Rising out of the rocks, Blagaj is a remote outpost near the source of the Buna river and occupied by a tekke. The small village is located near Mostar, famed for its bridge, about eighty miles south of Sarajevo in modern-day Bosnia and Herzegovina. Blagaj was probably built around 1520 when the region came under the rule of the Ottoman Turks, but archaeological finds suggest that the site has been considered sacred since Late Antiquity. The current structures date back to around 1851, when the tekke underwent major restoration.

Like any lodge, the one at Blagaj comprises cells for Sufis and includes a musafirhane, or guest house for visitors. It was a destination for traveling devotees and scholars alike. The famous Ottoman historian Evliya Çelebi (1611–1682) described the site in his travelogue of 1664 as a spiritual and intellectual center. Today, the tekke hosts the Naqshbandi order but different tariqas occupied the building in the past. Despite major political upheavals in the Balkans over the past century, Sufism still has a strong presence there. A number of brotherhoods have been revived, and some have even been expanding their reach beyond the region.

Sari Saltuk’s origin story is unknown. He was likely part of a wave of Turkic-speaking Muslims who migrated from Central Asia to the Balkans. In local myth, he is remembered for slaying a seven-headed dragon with his wooden sword, which convinced Christians to convert to Islam. Hagiographies of Sari Saltuk describe how the saint ordered his followers to bury him in seven places, from the Balkans to Sweden, decreeing “You will find me in each one of them!” The tombs linked remote towns to each other and incorporated the Balkans into a wider Sufi network.

Perhaps the most important tomb of Sari Saltuk is the one located in Babadag, in present-day Romania, which was under Ottoman control until 1878. The mausoleum of modest dimensions and decoration is located not far from a tekke, which includes a mosque and a madrasa.

Each tomb of Sari Saltuk is also associated with a miracle. At Blagaj, the saint is believed to have disappeared into the water. In neighboring Albania, where Bektashis represent 10 percent of the Muslim population, the shrine of Sari Saltuk is located in a cave in Krujë. From there, he miraculously flew to the island of Corfu in Greece.

Sari Saltuk lived at a time when Christians and Muslims often intermarried, and his legend intersects with local Christian practices. Muslims also identify Saint Naum (d. 910) of Bulgaria with Sari Saltuk and believe he is buried in the monastery of St. Naum at Ohrid in North Macedonia. Pilgrims from the Orthodox Church, Catholics, Sunni Muslims, and Bektashis all visit the Ohrid shrine.

The architectural complex was repeatedly extended and renovated to accommodate the growing number of pilgrims, who would visit Hajji Bektash’s tomb inside. In the early nineteenth century, however, the order fell out of favor because of its association with the Janissaries, the elite Ottoman infantry corps, and was viewed as a threat to the sultan’s power. The shrine, which was turned into a museum after the creation of the Turkish Republic in 1923, is still the epicenter of Bektashi devotion.

Rooted in Sunni Islam, the tenets of the order gradually incorporated Shi‘i elements and rituals, especially those practiced by the Alevis in Türkiye, and developed idiosyncratic features. The Bektashi devotion to the ahl al-bayt and in particular to Ali—the Prophet’s son-in-law and cousin and the first Shi‘i Imam—goes so far as to placing him in a trinity-like association with the Prophet Muhammad and God. 

For the Bektashis, the festival of Sultan Nevruz, the first day of spring in the Persian calendar, marks the birth of Ali. They also celebrate Ashura, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Husayn, the son of Ali, which they commemorate in the presence of the baba, or “father,” with a special wheat-based dish cooked in cauldrons the night before.

The Bektashi order came to prominence in the fifteenth century and spread from Anatolia to the Balkans and Greece during the Ottoman period. It is still popular in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia.

The Bektashi order is still popular in Albania, Kosovo, and North Macedonia. The tariqa has a hierarchical membership structure defined by the baba—non-hereditary leaders called who are distinguished by their dress and the distinctive headdress, the Husayni taj, or Husayni crown. It is made of felt and has twelve segments symbolizing the Twelve Shi‘i Imams, which further demonstrates the Bektashis’ incorporation of Shi‘i customs.

Intermittent religious suppression and political conflict in the Balkans and Türkiye destroyed most eighteenth-century and nineteenth-century examples of Bektashi paintings. Following the fall of Communism in the early 1990s, supporters from Iran and Türkiye brought posters with religious images, such as portraits of Ali, to Bektashi shrines in Albania and introduced a new pictorial tradition. Today, modern prints and photos of babas are displayed in shrines, and Bektashi images also appear on pens, pins, and pocket images. For devotees, these memorabilia are considered to carry prophylactic and curative powers as well as baraka, especially when given by a baba.

While Imam Ali and other members of the Prophet’s family are depicted in Bektashi art, they can also be represented through calligraphy. Whether transcribed on the walls of Bektashi mosques and shrines or as independent folios and panels, these calligraphic works embody the importance of the art of writing in Bektashi cosmology. They are inspired by Hurufism, a set of beliefs that was developed in the fourteenth century and regarded the world as a manifestation of a divine language. An important component of Bektashi thought, this idea also explains the development of a particular form of calligraphy, known as muthanna (“mirror writing”), which is closely associated with the Bektashi order. It became widely popular throughout much of the late Ottoman Empire. 

These Bektashi calligraphic works use letters to create new and highly innovative configurations known as “calligrams.” In this remarkable example cut out of paper, Imam Ali, whose surname is asad Allah (literally, “the lion of God”), is symbolized as a golden lion. Reading from the tail to the head, the composition states, “May God bless his countenance and be satisfied with him, God’s victorious lion, Ali ibn Abi Talib.”