Monday, March 28, 2011
For Credit: "Shrines of Saintly Gnostics and Pious Mystics"
"Why'd they change it, I can't say--people just liked it better that way."
The story is a little more complicated than that (as you probably guessed). As Haro mentioned in class, Celebi consistently refers to his native city as "Islam-bol," a pun on "Istanbul" that means "full of Islam."
[Inconsequential data point: did you guys know that TMBG didn't write this song? It's a cover! Check out the original here.]
Celebi describes three shrines in Diyabekir on pp. 403 - 406 of the reading. What do we learn about his religious values from these descriptions? Obviously, he is a devout and committed Muslim, but what more finely grained information can we glean from these passages, about his faith, about how he perceives the relationship between religion and politics, about the relationship between Muslims and "infidels"?
Deadline: Wednesday (3/30), start of class.
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9 comments:
From the link on this site (Wikipedia), Constantinople was the name that was used by foreigners. This only changed because Turkey would no longer mail out letters that had Constantinople as the destination written on it. Istanbul was the name that was actually used by the Ottoman Empire. I think that the reason that Celebi uses Islambol ("full of Islam") as the name from where he came from is not so much about religion. I believe that this actually has to deal with heritage and history. On pages 403-406, Celebi writes about the various glorious events that the Ottoman Empire accomplished. Celebi even speaks about the ruler's son and how great the ruler was when he was able to conquer with his sword "within seven hours the heads of 42,000 Redheads"(405). Reading this account of Celebi’s travels I found that Celebi never states anything bad about the Ottoman Empire. Everything that he says is always to show that the Ottoman Empire is superior and great in every way. On the other hand whenever he speaks of people that can threaten the security of the Empire he calls them infidels and speaks about them very badly. Maybe by calling the country Istanbul, they may have believed that they could make people acknowledge that they are there and that they control their land and can make their own decisions. Whether Celebi decided to write his journal because he really believed that the Ottoman Empire was the best place in the world or because he was forced to, there is nothing in this journal that ever speaks ill of the empire. Since religion and politics of this empire were probably so closely intertwined that any person who admired the Empire would probably also admire its culture and therefore the religion. I don’t know if my answer even makes sense, what do you guys think?
Gary, I think you are right that religion and imperial politics are closely related in Celebi's work, and this is particularly apparent when he tells the story of the Shaykh of Urmia. In this account, we see how religion is used to promote the aims of empire and how it can also be perceived as a threat to central authority. Before Sultan Murad travels to Diyarbekir, someone in his court warns the sultan that the Shaykh of Urmia has accumulated tremendous influence and "might start a great rebellion, claiming to be the Mahdi" (404). But when Murad arrives in Diyarbekir, he is less concerned that the Shaykh may develop into a political rival and is more interested in what the saint prophesies. Even though Murad initially praises the Shaykh and offers him rewards, at the end of the story, he perceives him to be a threat and has the Shaykh executed. Celebi demonstrates how religion in the Ottoman Empire, like in many other empires, was both a mechanism for legitimatizing imperialism and a threat to central authority.
While Murad is pleased by the oracles foretelling his victories, he is less concerned with following the Shaykh of Urmia's religious instructions. The Shaykh advises him to "study the Books of Muhammad's Path and follow [Islam]," (404) but Murad is more interested in boasting how he will defeat the Germans. Murad does not embrace Islam to the extent that the Shaykh advises and therefore allows himself to be "led astray by calumniators and slanderers" (404). Celebi implies that political leaders should incorporate religious teachings, and not just use theology as an ideological tool to support imperialism.
As Jew, I can speak with some certainty that Judaism and Islam are very similar (and proportionally distinct from Christianity) in many ways, but particularly because they contain a cultural component that is equal or more significant to participants than the religious aspects. Even if you watch the snippets of news coverage on the Middle East, the nuanced differences between "religious" Jews/Muslims versus those of the "secular" are very pronounced if you know to look for it. However, the lines are still blurred, which causes the colorful cultural dynamics, but also creates difficult political situations both between and within groups.
In the text we have read, to me it is obvious that Celebi fits into this same sort of cultural dilemma. He is outrageously proud of his heritage as a Muslim and as a subject of the Ottoman Empire (which, in all due fairness, is the Caliphate writ for that time). In general, he focuses on mosques (including those of Aleppo, Cairo, and Jerusalem on page 400), the everyday operations of contemporary Muslims(401), and the conquests of bygone Muslim leaders in the face of "infidels", a word he uses quite often. He is tied to his faith that Koranic teachings are compatible with real life, and are superior in their own right. This is not actually too far removed from how we live in the West. Simply look at the invocation of God in everything political, and the kinds of values taught in schools. Celebi's philosophy isn't so far-fetched, because we do it too. The fundamental difference is that Celebi's lifetime intersected with an era when the Koran (or the Torah, or whatever scripture you like) could still be applied literally, at least in the manners of governing daily life. Now, due to the decline of agrarian lifestyle and the increasing influence of modernity, we find this sort of application of at least Islamic and Jewish fundamentalism to be incompatible with "real life". Christianity has been reformed so many times to remain current that people get away with calling it common sense, when it is really religious teachings. I'm rambling now, but my point is that we shouldn't be too quick to call him crazy for touting his culture's superiority, because that's not different than what we do as Americans every day of our existence, as evidenced by President Obama's speech just yesterday.
Max said...
The posts so far raise some interesting points on the fusion of the political and religious spheres in Celibi's account. Gary raises a good point in that the Ottoman empire is "intertwined" with its religion, the two inexorably linked in its operation. But, as Dema points out, this relationship is not one of perfect synthesis. The rulers exploit, at least to a certain extent, the legitimacy Islam lends their authority, praising it until it presents a risk to their rule. Something so powerful as to justify empire and the slaughter of thousands carries a counterbalanced threat to those who act in its name. Those whose actions raise suspicion of this threat, like the Shaykh, are swiftly slain, despite their religious standing. I think Celebi takes issue with this in his account, not necessarily faulting the Sultan but sympathizing with the saint. This raises an interesting question, for he ascribes a faultlessness to the rulers' actions elsewhere in the work, as seen in his tellings of battles.
Celebi's links the rulers' actions in war to Islam itself, almost inexorably. His description of the Muslim forces' slaughter of infidels reflects this, and thus presents a further aspect of the political merging with the religious. He sees Islam not as the undercurrent motivating the actions in war, but as the main force of action in itself, a cause that fights, saying "the heads of 42,000 redheads were cut by the sword of Islam" (405). He frames the fight not only as Muslims vs. the Infidels, but as Islam itself vs. those who stand against it, ascribing agency, a kind of will, to the faith itself. The whole religion is embodied as a figurative sword, one that he sees literally waging war as a single force.
The reverence wrought from this belief reveals itself in his visits to the tombs of rulers. He links their faith with their actions, for the the rulers order the the direction of conquest, meaning in Celebi's view their decisions necessarily channel God's will for Islam. It is interesting that an account reflecting a scholastic approach is written by an author of such adamant faith, but its intensity makes its presence blatant against the backdrop of his more objective descriptions. As Demosthenes notes, the work dates to an era where religious teachings were taken literally and political justifications spawned from them, so Celebi's insertion of faith fits the mold of the time. It is up to us looking back, the aid of our current perspective in hand, to clarify that influence amidst the wider story.
Great comments thus far!
Just one minor point in the reading that I want to draw your attention to:
Who exactly are the redheads?
(42,000 of them get beheaded, after surrendering--but who are they and where did they come from?)
I agree with Demosthenes that Celebi is extremely proud of his religion and his Muslim heritage. He incorporates religion into the majority of his travel accounts. When I think of reading travel accounts, religion does not come to mind. So I was surprised to learn so much about Celebi’s religious values while reading his travel accounts. Often, I think Celebi over exaggerates his religion in this text. In the end of the text, he says, “May God bless us through this saint’s miraculous powers!” (page 406). We discover that he considers his religion to be powerful especially his God. The text also says that “God knows best” in several variations throughout it. Celebi gives God a lot of credit and trusts in him completely which is exemplified in the text.
I strongly believe that Celebi is honored of his Muslim heritage as well as his religion. During, his travels he does discuss and uses his religion as a foundation of his beliefs throughout his travels. However, I can agree with Celeste that he does seen to place his specific religion and God as superior and above all rest. I really thought in the beginning that he was just stressing the powerfulness of God but towards the end as Celeste stated that in the text, "May God bless us through this saint’s miraculous powers!” (page 406) I think he really just wants to give God as much credit as possible for all that he has done.
If I'm not mistaken, the red heads are Persians. I believe it had something to do with red sashes or covers they wore on their heads.
More often than not, people living in or around present day Iran were considered to be Persians - and they weren't exactly part of the Ottoman Empire, but were similar in terms of religious devotion and politics.
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