The Plain of Saints and Prophets: The Nusayri-Alawi Community of Cilicia (Southern Turkey) and Its Sacred PlacesOtto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010 - 372 pagina's The book is the first detailed study on the Nusayri-Alawi community of Cilicia available in a Western language. The Alawis are an Arabic speaking religious minority of ca. 300,000 people living in the Turkish provinces of Adana and Mersin. The book contains chapters devoted to the history of Alawi settlement, the community's identity and social structures, and prejudices they have to face from the majority population. Also covered are religious practices like feasts and beliefs like metempsychosis. The heart of the book is an analysis of the numerous Alawi sanctuaries. Long-term field research enabled the authors to document a vital, highly mobile practice of saint veneration performed at continuously changing sacred places. Besides a catalogue of nearly 200 shrines and several detailed case-studies there are chapters on the age and origins of the sacred places, the rites performed there, and the structure of the pilgrims. A major aim of the study is to present the local Alawi saint veneration in a broader Islamic context by describing the "sacred landscape", analyzing current changes and tendencies, and discussing the paramount role of women in the practice of saint veneration and in the perceived sacredness of the holy places. |
Inhoudsopgave
List of sketches maps and figures | 11 |
Acknowledgements | 17 |
The Low Plain of Cilicia | 33 |
The Alawis of Cilicia | 49 |
87 | 63 |
The Sacred Places | 111 |
Case studies of selected sanctuaries | 215 |
Catalogue of the sacred places | 242 |
146 | 281 |
Conclusions and Analysis | 317 |
349 | |
361 | |
Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
Adana Adanalıoğlu Aḥmad Akkapı al-Adhanī al-Ḥakīm al-Kahf al-Khadir Alawi sanctuaries Alawi shaykhs Alevi Alī Aliağa alms box Arabic Associated legends Badr Bahçe baraka Çağımlar caretaker cenotaph censers century chap Cilicia concrete courtyard Çukurova Description 1996 door entrance Evliya Çelebi Fartacek Fātiḥa feasts flat roof green building green cloth Ḥasan Hatay Ibrāhīm Iconography incense inscription Interior Islam Kaçar Karacailyas Karataş Kardeş Kazanlı Kofsky Köklüce Koran Kriss & Kriss-Heinrich large number Location Mahallesi Makam maqām marked mawlid mentioned Mersin mosque Muḥammad Mūsā Muslim Nabī Nūḥ Oğlu Ottoman pilgrims pillows prayers Procházka prophet rags Ramaḍān real graves region religious rites Ruhuna Fatiha sacred places Sacred precinct saint Şeyh Seyhan Seyhan River Shaykh Muḥammad shrine slaughtering-place sokak square Structure Sunni Sunni Islam Syria Tarsus terebinth told tree Turkey Turkish flags Turks venerated village wall whitewashed woman women Yakaköy Yūnus Yusuf ziyaret الشيخ الله