Nur Baba: A Sufi Novel of Late Ottoman Istanbul (Routledge Sufi Series)

Description

This first-ever English translation of Nur Baba – a classic of modern Turkish literature written by Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu – offers a unique window into Sufi lodges, social dilemmas, and intellectual life in early twentieth-century Istanbul. Inspired by Karaosmanoğlu’s personal experiences with Islamic mystical orders, it is a story of illicit romance and spiritual inquiry, depicting a colourful lodge of Sufi dervishes led by a charismatic, yet morally suspect, spiritual master named Nur Baba. The plot follows his attempts to seduce an attractive married woman from an elite family and recounts her dramatic experiences in the life of a Sufi community. The setting shuttles between the grand mansions of Istanbul’s elite families and a Sufi lodge where rich and poor intermingle. Exploring questions of gender, morality, and religious bias throughout, it captures the zeitgeist of early twentieth-century modernist thinkers who criticised Sufism for impeding social progress and debated the public roles of women in a rapidly modernising society. Alongside the editor’s meticulous translation, the volume includes a scholarly introduction, maps, and images, as well as explanatory footnotes that will aid both students and scholars alike. The novel will be of particular interest to those studying world literature, Sufi studies, and Ottoman-Turkish history. Cover Half Title Series Information Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note On Spelling and Pronunciation Introduction The Lodge The Novel and Its Various Controversies The Bektashi Order Afterlife in Translation 1 How Is the Candle Put Out in a Bektashi Lodge? 2 How Is a Bektashi Shaykh Raised? 3 How Is an Outsider Guided In?: Part I 4 How Is an Outsider Guided In?: Part II 5 Two White Moths Circling Around Haji Bektash’s Candle 6 An Unprecedented Ceremony in the Lodge of Nur Baba: Part I 7 An Unprecedented Ceremony in the Lodge of Nur Baba: Part II 8 The Second Period of Guidance 9 Completely Smitten By Muhabbet 10 The Woman With No Voice 11 That World, Yet Again 12 The Beloved Asked for the Soul Bibliography Index