Trajectories of modern Sufism: an ethnohistorical study of the Rifai order and social change in Turkey
Embargo Date
2027-11-30
OA Version
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Abstract
This dissertation provides an ethnohistorical examination of the history,
discourses, and practices of the Rifai Sufi order in Turkey. The Rifai order is an upper-middle
class Sufi order that is currently under the leadership of an unveiled female
shaykha, Cemalnur Sargut (b. 1952). The Rifais imagine Islam as a dynamic “tradition”
that can adjust to new spatial and temporal arrangements. They concentrate on the inner
meanings of Islam, as expressed in ethical self-formation through the cultivation of love
and mindfulness of God. Rifais reconfigure mainstream Muslim gender discourses by
discarding the practices of veiling and gender segregation, and extending women’s public
participation to the level of community and spiritual leadership.
The Rifai sheikhs reformulated the tradition by situating it within ongoing
projects of sociocultural, political, and economic change over the past century in Turkish
society. During Turkey’s transition from an empire into a nation-state in the 1920s,
Kenan Rifai emphasized the compatibility of Sufi tradition with the processes of
modernization, secularization, and Republican reform. During the Cold War Era, Samiha
Ayverdi entwined the precepts of the Rifaiyye with the politics of anti-communist
conservatism, with her nationalist commitment to the preservation of Turkey’s Islamic
heritage in literature, music, fine arts, and architecture. Since the early 2000s, Cemalnur
Sargut has reinterpreted the Rifai way of life in a manner that ethically engages the
lifestyles, sensibilities, and tastes of Turkey’s diverse middle-class. Sargut has also
contributed to the global revitalization of Sufism by building global Sufi networks
through a series of academic initiatives, including establishing endowed professorial
chairs and Sufi research institutes around the world.
This study contextualizes the revival of alternative piety movements like Rifaiyye
within the broader changes taking place in Turkey. The changes highlighted include the
expansion of a culturally hybrid middle class, growing disillusionment with social and
economic neoliberalism, increased public interest in Islamic religiosity, and the global
revitalization of Sufism. The study also challenges the portrayal of Islam as a
homogeneous, immutable, and ahistorical religion grounded in totalizing and essentialist
readings of the sacred texts, highlighting the varieties of Islamic traditions and pious
subjectivities in contemporary Turkish society.
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Attribution 4.0 International