The ceremony by which a candidate is admitted to the order, and the communal rite held among initiates.
Material type
Initiatory rite
Restricted to
Initiated members (muhib) and dervishes
Restriction mechanism
oath, grade_requirement, social_sanction
Stated reason
Keeping the order's secret (sır) is a duty of the initiate
Tradition origins
13th–16th century
Recorded practice status
Practiced
Provisional: no dated status evidence is linked.
Status as of
Not recorded
Status claims
Not recorded
Disclosure dates, source publication dates, tradition origins and dates of practice are separate.
What this disclosure covers
Initiation and other rites as described in Bektashi texts and by informants.
The source
The Bektashi Order of Dervishes (SRC-0027; authenticity: Unassessed)
Author
John Kingsley Birge
Original publication
1937
Linked edition
Not recorded
Format
Academic
Provenance
academic_fieldwork
Rights of source work
Copyrighted
Identifiers
ol:OL3137776W
Source content hash
Not recorded
Draws on Bektashi manuscripts and on informants in Turkey and Albania.
Claims about this item
These claims may cite other sources for the same restricted item. Supporting and contradicting evidence remain separate.
CLM-0052 · Content
The candidate, recommended by two members, brings a sheep, which is sacrificed at the door; a rope of its wool is put round his neck. He is stripped of metal and most of his clothing (entirely, if he takes the vow of celibacy) and led before twelve seated members, one of them the shaykh, to stand on a twelve-sided stone in the centre of the hall with arms crossed and head bowed. Kneeling knee to knee with the shaykh, their right hands joined with thumbs raised, he hears Qur'an 48:10 recited into his ear. Meetings are guarded at the door, and further vows and secrets are said to be imparted only orally, under penalty.
Checked against the Internet Archive text on 2026-11-04. Brown reports, and doubts, a rumour that the shaykh whispers a pantheist doctrine under penalty of death.
SRC-0055: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
SRC-0055: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
ITEM-0017: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.
Evidence qualifications
SRC-0027 · source_authenticity_unassessed: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
SRC-0027 · source_without_content_hash: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
DISC-0029 · record_unreviewed: Record review status is unreviewed; review is not proof of truth.
ITEM-0017 · status_without_dated_evidence: The recorded practice status is provisional: no dated status claims are linked.
Reviewed means checked against a source. It does not establish source authenticity, independent corroboration or present-day practice.
