Jamal J. Elias

This project examines the Mevlevi Sufi order from its inception in medieval Anatolia until the period of the consolidated Turkification and promulgation of reforms that transformed the Ottoman Empire into an early modern state which perceived itself as a pivotal force in Europe, the Islamic Middle East, and Caucasia (ca. 1300-1750). Through an examination of a broad range of Turkish, Persian, and Arabic religious texts, poetry, biographical works, government records, and treatises on music, as well as visual arts, the study explores the central role played by this important Sufi organization in the development of religion and culture in pre-Ottoman and Ottoman times.