The word ‘Bektâshî’ refers to two different groups of people. The first group are true, correct Bektâshîs who are pure Muslims and follow the right way shown by Hadrat Hâdji Bektâsh-i Walî.
The second group of Baktâshîs are the fake, untrue ones. They are Hurûfîs, who are on the wrong way. Most of them were called ‘Bektâshî’ in the past. In the course of time, they decreased in number and became non-existent. Nowadays, no fake, corrupt Bektâshîs exist in Turkey. The fake Bektâshîs among Muslims used this valuable name as their mask so that they could, by hiding their beliefs, deceive youngsters, and lead an easy life. As a matter of fact, the number of those who are disbelievers but hide themselves under these various valuable names is really high, such as the name Malâmî. Those
deviated ones who never worship, commit every kind of sin and evil, and never follow the Sharî’at call themselves Malâmî. Actually, Malâmî means pure Muslim who performs the fard aspects of all his five daily prayers in a mosque, abstains from the harâms (prohibitions), performs the supererogatory and sunnat prayers at home, and avoids being famous. The book Kâshif-ul-esrâr written by Ishâq Efendi of Tokad states:
Another group trying to demolish Islam are the Bektâshîs. When ‘Bektâshîs’ is mentioned, two groups of people should be understood. The first are those pure Muslims who followed the right way shown by Hadrat Hâdji Bektâsh-i Walî.
In the second group are the mendacious Bektâshîs. Those people who are said to be Bektâshîs today are in this group. In order to live comfortably among Muslims and to deceive youngsters by concealing their irreligiousness, these false Bektâshîs have used this name as a mask. There are quite a few irreligious people who hide under various valuable names. For example, the Râfidîs, who it has been declared will go to Hell, call themselves Alawî. Formerly, Hadrat Alî’s descendants were called Alawî. Later they were called Sayyed (or Sayyid) and Sherîf. Alawî means a true Muslim who loves and follows Hadrat Alî. As it is seen, Alawî has been the name of three groups of people. Only one of these groups is corrupt and false Alawîs.
So is the name Malâmî. Some heretical people who do not worship at all and who commit every kind of sin and who do not follow the Sharî’at call themselves Malâmîs. These people call the true Muslims who obey the Sharî’at reactionary bigots. Of old, those pure people who performed such fard worships as namâz five times each day in mosques, who performed the sunnat and the supererogatory prayers secretly in their homes, and who abstained from fame, used to be called Malâmîs. But now, those who do not perform namâz claim to have become Malâmîs, thus deceiving Muslims.
Another group of irreligious people who assume a dear name in order to deceive Muslims are the Hurûfîs; they gathered under the name of Bektâshî. Formerly they used to conceal their real purposes. In
The zindiq named Fadl-ullah Hurûfî was a dervish of the Qarâmitî path. The Qarâmitîs are also called Ibâhiyya. They called the harâm halâl and robbed hadjis for seventy or eighty years. They killed Muslims. They established a government. When their government was demolished in 372 [983] they went to different places, where they hid. Of these, Hasan Sabbâh established the Ismâ’iliyya state, which was demolished in 654 [1256]. Of these, Fadl spread disbelief secretly in the city of Astarâbât in Iran.
He found nine assistants. He invented something called the knowledge of dot. He used to say that such and such a thing is mubâh (permitted) because the dot came double, and that such and such thing is harâm (forbidden) because the dot came out single. Hadrat Ibni Hajar-i Asqalânî gives extensive information about Fadl-ullah and about Hurûfîism in his history book entitled Anbâ-i Fadl. When the disbelief of Fadl-ullah became widespread, Mirân Shah, the son of Tîmûr (Tamerlaine), killed Fadl-ullah with his father’s command in 796 (
When Fadl-ullah was killed and Astarâbât was demolished, his nine assistants vanished into thin air. Later, one of them, a person named Alî-ul-a’lâ came to a Bektâshî convent in Minor Asia; he began to spread the book Jâwidân secretly and to deceive the ignorant. He said that this was the way of Hadji Bektâsh-i Walî. Because he called the harâm (prohibited) mubâh (permitted) and issued a blank cheque concerning sensuous desires, his words spread rapidly among malevolent people. Calling his words ‘secrets,’ he pledged the informed to secrecy. Those who should reveal the secrets to strangers would be killed; in fact, this happened several times. The secrets were marked with the letters a, c, v, z in the book Jâwidân. These marks, each a disbelief, were explained in the book Miftâh-ul-hayât. They called this book Sýr (secret), too. He who does not have the book of Sýr cannot understand Jâwidân. They have been deceiving the ignorant since
Ashknâma and from Muhabbatnâma, and it was completed in the year
To deceive Muslims, the Hurûfîs, hiding under the name of Bektâshî, attacked through several ways:
1- They say that Fadl-i Hurûfî is a god. It is written in Jâwidân, “Eternally before, god used to be an invisible force. It appeared first in letters, then in prophets, and eventually in Fadl. First Hadrat Adam appeared in the guise of a prophet. For this reason angels prostrated themselves before Adam. He communicated the meanings of his four books in Jâwidân.”
2- Fabling hadîths in their book Khutba-tul-bayân and also in their other books, which they made up in the name of Hadrat Alî’s words, they say that sinning does not harm the lovers of Hadrat Alî. By saying that worshipping is unnecessary and that the harâm (forbidden) are halâl (permitted), they deceive those ignorant people who would like to enter Paradise without pious deeds and worships. After coaxing a person into giving up his worships and îmân, they begin to teach him the book Sýr, for Jâwidân does not contain even the names of the Ahl-i Bayt. Khutba-tul-bayân also has a Turkish interpretation.
3- They say that all religions are the same and that they are all accumulated in sixteen belts. “Each of the sixteen belts is a prophet’s sharî’at. He who wears each belt will have done the sharî’at of that prophet. For example, he who wears Hadrat Adam’s belt always wears leather, for Hadrat Adam wore leather dresses. He who wears Hadrat Mûsâ’s belt does not ride on a mare. He who wears Hadrat Îsâ’s belt never gets married. But
adultery and homosexual intercourse are permitted for him. For Hadrat Îsâ (Jesus) ‘alaihi’s-salâm’ was a bachelor,” they say. It is written in Jâwidân by the son of Farishtah that they believe the existence of three gods like Christians. It is written there, again, that the exalted person called Alî was Fadl-i Hurûfî. It is written in another page, “Fadl-i Hurûfî is superior to Hadrat Muhammad and Alî [May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against saying so!]. They did not know the subtleties of the Sharî’at as well as Fadl does.” Its passages contradict one another.
As it is seen, these false Bektâshîs are not Shiites or Alawîs, either. They are so evil. They are polytheists. Being supported by Jews and Masons, they cause Muslims to deviate from Islam. They do not show Jâwidân to those who are newly deceived, but they introduce themselves to them as Alawîs. However, the Shiite savants say that the Bektâshîs are disbelievers.
4- Because it is, according to them, permissible to lie, they have written some fabulous books such as Hamzanâmâ and Battal Ghâzî. They relate fabulous miracles from their superiors whom they call Baba (father). Ahmad (Baba), who is the founder of their convents in Merdivenköy, Istanbul, used to gather youngsters and say, “One of the fathers, whose name is unknown, flew one day, and he went to Damascus in an instant. He had asked that he be picked up from a certain tavern. They went there the same day and found him dead at the bottom of a large earthenware. Another father went across the ocean on the back of a lion and then came back.” Also, his teacher, Halîl Baba, used to gather youngsters in a house in Samatya and tell them several lies. The author of the book Kâshif-ul-asrâr, who was there at the time, disgraced the Baba, and the host ejected him from the house. One of their lies is their claiming that giving property, rank and children to anybody, the killing of people, and the healing of the sick are within the power of the Babas. They say, “It is fard to perform namâz once in one’s entire lifetime. And it is fard to fast once in one’s entire lifetime. Do not misuse your bodies by performing a ghusl.” To those who go out of the Dîn by believing these, they begin to reveal the secrets. They say that the person who is called Muhammad was Alî [May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against saying so!] And they say that the person whom they call Allah is Alî [May Allâhu ta’âlâ protect us against saying so!] If a person becomes as crazy as to believe this,
they say that all these are Fadl himself. They say, “Every kind of evil, including fornication, has been mubâh for you.” They then take him to
Another one of their lies is their saying that there are twelve paths. When they are asked how this could ever be possible, they say, “Are you denying Hadrat Hadji Bektâsh-i Walî?” But, in fact, Hadji Bektâsh-i Walî, like other murshids, used to obey the Sharî’at, and he would not deviate from the sunnat-i saniyya, nor would his disciples. But people who lived later were deceived and these irreligious Hurûfîs appropriated the name Bektâshî to themselves. Thanks be to Allâhu ta’âlâ, today there are no more of these false Bektâshîs. The Bektâshîs living in Turkey today are all true Muslims. They live in fraternity with the Sunnî Muslims.
Another lie of theirs is that they say that though there are some excessive ones among the Bektâshîs their father is not so. However, all Bektâshîs have hard drinks. They never perform namâz. Could such people ever be said to be good? Their most famous fathers, such as Koyun Baba in Osmancýk, Abdal Mûsâ in Elmalý, Þucâeddin (Shujâ-addîn) in Eskiþehir, Kýzýl Deli in Dimetoka and Sersem Alî in Kalkandelen all read Jâwidân and spread disbelief. [It is also written in the dictionary of Munjîd that Koyun Baba was a Bektâshî.]
The false Bektâshîs grow their moustache too long. They say that it is the sunnat of Hadrat Alî to grow the moustache long. They say that it is the sunnat of Mu’âwiyya to clip the moustache. But the fact is that it has been commanded in hadîth-i-sherîfs to shorten the moustache. It is sunnat-i muakkada to shorten the moustache. They say that Hadrat Alî, whom they claim to love, neglected this sunnat, and that Hadrat Mu’âwiyya, against whom they bear hostility, obeyed the sunnat. Bukhârî-i sherîf, alone, contains various hadîth-i-sherîfs about cutting the moustache short. To say that Hadrat Alî disobeyed these commands means not to love him but to feel hostility against him. It has been permitted to grow the moustache and the fingernails in combat in order to inspire awe to the enemy. And it has been made makrûh to let them grow long at other times. Fadlullah-i Hurûfî said, “Such hairs as the eye-brows, eye-lashes and the moustache are the appearance of a holy letter on man. The reason why angels prostrated before Hadrat Adam was because of this appearance. The moustache is sacred. It is a great sin to cut it.” Shah Ismâ’il, who spread the Râfidî dogma, adopted it from the Hurûfis to grow a moustache. He ordered the Shiites to
grow their moustache lest they might resemble the Sunnîs. With a view to deceiving youngsters, they said that it was Hadrat Alî’s sunnat
Thus they slandered the great imâm.
Bektâshîs do not ever mention Allâhu ta’âlâ, worship, or read Qur’ân al-kerîm. Every morning they assemble in the meeting-room in their pîr’s home. One of them enters the room bringing in a tray with as many glasses of wine as the number of men present, a slice of bread and a piece of cheese for each. They meet him singing chants of reverence. Stopping in front of each person he gives him one. Respectfully they take the things they are given, rub them gently on their faces, and then eat and drink them. All their worships consist of only this. Those who are married bring their wives and daughters to the meeting, too. They drink and dance. If one of them likes another’s wife or daughter, he goes to the man and asks his permission to pick a rose from his garden. The man calls his wife
and says to her, “Meet the demand of this beloved friend.” Then he kisses her. If the demand is mutual, the two men go to the father and ask his permission. When the father gives permission, they use each other’s wife and daughters all through their lives. True Bektashîs do not commit these vices.
The Bektâshî fathers hear confessions, like priests. When a person does something which is considered a sin, he comes before the father. The father pulls his ear and then forgives him. If the person’s sin is very grave, he begs him, saying, “Get what you like and see to your way.” And the father tells him to sacrifice an animal for the Forties or to make a vow for the Three Hundreds. Then, taking a few liras from him, he forgives him. If a Bektâshî woman has sexual intercourse with a non-Bektâshî man, she goes to the father and says, “A dog has jumped over me.” By the father taking money from her, she gets forgiven. Each father has a different way. One night, in a meeting, a woman came before the father and bowed her head. The father told her to unfetter herself. Then the father said
to whomever he liked of the men, “Stand up and fasten this sister to the log.” The man retired to a room with the woman. Another woman who had been looking for a remedy for her illness consulted a Baktâshî woman. The Bektâshî woman said, “Our father practises sorcery very well,” and took her to the convent. There they said to the woman, “Undress yourself! The father is approaching.” The woman said no, but they frightened her, by saying, “Don’t you dare! They would rather let your corpse go out of here than let you give away their secrets.” The woman surrendered. Afterwards, the woman who had brought her there said that what the father had done was not evil and that he had only done the sunnat of Hadrat Ali.
Because they do not care about the harâm or halâl, they do not hesitate to commit those loathsome and base deeds which the basest disbelievers could not do.
In Salonica, at a place called (Gül Baba) outside the walls of the fortress, a Bektâshî father named Zulfikâr gathered the Bektâshîs, women and men, on Nawruz Day, and they began to imbibe. Getting drunk, each claimed to be a god, expressing such terms as, “I created those mountains,” “If I command that pinetree, it will prostrate itself before me,” “If I command those dead people they will resurrect.” Then a Bektâshî named Alî Ridâ, one of the employees of the telegraph office, stood up and called aloud, “Let him who is Muhammad’s donkey come here.” One of the men came forward and he mounted the man, saying takbîr. A bottle of wine in his one hand a glass in the other, he went among the Bektâshî women. Saying takbîr, he began to distribute the wine. All the women becoming drunk, he
returned to the male group. Then, he said loudly, “Let’s perform namâz!” They all stood up, turned their back to the Qibla and, their father being the imâm, they performed it as follows: After shouting, “Namâz is a lie. I don’t believe in namâz, I don’t perform namâz,” they all prostrated. When prostrating, their father raised one of his feet and one of his hands and shouted. Then this Alî Ridâ held his two naked wives by their hands and took them to Sâmî Bey, who was a Sunnî and who had been standing at a distance. He said to him, “See? What a beautiful thing it is to be a Bektâshî, isn’t it? You’d better become a Bektâshî like us. Instead of sitting deprived at a distance, you could entertain yourself together with us.” All the Bektâshîs, women and men alike, began to walk and assault the wives of the Ahl as-sunnat,
who had gone out to take air, it being a holiday. Saying, “We own these places. What is their business here who are not from us?” they tore up their veils. The poor women ran away and cried for help. Being few in number, their husbands could not rescue the women. Hearing their cries, the artillerymen in the fortress came to their rescue. They defeated the Bektâshîs. Such enmity to Islam, which even disbelievers do not feel, was hushed up because Mustafa Bey, the Chief Secretary of the Ministry of the province of Salonica, was a Bektâshî. And it was written in a distorted manner in Masonic newspapers. This abominable behavior, which took place in
These liars, who dissemble their infidelity under the guise of
this blessed epithet, ‘Bektâshî’, are betrayed by their own literature, i.e. the book Haqîqatnâma, which is one of the interpretations of Jâwidân. There is another book, Mahsharnâma, written by Amir Ali, and another book, Muqaddamatul-haqâyiq, repeating the disbeliefs written in Ashknâma. It curses those who disbelieve them and commands that they be killed. And the booklet Viran Abdal is not one of their secret books; they read it openly in order to deceive Muslims and to cause them to go out of Islam. It slanders Hadrat Âisha ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anhâ’ and writes ill of Hadrat al-imâm-ul-a’zam Abû Hanîfa by saying that he is a Khârijî. It quotes the writings of Fadl-i Hurûfî in Jâwidân under the pretension of Hadrat Ali’s statements. It prescribes many fabulous ablutions, prayers of namâz and other types of worship. Another book is
Âkhiratnâma. Like Ashknâma, it is fraught with disbelief. It strives to prove that Fadl-i Hurûfî is a god. And another book of theirs is Risâla-i Fadl-ullah. Another book is Tuhfa-tul-ushshaq.Their books Risâla-i Badraddîn and Risâla-i Nokta are all interpretations of Jâwidân. Another book is Risâla-i Hurûf. Another one is Turâbnâma. And another one is Wilâyatnâma. Most of these books are in Persian.
They have about sixty books in all. They are all based on the denial of Allâhu ta’âlâ and the recantation of the Sharî’at, and they cajole people into worshipping Fadl-i Hurûfî. They are worse than all disbelievers and than all sects. The above-given information manifests this fact. This is the end of our excerpt from the book Kâshif ul-esrâr.
A. Rýfký Efendi’s book Bektâshî Sýrrý[1] published in Istanbul in 1327 [1909 A.D.] states, “Bektâshîsm goes back to Hadrat-i Abû Bakr-i Siddîq through a backward chain of Hadji Bektâsh-i Walî, Loqman Khorasânî, Hadji Ahmad Yasawî, and Bâyazîd-i-Bistâmî. Out of two branches parting from Ahmad Yasawî came Bektâshîs and Hâdjegân. Hurûfîsm is a way of deviation, whereas Bektâshîsm is a way of truth. Hurûfîsm is a branch of Ismâ’îliyya, which has no connection to the Sharî’at and tasawwuf. They interpreted Qur’ân al-kerîm according to their own wills and their ways. Their books entitled ‘Zarra-nâma,’ ‘Iskender-nâma,’ ‘Fadîlat-nâma,’ ‘Hakîkatnâme,’ and ‘Risâla-i Istiwa’ are widespread among the Shiites. The
books of Bektâshîs, like ‘Wilâyatnâme,’ ‘Kaygusuz Abdâl Risâlesi’, ‘Rutbatulbayân,’ ‘Sayyid Nasîmî Dîwâný,’ ‘Small Wilâyatnâme,’ ‘Tarzi Alî Dede
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[1] The Mystery of Bektâshî.
Risâlesi,’ and ‘Turâbî Ali Dede Risâlesi’ have no connection with Hurûfîsm. The author of the book ‘Wâridât-i ilâhiyya,’ Shayh Badruddîn the son of the qadi of Samawna, and Niyâzî Mýsrî of the Halwatî order and Hamza Bâlî of Bayrâmî and Ismâil Mâshûkî are not Hurûfîs.” Furthermore, Munjî Baba Shaikh Muhammad Surayyâ makes the following observation in his book Tarîqat-i-Aliyya-i-Bektâshiyya: “The Sunnîs are Alî’s Shî’a. And a person who has affiliated himself to Alî’s path, in his turn, is necessarily a Sunnî. It therefore makes no difference for us whether Bektâshîs are called Sunnîs or Shiites. The book Jâwidân contains no proximity to the Bektâshî order. That book is entirely destructive to Islam’s moral values. The heresy of Hurûfîism flouts the Sharî’at, and ritualizes dissipation
and alcohol parties as if they were acts of worship.” As is seen, true Bektâshîs combine the Shiite and Sunnite characteristics in one common principle: loving the Ahl-i-Bayt. On the other hand, the Shiite cult is based on hating the Ashâb-i-kirâm, whereas the Sunnî path consists in loving both the Ahl-i-Bayt and the Ashâb-i-kirâm without any exception. Those who profess to be true Bektâshîs, that is, the so-called followers of Hadrat Hadji Bektâsh-i-Walî ‘rahmatullâhi ta’âlâ ’aleyh’, are not opposed to the Shiite course in one respect; yet it is manifest that they do not share the atrocities inculcated by the Hurûfî cult. Today, our country, (Turkey), does not embrace any Alawîs or Bektâshîs practising the Hurûfî vices. All the Alawîs (or Alevîs) and Bektâshîs and Sunnîs in Turkey congregate around the love of the
Ahl-i-Bayt and enjoy the balmy peace of Islamic fraternity.
Ahead of all the causes that brought about Yavuz Sultan Selîm Khan’s fighting Shah Isma’îl and striking a heavy blow against the Shi’îs were the preachings of Mulla Arab, a great Sunnî savant. It is written in Mir’ât-i Kâinât, “Mulla Arab’s name is Vâiz (preacher) Muhammad bin ’Umar bin Hamza. His father and grandfather came from Mâwarâ-un-nahr (Transoxiana) to Antioch, where Mulla Arab was born. A small child as he was, he memorized Qur’ân al-kerîm, the Kanz and the Shâtib, and some textbooks. He was taught by his father, and by his paternal uncles, Shaikh Husayn and Shaikh Ahmad. He learned very much in Aleppo and in Damascus. After hajj, he was given Ijâzat-i hadîth by Imâm-i Suyûtî and Sha’bî in Egypt. Melik Qaytabay, one of the Circassian sultans in Egypt, appointed him as a preacher and muftî. Consequently, he wrote the book of fiqh
Nihâyat-ul-furû’ for the Sultan. Upon the Sultan’s death in 901, he came to Bursa,
and thence to Istanbul. The books Tahzîb-ush-shamâil and Hidâyat-ul’ibâd-ilâ-sabîl-ir-rashâd, which he wrote for Bayazid Khan II., added to his fame. He joined the Yundu expedition and caused the conquest of Meton city. He encouraged and incited Yavuz Sultan Selîm Khan to perform jihâd against the Shî’îs. To this end he wrote the book Assadâd fî fadâil-il-jihâd. joining the Chaldiran expedition, he encouraged the army with his preachings. During the combats, he prayed and the Sultan said, ‘Âmîn.’ Preaching for ten years in Sarayköy and in Uskup, he caused many disbelievers to become Muslims. He joined the Angurus expedition with Sultan Sulaymân (the Lawgiver), and the prayers for victory which he sent were accepted by Allâhu ta’âlâ. Then, going to Bursa, he wrote various books. He was very much learned in chemistry. He built two masjîds (small mosques) and two Jâmî’s (big mosques). He passed away in 938 [1532 A.D.]. He is in his tomb near Mulla Arab Mosque in the Mulla Arab Quarter in Bursa. His books Tahzîb-ush-shamâil and Al-maqâsid fî fadâil-il-masâjid, which are about Sîrat-i Nabawî, are well-known. The book Shaqâiq contains his detailed biography.