Brown was secretary and dragoman of the United States legation at Constantinople and drew on dervish informants and the orders' own treatises.
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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.
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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-0055 · source_authenticity_unassessed: Source authenticity is unassessed; this is separate from the truth of its assertions.
SRC-0055 · source_without_content_hash: No source-level content_hash is recorded; linked artifact hashes may identify excerpts, derivatives or metadata instead.
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.
