Kameliya Atanasova is an Assistant Professor of Religion and History at Washington & Lee University (Lexington, VA). She holds a Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. She has conducted archival research in the US, Germany, and Turkey which has been sponsored by the Mellon Foundation, DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) and The Manuscript Society.

• List of FiguresNote on TransliterationNote on AbbreviationsAcknowledgementsIntroduction: İsmail Hakkı Bursevi and Religious AuthorityBeyond Charisma: Sufi Authority in a Historical ContextAuthority through the Sufi MasterA Link in the Chain: Authority through the Sufi OrderThe Sufi as the Axis of the World: Advising OfficialsA Sufi Qurʾan? Bursevi and the Rūḥ al-bayānConclusion: Bursevi and Future Directions in Ottoman Intellectual HistoryBibliographyIndex

Despite his prolific nature as a writer and over-representation in the Ottoman archival and library registers, Bursevi is poorly understood and his relevance to Ottoman and Islamic history has not been properly situated. This book goes a long way toward rectifying that imbalance. It is a critical addition to the scholarly literature on Sufism and the history of the Ottoman Empire, and an advance that has benefited my own work on the topic.