Can

Etymology and Sufi Origins

According to Nişanyan’s etymological dictionary, the word comes from the Persian jān, translated as “life” (yaşam), itself derived from the Sanskrit vyāna, translated as “soul” (ruh). In Turkish and Persian Sufi literature, the concept of can was used in addition to the Qur’anic Arabic concepts of ruh to name “the element that provides vitality to the body” (Uzun 1993). In Divan literature, the can is considered as an invisible and immaterial component that gives life to the material body made of flesh and skin. In these works of poetry, this component also nourishes the feeling of love, as shown in the addresses from the lover to their beloved as “Ey can”. It was also used in the Sufi terminology, for instance in Mevlana Rumi’s Mesnevi, to name the eternal soul of the human being that emerges at birth and that finds its divine origins in the prophetic light. In Sufi work, the word can is sometimes used to refer to Allah, Prophet Muhammad, the Sufi sheikh or the angels. As such, the term can was sometimes used by the dervishes of the Mevlevi and Bektashi brotherhoods to refer to one another. In the everyday life, the Turkish word can is also very widespread: it is used for anything that is canlı, meaning “live, living”, or as an affectionate nickname, canım, “my life”.

The Use of Can in Alevi Literature and Rituals

The concept of can has been used in the Alevi sources, especially in the hymns known as nefes among the Bektashis, and as deyiş among the Alevis (Gül 2021). Today, the term is mainly used during cem rituals: the dede or the ana often addresses the assembly as canlar. It was in the Alevi associations, now in charge of this ritual held every Thursday evening, that the ritual use of can made a comeback in the 1990s with the construction of the modern, urban cemevi. In this contemporary Alevism, the term canlar is now used to express a more horizontal relationship, in contrast to the hierarchical relationship between masters and disciples that traditionally prevailed. In the identity debate, the ritual use of the concept of can has become an argument for Alevi associations seeking to differentiate themselves from the majority Sunni Islam in Turkey. It has become the symbol of “Alevis egalitarianism”, particularly between men and women, a widespread discourse that nonetheless invisibilises the existing gender inequalities in these communities (Nimet 2016).

Nature, Can, and Contemporary Animist Interpretations

Since the early 2000s, the reinvented Alevi concept of can has also given rise to new uses in the context of environmental struggles, in resistance to extractive and destructive industrial projects, especially in Dersim. Some Alevis now claim a form of “animism”, understood as a sensitivity to the existence of every “life-soul”, can, in the world. From this reinvented perspective, human beings are composed of a “life-soul”, an immaterial principle that they share with non-human beings, be them animals, plants or even minerals. In a politicized reinterpretation of the theory of the Oneness of Being (Vahdet-i Vücud) of the Sufi master Ibn Arabi, living beings in nature are considered by these activists as sacred and must be protected from all forms of exploitation.

Conclusion

The concept of can is part of the Alevi mystical poetic tradition, both written and oral. It is also flexible, open to change and reinterpretation, and has become a political tool for self-representation in the hand Alevi associations. For a long time, the term was mostly used to refer to the human soul of divine origin, but it has now been extended to non-human living beings as part of environmental struggles.

 References & Further Reading

Gül, İbrahim. « Alevi İnancında Can, Ruh Kavramı ve Nefsin Eğitimi », Folklor / edebiyat, 211-228, 2021.

Nimet, Okan. Canların Cinsiyeti. Alevilik ve Kadın, Istanbul, İletişim Yayınları, 2016.

Uzun, Mustafa İsmet. « Can », TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Istanbul, Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Araştırmaları Merkezi, 138-139, 1993.