A dervish lodge is a place where Sufis gain inner enlightenment. Although dervish lodges are similar in architectural style, they differ with respect to the activities that take place within them. Every religious order has its own special culture. For example, Mevlevi dervishes, known as “whirling dervishes,” practice semah accompanied by music, and Bektasi dervishes, who rather reflect folk culture, perform rituals that resemble shamanic practices. Dervish lodges differ moreover in their ways of eating and drinking, modes of dress, kinds of interpersonal dialogue, senses of music, types of musical instruments and mystical dances, ceremonies of admission to the order, training and special practices, handicrafts (e.g., book-binding, marbling, illumination, calligraphy), ceremonies held on special days and nights, books written, poems recited, meanings attributed to death, preparations for death, and preparation of the dead.
A dervish lodge welcomes anyone from whatever religion or community. Nevertheless, it has its distinct “very special” guests, namely, those disciples who devote their lives to the lodge. They obtain marifetu’llah (knowledge of God) under the instruction of a spiritual guide called insan-? kâmil (Man the Mature), like monks in a monastery. For these very special guests a dervish lodge has a mystical domain, and such a domain requires privacy. It opens itself only to its special guests. A dervish lodge is therefore a mysterious place, and its inner world is not known fully to outsiders. Although some authors have had the opportunity to witness its public aspects during certain holy ceremonies and have written about them, explicating certain symbols, life in dervish lodges has largely remained a secret, for it is inappropriate for dervishes to write about the secrets of the lodge in autobiographical works.
Many authors have wanted to reveal these mysteries. Among them is Carl Vett, who wrote Dervish Diary (Los Angeles: Knud Mogensen, 1953). Vett’s book has been translated into Turkish three times under the titles of Kelâmi Dergah?ndan Hat?ralar (Memoirs from the Kelami Lodge), Tekke Günlü?ü (The Lodge Diary), and Dervi?ler Aras?nda ?ki Hafta (Two Weeks among Dervishes). But he is not a dervish in the true sense of the word, so that he does not observe from within.
Recently an interesting work has been published in Istanbul that has unveiled this secret. The author, Asc? Ibrahim Dede, presents a work that is unprecedented among Sufis. It consists of four volumes, the first written in 1885 and the last completed around the beginning of the twentieth century. It has been thoroughly edited for the first time and was published a few months ago. As we learn from the book, the author was born in Istanbul and worked in various cities of the vast Ottoman territory as a civil servant. This enabled him to familiarize himself with provincial culture. Having become acquainted with the culture of dervish lodges during the very first years of his office, the author went to the Mevlevihane (Hall of the Whirling Dervishes) in Kas?mpasa, an old district of Istanbul, and observed the atmosphere there. He was a dervish who adopted the principles of Mevlana Celaleddin er-Rumi. But he did not settle for this circle and also became a Naqshbendi dervish on the prompting of the Naqshbendi lodge, with which he became acquainted during his work in the provincial city of Erzincan. Having gained enlightenment through two different cultural ambiences, he shared his rich experience with his readers.
The conception “Asci Dede” belongs to the Mevlevi order founded by Celaleddin er-Rumi. Asci, corresponding to ahci in modern Turkish, means “chef” or “cook,” and Dede, which literally means “grandfather,” suggests a guide or sheikh, that is, an instructor who gives guidance, having gained enlightenment in the lodge through knowledge of the path. So in its literal sense Asci Dede means a person who cooks in a Mevlevi lodge, but in a broader sense it denotes a person who trains those who have become new members of the lodge. It is clear, then, that the author is someone who is intimately cognizant with Mevlevi tradition, culture, and folklore, and teaches these things to young disciples. In this regard, the present book is both a first-hand resource for the folklore of dervish lodges and also an important key to that mysterious world.
The memoirs of Asci Dede should be within the immediate reach of Turcologists who study Ottoman Sufism, city life, and folklore as well as of readers who would like to get to know the mystical world of the East.
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[Review length: 741 words • Review posted on April 19, 2007]