Dede (religious figure)

Part of a series on Nizari-Ismāʿīli Batiniyya, Hurufiyya, Kaysanites and Twelver Shī‘ism Alevism
Beliefs Allah Quran Haqq–Muhammad–Ali Prophet Muḥammad ibn `Abd Allāh Muhammad-Ali Islamic prophet Zahir Batin Buyruks Tariqat Haqiqa Marifat Wahdat al-wujud Wahdat al-mawjud Baqaa Fana Hal Ihsan Kashf Nafs Keramat Al-Insān al-Kāmil Lataif Four Doors Manzil Nûr Sulook Yaqeen Poetry Cosmology Philosophy Psychology
Practices Zakat Zeyārat Taqiyya Ashura Hıdırellez Nowruz Saya Mawlid Music Düşkünlük Meydanı Fasting Müsahiplik
The Twelve Imams Ali Hasan Husayn al-Abidin al-Baqir al-Sadiq al-Kazim ar-Rida al-Taqi al-Naqi al-Askari al-Mahdi
Leadership Dede Murshid Pir Rehber Babas Dergah Jem Cemevi
Crucial figures and influences Khadija bint Khuwaylid Fatimah Khidr Salman the Persian Uwais al-Qarani Jābir ibn Hayyān Dhul-Nun al-Misri Bayazid Bastami Ibn al-Rawandi Mansur Al-Hallaj Nasir Khusraw Abu al-Hassan al-Kharaqani Yusuf Hamdani Khoja Akhmet Yassawi Abdul-Qadir Gilani Ahmed ar-Rifa'i Ibn Arabi Qutb ad-Dīn Haydar Ahi Evren Haji Bektash Veli Rumi Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi Zahed Gilani Sari Saltik Yunus Emre Safi-ad-din Ardabili Nāimī Sadr al-Dīn Mūsā Imadaddin Nasimi Shah Nimatullah Wali Shaykh Junayd Shaykh Haydar Ali Mirza Safavi Ismail I Nur-Ali Khalifa Kaygusuz Abdal Otman Baba Balım Sultan Gül Baba Fuzûlî Alians Demir Baba Teke Arabati Baba Teḱe Pir Sultan Abdal Kul Nesîmî Sheikh Bedreddin Börklüce Mustafa Torlak Kemal
Alevi history Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam Shia in Persia before Safavids Shiism in Persia after Safavids Umayyad Caliphate Abu Muslim Sunpadh Al-Muqanna Ishaq al-Turk Abbasid Caliphate Babak Khorramdin Maziar Kaykhusraw II Babai revolt Baba Ishak Celali rebellions Bayezid II Persecution of Alevis Baba Zünnun Rebellion Kalender Çelebi rebellion Nur Ali Halife rebellion Şahkulu Rebellion Şahkulu Battle of Chaldiran Selim I Abaza rebellion Kuyucu Murad Pasha Auspicious Incident Mahmud II Koçgiri Rebellion Dersim Rebellion Seyid Riza Maraş Massacre Çorum Massacre Sivas Massacre Gazi Quarter riots
Related Muslim Ṭarīqah Malamatiyya Qalandariyya Qadiriyya Akbari Sufis Rifa'i Uwaisi Naqshbandi Mevlevi Order Zahediyeh Safaviyya Qizilbash Khalwati order Bayramiye Jelveti Babai Revolt Hurufism Nuqtavi Chepni people Jelali revolts Ni'matullāhī Arabati Baba Teḱe Javad Nurbakhsh Galibi Order
Other influential groups Isma'ilism Nizari Alawites Druze Khurramites Bábism Baháʼí Faith Yazdanī Yarsanism Yazidi Yazidis in Armenia Sabians Ishikism Gnosticism Nabataeans Zoroaster Zoroastrianism Mazdak Zurvanism Mandaeism Manichaeism Shamanism Tengrism Panentheism
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A dede also called dedebaba, is a socio-religious leader in the Islamic Alevi and non-Islamic Ishiki community. It is one of the 12 ranks of Imam in Alevism. The institution of dede is the most important of all the institutions integral to the social and religious organization of the Anatolian Alevis. Although much weakened as a result of the socio-economic transformation experienced in Anatolia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and particularly due to accelerated migration from the rural to the urban areas after the foundation of the Republic of Turkey, it played a primary role in the survival of Alevism until today. A descendant of a Dede is called a Hearth.

The institution of dedes is based on a three tiered hierarchy:

1. Murshid
2. Pir
3. Rehber

In some regions this hierarchy is modified in such a way that the Pir and Murshid change places. This is exclusively a functional hierarchy, as all involved come from a dede family. They fulfill functions that are complementary in nature, and would be meaningless in isolation from each other. The dede families, all of them called ocakzâdes, have distributed these duties among themselves.^{[citation needed]}

An Alevi dede focuses on the mystical Islamic teachings of the Twelve Imams, the Buyruks (mainly the Imam Câfer-i Sadık Buyruğu) and Haji Bektash Veli.