Mullas, Sufis, and Heretics: The Role of Religion in Kurdish Society: Collected Articles (Analecta Isisiana: Ottoman and Turkish Studies)

This book comprises a selection of articles by Martin van Bruinessen, professor at Utrecht University, about the role of religion and religious organisations in Kurdish society. As the outcomes of a quarter century’s work including long and laborious field work, research and direct contact with the cultures in focus, the articles present an extensive discussion of religious history of Kurdistan in the recent past. Religious orders such as Sufism, Naqshbandiyya and Qadiriyya as well as heterodox religious formations like Yezidism and Ahl-i Haqq are discussed in detail as important social and political influences in the Kurdish society. The author also follows the traces of religious life of Kurdistan in the writings of the famous 17th century Turkish traveller Evliya Çelebi. In addition, he refers to examples from as far as Indonesia and South Africa to illustrate the role of Kurdish ulama in the transmission of learning between the great cultural regions of the Muslim world.

Jewish Writings from the Hellenistic-Roman Period is a collection of apocrypha and Old Testament pseudoepigrapha along with other ancient Jewish writings of importance for the understanding of the cultural realities in the epoch of ancient Judaism and early Christianity. The texts are made accessible in academically precise translations with brief introductions and comments. The series is intended for teachers and students of Bible studies, Jewish studies, Ancient Near Eastern studies (and related disciplines), Egyptology, the History of Religion and Culture, and for the general reader interested in cultural and religious history.

A selection of articles by Martin van Bruinessen on the role of religion, religious organisations and figures in the social and political life of the Kurdish society.