throw light on the Sufi tradition.
Answers
Explanation:
Sufism, known as tasawwuf in the Arabic-speaking world, is a form of Islamic mysticism that emphasizes introspection and spiritual closeness with God. ... Sufi practice focuses on the renunciation of worldly things, purification of the soul and the mystical contemplation of God's nature.
By educating the masses and deepening the spiritual concerns of the Muslims, Sufism has played an important role in the formation of Muslim society. Opposed to the dry casuistry of the lawyer-divines, the mystics nevertheless scrupulously observed the commands of the divine law.
Answer and Explanation:
Before photography and cinema were introduced in the world, the Ottomans created a tradition of performing arts using the power of curtain and light. One of the performing arts of the Ottoman era that is sinking into oblivion today is the shadow play, more widely known as “Karagöz and Hacivat.”
There are various rumors about the origin of “Karagöz and Hacivat.” Some researchers attribute it to the relations between Asian Turks and the Chinese, who have a deep-rooted tradition of shadow play. Based on this, they believe that the play may be from Central Asia. However, Central Asian Turks are completely ignorant of it.
Another rumor is that the play may have come with Roma people who migrated from India to the West. But this is not a satisfactory explanation, either, as there is no well-established tradition of shadow play in India. Also, shadow play hardly ever exists in northern India, from where Roma people came. After all, although the Roma people’s migrations took place in the 11th century, there was not the slightest trace of shadow play in Anatolia until the 16th century.
We see the initial information about this shadow play in the Ottoman documents of the 1500s. The first one to use the name “Karagöz” was the famous Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi. According to rumors, Karagöz and Hacivat are half-true and half-mythological characters.
According to Evliya Çelebi, they lived in the time of the Anatolian Seljuks. Karagöz was a Roma named “Sofyozlu Bali Çelebi” and worked as a stableman for the emperor. Hacivat was a courtier of the Seljuk Sultan and called “Yorkça Halil.” They met sometimes and entertained the public with their jokes, which turned into a shadow play in time.
However, puppet masters tell a different story about these characters. According to them, Karagöz was the ironsmith while Hacivat was the foreman at a mosque built in Bursa, Ottoman Empire's first capital in northwestern Turkey. The mosque was constructed by the order of Orhan Gazi, the second bey of the Ottoman Empire after his father Osman Gazi. During the construction of the mosque, they always joked with each other. While other employees were entertained by their jokes, they also forget about their duties. Seeing that the construction did not progress even if it had been months, Orhan Gazi summoned the chief architect before him to ask the reason for it.
Then, Orhan Gazi decided to execute both of them, which led to great sadness among employees and the public. However, he had some qualms about his decision due to its negative effect on the public. He summoned a Sufi scholar named Sheikh Kushteri and asked what kind of a people Karagöz and Hacivat were. When he asked him to make a story of the dialogue between these two, Sheikh Kushteri said that he could make them play on a shadow-show screen. Thus, the Karagöz-Hacivat play culture in the Ottoman Empire was created by Sheikh Kushteri.