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“The Hurufis, with their strong cabalistic-Gnostic tendencies, adopted the batini ta’wil and stressed the hidden meaning of the letters (haruf) whence the name of the sect.” (Prof. Daftary, The Ismailis, p. 455.)

From this and other sources, it appears that the Hurufi Sufis, and the Bektashiya after them, probably adopted the theosophical teachings of Kabbalah (most likely from Merkabah, which is the oldest form of Jewish mysticism, and from the Sefer Yetzirah) and the interpretation of the “hidden meanings” of scripture through Gematria and letter magic, such as that which formed the basis of Abraham Abulafia’s “ecstatic Kabbalah.” In this regard, the Islamic scholar, Moojan Momen, writes:

“[Harufism] claimed to be able to reveal the true inner meaning of the Qur’an and the religious observances of Islam. This interpretation (ta’wil) involves an elaboration of the mystical significance of [dreams], numbers, letters, and the parts of the body.” (An Introduction to Shi’i Islam, p. 100.)

Also in this regard, it is interesting to note that Abulafia died in 1291 and Fadl Allah, founder of the Hurufis (from whom the Bektashis eventually evolved) was born less than 50 years later in 1339. Abulafia stressed the practice of reciting the mystical names of God in order to achieve states of ecstasy, a practice now common among the Bektashis. In addition, whole sections of the Zohar are devoted to a mystical interpretation of “the parts of the body” as is the remarkable treatise, Shiur Komah.

However, more important than these particulars is the fact that such a grounding in Jewish Kabbalah would most likely predispose the Bektashiya to Sabbatai Zevi, since he was being universally acclaimed at the time as a “Madhi” who embodied the Shi’ite Noor, or “Divine Light” of God/Allah.

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“Yakov Leib has revealed very deep insight by his conception of Sabbatai Sevi as ‘The Gate of God’”. — Prof. Avraham Elqayam

Elsewhere, our friend and Donmeh-West Chaver, Prof. Avraham Elqayam (a leading scholar of Jewish mysticism), has pointed out that Sabbatai Zevi had little if any known contacts with the Shii Bektashi Sufis prior to his conversion before the sultan; however AFTER his conversion, he had numerous contacts with them — and, in fact, the so-called “Second,” R. Baruchiah, became a Bektashi and was buried in their graveyard.

It strikes me as improbable that the Sultan of Turkey was oblivious to the symbolic and conotative meaning the Bektashi (who were, of course, connected to the Ismailis) would have attached to the title “Keeper of the Gate” that he conferred upon Sabbatai, even though he himself may not have seen in it the same religious significance as they. Now, scholars are quick to point out that this title was largely honorific and not terribly theological in meaning. For example, Professor Dror Ze’evi, professor of Middle eastern studies at Ben Gurion University in Israel, writes:

“As far as I know the Kapici Bashi is indeed “keeper of the Gate” (or to be more accurate: “Head Keeper of the Gate”). Originally this was a small guard force in the palace, and I think that by the seventeenth century it became an honorific which did not carry any specific duties in the palace. I do not know of any theological significance attached to the title, apart from the fact that all servants of the sultan, by their proximity to him, were somewhat revered and respected. Since the palace itself was a simile for paradise, and the gate was usually referred to as ‘the threshold of happiness’, the Gate Keepers may be likened to the angels watching the entrance to paradise. Although I know this was a popular metaphor, I don’t think it was ever articulated to this degree. There was never, to the best of my knowledge, any serious attempt to develop this metaphor to such an extent, and the Ottomans were usually much too practical to attach deep theological significance to what they saw as a very worldly affair.” (Correspondence with Prof. Boaz Huss)

Although what Prof. Ze’evi writes about the title of Kapaci Bashi may certainly have been true prior to its having been bestowed on Sabbatai Zevi, that does not mean it was also so during and after. It must be remembered that Sabbatai Zevi was no ordinary public figure at the time, but a widely acclaimed Jewish “Mhadi” who was causing world-wide messianic fervor among Jews, Christians and Muslims. For example, Gershom Scholem writes:

“Unexpected propagandists [for Sabbatai Zevi] appeared on the scene: for example, several [Bektashi] dervishes prophesied the fall of the Turkish empire and the return of the kingdom of the Jews [through him]….This particular detail seems to be confirmed by a letter sent to Amsterdam in July, 1666. R. Tobias Kohen also reports that there were Muslims who believed in Sabbatai and that the Turkish authorities were alarmed at this.” (Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messiah, Princeton University Press, 1978, pp. 631-632)

Thus, the issue here is not the literal denotative meaning of Kapici Bashi, but the CONNOTATIVE message it would convey at that time, to those people concerning a specific mystagogue, Sabbatai Zevi, whom the entire Jewish world, and much of the Muslim, was literally going into hysterics over as the Messiah. For example, Rabbi Leib ben Ozer, a witness at the time, wrote:

“And [Sabbatai Zevi's Messianic advent] is one of the greatest occurrences, clearly supernatural . . . It happened in many places, in Izmir and in Constantinople and in Adrianople and in Salonika, that prophets [proclaiming Sabbatai Zevi the Messiah] arose in hundreds and thousands, women and men, boys and girls, and even little children; all of them prophesied in the holy tongue and in the language of the Zohar as well, and none of them knew a letter of Hebrew and all the less so of the language of the Zohar. And this is how it would be: they would fall to the ground like someone struck with epilepsy, foam would come from their mouths, and they would have convulsions and speak secrets of the Kabbalah in the holy tongue concerning many matters, and what they said, each in his own way was this: The reign of Shabtai Zvi, or lord, our king, our messiah, has been revealed in heaven and Earth and he has received the crown of kingship from Heaven . . . And wherever you went you heard nothing but that Mr. So-and-So had become a prophet and that Miss So-and-So had become a prophetess; and here there was a company of prophets, some prophesying in one way and others in another, but the sum of the matter was always that Shabtai Zvi was the messiah and our righteous redeemer.” (Quoted in The Jewish Messiahs: From the Galilee to Crown Heights, Professor Harris Lenowitz, Oxford University Press, 1998.)

It is one thing, therefore, for the Sultan to confer the title “Keeper of the Gate” on a family relative or court favorite, for example, but quite another for him to confer it on a widely-acclaimed, messianic personality such as Sabbatai Zevi — particularly when, as even Prof. Ze’evi points out,

“The [Sultan's] palace…was [seen by Muslims of the Ottoman Empire as] a simile for paradise, and the gate [to it] was usually referred to as ‘the threshold of happiness’, [therefore] the ‘Gate Keepers’ [Kapici Bashi] may be likened to the angels watching the entrance to paradise.”

I think it critically important to remember that it was in this context of messianic fervor — a fervor that had spilled over into the Christian and Islamic worlds — and this connotative relationship in the minds of Muslims between the Sultan’s “palace,” its “gate” and the “keeper” of that gate as an “angel watching over paradise” — that the Sultan of Turkey bestowed the suggestive title of Kapici Bashi on Sabbatai Zevi following his conversion to Islam.

This leads us to the question: What was the nature of the relationship between the Sultan of Turkey and the Bektashi Sufis at that time? And could he, the Sultan, possibly have seen Sabbatai Zevi — armed by him with virtually the identical title as that of the Shii Ismaili Imams — as a tool by which he could control the Bektashi who were, as we have pointed out in an earlier lecture, posing a political threat to his rule? After all, as Scholem points out, the Ottoman rulers were highly aware of Sabbatai’s powerful impact not only on the Jews of their realm, but also its Muslims. If so, this could account for the curious fact that the Sultan permitted Sabbatai to continue in his role as the Jewish Messiah, even after he “exiled” him to Dulcigno (where there were and remain to this day, many Bektashi Sufi) and where he continued to openly receive his Jewish Ma’aminim (“Believers”). His own brother, we are told, marveled that Sabbatai was not executed by the Sultan but held in good regard by him, instead, even up to his death.

To summarize, although Kapici Bashi was an honorary tile commonly given by the Sultan to special individuals, it undoubtedly had very different connotations when given to a man such as Sabbatai Sevi, whom the Sultan seems to have grudgingly viewed with religious awe, at least according to some accounts. Moreover, Kapici Bashi, “Keeper of the Gate,” was also the title of several Sufi Imams, and it is more than likely that this would not have been missed by the Bektashi Sufis, whom the Sultan considered a threat at the time, and with whom Sabbatai began associating after receiving that same title from him.

And finally, it should also be noted that Sabbatai, according to his contemporary Rabbi Leib ben Ozer, was particularly prone to singing Psalm 118 — ‘Here is the Gate of Righteousness that the righteous may enter’ — when he was in states of extreme mystical ecstasy, punctuating it with the exclamation, in Hebrew, ‘I shall rise! I shall rise!’”

Source:   Yakov Leib HaKohain ["YaLHaK"]  DONMEH WEST [Founded 1972]