THE USE AND MISUSE OF THE

BEKTASHI NAME IN WESTERN

CONTEXT:

The Case of the Thule Society, the

Shriners,

& the Dawoodi-Bektashis

Muhammed al-AhariMagribine Press

Published by the Magribine Press5333 W. Rosedale Ave.

Chicago, IL 60646-6539Send all Correspondence Attn: Muhammed al-Ahari

© 2006 Magribine Press

First EditionAll rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.Copyright © 2006 by Magribine PressCover design & book layout: Muhammed Abdullah al-Ahari

This book was originally presented at THE 1ST INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON ALEVISM &

BEKTASHISM

28-30 September 2005 / İsparta – TurkeySüleyman Demirel University Faculty of Theology

2

Introduction

In the West, there has been an

enduring tendency to regard belonging

to secret societies as a means of social

ascent and self-aggrandizement. The

more secretive and strange the ritual and

history of a given ‘secret’ order, the

longer the line to join will become. The

most primitive of these orders included

Instructive Masonry which purportedly

traced its origins to ancient Greece and

Egypt. The libraries of these orders and

their rituals were claimed to have

derived from clandestine Moroccan (in

the case of the Rosicrucians), Persian (for

the Grotto), and Arabian or Egyptian (for

the Shriners) mystic orders.

In the 19th century we have the

European discovery of Tibet and the

ensuing legends about the mythical

kingdom of Shambala (as well as all its

secreted esoteric knowledge), the lost

tribes of the Caucasus Mountains, the

Order of the Peacock, and “science” of

3

Theosophy. Truth explorers were

allegedly able to find hidden away guides

and guarded texts which purportedly

reveal the realities of the universe. The

famed Madame Blavatsky gave us the

Stanzas of Dzyan, Richard Burton the

Qasidas of Abu Yazid, as well as the ritual

books of the Grotto and the Shriners

secret societies. Yet none of these texts

have any ancient manuscript in

existence, leading one to assume their

complete and utter forgery.

My motivation for writing this short

exposé are several; the foremost being a

wish to distance the noble Bektashi Order

of Sufis from individuals and groups who

have indefensibly utilized the name

Bektashi in their organizations without

any solid rationalization, an occurrence

that has caused a significant amount of

confusion among inquisitive minds. Since

the 19th century a number of individuals

who have sought out the genuine path of

Haji Bektash and that of the Bektashis

4

have been led to things that are

unquestionably not Bektashism and,

despite such claims, have no origin in

Bektashism at all. Historically, these first

purported links to Islamic mysticism (out

of which the Bektashi Sufism) came from

Freemasonry and its root, the Knight

Templar.

The Knight Templar:

The Origins of Freemasonry

The Knights Templar was a military

order founded in Palestine in 1119 CE at

the height of the Crusades by a group of

nine warriors who had sought out

spiritual glory and worldly fortune. The

King of Jerusalem -- Baldwin II (reign

1118-31) -- gave them quarters in his

palace which was purportedly on the site

of Solomon’s Temple (thus the name

“Templar”).

The Knights Templar took vows of

poverty, chastity, as well as obedience to

none save the Grand Master of the Order

5

(the first was Hugh du Paynes). The

knights were divided into four ranks:

knights, chaplains, squires, and servants.

The knights wore a white mantle with a

red cross, while the lower grades wore a

black or brown mantle. They grew

rapidly (from 9 to 30,000) and became

exceedingly wealthy.

Other militant Christian orders

grew jealous of wealth and prestige of

The Knights Templar. A number, such as

the Hospitallers, gained the ear of the

French king and the Pope. When the city

of Acre fell to the Mamluks in 1291 CE

and the various Christian orders

withdrew to Cyprus, the Templars were

accused of being associates of the

Isma’ilis (Assassins) and of espousing the

heresy of Unitarianism (absolute

monotheism). In 1307 CE, Philip IV of

France began to confiscate their

properties with the approval of the Pope

who issued a bull which dissolved the

order in 1312 CE.

6

The last Grand Master, Jacques de

Molay, was burned to death in 1314 CE

along with several of his closest followers

in the courtyard of Notre Dame

Cathedral. Contemporary researchers

see the persecution of the Templars as a

horrific and fanatical distortion of justice.

Outside of France, the Templars were

generally cleared of the charges of

blasphemy and were given time to go

underground. Such was the case of

community in the British Isles.

Sixty years after their suppression,

The Knights Templar awoke in a so-called

peasant revolt against the English Crown.

The eight day revolt was lead by Walter

the Tyler (a Masonic title) and the

sources of leadership of that brief revolt

were not traced to the Templars at that

time [Robinson, xii]. In Masonry, a

“Tyler” guards the door of the lodge

against intruders. Surely a suppressed

military order would be in need of such a

person.

7

While there is no clear

documentation that The Knight Templars

framed their hierarchical structure upon

the one developed by the Isma’ilis of

Alamut, there is evidence that the

Templars and Assassins, at times, joined

together in common cause. For instance

the Templars wished to have the city of

Tyre and would have traded Damascus

for it. At one time the King of Jerusalem

came under the intrigues of both the

Templars and the Assassins. The

Assassins had been paying tribute to the

Templars and sent a message to the King

of Jerusalem that they would convert en

masse to Christianity if the tribute were

lifted. Instead the Templars ambushed

the King of Jerusalem's envoy to the

Assassins and brutally murdered him.

The relationship between the Templers’

Grand Master and the Assassins was

close enough that he likely knew of the

whole affair. [Waite, 50]

8

After their long association with the

Middle East, the Templars had naturally

become tinted by its lore, theosophy, and

obscure rituals. These were the charges

brought against them when they were

under direction of De Moley. Charges of

heresy, urinating on crosses, homo-erotic

unions, and devil worship were all

forthcoming. [MacKinzie, 125-143]

Nevertheless, the main sacrilege the

Templars were accused of their denial of

the Trinity. Further charges of witchcraft

and the worship of an idol called

“Baphomat” were added to make their

persecution seem rational.

These supposed heretics escaped

whenever the chance arose. They had

an organization prepared to operate

under these circumstances. Except in

France, where they were victims of a

thoroughgoing inquisition, the Templars

were able to go underground and

become mercenaries, shopkeepers,

clergymen, and members of trade guilds.

9

They carried with them the ability to

survive, if given chance, and escape the

inquisitor’s flame. The decades of

association with the workings of

Byzantine politics, the secret rituals of

the Assassins, and the intrigues within

Muslim courts, all of which they observed

on battlefields and at conference tables,

prepared them for a life of duplicity and

secretiveness. The church, with it blood-

spattered rejection of protest and social

change, provided the Templars with

many willing sympathizers.

The secrecy much needed in those

days is still part of the Masonic ritual at

present. A candidate must be able to

keep secrets, be sound body, and not

senile or mentally deficient. A

suppressed military order would have to

keep such rules in order to survive

underground and not suffer further

persecution.

To enter the ranks of the Masons,

the candidate must be recommended,

10

then interviewed and put through a ritual

that ensures he is searching for

knowledge, self-improvement, and

community service. The candidate strips

to his trousers and undershirt, removes

all coins from his clothes, bares his left

arm and breast, and rolls one pant leg to

the knee. He then is “cable-towed” and

“hood-winked”. After being lead past the

“Tyler”, the “Worshipful Master” reminds

the candidate of the punishments in

store for anyone revealing the secrets of

the lodge. The punishments were the

same handed out to the Knight Templars

during their persecution.

When the “Worshipful Master” has

questioned the candidate and heard the

correct answers, the hood is removed as

a result of the candidates answering the

question “What are you searching for?”

with the word, “Light.” Upon uttering

this, the candidate is taught the

passwords and signs of his degree and is

invested with a white woolen apron -- a

11

connection, perhaps, to Sufa [wool] and

Sufism?

After being made an “Entered

Apprentice” for a short time, the

candidate can rise in the Masonic ranks

to be a “Fellowcraft” or “Journeyman”.

Originally this was the highest rank and a

Master was selected from them. This is

also true of the Bektashi Sufi Order. Only

later did the 3rd degree of “Master

Mason” develop [Mackenzie, 211].

The ritual is similar to that of the

“Entered Apprentice”, but the lecture

differs. Candidates at this level are lead

to a Middle Chamber and given a lecture

on the heavenly and earthly geometry

(knowledge attributed to Solomon, but

likely through Arabic sources). There he

is told the three degrees are symbolic of

life: youth (Entered Apprentice),

maturation (Fellowcraft), and old age

(Master Mason). The lecture then

discusses numerology of which the

number seven is stressed (7 liberal arts,

12

7 heavens, 7 years to build Solomon's

Temple, 7 wonders of the world, etc.).

This number is most important in the

Isma’ili worldview and the Masons

(formerly the Knight Templars) perhaps

gained its air of importance from them

[Mackenzie, 214].

The “Master Mason” homily deals

with the murder of Solomon’s architect

Hiram Abiff by the three Juwes (Jubelo,

Jubela, Jubelum). These names are only

the masculine, feminine and neuter for of

the noun Jubes – “He who is punished.”

Hiram’s body is discarded by the

murderers when the failed to get him to

tell them the Master Password. This

word is called the lost key to Masonry. A

substitute word Mahabone is given

instead. This word also shows were

some Templars hid. In French “Bon

Mahania” is the name of the port from

which the Barbary pirates sailed when

they attacked merchant ships in the

Mediterranean.

13

In the ritual the candidate plays

Hiram Abiff. Hiram Abiff is the Anglicized

version of “Hiram Á Biffe” – Hiram who

was eliminated. The candidate is

unwrapped and raised to the level of

brotherhood (foot to foot, knee to knee,

breast to breast, hand to back, mouth to

ear) by a Masonic grip called the lion’s

paw. This only occurs after he has heard

that the three Juwes were being put to

death in the manner that they described

in oaths were they admitted their

wrongs. Again, these oaths are

reminiscent of the punishments dealt to

the Knight Templars during their

persecution. The complete ritual is found

in many works on Freemasonry.

About the lodge itself more should

be said. The lodge refers not to a

meeting place, but a safe house for a

member of the order. The floor of the

lodge, a black and mosaic, is the final

key. It is a repetition of a black block

above a white block below. The black

14

symbolizes the black world left behind by

the order, the white the world of knightly

purity they entered. The gloves are from

the Templars also due to their wearing of

gloves to keep their hands pure to

receive communion. The travel to the

East is but a remembrance of the path

the Knights went to fight in the Crusades.

As the Templars prayed in round

churches so no one was able to be in a

position of higher rank, a compass was

retained and became part of the Masonic

legend of their being an ancient order of

freethinkers and mathematicians. The

“G” for Geometry comes from Masons

being responsible for rebuilding London

after the Great Fire of 1666 CE. Other

communities and proofs that the Masons

are the direct descendants of the Knight

Templars could be given but the interest

reader should go to Robinson’s Born in

Blood and other such as: Stephen

Knight’s The Brotherhood and The Secret

Diary of Jack the Ripper for more proofs.

15

“More than six hundred years have

passed since the suppression of the

Knight Templars, but their heritage lives

on in the largest fraternal organization

ever known [Freemasons].” [Robinson,

xix] The direct descendants of the Knight

Templars are: 1) the Pirates of Mahadiah;

2) Irish Freemasons; 3) Scottish

Freemasons; and, 4) York Rite Masons.

In American the first Scottish Rite

Lodge was founded in Charleston S.C. by

Stephen Morin in 1801 CE. Scottish Rite

Masonry was first publicly promulgated in

1758 CE. Stephen Morin was granted

patents to increase the number of

degrees on August 27, 1761 CE. The

Grand Lodge of Perfection was first

operated under Isaac De Costa - the

Inspector General of South Carolina in

1783 CE. This lodge did not survive. In

1801 CE the lodge was reestablished

with a Grand Council under Fredrick

Dalcho, John Mitchell, Stephen Morin and

others. The Shriners evolved out of the

16

33rd degree system of Scottish Rite

Masonry.

Freemasonry

The Masonry we know today is called

“Speculative” Masonry. It only replaced

“Constructive” (building or guild)

Masonry very gradually. The year 1717

CE is usually marked as the start of

Speculative Masonry. In 1723 CE the first

book of rituals, catechisms and

constitutions were issued by Anderson.

Masonry is of three degrees:

Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master

Mason. All other degrees are added and

spurious. They did not exist at the start.

One must progress in Masonry by

learning the catechisms, listening to

charges and study. At each degree one

learns certain grips, passwords and a

series of questions and answers. Masonry

is all theory now. The Craft ritual were

destroyed in 1717 CE and replaced by

new rituals such as Anderson's.

17

Negro Freemasonry was started by a

West Indian named Prince Hall. His

lodges are regular but racists put false

claims of heresy and clandestine

activities on them. His rituals are nearly

identical to White Freemasonry. His first

lodge was Boston's Africa Lodge Number

459. (see Islam, Christianity and Free

Masonry).

The Shriners

Many Muslims living in America are

under the mistaken impression that

members of the Shriners are fellow

members of the Faith. The Encyclopedia

of Freemasonry has a ten page article

dealing with the Assassins that would

lead one to believe in an Islamic-Shriner

connection.

The best source for students of the

Shriners is the popular history written by

Fred Van Deventer entitled Parade to

Glory: The Story of the Shriners and the

Hospitals for Crippled Children. The

18

history of this Masonic order as given by

the Shriners is that it was,

“...established in Mecca,

Arabia and became an

acknowledged power in the

year 5459, equivalent to the

year of our Lord 1698. The

Ritual was compiled and

arranged in Aleppo, Arabia and

issued by Louis Marracci, the

great Latin translator of

Mohammed’s Al-Koran. The

mysterious Order continued to

thrive in Arabia from that date

to the present. It was revised

and instituted in Cairo, Egypt,

in 5598, equivalent to June 14,

1837.

The Order was primarily

instituted for the purpose of

promoting the organization

and perfection of Arabic and

Egyptian inquisitions, to

dispense justice and execute

19

punishment of criminals whom

the tardy laws did not reach to

measure their crimes. Being

designed to embrace the

entire pale of the law and

composed of sterling and

determined men who would

upon a valid accusation

fearlessly try, judge and if

convicted, execute the

criminal within the hour-

leaving no trace of their acts

behind....” [Van Deventer, 35-

36].

The text goes on to describe a

mythical bond between their group and

famous Sufis of the past. These

connections with the great sages of Islam

is purely farcical, and even their claim to

be related to the Bektashi Order of

Dervishes has to be taken with a grain of

salt.

“The most prominent and powerful of those orders is the Bektashy, or Nobles of

20

the Mystic Shrine. Its offshoots and satellites are the Darkawy, Khowan, AbDel Kader El Baghdadi, and the Issawiye, similar in obligation and purpose. These are not altogether politico-religious societies as generally supposed by the outside world. Although ostensibly appearing as such there is a deep and hidden meaning beneath the exposed superficial exterior, as promulgated to the profane.” [Van Deventer, 36].

The Shriner’s claim that they have

a view of changing Islam to fit American

circumstances is also a Shriner view as

we see in the following passage,

“The Bektashy, or Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, as it is known in America, is of necessity divested of its inconsistent Islam dogmas and its ritual adapted to the consistencies of Christian institutions and American laws, and is destined to become a powerful order here in America.” [Van Deventer, 36]

21

The Shriners go on to say that Haji

Bektash was an Arab (in fact he was not

an Arab, but rather a Persian) and they

further tell of his blessing the famed

Janissary Corp. The Shriners more

accurately believe the order was called

“Janissaries” because this means “they

were freed captives who were adopted

into the faith and the army.” In addition

they believe that the Sacred Mosque in

Mecca (the Harâm al-Sharîf) is nothing

other than the Temple of ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib

and is under control of the chief officer of

“Alee Temple of Nobles”. This, of course,

is sheer fantasy.

A member of the Mecca Temple of

New York and the U.S. consul to Malta

raised quite a furor by sending letters

from the years 1882 to 1892 CE, giving

alleged translations of ritual from Algiers,

Tripoli, Cairo and other temples. The

Arabic originals, obviously, do not exist

and his pass or passport to various

“Islamic” shrines was counterfeit. Yet for

22

his forgeries he received $500 a year

from the Mecca Temple.

In truth, is the Shriners were

founded by a British stage actor named

William J. Florence and Dr. Fleming of

New York in 1870 CE. They were thirty-

second or thirty-third degree Scottish

Rite Masons. As shown above, they

concocted legends claiming initiation

from persons as dissimilar as the “Grand

Sheikh of Mecca”, Sultan Selim III, the

Illuminati in addition to the Bektashi Sufi

Order. These claims are spurious and

improvable. This did not prevent the late

Mr. Duro Çini, an Albanian Shriner and

Bektashi from Canada, from divulging to

me the supposed ‘secret’ Bektashi-

Shriner connection.

Although started in 1876 CE, this

order was not an operating order for

nearly a decade afterwards. Furthermore,

Frederick von Deventer prints a letter in

which Fleming’s son said all the Shriner

legend was only in his father’s head. His

23

son did not disclose the errors in the

legend, but I will do so. First off, the

Bektashis were never in “control” of the

city of Makkah; there were never Shrines

in the Middle East who could, via Silsilah,

trace their origin to Imam Ali; the

Bektashis were primarily Turkish or

Albanian in membership, not Arab; the

terminology of the Shriners shows more

of a borrowing from Hebrew rather than

Arabic; I could go on and on.

Many who analyze Shriner ritual fail

to realize what they are looking at. The

language used in most cases is Hebrew.

The rituals are based more on the ritual

of other Masonic orders and the cult of

the number 13 than any thing else.

There is nothing Bektashi or even Islamic

about them whatsoever, other than

cosmetic appearances. Yet whatever else

may be said about them, the Shriners

provided a new form of heresy as a

conduit of cultural transfer.

24

An Afro-American form of the

Shriners was started by a handful of

32nd Degree Prince Hall Masons at the

World's Fair in 1893 CE. The organization

of the order was a self-styled “Arab”

named Rofelt Pasha. His origins are

unknown and even more shrouded in

mystery than later Black Muslim leaders

Drew Ali and Fard Muhammad. But a

name like “Rofelt” is hardly Arab and the

man was probably nothing more than

one more charlatan in Oriental garb. (see

African American Freemasons: Why they

should accept Islam by Mustafa El-Amin

for details.)

The Grotto

An order similar in nature to the

Shriners is the “Persian Order”, started

by seventeen members of the Hamilton

Lodge No. 120 in Hamilton, New York, in

the summer of 1889 CE under the

direction of ex-Postmaster General,

Thomas L. James. Beyond its Persian

25

ritual, which tells the story of a leprosy

covered Persian Prophet that wears a

veil, they has a component group called

the Knights of Khorrosan (the birthplace

of Hajji Bektash Veli). This is the Blue

Lodge’s playground (for Master Masons

and higher ups), much like the Shrine is

for the 32nd and 33rd degree Masons. The

chief moving spirit in the founding of this

organization was LeRoy Fairchild. At their

meeting on September 10, 1889 CE, they

decided to honor the founder by calling it

Fairchild Deviltry Committee.

When the new order grew too large

for one locality, the Fairchild Deviltry

Committee duly established the Supreme

Council, Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets

of the Enchanted Realm on July 13, 1890

CE. It is mystic in its lessons and method

of teaching. It is veiled because all

secrets are known but are hidden in the

impure heart and are unveiled as the

heart is cleansed. The order is an

enchanted realm as it is separate from

26

the world and is full of joy as “sorrow

burdens any unenchanted realm.”

The handbook of the Grotto is

named Grotto Creed and Prophets’

Compact. It tells us the Grotto was made

to encourage Masonic fraternity free of

discrimination based on status in life.

True fraternity should be based on lodge

membership and such membership not

be used for advancement of material

interest. Like Shriners, they have a

charitable side – study of cures for

cerebral palsy and dental work for the

poor.

The Thule Society

Immediately after the end of World

War One, numerous secret societies

began to rise in Germany. Some of these

secret societies started as a means to

rebuild the German Empire, while others

as a healing spring for the nation’s ills.

One of the strongest and most closely

tied to the Nazi party was the Thule

27

Society. They held that secret, occult

wisdom was held in the arctic land of

“Thule”.

This order was founded by Baron

Rudolf von Sebottendorff (1875-1945).

He taught that he “discovered” wisdom

that had been perverted through

Freemasonic teachings. Sebottendorff

was born in Silesia in November, 1875.

Early in life, he became a merchant

seaman and traveled to the Middle East.

This travel in search of knowledge put

him in the same company as Parsival of

the Grail Quest, Christian Rozenkratz,

Rofelt Pasha Bey of the Shriners, and

even founders of several Black Muslim

and Holiness Churches in the United

States such as Daddy Grace, Fard

Muhammad, Professor Ezzaldeen

Muhammad, and Noble Drew Ali. In

Turkey he was allegedly exposed to a

group that he called the “Ancient Turkish

Freemasons”.

28

In the advertisement of English

translation of his work The Practice of the

Ancient Turkish Freemasons: The Key to

Understanding of Alchemy – A

presentation of the Ritual, Doctrine and

Signs of Recognition among the Oriental

Freemasons, the publisher, Runa-Raven,

presents the book as containing,

“The secret spiritual

practices of the Bektashi

order as taught in the early

part of the 20th century.

These practices make use of

signs and vocal formulas,

which, if performed exactly

and to their conclusion,

transform the individual into

the object of the magnum

opus of the medieval

alchemists.”

A closer reading of the text found

less than a half dozen brief quotes from

Sufi saints, none of whom are Bektashi

writers, sheikhs, or poets. The rituals

29

presented in the text included use of

mirrors and candles for meditation and

which are aimed to elevate the level of

depth of mental concentration. All of

these rituals can be found in basic mail

order Rosicrucian texts and are definitely

not part of any known Sufi practice.

Quotes from Latin Rosicrucian

manuscript and from miscellaneous

Hindu and Egyptian ritual texts

containing similar concepts show no

connection whatsoever with the Bektashi

Order. For example the first line is a

quote from Latin “Libelli habeant sua

fata,” – “Books should have their own

destiny.” It quotes a hadith “tether your

ass and trust in God” on the second page

without reference and calls it an Arab

proverb. His discussion of Islam history is

superficial and repeats slander of the

message coming from Jewish and

Christian sources, “Not far from Mecca

lived an aged hermit, Ben Chesi, who

was teaching the Prophet [Muhammad].

30

When the lessons were over, he gave

him a metallic plate (upon which were

engraved formulas), the meaning of

which the then 30-year old Prophet had

just learned. Soon thereafter the hermit

died, but Muhammad kept on teaching

the secret of these formulas in the most

intimate circles. Abu Bekr, the first Calif,

inherited the plate and the knowledge

which only spread within a small circle

after the death of the Prophet: this is the

secret knowledge of the Oriental

Freemasons” (Sebettondorff, page 6).

Sebettondorf goes on to explain

that the keys to these plates are hid in

the Qur’an in the Huruf al-Muqatta or

abbreviated letters that precede some

surahs. These explanations are not found

in any traditional Islamic, Bektashi, or

Sufi text. Some scholars do give mystical

explanations for the letters, but none

mention metallic plates or a hermit

named Ben Chasi. He goes on to explain

the length of various consciousness

31

raising practices based on the numeric

values of these letters. Supposedly the

source is a Turkish Kabbalist named

Hussein Pasha and an untraced

manuscript Ilm ul-Miftach (Knowledge of

the Key). Note that this spelling is

Hebrew not Arabic or Turkish. Would a

Turkish Bektashi write a text with a

Hebrew title? He describes this work as,

“the preparation of the Philosophers’

Stone, the magnum opus, the mystery of

the Rosicrucians and alchemists”

(Sebettondorf, page 19).

The source for this the title of the

text above is his novel Der Talsiman

Rosenkreuzers. He did live in Turkey and

had ties to the land through the Turkish

Red Crescent Society and various

Freemasons and Sufis he met there, but

there has been no clear connection with

an established Sufi Order beyond a few

brief quotes from his text that could be

culled from any library. Another source

that has yet to be traced that he

32

mentions is Sheikh Jachya’s Charam el-

din (again a Hebrew title). Most other

texts mentioned are German and Latin

Rosicrucian texts. However, he does

quote from Mahmud Shebisteri’s Gulshen

Ras at length where the Zodiac is

described as a sign of Allah.

Sebottendorff fought in the Balkan

Wars of 1912-1913, became a director of

the Red Crescent Society and became

Grand Master of the Turkish branch of

the Rosicrucian Society. He learned to

speak Turkish, so when he returned to

Germany he had the garb of a Grand

Master. Few could, at the time, contest

his claims and really had no reason to

since they presented a path to the

rebuilding of the Reich. This tie to the

Rosicrucian society is also seen in the

title of his autobiographical novel Der

Talsiman Rosenkreuzers.

The Rosicrucians were a Germanic

secret society founded in Germany by

Christian Rosencrantz. He was an

33

alchemist who claimed to have gained

his spiritual knowledge from unnamed

Shaykhs in Morocco. His teachings were

transmitted in such texts as the Fama

and the Chemical Wedding. They deal

with crystal gazing, self hypnotism, and

Astrology. These practices and works do

not suggest a strong Islamic or Bektashi

base for the Thule Society and their

claims to the teachings of Ancient

Turkish Freemasonry. A brief search of

the Internet will show the modern version

of this Germanic Order called the AMORC

and its attempts to trace its teachings to

ancient Egypt and Tibet. Such details can

be found in the text Unto Thee I Grant.

This work was supposed written by

Amenhotep and then later placed in a

Tibetan Lamas Monastery.

In 1913 CE Sebottendorff returned

to Germany with two treasure chests –

wealth from his adoptive father and a

vast knowledge of eastern wisdom. He

began to make contact with the leaders

34

of various German occult and mystical

groups. He came to the attention of

Rudolph Hess and Herman Pohl of the

Germanen Order and helped to found the

journal “Runen” and “Munchener

Beobachter.” The later journal was

eventually purchased by the Nazi Party

and renamed “Volkisher Beobachter.”

The Baron himself saw the

founding of his Thule Society on August

17, 1918 CE as the cradle of the National

Socialist Movement. After the German

defeat, the society began a focal point of

anti-Bolshevik and Nationalist struggle.

Hitler never joined the Thule Society

itself, but joined its political wing, which

later became the National Socialist Party.

Sebottendorff even wrote about this in

his work Bevor Hitler Kam.

The society eventually devoted

itself to study of German History and

customs and began to search for the

mystical land of Thule. The Thule Society

eventually ruptured into two groups –

35

one whose focus was totally mystical and

the other that was a blend of the occult,

mystical, and political. Sebottendorff

returned to Turkey and published his The

Practice of the Ancient Turkish

Freemasons.

In Turkey, Sebottendorff joined the

“Imperial Constantine Order” and fought

against Bolshevik ideology. His works

were later suppressed by the Nazis and

he died under mysterious circumstances

in 1945 CE. With his death, his work has

been relegated to the pens of historians

of the Nazi Movement and bookshelves

of White Supremist groups. Like the

Thule, the next group I shall discuss, the

Dawoodi-Bektashis, claim Turkish origins

for its concocted teachings as well.

The Dawoodi-Bektashi Order

The Grotto, Shriners, Thule Society,

and the Rosicrucians all purport to be a

repository of ancient mystical wisdom.

His history is likewise shrouded in

36

mystery and its founder brought secret

hidden wisdom to the world stage. While

these earlier groups never openly

claimed to be Bektashi, a modern group

calling itself the “Dawoodi-Bektashis”

does. The head of this group is American-

born Professor Thomas McElwain (known

as Ali Haydar to his followers). His claims

to the origin of his self-fabricated Sufi

order are continually conflicting and

contradictory, but his chief assertion is

that his Dawoodi-Bektashi Order is the

true embodiment of what was taught by

the 13th century Anatolian saint Haji

Bektashi and that it has existed in one

form or another for centuries around the

world and in, of all places, Appalachia.

Professor McElwain professes to

have inherited the Dawoodi-Bektashi

spiritual path from his forefathers and

has hence gone public with it, to a

limited extent. I wish to be clear that my

intention here is to show that the

continued assertions of Ali Haydar that

37

this concocted tradition is somehow a

representative form of Bektashism is

completely counterfeit and ostensibly of

his own construction.

Prof. McElwain recently went into

the realm of academia with some of his

speculations and claims in his article,

“Sufism Bridging East & West: the case

of the Bektashis” in Sufism in Europe and

North America (edited by David

Westerlund), a work that should have

been of interest for any historian of

American Muslim History. In this article

he told of a previously secreted and

unknown Sufi order in Appalachia that

had been preserved through family

transmission dating from the 1500s CE.

Rumors of Muslim wayfarers from

that era are found in various pieces of

literature but as far it is known to date,

none of these individuals were known to

have been able to pass Islamic religious

traditions beyond a few generations.

Even where slavery and assimilation had

38

not hindered the transmission of Islam as

a faith, most Muslims living in North

America had difficult training their

children in the faith for several reasons:

lack of Islamic education on the part of

parents, lack of curriculum materials,

free time, inter-faith marriages, and

interest on the part of children. This

extraordinary transmission of Islam (and

Sufism) related by McElwain was so

astounding and fantastic that a novel can

be written about it!

Before progressing further, I wish

to mention one disconcerting mark of

this article, especially when juxtaposed

with the claims made in other posts and

material, is so full of questionable

theories and conjectures, with every

other assertion being started with so

many “maybes”, “ifs”, that it makes the

entire piece seem amateurish at best

and incompetent at worst and it gives

rise to a very serious question: What is

the rationale for all of this hypothesizing?

39

Could it be that claims to represent an

Appalachian “Bektashi” tradition cannot

stand even the slightest academic

scrutiny? One obvious disappointment

that will certainly alert careful

researchers is Prof. McElwain’s

abstention from mentioning whatsoever

this much-touted Dawoodi-Bektashi

“tradition” in the article at all! One would

think given the purported antiquity of the

“tradition” an entire study could be made

solely on that.

As I read the article in question, I

found many factual blunders in

McElwain’s depiction of both early

American Islam and, more distressingly,

of Bektashism. I will not go into these

gaffes in detail here, but what I will

mention here is a passage where

McElwain purports a Bektashi presence in

North America from the 16th century

along with my comments. He writes, “In

America there may be [emphasis mine,

as is all further instances] an early

40

Bektashi influence. Brent Kennedy

postulates a survival of Turkish and

Moorish prisoners set ashore in the early

1500s and having descendants among

the Melungeons of the southern

Appalachians.” For those who may be

unfamiliar with the name, the

Melungeons were a mixed-race

Appalachian group that was made-up of

bits and pieces of the “Lost Colony” of

Roanoke Island, runaway slaves, and

several Native American tribal groups.

There are over 200 similar groups such

as the Ben Ishmael Tribe, the Sumter

Turks, the Seminoles, the Dismal Swamp

Maroons, and the West Virginian

Guineas. Scholarly works on the

Melungeons and their folklore are

fortunately starting to make a modest

appearance, with such as Wayne

Walker’s Walking towards the Sunset,

and Elizabeth Hirschman’s Melungeons:

The Last Lost Tribe in America. Certainly

the whole question of Melungeon origins

41

will certainly be revealed through

modern DNA testing.

McElwain had written earlier about

the Melungeons and their folklore, but he

had not mentioned any Islamic

connection until Brent Kennedy’s The

Melungeons: A Forgotten Folk came out

in the early 1990s. In that work Kennedy

offers the theory of a possible Turkish

(hence Muslim) bloodline for certain

Melungeon families. McElwain makes

much use of this theorized link to bolster

his own claims of the existence of a

Dawoodi “tradition” although he

continually fails to offer any evidence

other than the most circumstantial sort.

In actual fact he goes out of his way to

place enough disclaimers into his

assertions that it seriously undermines

what little credibility can be given to a

Dawoodi-Bektashi tradition: “There are

Melungeons who retain some personal

practices, but there is no organizational

presence within living memory, nor any

42

record of it. Melungeons have been

covering their tracks for several

centuries, so it is unlikely that real

evidence will turn up,” as well as,

“Another problem lies in the fact that

such a population, if it actually existed,

was separated from the centre of

Bektashi development before it

crystallized into its more stable form in

the sixteenth century.” Are there traces

of Bektashism among the Melungeons or

not? McElwain has clearly claimed in

other places that Bektashism (and his

Dawoodi “branch”) did indeed exist

among this Appalachian group:

“Melungeons and consequently Dawoodis

have sprung. Documentation is generally

lacking, and family traditions are plagued

with falsifications.” (Yahoo Group, Sufi-

Dhikr, post #1797) as well as

“Dawoodism has been a continual factor

among certain Appalachian Melungeon

families through whom the tradition has

43

come down in an unbroken line to the

present bearers.” (Sufi-Dhikr, #1797).

It is known that Sir Walter Raleigh

seized nearly 500 people from the

Mediterranean basin and from Brazil to

replace the members of his first colony,

but after leaving the new colonists, he

failed to return for over three years and

when he did found a tree on which was

carved the word “Croatan” as the only

trace of the fate of his second “Lost

Colony”. In the over 500 members of the

“Lost Colony” there included small

numbers of slaves taken from Portuguese

Brazil (who may have had Muslims

among them), Croatians and Dalmatians,

and possibly a Turk or two. Now what a

Turk or Moor was defined as in those

days is still under debate, and it can be

surmised that a handful of the 500 could

have been Muslim. They might have

even been Sufis, but certainly not

Bektashi given that this particular order

was not widespread in the Balkans at this

44

time. In fact it was not until the late 18th

century that Bektashism gained a

predominant presence in Albania, Greece

and western Macedonia. Even if there

were Muslims with Raleigh, what is the

possibility that any from the Balkans or

even Anatolia would have been Bektashi?

So slight that it wouldn’t even be worth

speculating.1

An additional feature of McElwain’s

article (as well as his online posts) is that

he tries to find Bektashis (and by

extension his own Dawoodi-Bektashis)

everywhere, even in places where they

had never been. He states in one of his

posts that, “Dawoodis have spread to

many areas of the world almost invisibly,

leaving traces that are hard to document

[how convenient!].” (Sufi-Dhikr #1794)

One of his notable errors in this regard

(that can be verified by taking a trip to

1 More information on the Balkan element of the Lost Colony can be found in the work Croatia and the Croatians of the Lost Colony by Adam S. Eterovich.

45

present-day Macedonia) is his attributing

Bektashism to the Rifa’i-Karabashi

shaykh of Skopje, Ibrahim Erol, and

claiming that his tekke is “rife with the

fakir trickery.” The difference between

the Rifa’i’s and Bektashis may not be

noticeable to a novice student of Sufism,

but to a “shaykh” and an academic? The

idea of use of “trickery” and of physical

proofs of faith (such as handling “red-hot

spikes”) should have signaled to

McElwain that Shaykh Ibrahim and his

tekke were definitely not Bektashi, and

that he should have further investigated

what his “second-hand” source was

telling him. Bektashis have never been

known to engage in such mortification of

the flesh, in fact many would see

harming the body at all as being a sin!

Elsewhere Prof. McElwain surmises

that Bektashi lodges continue to exist in

Hungary and other parts of Western

Europe. As far as I know only the türbe

(mausoleum) of Gül Baba in Budapest

46

still exists in Hungary as Islam and

Bektashism ceased to have a presence in

that land when the Hapsburg armies

conquered in 1686 CE. He is correct

about Alevis being in modern Germany

and France, but here is a simple failure to

make a distinction between Alevi and

Bektashi. While the two traditions share

much in common in origins, structure

and spiritual outlook they are

nonetheless separate religious traditions

and very distinct.

In another part of the article Prof.

McElwain makes an exciting claim that in

some way the Anabaptists of Silesia

(perhaps he meant Transylvania and

perhaps he meant Unitarians) were

somehow related to the Bektashis. He

actually opens his article with, “The

Silesian Anabaptists, who in the sixteenth

century frantically appealed to the Sultan

for help in the face of the Lutheran

threat, never met their Bektashi brothers

attached to the Ottoman army, for it

47

never got past Vienna and came too

late.” Can he give us the reference to

this alleged connection to the Bektashis?

What does he imply here by “Bektashi

brothers”? Brothers in a human sense,

brothers theologically or were the

Anabaptists Bektashis themselves? Given

his constant reference to Protestantism

in a number of his online posts perhaps

McElwain sees connections that I miss.

In the article and his online

material Prof. McElwain makes much of

the peculiar figure of Edward Elwall

(1676-1744 CE), an Englishman who was

a member of the Presbyterian Church

who was later prosecuted for blasphemy

in 1726 for his outspoken criticism of the

Trinity. McElwain has graciously posted a

number of Elwall’s writings online for all

to see.2

Elwall seems had done business in

Turkey and had at some point become a

2 http://www.rosanna.com/mcelwain/elwall/index.html

48

Unitarian. There is no explicit evidence

that he became a Muslim, even though

his sympathies with Islam were quite

apparent. He was even noted to have

taken to the “Turkish Habit out of respect

to the Unitarian faith of the

Mahometans” (Champion, 1992, page

177) and to have donned turbans and

robes. What is in question is McElwain’s

shifting assertions of Elwall being a

Bektashi. In his A Path in Time

(paragraph 7) McElwain openly states

that Elwall was a Bektashi: “There is no

evidence that Edward Elwall, probably

the most eminent and visible of English

Bektashis, ever succeeded in establishing

a partnership with a single one of his

countrymen.” This position is also

maintained on the website that presents

his writings: “This did not prevent his

[McElwain’s] representing the Seventh

Day Baptist Missionary Society in

northern Europe until the end of 1990,

referring to the precedent of the

49

foremost English writer of that tradition,

Edward Elwall, who was also a member

of the Bektashi order.” Yet I am puzzled

as to why he would write in one of his

posts on the history of his tradition that,

“Dawoodis have long been found in

Europe as well. Edward Elwall’s early 18th

century writings reveal him to have had

connection with some Sufi order, and his

teachings are most consonant with

Dawoodi principles.” Why didn’t he

openly say “Bektashi” instead of now

“some Sufi order”? Further down in the

same post he surprisingly states that,

“neither the Eckerlins nor Edward Elwall

can be noted with certainty to have been

members of the order.” One day Elwall is

a Bektashi the next not? If the later is the

case, why would there even be need to

constantly mention him in the context of

Bektashis at all?

The Eckerlin brothers in question

are another connection Prof. McElwain

uses to make a case for an early Bektashi

50

presence in America. The Ekerlins were

involved with the Dunkard community of

Ephrata, Pennsylvania and were said to

have had an “Ishmaelite” faith (perhaps

Unitarian is meant, although the

Dunkards certainly weren’t Unitarians)

and were exiled to what is now Preston

County, West Virginia in the 1750’s.

McElwain notes in his A Path in Time that,

“Evidence of their [the Eckerlins] contact

with Bektashis is not strong since most of

the direct documentation was destroyed,

but they certainly have a spiritual

practice closely resembling the

musahiblik.” In post #1797 of the Sufi-

Dhikr discussion group Prof. McElwain

adds the following lengthy information

about the Eckerlin brothers, “Dawoodis

have had a presence on the American

continent apparently for many centuries.

Stories of transmission include

references to the Friday evening sema’,

of the decalogue and the Psalms among

certain Melungeon families. There is a

51

strong possibility of contact between the

Eckerlin brothers and Dawoodis between

1752 and 1756 CE. The Eckerlins may

have had correspondence, directly or

indirectly, with Edward Elwall. However,

neither the Eckerlins nor Edward Elwall

can be noted with certainty to have been

members of the order.” Again why

mention any of these figures at all given

that their connection to Bektashism can

in no way be verified? If one would note

all the individuals throughout history who

held beliefs and practices containing the

slightest similarities with Bektashism

you’d be able to fill out volumes!

Lamentably it is only halfway

through “Sufism Bridging East & West:

the case of the Bektashis” that Prof.

McElwain mentions the sole confirmable

and verifiable presence of Bektashis in

America, that of Baba Rexheb (1901-

1995 CE) and the centre he established

in 1954. Baba Rexheb nonetheless

receives only a miniscule paragraph,

52

despite his being a man who devoted his

entire life to the way of Haji Bektash, a

man who gave up a family life, a man

who lived in exile from his homeland for

50 years and a man who was single-

handedly responsible for safeguarding

the Bektashi Way during the darkest

hours of communist rule over Albania.

Additionally Baba Rexheb wrote a length

study in Albanian on Islamic Mysticism

and Bektashism entitled Misticimza

Islame dhe Bektashizme, which was later

partially translated to English. It is

astonishing that Prof. McElwain doesn’t

even discuss this work and only says that

Bektashism failed to become more

widely spread in North America because

of “Baba Rexheb’s integrity in not

compromising the spiritual tradition for

other agendas.” I can only ask, can

anyone name a real spiritual guide who

has done otherwise? Unfortunately he

also fails to mention what these other

agendas are.

53

One is puzzled as what to make of

Prof. McElwain’s statements that the

Dawoodi “branch” of the Bektashi Order

represents “the order founded by Haji

Bektash in its purity and simplicity”? To

begin with, I have to ask has history ever

witnessed a tariqat that posts a legal

disclaimer about potential misuse of a

novice’s manual? For Dawoodi-Bektashis

this manual is entitled How to Form a

Sufi Lodge: The Dawoodi-Bektashi Order

of Dervishes: Guide for Establishing and

Maintaining a Sufi Lodge, and its

presents the reader with a general view

of the religious currents driving group as

formulated by Prof. McElwain and his

khalifah, Mr. Kemal Argon (Noursu

Nazruddin). Reading through it one is

hard pressed to find anything remarkably

Bektashi in it at all. The entire text

appears to maintain an adherence to

normative Islam and standard Sufi

practice, coupled with a heavy dose of

references to the Old Testament.

54

In reality the actual source of Prof.

McElwain’s claims do not come from

Bektashi tradition but can rather be

found in his own writings and posts. We

are told in one communication by that

the Dawoodi-Bektashi Order was founded

by none other than Haji Bektash himself

(Sufi-Dhikr, #4409), and yet we read in a

later post (#5383) that there was no

order known as the “Dawoodi-Bektashi”

until Prof. McElwain affixed the

designation himself. In the very same

post he laudably divulges that, “because

of the lack of historical documentation, I

have felt it best to suppress the chain of

transmission altogether, and rely merely

on the twelve imams.” But why would

this need to be done? Are there currently

teams of hojas running around the

mountains West Virginia with the Sultan’s

troops in tow hounding out secreted

Bektashis?

In the Dawoodi-Bektashi movement

Prof. McElwain presents a Sufi

55

brotherhood contains commonplace Sufi

ritual, and which recites both the Qur’an

and Bible verses in their sama’. The

description of the dhikr ceremony as

provided in How to Form a Sufi Lodge has

nothing particularly Bektashi about

except a listing the 12 Imams and Haji

Bektash Veli. And it should be added that

Bektashis do not make group dhikr with

repetitive chanting as described in the

manual. It should also be noted that

Bektashis (or any other Sufi order to my

knowledge) have never used the Bible as

an authoritative religious scripture. In his

section on beliefs and practices, Prof.

McElwain repeatedly emphasizes an

alleged Bektashi use of the Qur’an and

the Bible. I personally have read many

Sufi texts as well as Bektashi nefes and

have not encountered any examples of

Bektashis using the Bible to prop up

religious doctrine. An acquaintance of

mine has informed me of Bektashis in the

Balkans honoring the four scriptures but

56

that they nevertheless do not teach from

them. Teaching from the Zabur or

Psalms is problematical in any event

since an authoritative Islamic translation

from and commentary on them has

never existed.

Prof. McElwain does constantly

assert the very Bektashi concept of the

Four Gates, except that his analysis of

them can be seen as superficial at best.

A good reading of J.K. Birge’s noteworthy

The Bektashi Order of Dervishes would

present a much more focused view, as

would a cursory reading of Bektashi

nefes. But I must presume that Prof.

McElwain can not do this and a few lines

from his semi-autobiographic Hello I am

God: A Bektashi Rosary should explain

why:

“Many of the villagers did me

the honor of coming to pay

their respects. There was a

line of visitors almost every

day it seemed. One

57

gentleman listened carefully

to everything I said. He eyed

me curiously. Finally he said

to the host in a loud whisper,

‘Is your friend mentally

deficient?’ ‘Why no,’ said my

friend. ‘Then why does he

speak Turkish so poorly?’”

In his collection of writings and

numerous posts Prof. McElwain neglects

to show even the slightest knowledge of

Haji Bektash’s writings, be they in

Turkish, Persian, Arabic or anything other

than a very jumbled and ambiguous

understanding of authentic Bektashi (or

Alevi for that matter) beliefs, rituals,

customs and social attitudes. Although

he continually makes reference to the

group’s validation to claim Bektashism

being their supposed use of Haji

Bektash’s Maqalat, his disciples

constantly post messages on the Sufi-

Dhikr discussion group clamoring for

58

English translations, which, I might add,

are never provided. How can you claim to

follow a book you have no access to?

Most of what is passed as “Bektashi” in

How to Form a Sufi Lodge can easily be

retrieved from Birge’s book as well as the

extremely problematic work Extremist

Shi’ites by Matti Mousa. One begins to

develop a sense that Prof. McElwain no

interest (or ability) access to the dearth

of material on Bektashism that is

currently available in modern Turkish,

through which a more concise

representation of Bektashism could be

given.

As mentioned above, Prof.

McElwain’s inventory of Dawoodi-

Bektashi traditions can be found in

Birge’s book although here they are

listed as “village Alevi” practices that

may or may not correspond to Bektashi

customs. This inventory is not original

and is not expanded upon. Rather it

reads like a laundry list of already known

59

facts rather than a systematic

interpretation of faith and practice. One

interesting point is Prof. McElwain’s claim

of one Bektashi trait found in the

Dawoodis: tolerance and goodwill to

people of all faiths. Certainly Bektashis

have long been known for tolerance and

liberality, but the complex nature of

Bektashi theology did not necessarily

make it easier for converts to be

accepted easily into the fold. And given

the amount of contempt and disdain

related in many of the posts of the

group’s official representatives in the

Sufi-Dhikr discussion group makes one

wonder if such principles are really

stressed at all.3

3 To give the reader a taste of such attitudes I will give here one of the postings given by khalifah Kemal Argon: “I was going on the assumption that there are different kinds of Bektashis. There are those who are good practicing Muslims and there are others who place themselves beyond the pale of God's laws and have no shortage of convenient little rationalizations for why they are indifferent to Right Guidance, misguided, and are spiritually retarded ignoramuses. Those ignoramuses are such a waste of time to talk to. In fact, when I

60

How to Form a Sufi Lodge bases

itself around an extended commentary

on the Ten Commandments. These form

the basis of the Dawoodi-Bektashi

practices. Yet again why would an Islamic

Sufi order use Christian or Jewish scared

texts as a criterion to judge Islamic

sources? I can comprehend studying

Jewish or Christian works using the

have met one of those for certain, I felt a need to dissociate myself from him or her because I don’t want to see and hear how they have taken a magnificent religious tradition that was entrusted to them and neglected it completely, allowing it to turn into some pseudo-religious cultural phenomenon which is a mockery of its former achievement. I have met some of those and it was good to be able to say that I don't need them. Usually it is enough to say that I don’t speak Turkish and my Dawoodi-Bektashism is not dependent on speaking Turkish or Albanian and I also don't care to spend too much time learning those languages (and if I did I would not tell them.) This conveniently ditches all that irrelevant Turkish and Albanian irreligious cultural baggage. These people are such a waste of time for believing Muslims to talk to. It is also not my job to waste time educating them for free when they are obviously not the best candidates for instruction in our path. If any of them come to me, I am going to be looking for evidence of commitment to Islamic faith and practice. If that is not present, they will be dismissed before they waste any more of my time.” (Sufi-Dhikr, post #6019)

61

Qur’an as a criterion, but the inverse?

Such a thing is unheard of in Islamic

history and certainly there is nothing in

Bektashism would lend itself to such a

practice. The manual ends with a

description of time keeping for the

Dawoodi-Bektashi in the Appalachians.

The notching of a wooden post each

evening at sunset is interesting. An

evening dhikr

being held when each seventh notch was

being made must have destroyed many a

porch post over the past five centuries.

In his A Path in Time Prof. McElwain

claims to have discovered that Bektashis

“can be divided into three groups. One

group follows a hereditary leader,

another non-hereditary, and the final

one, hardly to be called a group at all,

has no visible leadership.” Let met state

explicitly: There have never been

“branches” of Bektashis. Prof. McElwain

is correct in noting the two similar

currents of Babagan and Chelebi. Yet if

62

he would have had access to the works

of Turkish scholars of Bektashism he

would have found that the Chelebis,

though claiming paternal decent from

Haji Bektash, never claimed to be a

Bektashi “Order”. The Babagan or “Tarik-

i-Nazenin” as it has been called is what

even the most mediocre student of

Sufism or Ottoman history knows to be

Bektashi. There have never been any

hyphenated Bektashi branches, ever!

Moreover Prof. McElwain implicitly

degrades the Babagan through his claim

that it does not represent Haji Bektash’s

teachings in their authenticity. He states

that, “Especially in the 1500s reforms

came into prominent branches of the

order with changes and additions, but

the Dawoodi-Bektashi branch was

unaffected by that.” (Sufi-Dhikr, #4409)

Balim Sultan (d. 1520) systematized and

organized the Bektashi Order and is even

listed as its Pir-i-Thani (Second Patron

Saint). However he is incorrect to assume

63

that Balim Sultan had somehow made

“additions and changes.” Hurufi

attitudes, reverence for the 12 Imams

and ideas of liberality were already

present in the Qalandar roots starting

with Haji Bektash Veli’s grand-shaykh

Ahmad Yesevi. Balim Sultan (whom

McElwain mistakenly refers in the article

to as “Pir Sultan”) may have

standardized the order and formalized

rules of initiation and degrees, but the

doctrines and beliefs of the Bektashis

after Balim Sultan were certainly not

invented by him. In addition the image of

a “Sunni” Shari’ah-stressing Haji Bektash

(to which the Dawoodis appear to

promote) is a 20th century rewriting of

the history by certain individuals in

Turkey holding sectarian agendas.

In addition to all of the above

claims and counterclaims, on the 21st of

October, 2004, Prof. McElwain finally

disclosed a picture of the “Bektashi”

origins of the Dawoodi-Bektashis that

64

may have been closer to the truth. In this

post he states that his teacher was none

other than his grandmother Evalyn

Mullins McElwain. She received the

Dawoodi teaching, Prof. McElwain

maintains, from her father, John Mullins.

What she purportedly taught was a

silsilah containing the names of the 12

Imams, the concept of the four gates, the

four books, veneration of the Decalogue

(Ten Commandments), a recitation of

Psalms on Friday night, and the

prohibition of alcohol. Except for the

acceptance of the 12 Imams and 4 gates

and books there is nothing a rural

Southern Baptist wouldn’t accept. For

that reason, if we are to believe that this

tradition did exist before Prof. McElwain’s

time, it certainly would not have stood

out. More revealing he admits in the post

that this spiritual “tradition” cannot be

traced before 1850 and mentions the

possibility that John Mullins could have

made the whole thing up. He shockingly

65

states, “There is no documentation for

the order beyond 1850 that we know of,

and no documentation of a historical

Turkish connection. There is the

possibility that John Mullins invented the

whole thing.” What are we to make of all

the “potential” connections we have

been given between Silesian Baptists,

Bektashis, Donmehs, Elwall, and the

Melungeons? What are we to do with the

earlier assertions of a Dawoodi tradition

originating with Haji Bektash and then

surviving for 400 years in the

Appalachians? Where exists then the

connection between Thomas McElwain

and Haji Bektash Veli? Can any of this

now be taken seriously?

In this revealing post Prof.

McElwain also states to have suppressed

the silsilah, shortened the introduction of

the liturgy, and to have added both the

names “Dawoodi” and “Bektashi” himself

to what he was teaching. He called his

order as Dawoodiyya in order not to

66

confuse it with the Isma’ili Dawoodi-

Bohras of India and out of reference “to

the prevalent practice (not necessarily

always followed) of reciting the Zabur or

Psalms of David as a central part of

dhikr” and further claims Anatolian and

Kurdish origins when he writes, “The only

extensive reference in a scholarly work

that I know of is the one in the book

Extremist Shi'ite: The Ghulat Sects, by

Matti Moosa, Syracuse University Press,

1988.”

In the absence of an Islamic text of

the Zabur one must wonder in what

language these recitations are taking

place. There are many messages posted

on Sufi-Dhikr where Prof. McElwain

accentuates a connection between his

group and the Dawudis mentioned by

Mousa (who are in fact an obscure

branch of the Ahl-i-Haqq of western Iran)

leading one to believe that the two

groups are one and the same. Yet all of

contention is completely wrecked with

67

the revelation that the “tradition” was

obtained from his forefather John Mullins

by way of his son William Mullins and

granddaughter Evalyn Mullins McElwain.

McElwain’s story given at the end

of “Sufism Bridging East & West: the

case of the Bektashis” narrating his

“meeting” with a descendant of Yunus

Emre while in Turkey seems like his

meeting of his shaykh. This “Bektashi”

was not a member of any lodge and said

“Allah is my pir” as well as “Allah is my

musahip.” McElwain says that the man’s

silsilah was just the twelve Imams. Wow,

just like Shaykh Ali Haydar’s? From him

he learned repetition of some names of

Allah as a form of “lone” dervish dhikr

and was exposed to a Khidr-like teaching

experience while visiting Konya. The

drunken Bektashi version of the Mevlevi

whirling was a way to tell about the idea

of the Abdal, but Shaykh Ali Haydar

didn’t make the connection; a Bektashi

would have. This leads to his final

68

contention that only a “Bektashi of the

wandering dervish sort” could able to

follow the path of Haqiqat. What about

his Shari’ah-driven Hadith. I believe it

was Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani who stated

that, “The shaykh of a one without a

shaykh is none other that Shaytan.”

I would very much like to ask Prof.

McElwain to show us another Dawoodi-

Bektashi from his particular lineage that

is not an immediate family member and

who is a Melungeon. Can any information

be provided beyond speculation and

highly improbable theories? Bektashi

history is there for all to read. It is a

tradition that has been clearly recorded

and that has a base in historical fact. Can

the same be said for this self-styled

“branch” of Bektashism? I’ll leave it to

my honored listeners to decide.

Sufism and other instructive paths

need not be made-up, like the rituals of

purportedly secret orders. There are real

manuals of instruction and authentic

69

spiritual traditions traceable through

legitimate silsilas. They provide guidance

that has stood the test of time. They

have been able to remain reliable and

consistent compasses through the

turbulent seas and soaring mountains of

both the physical and spiritual realms of

existence.

The law of the “Golden Rule” flows

through the teachings of all Sufi Orders –

do not harm or do into others as you

would have them do unto you. We see

this in the dictum of Haji Bektashi Veli,

“Respect all 73 sects.” This idea of

universal appreciation and respect for

the thoughts and opinions of others, if

taken from this book, would certainly

make the world a better place, and

spread the goodwill throughout the

world.

May Allah bless those who gather

remembrance of the Ahlul Bayt. Ya Ali

Madad!

70

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