‘This is the age of women’: Legitimizing Female Authority in Contemporary Turkish Sufism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v29i2.30982Keywords:
Female spiritual leadership, Sufism, Cemalnur Sargut, şeyh, mürşidAbstract
Although Sufism has generally shown a greater openness to women than other forms of Islam, women in position of power have been relatively rare in its history. It is often in the informal sphere, where authority is linked to sainthood and charisma, that female leadership developed. Drawing on the example of Cemalnur Sargut, a female spiritual guide who is the head of a branch of the Rif??iyya in Istanbul, this article examines the possibilities for women to gain access to spiritual leadership with male and female disciples in contemporary Sufism. Sargut’s originality lies in the fact that she claims a semi-formal authority for women. The paper analyses how Sargut and her predecessor, also a woman, have engaged in interpretations of the history of Sufism and of their own group to legitimize their authority.References
Abu-Zahra, Nadia. 1997. The Pure and Powerful: Studies in Contemporary Muslim Society. Ithaca Press, Reading, Berkshire, UK.
Aytürk, Ilker, and Laurent Mignon. 2013. Paradoxes of a Cold War Su? Woman: Sâmiha Ayverdi between Islam, Nationalism and Modernity. New Perspectives on Turkey 49: 57-89. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0896634600002041
Ayverdi, Sâmiha, et al. 1983. Ken’an Rifâî ve Yirminci Asr?n I????nda Müslümanl?k. Hülbe, Istanbul.
Baldick, Julian. 2000. Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Su?sm. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, London, New York.
Bano, Masooda, and Hillary Kalmbach (eds.). 2012. Women, Leadership, and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority. Brill, Leiden.
Boettcher, Annabelle. 2001. Portraits of Kurdish Women in Contemporary Su?sm. In Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, edited by Shahzad Mojab, 195-208. Costa Mesa, Mazda.
Boissevain, Katia. 2006. Sainte parmi les saints, Sayyda Mannûbiya ou les recompositions culturelles dans la Tunisie contemporaine. Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris.
Cimino, Richard. 2010. Judaism: Orthodox Jewish Women as Rabbis? It’s All in the Name. Religion Watch, 13.05.2010.
Clancy-Smith, Julia. 1991. The House of Zainab: Female Authority and Saintly Succession in Colonial Algeria. In Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, edited by Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron, 254-71. Yale University Press, New Haven, London.
Cornell Rkia Elaroui. 2005. Rabi’ah al-Adawiyyah. In Arabic Literary Culture: 500–925, edited by Michael Cooperson and Shawkat M. Toorawa, 292-98. Thomson–Gale, Detroit.
Coulon, Christian. 1988. Women, Islam and Baraka. In Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam, edited by Donald B. Cruise O’Brien, 113-33. Clarendon, Oxford.
Deliorman, Altan. 2004. I??kl? Hayatlar. Nihad Sâmi Banarl?- Ekrem Hakk? Ayverdi- Sâmiha Ayverdi. Kubbealt?, ?stanbul.
Demirci, Mehmet. 2006. Kenan Rifai ve Çevresi. Demokrasi Platformu, 6.
Dwyer, Daisy Hilse. 1978. Women, Su?sm, and Decision-Making in Moroccan Islam. In Women in the Muslim World, edited by Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie, 585-98. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA and London. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674733091.c33
Ernst, Carl William. 1997. The Shambhala Guide to Su?sm: An Essential Introduction to the Philosophy and the Practice of the Mystical Tradition of Islam. Shambhala, Boston, London.
Fliche, Benoît. 2013. Mais où sont les dede d’antan? Les transformations de l’autorité religieuse chez des Alévis d’Anatolie centrale (1929–2009). In L’autorité religieuse et ses limites en terres d’islam. Approches historiques et anthropologiques, edited by Nathalie Clayer, Alexandre Papas and Benoît Fliche, 195-208. Brill, Leiden. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004244566_010
Grandin, Nicole. 1988. La Sharifa Myriam Bint Al-Hashim Al-Mirghani. Islam et société au Sud du Sahara 2: 122-28.
Gürsoy-Na?kal?, Emine. 1983. Women Mystics in Islam. In Women in Islamic Societies: Social Attitudes and Historical Perspectives, edited by Bo Utas, 238-42. Curzon Press, London, Malmö.
Hakim, Souad. 2002. Ibn Arabi’s Twofold Perception of Woman: Woman as Human Being and Cosmic Principle. Journal of The Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society 31: 1-29.
Hoffman, Valerie Jon. 1995. Su?sm, Mystics, and Saints in Modern Egypt. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Hutson, Alaine S. 2001. Women, Men, and Patriarchal Bargaining in an Islamic Su? Order: The Tijaniyya in Kano, Nigeria, 1937 to the Present. Gender and Society 15(5): 734-53. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089124301015005006
Keddie, Nikki R., and Beth Baron. 1991. Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Mernissi, Fatma. 2008. The Story of a Contemporary Woman Mystic. In Women in Islam and the Middle East: A Reader, edited by Ruth Roded, 237-54. I.B. Tauris, London and New York.
Neubauer, Anna. 2009. Celle qui n’existe pas: sou?sme et autorité féminine à Istanbul. PhD diss., University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Nizami, Kaliq A. 1992. Introduction. In Nizam Ad-Din Awliya: Morals for the Heart, edited by Bruce B. Lawrence, 3-60. Paulist Press, New York.
Pemberton, Kelly. 2005. Muslim Women Mystics and Female Spiritual Authority in South Asian Su?sm. In Contesting Rituals: Islam and Practices of Identity-Making, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, 3-39. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC. 2006. Women Pirs, Saintly Succession, and Spiritual Guidance in South Asian Su?sm. The Muslim World 96: 61-87. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2006.00118.x.
Pemberton, Kelly. 2010. Women Mystics and Su? Shrines in India, Columbia, South Carolina. The University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.
Rifai, Kenan. 2000. Sohbetler. Kubbealt?, Istanbul.
Rosander, Eva Evers. 2003. Mam Diarra Bousso: The Mourid-Mother of Porokhane, Senegal. Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies 4(1): 1-12.
Sargut, Cemalnur. 2006. Kenan R?fâî ile A?ka Yolculuk. Su?, Istanbul.
Schielke, Samuli. 2008. Mystic States, Motherly Virtues: Female Participation and Leadership in an Egyptian Su? Milieu. Journal for Islamic Studies 28: 94-126.
Schimmel, Annemarie. 1975. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC. 1997. My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam. Continuum, New York.
Smith, Margaret. 1994. Rabi’a: The Life and Work of Rabi’a and Other Women Mystics in Islam. Oneworld, Oxford.
Tahral?, Mustafa. 2002. Kenan Rifâî. In TDV Islâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 25: 254-55. TDV Yay?nlar?, Ankara.
Weber, Max. 1971. Economie et société. Plon, Paris.
Zarcone, Thierry. 2007. Shaykh Succession in Turkish Su? Lineages (19th and 20th Centuries): Con?icts, Reforms and Transmission of Spiritual Enlightment. Asian and African Area Studies 7(1): 18-35.
Aytürk, Ilker, and Laurent Mignon. 2013. Paradoxes of a Cold War Su? Woman: Sâmiha Ayverdi between Islam, Nationalism and Modernity. New Perspectives on Turkey 49: 57-89. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0896634600002041
Ayverdi, Sâmiha, et al. 1983. Ken’an Rifâî ve Yirminci Asr?n I????nda Müslümanl?k. Hülbe, Istanbul.
Baldick, Julian. 2000. Mystical Islam: An Introduction to Su?sm. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, London, New York.
Bano, Masooda, and Hillary Kalmbach (eds.). 2012. Women, Leadership, and Mosques: Changes in Contemporary Islamic Authority. Brill, Leiden.
Boettcher, Annabelle. 2001. Portraits of Kurdish Women in Contemporary Su?sm. In Women of a Non-State Nation: The Kurds, edited by Shahzad Mojab, 195-208. Costa Mesa, Mazda.
Boissevain, Katia. 2006. Sainte parmi les saints, Sayyda Mannûbiya ou les recompositions culturelles dans la Tunisie contemporaine. Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris.
Cimino, Richard. 2010. Judaism: Orthodox Jewish Women as Rabbis? It’s All in the Name. Religion Watch, 13.05.2010.
Clancy-Smith, Julia. 1991. The House of Zainab: Female Authority and Saintly Succession in Colonial Algeria. In Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender, edited by Nikki Keddie and Beth Baron, 254-71. Yale University Press, New Haven, London.
Cornell Rkia Elaroui. 2005. Rabi’ah al-Adawiyyah. In Arabic Literary Culture: 500–925, edited by Michael Cooperson and Shawkat M. Toorawa, 292-98. Thomson–Gale, Detroit.
Coulon, Christian. 1988. Women, Islam and Baraka. In Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam, edited by Donald B. Cruise O’Brien, 113-33. Clarendon, Oxford.
Deliorman, Altan. 2004. I??kl? Hayatlar. Nihad Sâmi Banarl?- Ekrem Hakk? Ayverdi- Sâmiha Ayverdi. Kubbealt?, ?stanbul.
Demirci, Mehmet. 2006. Kenan Rifai ve Çevresi. Demokrasi Platformu, 6.
Dwyer, Daisy Hilse. 1978. Women, Su?sm, and Decision-Making in Moroccan Islam. In Women in the Muslim World, edited by Lois Beck and Nikki Keddie, 585-98. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA and London. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4159/harvard.9780674733091.c33
Ernst, Carl William. 1997. The Shambhala Guide to Su?sm: An Essential Introduction to the Philosophy and the Practice of the Mystical Tradition of Islam. Shambhala, Boston, London.
Fliche, Benoît. 2013. Mais où sont les dede d’antan? Les transformations de l’autorité religieuse chez des Alévis d’Anatolie centrale (1929–2009). In L’autorité religieuse et ses limites en terres d’islam. Approches historiques et anthropologiques, edited by Nathalie Clayer, Alexandre Papas and Benoît Fliche, 195-208. Brill, Leiden. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/9789004244566_010
Grandin, Nicole. 1988. La Sharifa Myriam Bint Al-Hashim Al-Mirghani. Islam et société au Sud du Sahara 2: 122-28.
Gürsoy-Na?kal?, Emine. 1983. Women Mystics in Islam. In Women in Islamic Societies: Social Attitudes and Historical Perspectives, edited by Bo Utas, 238-42. Curzon Press, London, Malmö.
Hakim, Souad. 2002. Ibn Arabi’s Twofold Perception of Woman: Woman as Human Being and Cosmic Principle. Journal of The Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society 31: 1-29.
Hoffman, Valerie Jon. 1995. Su?sm, Mystics, and Saints in Modern Egypt. University of South Carolina Press, Columbia.
Hutson, Alaine S. 2001. Women, Men, and Patriarchal Bargaining in an Islamic Su? Order: The Tijaniyya in Kano, Nigeria, 1937 to the Present. Gender and Society 15(5): 734-53. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/089124301015005006
Keddie, Nikki R., and Beth Baron. 1991. Women in Middle Eastern History: Shifting Boundaries in Sex and Gender. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.
Mernissi, Fatma. 2008. The Story of a Contemporary Woman Mystic. In Women in Islam and the Middle East: A Reader, edited by Ruth Roded, 237-54. I.B. Tauris, London and New York.
Neubauer, Anna. 2009. Celle qui n’existe pas: sou?sme et autorité féminine à Istanbul. PhD diss., University of Neuchâtel, Switzerland.
Nizami, Kaliq A. 1992. Introduction. In Nizam Ad-Din Awliya: Morals for the Heart, edited by Bruce B. Lawrence, 3-60. Paulist Press, New York.
Pemberton, Kelly. 2005. Muslim Women Mystics and Female Spiritual Authority in South Asian Su?sm. In Contesting Rituals: Islam and Practices of Identity-Making, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, 3-39. Carolina Academic Press, Durham, NC. 2006. Women Pirs, Saintly Succession, and Spiritual Guidance in South Asian Su?sm. The Muslim World 96: 61-87. Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1478-1913.2006.00118.x.
Pemberton, Kelly. 2010. Women Mystics and Su? Shrines in India, Columbia, South Carolina. The University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC.
Rifai, Kenan. 2000. Sohbetler. Kubbealt?, Istanbul.
Rosander, Eva Evers. 2003. Mam Diarra Bousso: The Mourid-Mother of Porokhane, Senegal. Jenda: A Journal of Culture and African Women Studies 4(1): 1-12.
Sargut, Cemalnur. 2006. Kenan R?fâî ile A?ka Yolculuk. Su?, Istanbul.
Schielke, Samuli. 2008. Mystic States, Motherly Virtues: Female Participation and Leadership in an Egyptian Su? Milieu. Journal for Islamic Studies 28: 94-126.
Schimmel, Annemarie. 1975. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. The University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC. 1997. My Soul Is a Woman: The Feminine in Islam. Continuum, New York.
Smith, Margaret. 1994. Rabi’a: The Life and Work of Rabi’a and Other Women Mystics in Islam. Oneworld, Oxford.
Tahral?, Mustafa. 2002. Kenan Rifâî. In TDV Islâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 25: 254-55. TDV Yay?nlar?, Ankara.
Weber, Max. 1971. Economie et société. Plon, Paris.
Zarcone, Thierry. 2007. Shaykh Succession in Turkish Su? Lineages (19th and 20th Centuries): Con?icts, Reforms and Transmission of Spiritual Enlightment. Asian and African Area Studies 7(1): 18-35.
Published
2016-11-18
Issue
Section
Articles
License
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
How to Cite
Neubauer, A. (2016). ‘This is the age of women’: Legitimizing Female Authority in Contemporary Turkish Sufism. Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 29(2), 150-166. https://doi.org/10.1558/jasr.v29i2.30982
