Ismailaga Community
Based at the Ismail Aga Mosque in Istanbul, this movement is affiliated with the Naksibendi cult and is led by Mahmut Ustaosmanoglu. Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu, usually referred to as Mahmut Efendi and known to his disciples as Efendi Hazretleri, is a Turkish Sufi Sheikh and the leader of the influential İsmailağa jamia of the Naqshbandi-Khalidiyya Ṭarīqah centred in Çarşamba, Istanbul.The members dress radically, usually wearing cloaks and displaying long facial hair. Naqshbandi is a major Sunni spiritual order of Sufism. It is one of the Sufi way that traces its spiritual lineage to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, through Abu Bakr, the first Caliph and Muhammad's companion. Some Naqshbandi masters trace their lineage through Ali, Muhammad's cousin, son-in-law and the fourth Caliph, in keeping with most other Sufis. Naqshbandi means one who cast patterns upon cloths or bonding the heart with god. It was founded by shaykh Bahauddin shah naqshband born in the eight/fourteenth century near Bukhara in what is now central Asia, but which , at the time was culturally apart of the Persian speaking world. . He was born in the village of Qasr-i-Hinduvan near Bukhara.The order spread rapidly from its original home into the eastern areas of Persia and present day Afghanistan then India. Naqshbandi order has been one of the main conduit for the propagation of Sufi metaphysic and esoteric doctrines
The İsmailağa branch of the Nakşibendi Sufi order is considered to be among the most traditional and conservative in Turkey, whilst for the secular establishment of the country it represents the incarnation of reactionary religious forces). Members of the İsmailağa community (cemaat), are well-known for their “Islamic” dress code (kılık kıyafet) and their “authentic” beliefs, which are supposed to be in conformity with those of the Prophet Muhammad, and their network of Qur’anic schools; but also for living in ghetto-like conditions in Istanbul’s Çarşamba district. According to Ahmet Hakan Coşkun, the jamia requires strict Islamic-clothing, with members wearing beards, Kaftans, and shalwar trousers, and turbans when praying. Women wear a face-covering Çarşaf (chador). Ismailaga community is still more concerned with preserving traditional morality and relatively more scripture-focused (though unlike the Islamist they also give a lot of weight to Hadith and medieval jurisprudence. some of the private tutors belonged to religious orders and community that sprang from the nakisbendis such as the ismailaga community. these religious groups adhere to a line of islam that challenges the secular nature of the state they administer quran courses -unoffcial, for the most part-and run civil soceity organizations in areas where religiously conservative turks tend to live.
A number of leading Turkish politicians are associated with the wider Naqshbandi order; Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is said to have links with the stricter İsmailağa branch. This might explain how the wire-tapping ordered by public prosecutor İlhan Cihaner in 2007 to 2009 in relation to İsmailağa included Erdoğan. Not to be forgotten is the fact that certain influential Turkish media groups, especially the Doğan Grubu, have constantly demonized the order, by fostering various conspiracy theories and attaching derogatory labels.
The İsmailağa Jamia came to wider public attention in Turkey through three murders committed in the İsmailağa Mosque - the son-in-law of Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu in 1998 and in 2006 a retired imam and the man who stabbed him, who was lynched.From 2007 to 2009 the local Chief Public Prosecutor in Erzincan, İlhan Cihaner, investigated the community and ordered wire-tapping after reports of the community offering unauthorised Koran courses and preventing girls from attending school.
In the 1990s the group sent missionaries to parts of the Caucasus (particularly Azerbaijan), and trained people at its madrassa in the İsmailağa Mosque. The work continued more slowly after new restrictions on religious activities in Turkey 1997.
References:
Bayat, A. (2013) Post-Islamism: The Many Faces of Political Islam
Kabbani, M. (2003) Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition
Ozgur, I. (2012) Islamic Schools in Modern Turkey: Faith, Politics, and Education
Piricky, G. (2012) The İsmailağa Community: Shifting Religious Patterns in Contemporary Turkey. Archiv Orientalni 80.3 (2012): 533-V,590.
