Hurufism
( ar, حُرُوفِيَّة ''ḥurūfiyyah'',
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
: حُروفیان ''hōrufiyān'') was a
Sufi
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
movement based on the
mysticism of letters (''ḥurūf''), which originated in
Astrabad
Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...
and spread to areas of western
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...
(
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
) and
Anatolia in the late 14th and early 15th centuries.
Foundation
The founder and spiritual head of the Hurufi movement was
Fazlallah Astarabadi
Fażlu l-Lāh Astar-Ābādī ( fa, فضلالله استرآبادی, 1339/40 in Astarābād – 1394 in Nakhchivan), also known as Fażlullāh Tabrīzī AstarābādīIrène Mélikoff. ''Hadji Bektach: un mythe et ses avatars : genèse et évo ...
(1340–94). Born in Astrabad (now
Gorgan
Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Province, Iran. It lies appro ...
, Iran), he was strongly drawn to
Sufism
Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...
and the teachings of
Mansur Al-Hallaj
Al-Hallaj ( ar, ابو المغيث الحسين بن منصور الحلاج, Abū 'l-Muġīth Al-Ḥusayn bin Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj) or Mansour Hallaj ( fa, منصور حلاج, Mansūr-e Hallāj) ( 26 March 922) ( Hijri 309 AH) was a Pe ...
and
Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
at an early age. In the mid-1370s, Fazlallah started to propagate his teachings all over
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkme ...
and
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of t ...
. While living in
Tabriz
Tabriz ( fa, تبریز ; ) is a city in northwestern Iran, serving as the capital of East Azerbaijan Province. It is the sixth-most-populous city in Iran. In the Quru River valley in Iran's historic Azerbaijan region between long ridges of vo ...
, Fazlallah gained an elite following in the court of the
Jalairid Sultanate
The Jalayirid Sultanate was a culturally Persianate, Mongol Jalayir dynasty which ruled over Iraq and western Persia after the breakup of the Mongol khanate of Persia in the 1330s.Bayne Fisher, William. ''The Cambridge History of Iran'', p.3: ...
. At that time, Fazlallah was still in the mainstream of
Sufi tradition. Later, he did move towards more esoteric spirituality, and, failing to convert
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
, was executed in 1394 near
Alinja Tower in
Nakhchivan by the ruler's son,
Miran Shah
Mirza Jalal-ud-din Miran Shah Beg (1366 – 20 April 1408), commonly known as Miran Shah ( fa, میران شاہ), was a son of the Central Asian conqueror Timur, founder of the Timurid Empire.
During his father's reign, Miran Shah was init ...
. The large uprising of Hurufis was crushed, but the popular movement survived for another decade or so in different guises.
Fazlallah's greatest work was the ''Jāvdānnāme-ye kabir'' ("Great Book of Eternity"), likely written in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world ...
before his arrest, which survived due to its dissemination due to copies made by his daughter Makhdumzāde. It was largely preserved in popular culture due to its use by dervishes of the
Bektashi Order
The Bektashi Order; sq, Tarikati Bektashi; tr, Bektaşi or Bektashism is an Islamic Sufi mystic movement originating in the 13th-century. It is named after the Anatolian saint Haji Bektash Wali (d. 1271). The community is currently led by ...
.
Key elements
According to Fazlallah, the key to open the seventh sealed book, the
Qurʾan, is a
kabbalistic system of letters that is expounded by later Hurufis in the ''Hidayat Namah'', ''Jawidan'' and in the ''Mahram Namah''. The
Universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. A ...
is eternal and moves by rotation.
Divine countenance
The divine countenance is the face of God. The concept has special significance in the Abrahamic religions.
In Islam
Islam considers God to be beyond ordinary vision as the Quran states that "Sights cannot attain him; he can attain sights", but ...
is imperishable and is manifest in Man, the best of forms, ''zuhur kibriya''. God is
incarnated in every atom. Hurufis considered
Fazlallah Astarabadi
Fażlu l-Lāh Astar-Ābādī ( fa, فضلالله استرآبادی, 1339/40 in Astarābād – 1394 in Nakhchivan), also known as Fażlullāh Tabrīzī AstarābādīIrène Mélikoff. ''Hadji Bektach: un mythe et ses avatars : genèse et évo ...
a manifestation of God's force after
Adam
Adam; el, Ἀδάμ, Adám; la, Adam is the name given in Genesis 1-5 to the first human. Beyond its use as the name of the first man, ''adam'' is also used in the Bible as a pronoun, individually as "a human" and in a collective sense as ...
,
Moses
Moses hbo, מֹשֶׁה, Mōše; also known as Moshe or Moshe Rabbeinu (Mishnaic Hebrew: מֹשֶׁה רַבֵּינוּ, ); syr, ܡܘܫܐ, Mūše; ar, موسى, Mūsā; grc, Mωϋσῆς, Mōÿsēs () is considered the most important pro ...
and
Muhammad
Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monot ...
. God is also embodied in words and the 28 letters of the
Arabic alphabet, and the 32 letters of the
Persian alphabet
The Persian alphabet ( fa, الفبای فارسی, Alefbâye Fârsi) is a writing system that is a version of the Arabic script used for the Persian language spoken in Iran (Western Persian) and Afghanistan (Dari Persian) since the 7th centu ...
are the basis for love and beauty in the world.
Seven is a key number corresponding to noble parts of the face, the verses of ''
Al-Fatiha
Al-Fatiha (alternatively transliterated Al-Fātiḥa or Al-Fātiḥah; ar, ألْفَاتِحَة, ; ), is the first '' surah'' (chapter) of the Quran. It consists of 7 '' ayah'' (verses) which are a prayer for guidance and mercy. Al-Fatiha ...
'' and verbal confession of faith. Man is a supreme copy of the divine and the key to ''
haqiqa
Haqiqa (Arabic "truth") is one of "the four stages" in Sufism, '' shari’a'' (exoteric path), ''tariqa'' (esoteric path), ''haqiqa'' (mystical truth) and ''marifa'' (final mystical knowledge, ''unio mystica'').
The four stages
Shariat
Shari� ...
’’.
According to R. N. Frye's ''
The Cambridge History of Iran
''The Cambridge History of Iran'' is a multi-volume survey of Iranian history published in the United Kingdom by Cambridge University Press. The seven volumes cover "the history and historical geography of the land which is present-day Iran, as ...
'', Hurufism was an expression of
Isma'ilism
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
in its mystical identification of the human figure but differed in its recognition of ''haqiqa'' in the substance of letters rather than in the person of the
Imam
Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, serv ...
.
Impact
After Fazlallah's death his ideas were further developed and propagated by
Imadaddin Nasimi
Alī Imādud-Dīn Nasīmī ( az, Seyid Əli İmadəddin Nəsimi سئید علی عمادالدّین نسیمی, fa, عمادالدین نسیمی), often known as Nesimi, was a 14th-century Azerbaijani Ḥurūfī poet. Known mostly by his ...
and the "
certain accursed ones of no significance {{Alevism
"Certain accursed ones of no significance" is the term used by Taşköprüzade in the ''Shaqāʾiq al-Nuʿmāniyya'' to describe some members of the Hurufiyya who became intimate with the Sultan Mehmed II to the extent of initiating him ...
" in Azerbaijan and
Seyid Ishag in Turkey. The poet
Imadaddin Nasimi
Alī Imādud-Dīn Nasīmī ( az, Seyid Əli İmadəddin Nəsimi سئید علی عمادالدّین نسیمی, fa, عمادالدین نسیمی), often known as Nesimi, was a 14th-century Azerbaijani Ḥurūfī poet. Known mostly by his ...
(?–1417) and other Hurufis make
kabbalistic
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...
tendencies subordinate to mystic concepts of Sufism, and specifically those of Mansur Al-Hallaj, who was another great influence on Imadaddin Nasimi.
Through Nasimi's poetry Hurufi ideas influenced, to different degrees, people like
Niyaz-i Misri,
Fuzûlî
Mahammad bin Suleyman ( Classical Azerbaijani: ), better known by his pen name Fuzuli ( az-Arab, فضولی ; ;
* ota, محمد بن سلیمان فضولی ;
* fa, محمد بن سلیمان فضولی . – 1556), was a 16th century p ...
, Habibi,
Ismail I
Ismail I ( fa, اسماعیل, Esmāʿīl, ; July 17, 1487 – May 23, 1524), also known as Shah Ismail (), was the founder of the Safavid dynasty of Iran, ruling as its King of Kings ('' Shahanshah'') from 1501 to 1524. His reign is often ...
, and
Rushani
Rushani is one of the Pamir languages spoken in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
Rushani is relatively closer to all Northern Pamiri languages sub-group whether it is Shughni, Yazgulami, Sarikuli or Oroshori sharing many grammatical and vocabula ...
. The Bektashi Order, which is still active in
Anatolia and the
Balkans, was a repository for the Hurufi teachings and writings. One of Fazlallah's personal students, Rafî'î, emigrated into the Balkans. He transmitted a central thesis of Hurufism, that the cardinalities of the Arabic and Persian alphabet respectively enumerate all types of shape and sound, by axes of symmetry. A Hurufi rebellion in Kwarezem was suppressed by the Mongols, and that motivated the exodus of Hurufis to the Balkans. The Bektashi manuscripts show almost 500 years of Hurufism in the Balkans, with a peak in the 1700s. Other Sufi orders, such as the
Qadiriyya
The Qadiriyya (), also transliterated Qādirīyah, ''Qadri'', ''Qadriya'', ''Kadri'', ''Elkadri'', ''Elkadry'', ''Aladray'', ''Alkadrie'', ''Adray'', ''Kadray'', ''Kadiri'', ''Qadiri'', ''Quadri'' or ''Qadri'' are members of the Sunni Qadiri ta ...
and the
Naqshbandi
The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نهقشهبهندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...
, contributed in the collection, retrieval, and translation of Hurufi manuscripts.
Hurufi manuscripts
From the Balkans, a great number of records were recorded in what is today Albania, but the relation between Bektashism and Hurufism is evidenced from Greek transcriptions. In total, many of the Hurufi manuscripts that are existent today were safeguarded in the libraries of Bektashi lodges, including ''
Fadl’Allah Yazdânî’s Cāvidān-Nāma,'' ''Shaykh Sāfî’s Hākikāt-Nāma, Ali’ûl-A’lâ’s Māhşar-Nāma,'' ''Amîr Gıyâs’ad-Dîn’s İstivâ-Nāme,''
''Frişte Oğlu’s Ahirat-Nāma,'' and some other books written on "Hurufi Theology" like ''Aşık-Nāma, Hidāyat-Nāma, Mukāddama’t-ûl-Hākayık, Muhārram-Nāma-i Sayyid İshāk, Nihāyat-Nāma, Tûrāb-Nāma, Miftāh’ûl-Gayb, Tuhfat’ûl-Uşşak, Risâla-i Noktā, Risāle-i Hurûf, Risāla-i Fāzl’ûl-Lah, and Risāla-i Virān Abdāl.'' Hurufi terms and concepts permeate Bektāshi poetry.
Gül Baba
Gül Baba (died 1541), also known as Jafer, was an Ottoman Bektashi dervish poet and companion of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent who took part in a number of campaigns in Europe from the reign of Mehmed II onwards.
Biography
A native of M ...
provided an extensive compendium of Hurufi ideas in ''The Key to the Unseen''.
In contemporary culture
* The scenes of Fazlallah's execution and of Nasimi's brutal flailing in Aleppo appear in the Azeri language movie
''Nasimi'' (1973).
* Hurufism plays a role in Turkish author Orhan Pamuk's novel
''The Black Book''.
* Hurufism also plays a role in
Ian McDonald's futuristic novel, ''
The Dervish House''.
See also
*
Abjad numerals
The Abjad numerals, also called Hisab al-Jummal ( ar, حِسَاب ٱلْجُمَّل, ), are a decimal alphabetic numeral system/ alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values. They have been u ...
*
Ahmed Lur
*
Arabic alphabet
*
Arabic numerals
Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such as ...
*
Báb
*
Eastern Arabic numerals
The Eastern Arabic numerals, also called Arabic-Hindu numerals or Indo–Arabic numerals, are the symbols used to represent numerical digits in conjunction with the Arabic alphabet in the countries of the Mashriq (the east of the Arab world), ...
*
Ideas of reference and delusions of reference
*
'Ilm al-Huruf
*
Isma'ilism
Isma'ilism ( ar, الإسماعيلية, al-ʾIsmāʿīlīyah) is a branch or sub-sect of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor (imām) to Ja'far al-Sa ...
*
Kabbalah
Kabbalah ( he, קַבָּלָה ''Qabbālā'', literally "reception, tradition") is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism. A traditional Kabbalist is called a Mekubbal ( ''Məqūbbāl'' "receiver"). The defin ...
, a Jewish movement finding secret meanings in Hebrew letters.
*
List of extinct Shia sects
The following is a list of extinct unorthodox movements within Shia Islam. These are movements that no longer have any living followers or practitioners. These movements were created around certain beliefs that were unorthodox and not held by the ...
*
Mahmoud Pasikhani
*
Murād Mīrzā
*
Nuqtavi
*
One Dimension Group
References
External links
Encyclopedia Iranica, HORUFISMEncyclopedia Iranica, JĀVDĀN-NĀMA, the major work of Fażl-Allāh AstarābādiEncyclopedia Iranica, ASTARĀBĀDĪ, FAŻLALLĀH (d. 796/1394), founder of the Ḥorūfī sect.Encyclopedia Iranica, ʿALĪ AL-AʿLĀ (d. 822/1419), also known as Amīr Sayyed ʿAlī, principal successor of Fażlallāh Astarābādī.
Further reading
*
Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı (Ed.), Hurûfilik Metinleri Kataloğu, XII. Dizi- Sa. 6a TTK, 1989.
* Fazlullah Esterâbâdî, Câvidannâme; Dürr-i Yetim İsimli Tercümesi, haz. Fatih Usluer, İstanbul, Kabalci Yayınevi, 2012.
* H.T. Norris "The Hurufi Legacy of Fadlullah of Astarabad", in ''Heritage of Sufism'', 2003. Oxford, One World
* Shahzad Bashir ''Fazlallah Astarabadi and the Hurufis'', Oneworld Publications (May 25, 2005)
* Fatih Usluer, "Le Houroufisme. La doctrine et son influence dans la littérature persane et ottomane", EPHE-Paris, PhD Thesis, 2007.
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurufilik", Kabalcı Yayınevi, 2009
* Fatih Usluer, "Misâlî'nin Miftâhu’l Gayb'ı Metin ve Açıklama", Turkish Studies, International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, Volume 2/2, Spring, S. 2, www.turkishstudies.net, (Ed. Prof. Dr. Gurer Gulsevin, Dr. Mehmet Dursun Erdem), pp. 697–722.
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurûfî Metinleri ile İlgili Bazı Notlar", Ege Üniversitesi Türk Dili ve Edebiyatı Araştırmaları Dergisi, S. 13, Ocak/Jan 2007.
* Fatih Usluer, "Nesîmî Şiirlerinin Şerhlerinde Yapılan Yanlışlıklar," Turkish Studies, International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, Volume 4/2,Winter, 2009
Wayback Machine ss. 1072–1091.
* Fatih Usluer, "Mir Fâzılî’nin Taksîm-i Salât u Evkât’ının Şerhi", Hacı Bektaş Veli Dergisi, Volume 50, ss. 145–222
Wayback Machine* Rıfkı Melul Meriç, HURUFİLİK, Dil Tarih Coğrafya Fakültesi Basılmamış Mezuniyet Tezi, Ankara, 1935.
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurûfî Şifreleri", Journal of Turkish Studies, Volume 33/II, ss. 201–219.
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurufilikte On İki İmam", Turkish Studies, International Periodical for the Languages, Literature and History of Turkish or Turkic, Volume 5/1, Winter, ss. 1361–1389
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurufism Among Albanian Bektashis", The Journal of International Social Research, Volume III/15, ss. 268–280.
* Fatih Usluer, "Feyznâme-i Misâlî Neşirleri", Hacı Bektaş Veli Dergisi, Volume 56, ss. 299–323.
* Fatih Usluer, "Hurufilikte Rüya Tabirleri", Milli Folklor, Vol. 90, ss. 134–146.
* Fatih Usluer, "Les Themes Bibliques chez les Houroufis", Ishraq, Vol. II, ss. 426–443.
{{Islam topics, state=collapsed
Sufi philosophy
Sufism
Islamic mysticism
Shia Sufi orders
Hurufi
Hermeticism
Language and mysticism