Incarnationist Approaches in Early Anatolian Sufism and Popular Islam and the Different Reflections of Incarnation

Abstract

In addition to being heir to many scientific and cultural legacies of the Islamic world, early Anatolian Sufism and popular Islam also came into the influence of incarnationist thoughts, which were effective in the extreme Shia tradition and in some schools of philosophy and Sufism. In the Alevi-Bektashi environment, incarnationist thoughts, especially related to Caliph Ali, found reflections such as ascribing divinity to both Ali and some saints of the Alevi-Bektashi tradition who were identified with Ali. Otherwise, it is possible to see the reflection of incarnationist thoughts in some other sufi environments in Anatolia in the context of extreme unionist approaches. What kinds of meanings do all these incarnationist thoughts include? Do they mean the incarnation of the divinity in human form, or the just replacement or union of the manifestation of the divinity (tecelli) in human body with the form (suret) of it? Here the understanding of the divinity related to Ali has been read through the concept of Nur-i Muhammedi and the general acceptance of the idea that he was the first principle like the first intelligence (akl el-evvel or akl el kulli) and all living creatures originated from him. The identification of some Alevi-Bektashi saints with Ali and the attribution of divinity to them also seem to be beliefs about the manifestation or directly the embodiment of the past-eternal Ali although they are also reflections of re-incarnation. An attempt is made to read the incarnation attributes to other sufi divisions through the meanings that they attribute to the relations between God and the universe or the human being.