Börklüce Mustafa
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Börklüce Mustafa was one of the principal disciples of Sheikh Bedreddin. He lived around the turn of the 14th/15th centuries, and preached a system that can be compared to modern Communism. Between 1415–1416 he gathered
Turkmen Turkmen, Türkmen, Turkoman, or Turkman may refer to: Peoples Historical ethnonym * Turkoman (ethnonym), ethnonym used for the Oghuz Turks during the Middle Ages Ethnic groups * Turkmen in Anatolia and the Levant (Seljuk and Ottoman-Turkish desc ...
peasants, Greek sailors and Jewish merchants on the Karaburun peninsula in order to rebel against high taxes and other injustices.


Primary accounts

Börklüce Mustafa's life is relatively obscure, and well into the 20th century scarcely covered by scholarship, except in the context of his mentor, Sheikh Bedreddin. The main primary account on his activities is that of the
Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
historian
Doukas The House of Doukas, Latinized as Ducas ( el, Δούκας; feminine: Doukaina/Ducaena, Δούκαινα; plural: Doukai/Ducae, Δοῦκαι), from the Latin title ''dux'' ("leader", "general", Hellenized as 'ðouks'', is the name of a Byzant ...
, along with a few scattered references in other sources. As a result, not even his name is certain, "Börklüce Mustafa" being but one of the suggested original names for Doukas' Hellenized rendering Περκλιτζία Μουσταφᾶ.


Origin and teachings

Mustafa himself possibly hailed from
Samos Island Samos (, also ; el, Σάμος ) is a Greek island in the eastern Aegean Sea, south of Chios, north of Patmos and the Dodecanese, and off the coast of western Turkey, from which it is separated by the -wide Mycale Strait. It is also a separate r ...
, since a Cretan hermit on
Chios Chios (; el, Χίος, Chíos , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greek island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea. The island is separated from Turkey by the Chios Strait. Chios is notable for its exports of mastic ...
maintained to Doukas that he had known Mustafa, who was then living as a hermit or dervish on that island. Eventually, Mustafa was won over by the teachings of Sheikh Bedreddin, a supporter of
Musa Çelebi Musa Çelebi (died 5 July 1413) was an Ottoman prince ( tr, şehzade) and a co-ruler of the empire for three years during the Ottoman Interregnum. Background Musa was one of the sons of Bayezid I, the fourth Ottoman sultan.Kastritsis, Dimi ...
during the Ottoman Interregnum, who had been exiled by Sultan Mehmed I to Iznik. Mustafa however moved beyond his master in his efforts to approach the common people, and his teachings were "nothing short of revolutionary": apart from the renunciation of wealth and
common ownership Common ownership refers to holding the assets of an organization, enterprise or community indivisibly rather than in the names of the individual members or groups of members as common property. Forms of common ownership exist in every economi ...
of goods, he also espoused the rapprochement and complete equality between Muslims and Christians. According to Doukas, he urged his followers to treat Christians as fellow believers and show them hospitality. Doukas even attributes to him the formulation "Every Turk .e., Muslimwho says that the Christians are not faithful to God, is himself an unbeliever". Mustafa himself set the example for his followers by living as a simple
hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...
, devoting his life entirely to prayer and the propagation of his ideas. For the latter purpose, he established a missionary organization, sending forth "apostles" or "''stylarioi''" (after the location of the mountain where he lived). These missionaries were obliged to poverty, and went about clad only in a tunic, without shoes, and with shorn heads. When Sheikh Bedreddin fled from Iznik to Sinop, Mustafa too abandoned this area, seeking to establish himself and his followers in a place of greater safety than the former Ottoman capital. For this reason, he chose the Karaburun peninsula on the Aegean coast, where he and his followers settled in large numbers. In his nightly prayers, he claimed to mystically communicate with the Cretan hermit on Chios, who in turn told Doukas in person that Mustafa came to visit him every other night.


Revolt

According to different sources he gathered around 4.000-10.000 people. In the beginning of the rebellion İskender Paşa tried to crush the revolt, but he couldn't because of the narrow alleys of the Karaburun peninsula. The people of Karaburun managed to crush the army of İskender Paşa. After this more Turkmen Muslims and Christians joined the rebellion. After the defeat Mehmed sent Timurtaş Paşazade Ali Bey with all the troops of the Saruhan province and Aydin to Karaburun. These troops were also defeated by the peasants. Ali Bey managed to flee to Manisa. Mehmed who heard the news this time sent his son Murat and Bayezid paşa with the troops of Rumelia and reinforcements from Anatolia on Börklüce. On his road to a mountain which was arbitrated by dervishes Bayezid paşa massacred all the people including women, children and old people. On one hand there was a bloody conflict at the Cehennem valley and on the other hand the Ottoman army controlled the harbors of the Sakiz island in order to prevent people from fleeing. A large number of the followers of Börklüce were massacred. Börklüce tried to flee to the Sakiz island with the rest of the people, but when he arrived he noticed the Ottoman navy. After a bloody battle Börklüce and his men couldn't flee and moved to the north of the peninsula where they were captured. Börklüce was taken hostage and after a lot of torturing he still insisted on his beliefs and demands. As a result, he was tortured, crucified and bound on the back of a camel to be ridiculed and shown around. The dervishes who stayed loyal to him were killed in front of his eyes. Meanwhile, there was a similar rebellion in Manisa which was probably linked with the rebellion of Karaburun. The rebellion in Manisa was under the leadership of
Torlak Kemal Torlak Kemal, born as Samuel of Manisa (died 1419 in Manisa), was one of the followers of Sheikh Bedreddin. Together with Börklüce Mustafa, he led the Sheikh Bedreddin revolt. Identity Torlak Kemal, a murid of Sheikh Bedreddin (1359–1420 ...
. Some of his followers saw him as a messiah and doubted his death.Ernst Werner, Walter Markov: ''Geschichte der Türken.'' Akademie Verlag, Berlin 1978, p. 47.


Philosophy and his works

Börklüce Mustafa was considered as an important philosopher by many theologians and philosophers in the Islamic world. He wrote Tasvîrü'l- Kulûb.


References


Sources

* * Şaban Er, "Edirne-Simâvne Kâdîsı ve Emîri İsrâ’îl Oğlu Şeyh Bedreddîn Hakkında Son Söz", Kutupyıldızı Yayınları, İstanbul, Hazîran 2016 ( Cildli 657 Sayfa, {{ISBN, 978-605-5291-65-5 ) * Kemal Derin : Kalplerin Işığı: Börklüce Mustafa, Destek Yayınları 2014 * Yılmaz Gruda : Köylü Devrimci Börklüce Mustafa Berfin Yayınları, 2008 * Ernst Werner : Şeyh Bedreddin ve Börklüce Mustafa Kaynak Yayınları * Michel Balivet : Şeyh Bedreddin Tasavvuf ve İsyan Tarih Vakfı Yurt Yayınları, 2000 * Abdülbâki Gölpınarlı, Melâmilik ve Melâmîler, Gri Yayın, İstanbul, 1992 * Dr. Mesut Keskin : Das Toleranzverständnis der anatolischen Heterodoxie am Beispiel Scheich Bedreddin Mahmud Israils, 2 cilt, Berlin 1999 Ethnic Turkmen people Peasant revolts 1410s in the Ottoman Empire Ottoman period in Anatolia Christianity and Islam Religious syncretism Islamic religious leaders from the Ottoman Empire