The Transformation of Muslim Mystical Thought in the Ottoman Empire

This book will be indispensable to scholars and students of both Ottoman history and the history of Sufism. I highly recommend it for its analytical and methodological approaches, its engaging narrative, and its ability to open a window to still poorly appreciated social and religious dynamics in the early modern period of Islamic history. -- Dina le Gall, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
This fascinating book makes an important contribution to our understanding of the role and functioning of Sufism and Sufi communities in Ottoman life … Where this book shines is in its lively, in-depth, solidly grounded analysis of how Ottoman Sufi communities functioned in their local, and particularly provincial, settings. This analysis is made possible, in turn, by the author's close, critical reading of a wealth of published and unpublished 16th- and 17th-century materials, including doctrinal and devotional treatises, Sufi genealogies (silsiles), and especially hagiographic literature.This book will be indispensable to scholars and students of both Ottoman history and the history of Sufism. I highly recommend it for its analytical and methodological approaches, its engaging narrative, and its ability to open a window to still poorly appreciated social and religious dynamics in the early modern period of Islamic history. -- Dina le Gall, Lehman College and the Graduate Center, the City University of New York * International Journal of Middle East Studies *
John Curry's book is an important contribution to the history of Sufism in the early Ottoman empire. Based on an in-depth analysis of Sufi writings, it leads the reader to the very heart of Sufi life that developed in Anatolia in a broad social, political, and religious context. This work belongs to the very valuable trend in the study of mysticism that takes advantage of Sufi texts, whether theological or hagiographical, and thus informed by an understanding of the mechanics of assimilation and transformation of earlier traditions, as well as of the contemporary aims of the writers, John Curry's foray into writing history is successful indeed. -- Nathalie Clayer, CNRS–EHESS, Paris * Journal of the American Oriental Society *
A fine piece of scholarship on the development of a specific Sufi order over a period of centuries, with special attention given to its relationship to the Ottoman state... It should be considered required reading for anyone interested in the history of Sufism or in the religious history of the Ottoman Empire. -- Jamal J. Elias, University of Pennsylvania * The American Historical Review *