Şefik Can (June 22, 1909 – January 23, 2005) was a Turkish spiritual leader and the last

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, ...

master in the

Mevlevi The Mevlevi Order or Mawlawiyya ( tr, Mevlevilik or Mevleviyye; fa, طریقت مولویه) is a Sufi order that originated in Konya (a city now in Turkey; formerly capital of the Seljuk Sultanate) and which was founded by the followers of Jalal ...

Sufi tradition in Turkey.

Biography

Born in 1909 in Tebricik village of

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. The city uses the double-headed eagle as ...

, Şefik Can completed his primary education in Yıldızeli, Sivas. Can learned

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic languages, Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C ...

and

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 ...

at an early age from his father, and graduated from the

Kuleli Military High School Kuleli Military High School was the oldest military high school in Turkey, located in Çengelköy, Istanbul, on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus strait. It was founded on September 21, 1845, by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I. After the 2016 Tur ...

in 1929 and the Military Academy in 1931. Then, with the permission of the Ministry of National Defense, he became a teacher at

Istanbul University , image = Istanbul_University_logo.svg , image_size = 200px , latin_name = Universitas Istanbulensis , motto = tr, Tarihten Geleceğe Bilim Köprüsü , mottoeng = Science Bridge from Past to the Future , established = 1453 1846 1933 ...

, and in 1935, completed his internship under Tahirü l-Mevlevi at Kuleli Military High School. Until his retirement in 1965, he taught at various military schools, civilian colleges and high schools. He was initiated into the Mevlevi Sufi order by his spiritual teacher Tahir al-Mevlevi and had been the head of the tradition until his death on January 23, 2005.

Works

* Fundamentals of Rumi's Thought: A Mevlevi Sufi Perspective (Tughra Books, Jan 1, 2006, Originally published in 1995)

References

{{Authority control 1909 births 2005 deaths People from Erzurum Sufi religious leaders Turkish Sufis