Popular Sufism in Eastern Europe : Sufi brotherhoods and the dialogue with Christianity and 'heterodoxy' / H.T. Norris.

First published in 2006.

First issued in paperpack 2011.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [149]-151) and index.

The geographical setting of popular Sufism in Eastern Europe -- Sufi brotherhoods and the impact of Sufism on national identity within the Balkan Muslim communities -- The Krstjani and the Bosnjaks : Sufi orders and the abiding memory of the Bosnian church -- Islamic antinomianism, 'heterodoxy' and Persian Monism in the literature and the thought of the Albanians : the Sufi inspirations of Naim Frasher̈i, Albania's greatest poet -- Popular Sufism in Bulgaria and Macedonia : Demir Baba Akyazili, the Kizilbash saints of Deli Orman and the neo-Malamiyya of Muhammad Nur al-ʻArabi -- 'The heterodox hero', the mythical Sari Saltik and his many tombs in Albanian and in Tatar lands -- The popular expression of dhikr amongst the Suki communities of Eastern Europe -- The Bektashiyya brotherhood, its village communities, and inter-religious tensions along the border between Albania and Greek Epirus, at the beginning of the twentieth century -- A future role for Balkan Sufism and the revival of Popular Sufism among the Tatars of the Crimean peninsula.

This is a detailed description of the various Sufi orders and movements which entered into the Balkans, the Crimean peninsula and other parts of Eastern Europe following the Ottoman conquests. Many of the Sufis came from Christian societies, principally from an Eastern Orthodox background, but others, such as the Bosnians, from churches that were accused or suspected of heterodoxy of belief and of antinomianism. These beliefs, together with pre-Christian beliefs, influenced by Manicheanism, Dualism and pantheism, left their mark on Sufi Islam. The book concentrates on the Bosnians, Bulgarians, Albanians and Tatars. Their Sufism reflects their national aspirations, and their writings fuse their mysticism, national faith and folklore in a Sufism which is quite distinct from that in other regions of the Muslim world.