Date of Graduation
7-2020
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History (PhD)
Degree Level
Graduate
Department
History
Advisor/Mentor
Nikolay Antov
Committee Member
Joel Gordon
Second Committee Member
Freddy Dominguez
Keywords
15th Century, Esrefoglu Rumi, Islam, Middle Eastern history, Ottoman, Popular Religion, Sufism
Abstract
This dissertation evaluates a transformative period in the history of the Ottoman State in which the processes of Islamization and Turkification coincided with the expansion and imperialization of the Ottoman polity. This study focuses on an Ottoman Sufi figure, Eşrefoğlu Rumi (?-1469), who benefited form this context, embarked upon a mystical path, and authored seminal works that shaped Ottoman Sufism for generations. This dissertation discusses Eşrefoğlu Rumi’s role in the construction of Islamic orthodoxy based in his Sufi ideals which he disseminated to an Anatolian and Balkan Turkish-speaking Ottoman audience. The significance of this dissertation is that it emphasizes the agency of individual scholars and saints in the making of Ottoman Islam while challenging the dichotomous categorizations such as “orthodoxy” vs. “heterodoxy” and “popular” and “high Islam.”
Citation
Basturk, B. (2020). The Formation of Ottoman Sufism and Eşrefoğlu Rumi: A 15th Century Shaykh Between Popular Religion and Sufi Ideals. Graduate Theses and Dissertations Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/etd/3818
Included in
Islamic Studies Commons, Islamic World and Near East History Commons, Near and Middle Eastern Studies Commons