Bektashi

The Bektashi order spread through Anatolia and the Balkans, gaining influence among the Ottoman Janissaries in the fifteenth century. In the sixteenth century Balım Sultan systematized its rituals and teachings and came to be revered as its second elder.

After Mahmud II forcibly dissolved the Janissary corps in 1826, he banned the Bektashi order because of its ties to the soldiers. Lodges were destroyed or confiscated, and some dervishes were exiled or executed.