Islamic Mysticism and the Bektashi Path

CONTENTS
Foreword to the English Translation .................................. i 
Baba Rexheb: America\'s Albanian Saint ............................ iii
Translator’s Introduction ................................................... vi
Baba Rexheb’s Foreword ................................................... xvii
Part One: A History of Islamic Mysticism

Chapter 1: The Foundations of Islamic Mysticism ....................................... 1
The Ḳur’ān ........................................................................................... 2
The Ḥadīth Ḳudsī .................................................................................. 5
The Ḥadīth ............................................................................................ 6
The Noble Prophet Muhammad ........................................................... 8
Chapter 2: Islamic Mysticism in the 1st & 2nd Hijrī Centuries ................... 13
Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyyah ......................................................................... 16
Chapter 3: Islamic Mysticism in the 3rd & 4th Hijrī Centuries ................... 20
Chapter 4: The Mystics of the 3rd & 4th Hijrī Centuries ............................ 30
Chapter 5: The Establishment of the Sufi Orders ......................................... 40
The Conflict between the Fuḳahā’ & the Sufis .................................... 41
Al-Ḥallāj ................................................................................................. 43 
Chapter 6: Islamic Mysticism in the 5th Hijrī Century ................................ 51
Theology, Philosophy, Sufism & Al-Ghazālī ...................................... 52
Al-Ghazālī on the Classification of Knowledge .................................. 54
Maʿrifat according to Al-Ghazālī ....................................................... 57
True Bliss according to Al-Ghazālī .................................................... 59
Chapter 7: The Mystics of the 6th & 7th Hijrī Centuries and their Views ... 62
Suhrawardī & the Science of Illumination ......................................... 65
Ibn ʿArabī & the Theory of Waḥdat ul-wujūd ...................................... 71
Ibn ul-Fāriḍ & Divine Love ................................................................ 79
Ibn Sabʿīn & the Theory of Waḥdat ul-Muṭlak .................................... 81
Mevlānā Jalāl ud-Dīn Rūmī ................................................................ 82
Chapter 8: The Mystic Orders Take Shape .................................................. 89
The Ḳādirī Order ................................................................................ 90
The Rifāʿī Order .................................................................................. 92
The Badawī Order .............................................................................. 93
The Yasawī Order ............................................................................... 95
The Naḳshbandī Order ....................................................................... 97
The Khalwatī Order ............................................................................ 98
Ibrāhīm Gülshenī ................................................................................ 99
Niyāz-i Miṣrī ..................................................................................... 100
The Saʿdī Order ................................................................................. 102 
The Shādhilī Order ............................................................................103
Other Orders ......................................................................................104

Part Two: The Bektashi Path
Chapter 9: The Founding of the Bektashi Order ................................................ 107
Khunkār Ḥajjī Bektash Velī .............................................................. 109
Bālım Sulṭān: The “Second Pīr” ........................................................ 112
Chapter 10: The Fundamentals & Principles upon which Bektashism Rests ....... 114
Care in selecting Spiritual Associates .............................................. 116
Spiritual Wayfaring on the Bektashi Path ........................................ 119
Spiritual Training in Bektashism ...................................................... 122
Preparing the Wayfarer .................................................................... 126
The Sources of the Bektashi Mystic Path .......................................... 128
Qualities the Wayfarer must possess ................................................ 130
Bektashi views on Steadfastness ....................................................... 131
Bektashi views on Etiquette ............................................................... 133
Bektashi views on Egotism ................................................................ 134
Bektashi views on Spiritual love ....................................................... 137
Who can be considered a Lover? ...................................................... 139
Bektashi views on the Beloved ........................................................... 141
Lover and the Beloved Together ....................................................... 144
Bektashi views on Waḥdat ul-Wujūd ................................................. 147
Chapter 11: Advice from Khunkār Ḥajjī Bektash Velī .............................. 151

Part Three: Bektashi Poetry
Chapter 12: Bektashi Poets & their Works ................................................. 179
Khunkār Ḥajjī Bektash Velī .............................................................. 181
Sayyid ʿAlī Sulṭān ............................................................................. 186
Abdal Mūsā Sulṭān ........................................................................... 189
Balım Sulṭān ..................................................................................... 193
Kaygusuz Sulṭān al-Maghāwirī ........................................................ 200
Virānī Baba ...................................................................................... 220
Abdul Mu’min Dede & Fuẓūlī ........................................................... 225
Ṣādiḳ Abdal Baba .............................................................................. 232
Sersem ʿAlī Dede ............................................................................... 234
ʿArshī Baba ....................................................................................... 239
Mithālī ............................................................................................... 240
Imād ud-Dīn Nasīmī .......................................................................... 242
Pīr Sulṭān Abdal ................................................................................ 257
Ḳalandar Shah ................................................................................... 275
Kazak Abdal ...................................................................................... 277
Kamāl ud-Dīn Shamīmī Baba ........................................................... 281
Üsküdarlı Hāshim Baba .................................................................... 287 c
ʿAlī Turābī Dede ................................................................................ 289
Bōsnevī Baba ..................................................................................... 298
Ibrāhīm Dertlī ................................................................................... 302
Nasībī Ṭāhir Baba ............................................................................. 307
Muḥarram Maḥzūnī Baba ................................................................. 308
Ḥajjī Mehmet Perīshān Dede ............................................................ 316
Aḥmad Seyrānī .................................................................................. 319
Baba ʿAbdullah Melçani ................................................................... 323
Girītlī ʿAlī Rasmī Baba ...................................................................... 326
Asad Baba ......................................................................................... 330
Sayyid Muḥammad ʿĀsım Baba & His Tekke ................................... 332
Ḥajjī ʿAlī Khākī Baba ........................................................................ 336
Selīm Rūḥī Baba ................................................................................ 349
Mehmet ʿAlī Ḥilmī Dede ................................................................... 357
Mehmet Yasārī Baba ......................................................................... 364
Shamsī Baba ...................................................................................... 367
Baba Zayn ul-ʿAbidīn Leskoviku ....................................................... 369
Edib Harābī Baba ............................................................................. 373
Fılozof Rıza Tevfik ............................................................................. 380
Adam Wajhī Baba ............................................................................. 394
Ṭālib Frashëri ................................................................................... 398
Ḥajjī Ad’ham Bey, “Shahīdī” ............................................................ 400
Baba Melek Shëmbërdhenji ............................................................... 403
Ṣāliḥ Niyāzī Dede .............................................................................. 416
Baba Aḥmad Turānī .......................................................................... 419
A poem from Ahmad Sırrı Baba ........................................................ 421
Baba Ibrāhīm & The Ḥajjī Baba Tekke of Qesarakë ....................... 422
Baṣrī Baba ......................................................................................... 425
Salmān Jamālī Baba .......................................................................... 429
Baba ʿAlī Tomori ............................................................................... 431
Kulthūm Bājī ..................................................................................... 440
Zahrā Bājī ......................................................................................... 441
Sakīna Bājī ........................................................................................ 442
Āminah Beyza Bājī ............................................................................ 444 c
ʿĀrifah Bājī ........................................................................................ 445
Iḳbāl Bājī ........................................................................................... 446
Munīrah Bājī ..................................................................................... 447
Baba Ṣāliḥ Matohasanaj ................................................................... 449

A Few Words to Conclude With ................................................................ 452
Glossary ............................................................................................................................... 457
Notes .................................................................................................................................... 467