Bektashi Dervish Lodges Converted into a Nakşibendi Dervish Lodge in 1826 (The Pīr Evi Example)

Assoc. Prof. A. Yılmaz Soyyer, Süleyman Demirel University 

On 8 July 1826, all activities of the Bektashi Order were prohibited on the order of the Devlet-i Āliye, i.e. the Ottoman State. At a meeting held in Topkapı Palace, it was decided to demolish Bektashi lodges which were more than 60 years old, and to convert the ones which were older than 60 years into madrasahs, mosques or Nakshibendi lodges. The dervish lodge, which is called the Central Āsitane or the Pīr Evi, including the tomb of Haji Bektash Velī, was transformed into a Nakshibendi lodge by the state and a Nakshibendi sheikh was appointed to this lodge to conduct the Nakshi ritual. During the regin of Mahmud II, the Bektashi murshid and his dervishes were either exiled or forced to perform the Nakshibendi ritual. After the death of Mahmud II, these Naqshbandisation practices were not fully realised. The third and fourth wives of the Padishah were  Bektashi muhibbis and the sons of both of them became padishahs respectively. However, one of the power centers in the Ottoman Empire, the Bāb-ı Meşīḫat, i.e. the ministry of the şeyḫülislām, strongly opposed this situation. The struggle between the Bektashis began with the support of the clergy, Nakshibendis and the Bektashis in the bureaucracy, and continued until 1925 when all the tekkes were closed. The central lodge was also turned into a museum on this date.