017/02...-matti-moosas/

Aside from that, look up historical works about Albania and Albanian culture. I don't know where you are in the U.S., but I do know that up in Michigan there are Bektashi tekkes among the Albanian-American community. As they are actual practitioners of Bektashism, they can probably help you out more. Incidentally, you may find my pictures from a Bektashi tekke in Tirana insightful as to what one of their sites looks like:

13932874_10206611757083924_7002030828542544021_n.jpg13932874_10206611757123925_9153395538892892867_n.jpg13932874_10206611757163926_3011530647751349216_n.jpg13932874_10206611757203927_8912575269938321360_n.jpg13932874_10206611757243928_1492652263237117242_n.jpg

Thanks, bud. I also respect Primo de Rivera and was into Falangism back in the day.

I'll take a look at your suggestions though. I just can't seem to find too much about their actual beliefs. Everything I find is just about its history. Being popular among the Janissaries up through being persecuted by Ataturk and fleeing to Albania.

I've just taken an interest in Shi'a Islam as of late, particularly Alevi-Bektashi and Nizari Ismailism.

[Sean-Jobst]

Thanks, bud. I also respect Primo de Rivera and was into Falangism back in the day.

I'll take a look at your suggestions though. I just can't seem to find too much about their actual beliefs. Everything I find is just about its history. Being popular among the Janissaries up through being persecuted by Ataturk and fleeing to Albania.

I've just taken an interest in Shi'a Islam as of late, particularly Alevi-Bektashi and Nizari Ismailism.

And therein lies the problem, because loosely coming from the Ismaili tradition, the Alevis and Bektashis are inherently initiatory and tried to be an "elite" religion, not really open to the masses. After an initial period when there was more of a religious free-for-all in Anatolia, the Bektashis sought to spread. But with the rise of the more "orthodox" Sunni Turkish dynasties, the Bektashis seemed to withdraw into an initiatory elite, not really leaving much about their beliefs in writing since they expected initiates to seek them out and go through the process to understand....

Rudolf Sebottendorf also wrote a book whose title I find problematic and strange ("Secret Practices of the Sufi Freemasons"); it was translated and published by Inner Traditions, so perhaps you can look that one up too. Apparently, Sebottendorf was "initiated" by some Bektashis who had gone underground in Constantinople. He described a series of "spiritual exercises" that he ascribes to the Bektashis. I just don't know how accurate his information was.

[Leo Iscariot]

And therein lies the problem, because loosely coming from the Ismaili tradition

How loosely? To my knowledge they're both of the Twelver tradition.

Rudolf Sebottendorf also wrote a book whose title I find problematic and strange ("Secret Practices of the Sufi Freemasons"); it was translated and published by Inner Traditions, so perhaps you can look that one up too. Apparently, Sebottendorf was "initiated" by some Bektashis who had gone underground in Constantinople. He described a series of "spiritual exercises" that he ascribes to the Bektashis. I just don't know how accurate his information was.

Sounds like it's still worth taking a look into though, especially if there's not much more info out there.