Akbaba Sufi Lodge
Changes After Construction:
- The Sufi Lodge was founded in Akbaba Village immediately after the conquest of Istanbul.
- The Sufi Lodge functioned with a Bektashi Sufi Lodge identity; it was closed in 1826 during the process of the abolition of the Janissary Corps.
- After 1826, the Sufi Lodge was transferred to the Naqshbandiyya order.
- The Sufi Lodge was revived between 1876 and 1889 by Sheikh Abdülhakim Efendi of Bukhara.
- In 1925, the function of the Sufi Lodge came to an end with the closure of the Sufi lodges and zawiyas.
- There is no information about the first Sufi Lodge structure.
Prominent Features:
- The Sufi Lodge is also referred to in the sources as “Akbaba Sultan Sufi Lodge.”
- The founder of the Sufi Lodge, Akbaba Sultan Mehmed Efendi, was among the Ni’me’l-ceyş. This title means Blessed Army and is used for the soldiers who took part in the Conquest of Istanbul out of reverence for the hadith of the Prophet Muhammad.
- The Sufi Lodge building that survives today is a single-storey wooden zawiya rising on a masonry basement; it consists of a small tevhidhane and a two-room harem section.
- The entrance of the tevhidhane is on the garden side, while the entrance of the harem section is on the street.
