On our way from Cappadocia to Ankara, we stopped at the lovely Sufi mystic Haci Bektash Veli complex, about 45-minute drive from Uchisar. It was a beautiful early September day. Interestingly, while strolling around the village, now called Hacibektash, I noticed many cars with Albanian number plates parked on the streets.

One of the courtyards of Haci Bektash Veli Complex

We walked up the street to the Haci Bektash Complex. It is a beautiful cluster of buildings and courtyards founded in the 14th century. It is now a museum, but it used to be the centre of Bektashism, a religious order of Alevism, until 1925 when it was closed down as a result of the secularisation policies. People following the Bektashi-Alevi faith come here to visit to this day. Albania is one of the places besides Turkey where this faith continues to be practiced, hence the cars with Albanian number plates parked nearby.

Bektashi Teachings

Below are the Bektashi teachings as described on the plaque on the wall of one of the buildings:

– Search and find.

Haci Bektash Veli teachings

– Educate the women.
– Even if you are hurt, don’t hurt.
– Sages are pure, sometimes purifiers.
– The first stage of attainment is modesty.
– Whatever you look for, search in you.
– Don’t forget even your enemy is human.
– Control your hand, your word, your lust.
– The beauty of a human is in the beauty of his words.
– Prophets and saints are God’s gift to humanity.
– Road that doesn’t go through science is perilous.
– Don’t try to find faults neither in nation nor individual.
– How nice to ones who put light in the darkness of thought.
– Don’t do anything to anyone if you don’t want it to be done to you.

Peace be with you! (Huu dost!)

Haci Bektash Veli

How universal these teachings are, and how relevant even in the 21st century! It seems we, humans, are very slow learners, looking at what is going on in the world as I write this…

Haci Bektash Veli

According to the information presented in the complex, Haci Bektas (1208/1209? – 1271) was a prominent Turkish Muslim Sufi thinker who was born in Turkestan (current Afghanistan) in the region of Khorasan. He studied mathematics, philosophy and other sciences. He travelled widely in the Middle East before settling in Hacibektash, formerly known as Sulucakarahoyuk. He taught and lived there until his death. His teachings are based on tolerance, peace, love and equality. His thoughts aligned with the universal human rights declaration of 10 December 1948.

Dervishes and Semah

Dervishes were persons who freed themselves of all material benefits and thoughts. They devoted themselves to

Dervishes’ clothes

Pir (spiritual guide, saint) and the Lodge and performed all tasks in the Lodge. Dervishes were divided into two groups based on their chosen lifestyle. One group consisted of dervishes who had forsaken all worldly desires and thoughts, remained unmarried and devoted themselves to the Lodge. The other group included dervishes who could leave the Lodge whenever they desired and get married.

Semah is a ritual performed at the Cem (gathering) ceremony of the Alevi-Bektashi religious order and includes the dancing of the faithful, both women and men, accompanied by baglama, a stringed musical instrument. Semah is one of the 12 services performed during Cem ceremonies.

Dervishes used to wear a headgear called Bektashi Sikke, a cloak-like coat, a shalwar with a waistband and sandals. Around the neck they would wear the twelve-sided teslim or a submission stone made of Hacibektash stone. Around their waist would be a rope from which a stone called Kamberiye would hang. The leather waistband had slits which would hold a spoon, a knife, a tobacco pouch, a mouthpiece and few valuable items.

The Complex

The Haci Bektash Veli Complex consists of three courtyards, each surrounded by buildings of different purposes.

The most important building is the Square House (Meydan Evi). This is where the sect’s secrets were revealed and where the rituals were performed. The Meydan Evi is where the ceremony of entering the sect of Bektashism takes place. It is considered the most important and sacred house by the Alevi-Bektashi people. The Meydan Evi is where Semah (Whirling) was performed, accompanied by the saz, the instrument known as the ‘Stringed Quran’.

The second most important building is the Cook’s House (As Evi). The tradition of preparing food for guests and offering them treats forms the fundamental principle of Anatolian Tekke (Dervish Lodge) culture. That is why the kitchen was an important part of the Bektashi Tekke education and working in the kitchen was one of the duties of Dervishes. The purpose of this was not only to learn how to cook but also to learn to respect the food that nature has provided to humankind. The kitchen, especially the stove, represents enlightenment in the Alevi-Bektashi way of thinking, in which the raw (spiritually immature) becomes cooked (spiritually mature). Food is also considered an element of spirituality. Certain foods have much deeper meaning and are part of the rituals, sometimes symbols connected to cosmogony (creation of the Universe), such as Ashuram halvah, honey, milk and water.

Haci Bektash Veli Complex Gardens

There are various other buildings, such as the living quarters, the guest house and the storage house.

There is a lot to see here – how the buildings were furnished, how the food was cooked, how the sect members were dressed, which tools and utensil they used, etc.

Besides the buildings, there are delightful courtyards with fountains and gardens with beautiful roses.

It was a hot day when we visited, but the impressive complex was built in a way that it offered a pleasant cooling ambience, not to mention the mystical and inspiring experience. And the teachings of the Haci Bektash Veli remain as relevant as ever, regardless of anyone’s faith.

Entrance to the Haci Bektash Veli Complex