Kırklar Cemi

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Kırklar Cemi (the Cem of the 40, the gathering of the forty saints) is a common worship service that is of great importance to Alevis and Bektashites . According to tradition , when the Prophet Mohammed returned to earth from his journey to heaven , he visited the so-called "forty saints" and celebrated a mystical worship service with them. Based on this tradition, the Alevis and Bektashids still celebrate a corresponding service today to commemorate this event.

For these cult activities of the Cem Kırklar, people do not meet in a mosque , but in a Cemevi (Alevi prayer house) and then come together in the assembly room there for prayer and recitation of poems as well as for ritual dance ( semah ). The Semah is an important ritual dance and is one of the twelve duties of this Cem event. This dance is performed by men and women at the same time and with equal rights, and is led by a Dede ("grandfather" roughly corresponds to an imam). In the event that no suitable Dede is available to lead a Cem, any other member of the community may lead such a service. However, this person should be familiar with the corresponding rituals. Cem Kirklar is held at regular intervals, mostly weekly .

Kırklar is a Turkish word and means "the forties". The Kırklar are the hidden saints in Alevism . According to Alevi belief, after the descent from his ascension (Mirac arab .: معراج Mi'rāj), Mohammed, led by the Archangel Gabriel , found himself in the holy place of the Kırklar, with whom he witnessed a congregational ritual after a mystical conversation with Semah .

Origin and legend

According to the traditions from the Book of Buyruk , the gathering of the forty, on which the tradition and this form of worship is based, is said to have taken place as follows: When Mohammed set off with his horse Buraq on his ascension to heaven, he sought conversation Kalām with Allah 90,000 times. 60,000 of these conversations with the Lord are said to have remained a factual secret with Ali , the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed. Furthermore, Mohammed is said to have received honey, apples and milk from Allah in heaven. The honey is supposed to symbolize love, the apple the friendship and the milk the fertility. Afterwards, Allah subjected Mohammed to a test by making a lion appear to him. When Mohamed stood defenseless in front of the lion, a voice spoke to him, which told him: He should now pull his ring from his finger and throw it into the lion's mouth. So Mohammed escaped the lion and he then talked to Allah again.

Then Mohammed made his way back to earth, where a so-called Dergah came to a sheltered stay near a city . There he wanted to pay a visit to the Congregation of the Forty (Saints). The forty had gathered there in a ravine that was protected by a door. When he knocked on the door there, he was asked who he was. Mohammed replied: “I am the last Holy Prophet and I want to come in here.” But from inside it sounded: “Go and be the prophet of your community. We have no place for prophets here. ”The prophet tried again and was again not opened. As Mohammed was about to leave again, the Archangel Gabriel spoke to him in one voice and said he should knock on the door again and introduce himself differently this time. Then Mohammed knocked again and this time said: “I am one of you. I am only human and just want to see you. ”This time they opened the door for him and Mohammed was given a“ warm welcome ”.

A total of 39 people were gathered in the Dergah, 17 women and 22 men. Mohammed was then shown his place where he should sit in the round of the Kırklar. Ali happened to be sitting next to him, but he didn't recognize him. Mohammed asked the assembled people: “Who are you?” “We are called the Kırklar (the forty)” “But I only counted 39 people here”. He was answered: "Our fortieth member Selman-ı Farısi is still in Persia ". “And where are your people now, your elders and your younger ones?” Asked Mohammed. The answer was as follows: “We have no younger and older people. Our young are our people, our elders are our people. One of us is like all of us. We are all, we are like one of us. ”Mohammed then asked that he be shown proof of this.

Ali then reached out and rolled up his sleeve. Another shouted “Destur” (the chief priest) and made a small cut in Ali’s arm with a knife. A drop of blood immediately came out of the cut. Then a drop of blood came out of the arm of each of the assembled persons. The so far missing and the "fortieth of the assembly", the certain Salman of the Persians , came into the assembly room and was also bleeding. When Ali bandaged Selman's wound on his arm, everyone suddenly stopped bleeding.

The fortieth member, Selman the Persian , had also brought a bunch of grapes from Persia . He then gave it to Mohammed and asked him to distribute the grapes. Mohammed then crushed the grapes and, dissolved in water, distributed the juice to all the assembled women and men. After everyone had drunk this grape juice, they were all tipsy with it too. They shouted "Allah" and danced Semah. During the lively, trance-like dance, Muhammad's turban fell off and fell into many pieces. The Kırklar then cut the ribbons of the turban into "forty pieces" and each tied a piece as a belt around his waist and so they were now his commanders. Mohammed asked the Kırklar who Pir is. “Ali is our pir” (Ali is our patron saint) they answer.

Mohammed now learned that Ali was also in the group. After they recognized each other, Ali approached Mohammed. Mohammed now saw his ring, which he had given to the "lion" on the way from heaven (Mirac). He hugged Ali and said, "Ali, if I hadn't seen your birth with my own eyes and if I hadn't wrapped you with my own hands, I would believe that you are Allah."

literature

  • John Kingsley Birge: The Bektashi order of dervishes. Luzac, London 1937.
  • Dimitri Kitsikis : Multiculturalism in the Ottoman Empire: The Alevi Religious and Cultural Community. In: P. Savard & B. Vigezzi (eds.): Multiculturalism and the History of International Relations. Milano: Edizioni Unicopli, 1999. ISBN 88-400-0535-8
  • Buyruk / Sefer Aytekin. - Ankara: Emek, 1958
  • Alevîlik-bektaşîlik yazıları: alevîliğin yazıh kaynakları; Buyruk , Tezkire-i Şeyh Safi / Sönmez Kutlu. - Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2006
  • Robert Langer, Raoul Motika, Michael Ursinus, in: Migration and ritual transfer: religious practice of the Alevis. Yazidis and Nusairians between the Middle East and Western Europe, Volume 33 of Heidelberg Studies on the History and Culture of the Modern Middle East; Verlag Peter Lang, 2005; ISBN 3631524269
  • Ina Wunn in: Muslim Groups in Germany: A Handbook; Verlag Kohlhammer; ISBN 3170195344
  • Hadji Bektach: Un Mythe Et Ses Avatars: Genhse Et Evolution Du Soufisme Populaire En Turquie; Brill Academic Pub, 1998; ISBN 9004109544

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Alevîlik-bektaşîlik yazıları: alevîliğin yazıh kaynakları; Buyruk , Tezkire-i Şeyh Safi / Sönmez Kutlu. - Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2006
  2. ^ Ina Wunn in: Muslim groups in Germany: A manual; Verlag Kohlhammer; ISBN 3170195344
  3. ↑ Literature: Book Buyruk / Sefer Aytekin. - Ankara: Emek, 1958
  4. ↑ Literature: Hadji Bektach: Un Mythe Et Ses Avatars: Genhse Et Evolution Du Soufisme Populaire En Turquie; Brill Academic Pub, 1998; ISBN 9004109544 , Cem Kirklar on pp. 17–24, p. 51, pp. 227–236 - (French)
  5. ↑ Alevîlik-bektaşîlik yazıları: alevîliğin yazıh kaynakları; Buyruk, Tezkire-i Şeyh Safi / Sönmez Kutlu. - Ankara: Ankara Okulu Yayınları, 2006