Riza YILDIRIM
Emory University, Graduate Division of Religion, Graduate Student
- History, Ottoman History, Sufism, Ottoman Studies, Ottoman Balkans, Ottoman Empire, and 28 moreEconomic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Conversion to Islam in the Ottoman Empire, Safavids (Islamic History), Missionaries in the Ottoman Empire, Alevi Studies, Islam and Sufism in South Asia, Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal History, Bektashi Studies, Safavid Persia, Safavid Empire, Futuwwa, Ottoman Turkish historical writing, Mongol, Turco-Iranian World, Medieval Islamic, Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500) Comparative empire, post-Mongol, Frontier, political culture Persian, Mongol world empire Seljuk, Anthropology of Alevism, Heresy, Geleneksel Alevilik, Modern Alevilik, Qizilbash Studies, Futuwwa Studies, Seyyid Ali sultan, and Islamic Studiesedit
- Docent of Ottoman and Safavid History, Scholar of Qizilbash-Alevi and Bektashi Studies, PhD Candidate in Religious Studies, Fulbright Fellow.edit
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Addressing the contested nature of Ottoman Sunnism from the 14th to the early 20th century, this book draws on diverse perspectives across the empire. Closely reading intellectual, social and mystical traditions within the empire, it... more
Addressing the contested nature of Ottoman Sunnism from the 14th to the early 20th century, this book draws on diverse perspectives across the empire. Closely reading intellectual, social and mystical traditions within the empire, it clarifies the possibilities that existed within Ottoman Sunnism, presenting it as a complex, nuanced and evolving concept.
Research Interests: Ottoman History, Ottoman Studies, Ottoman Empire, Early modern Ottoman History, Ottoman Historiography, and 8 moreOttoman Balkans, Late Ottoman Period, Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire, Alevism and Sunnism in Turkey, Shiism, Ottoman Turkish historical writing, Ottoman Anatolia (1200-1500) Comparative empire, and Sunnism
This thesis aims to evaluate the emergence of the Qizilbash Movement and the Qizilbash Identity during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century within the struggle between the Ottoman and the Safavid power. The process of the making... more
This thesis aims to evaluate the emergence of the Qizilbash Movement and the Qizilbash Identity during the late fifteenth and early sixteenth century within the struggle between the Ottoman and the Safavid power. The process of the making of the Qizilbash Identity, which was, in essence, the concurrent process of the Turkoman milieu’s gradual divergence from the Ottoman axis and convergence to the Safavid affiliation, is reflected in available sources as if it were predominantly a religious issue. The present study argues, however, that the religious aspect of the developments was simply the ‘surface’ or ‘outcome’ of a rather inclusive process including anthropological, cultural, sociological, and political dimensions. It is argued that the Qizilbash Identity was a product of the intercession of two separate but interrelated lines of developments: on the one hand being the alienation of the ‘nomadic-tribal Turkoman world’ from the ‘Ottoman imperial regime’, while on the other hand being the synchronized rapprochement between the ‘Turkoman milieu’ of Anatolia and the Safavid Order. One of the prominent promises of the present thesis is that the most decisive factors governing the course of both lines of the developments stemmed from the structural inconsistencies, or ‘unconscious structures’ of societies as Lévi-Strauss states, between two ‘ways of life’: one is sedentary life, which accomplished its socio-political organization as bureaucratic state, and the other is nomadic or semi-nomadic life organized around tribal axis.
Research Interests: Military History, Ottoman History, State Formation and Sovereignty in Middle East, Ottoman Studies, Sufism, and 13 moreSafavids (Islamic History), Messianism, Ottoman-Safavid Relations, Millenarianism, Tribalism in the Modern Middle East, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Safavid Iran, Alevi Studies, Turkoman Studies, Qizilbash Studies, Sunnism, Shi'ism, Sufi Orders, and Qizilbash
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“Erkan” usul, yöntem anlamına gelir, dolayısıyla Erkannameler usul ve yöntem kitabıdırlar. 25 Eylül 1895 tarihinde yeniden yazılmış olan bu “Bektâşî Erkannamesi” 19. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısında Bektâşîler arasında uygulanan ritüelleri... more
“Erkan” usul, yöntem anlamına gelir, dolayısıyla Erkannameler usul ve yöntem kitabıdırlar. 25 Eylül 1895 tarihinde yeniden yazılmış olan bu “Bektâşî Erkannamesi” 19. Yüzyılın ikinci yarısında Bektâşîler arasında uygulanan ritüelleri anlatır. Metin, içerik olarak iki ana kısımdan oluşur: talibin, dervişin ya da rehberin yapması gereken işleri belirten aksiyon bölümleri ve bu işler yapılırken söylenecek ayet ya da duaları (terceman) ifade eden okuma bölümleri. Bunlar metin boyunca içiçe geçmiş durumda yer almaktadırlar. Eserde, Bektâşîler’in hilafet verme usulünü, dervişliğe kabul şeklini, Ayn-i Cem’in nasıl yapıldığını, Kemer Kuşanma’nın nasıl olduğunu, İkrar merasimi ile Çerağ yakma söndürme ritüelini en ince detaylarına kadar bulmak mümkündür. “Erkanname” tarzı eserlerin yazıldıktan sonra yarı kutsal kabul edildikleri düşünülürse, eser, sadece 19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısını değil, uzun zamana yayılan Bektâşî geleneğini yansıtan bir eser olarak görünmektedir. Bu anlamda, birçok orijinal Bektâşî tabirinin, deyişinin birinci derecede kaynağından öğrenilmesini sağlayan eser, bir Bektâşî dervişinin el kitabı hükmündedir.
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Research Interests: History, Politics, Alawi, Bilkent University, Dervish, and 4 moreBektashi, Sufi Orders, Velâyetnâme, and Abdal Musa
Research Interests: Ottoman History, Ottoman Studies, Sufism, Safavids (Islamic History), Ottoman-Safavid Relations, and 9 moreSafavid Persia, Religious Studies, Bektashi Studies, Alevi Studies, Shiism, Shiite Islam, Shii Islam, Safavids and Ottomans History and Literature, Sacred texts and religious discourse, Alevism and Bektashism Literature, and Qizilbash Studies
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Research Interests: Ottoman History, History of Religion, Sufism, Shi'ism, Safavids (Islamic History), and 15 moreReligious Studies, Twelver Shi'ism, Bektashi Studies, Alevi Studies, Early Shi'ism, Extremist Shi'ism, ghulat, Ghulat, Sainthood, Fatima bint Muhammad (PBUH), Islamic Heterodoxy, Alevilik, Bektashism, Qizilbash, twelve Imams, Walayah, and Buyruk
Research Interests: Ottoman History, Early Modern History, State Formation, Islamic Studies, Sufism, and 15 moreShi'ism, Safavids (Islamic History), Ottoman-Safavid Relations, Sectarianism, Safavid Persia, Religious Studies, Heresy and Orthodoxy, Religious Minorities, Bektashi Studies, Alevi Studies, Christian and Islamic Confessionalism, Miltary History, Qizilbash Studies, Confessionalism, and Islamic Sectarianism
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The article analyses the cem ritual in the context of pre-modern Kızılbaş society in which it shaped the religious understanding, perception and practice of community members. The author argues that the cem governed the societal and... more
The article analyses the cem ritual in the context of pre-modern Kızılbaş society in which it shaped the religious understanding, perception and practice of community members. The author argues that the cem governed the societal and judicial orientation of Kızılbaş community structure. As his principal sources, he makes use of buyruk texts to which he attributes a status and evolution of their own. This status, the author argues, materialized simultaneously with the evolution of the cem. Moreover, he critically assesses the available sources and offers a general discussion of buyruk manuscripts from the early 17th to 19th centuries.
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This paper interrogates whether common concepts of canonisation are applicable to the literary foundations of the Kızılbaş-Alevi tradition. It argues that there are severe methodological problems in determining whether a certain text may... more
This paper interrogates whether common concepts of canonisation are applicable to the literary foundations of the Kızılbaş-Alevi tradition. It argues that there are severe methodological problems in determining whether a certain text may be affiliated with the Alevis. On the one hand, such problems are also caused by the heterogeneity of the Kızılbaş-Alevi tradition itself, in which no central authority emerged that would be legitimately capable of defining such canonical scriptures. On the other hand, there are indeed a number of texts circulating among Alevis that do possess both horizontal width and vertical historical depth within the community and can be regarded as quasi-canonical scriptures. This paper follows the historical trajectories in which these texts emerged and analyses the conditions under which they gained a central status within the Kızılbaş-Alevi faith.
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Over the past century, one of the most heavily debated topics within Safavid historiog-raphy has been the ideological sources of the Qezelbash zeal that carried the Safavid dynasty to the throne of Persia. By now, a near-consensus has... more
Over the past century, one of the most heavily debated topics within Safavid historiog-raphy has been the ideological sources of the Qezelbash zeal that carried the Safavid dynasty to the throne of Persia. By now, a near-consensus has been formed about Shah Esmaʿil's personality as an incarnation of the Godhead armed with a messianic mission of salvation. This article partly challenges this long-entrenched conceptualization by calling attention to a heretofore overlooked mission that the shaykhs of the revolutionary period set for themselves. This was their desire to avenge the spilling of Hosayn's blood, a mission which was nothing but a reincarnation of the topos of sāheb al-khorūj or the " master of the uprising, " a heroic typology cultivated via a particular corpus of Karbala-oriented epic literature. Based on the idea that the religiosity of the Turkish-speaking milieu that constituted the Safavid movement's grassroots was primarily shaped by this Karbala-oriented epic literature, this essay argues that Shaykh Jonayd, Shaykh Haydar, and especially Shah Esmāʿil successfully reformulated the Safavid Sufi program to address the codes of popular piety, which already existed, nurtured by Sufism and some Shiʿite elements, a particular mode of Islamic piety that I call " Shiʿite-inflected popular Sufism. " Keywords Safavid revolution – Qezelbash – Mahdi – Karbala – Abu Muslim – Maqtal
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Abstract This study examines the Shī‘itisation of the futuwwa tradition from the eleventh century to the early sixteenth century, with a special reference to fifteenth-century events. Available scholarship has a rather generalised view... more
Abstract
This study examines the Shī‘itisation of the futuwwa tradition from the eleventh century to the early sixteenth century, with a special reference to fifteenth-century events. Available scholarship has a rather generalised view on the sectarian orientation of the futuwwa, locating it within the Sunni fold, though having a slightly Shī‘ite tinge. This view has a tendency to underestimate changes in the religious stand of the futuwwa through the ages. Likewise, it devalues the evident Shī‘ite content of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century futuwwat-nāmas, regarding them as a temporary divergence due to Safavid propaganda. This article challenges two premises of this established view, arguing that the religious history of futuwwa was by no means static and linear but shows a rupture, i.e. Shī‘itisation, in the fifteenth century; and, in contrast to the consensus of the available scholarship, this Shī‘itisation was not a result of Safavid propaganda, but of a greater ‘universal’ transition taking place in fifteenth-century Islamdom.
This study examines the Shī‘itisation of the futuwwa tradition from the eleventh century to the early sixteenth century, with a special reference to fifteenth-century events. Available scholarship has a rather generalised view on the sectarian orientation of the futuwwa, locating it within the Sunni fold, though having a slightly Shī‘ite tinge. This view has a tendency to underestimate changes in the religious stand of the futuwwa through the ages. Likewise, it devalues the evident Shī‘ite content of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century futuwwat-nāmas, regarding them as a temporary divergence due to Safavid propaganda. This article challenges two premises of this established view, arguing that the religious history of futuwwa was by no means static and linear but shows a rupture, i.e. Shī‘itisation, in the fifteenth century; and, in contrast to the consensus of the available scholarship, this Shī‘itisation was not a result of Safavid propaganda, but of a greater ‘universal’ transition taking place in fifteenth-century Islamdom.
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When she was brought to the palace of Yazid Ibn Mu’awiya, together with the other survivors of Karbala, Zaynab Bint Ali, the sister of Husayn Ibn Ali, is alleged to have cried: “You won’t erase our memory!”1 As she foresaw, Husayn’s... more
When she was brought to the palace of Yazid Ibn Mu’awiya, together with the other survivors of Karbala, Zaynab Bint Ali, the sister of Husayn Ibn Ali, is alleged to have cried: “You won’t erase our memory!”1 As she foresaw, Husayn’s martyrdom became one of the most remembered events in recorded history. In terms of its impact on later developments, this single event arguably stands for the second most important development after the revelation.2 Immediately after the event, its memory turned into the emotional and ideological dynamo of the Shi’ite movements. Commemoration of Karbala soon attained political significance and then turned into religious observance in Shi’ite circles. On the other hand, for the Umayyads, this memory was a bleeding wound, which reminded people of the oppressive and “un-Islamic” quality of their rule. Hence they launched a counter propaganda to blur its traces in the collective memory. In a sense, early Islamic historiography emerged partly as a battlefield between efforts to remember Karbala and to forget it…
Research Interests: Alevi Studies and Karbala
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Përmbajtja/Contents: Fjala jonë/Editorial: 1. Edin Q. Lohja "Njohje me Ḥadīthin shīʿī"/ "Getting to Know Shīʿī Hadith" UDC 284 2. Mark Sedgwick "Sufizmi tradicionalist"/ "Traditionalist Sufism UDC 141.336 3. Mehmet Yazıcı "Një... more
Përmbajtja/Contents:
Fjala jonë/Editorial:
1. Edin Q. Lohja
"Njohje me Ḥadīthin shīʿī"/
"Getting to Know Shīʿī Hadith"
UDC 284
2. Mark Sedgwick
"Sufizmi tradicionalist"/
"Traditionalist Sufism
UDC 141.336
3. Mehmet Yazıcı
"Një portret i paplotësuar historik: Haxhi Bektash Veliu"/
"An Incomplete Historical Portrait: Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli"
UDC 28-3:929
4. Rıza Yıldırım
"Kujt i thonë 'bektashi'? Përpjekje për një studim analitik mbi shtrirjen dhe kufijtë e nocionit 'bektashi'/
"Who is Called Bektashi? A Historical Analysis on the Content and Boundaries of the Term"
UDC 28-78-9
---------------------------------------------------
Botues/Publisher:
Fondacioni për Kulturë dhe Shkencë GNOSA
GNOSA Foundation for Culture and Science
Kryeredaktor/Editor-in-chief
Numan Mustafa
Redaktimi gjuhësor/Proofreading
Prof. dr. Fatmir Sulejmani
Kopertina & faqosja / Cover design & Paging
Adnan Salih
Teksti në kopertinën e pasme / Text on the back cover
"Tâlip isen ey ahî erenlerin irfanına
Olma nâdâne mukârin gerçeğin gel yanına
Can kulağın açıp dinle ne der ehl-i kemâl,
Sıdk ile olsun niyâzın âlemin sultanına.
Bil ganimet bu demi ey tâlib-i himmet olan
Dem geçer, devrân döner, bugünü koma yarına..."
***
"Vëllai im, në kërkon nga erenlerët irfan,
lër padijen e shko te e Vërteta që është pranë.
Hap zemrën e dëgjo, të përkryerit çfarë thonë,
Mbretit të Botës bëja ti zemërpastër duanë.
Dije dhunti çastin, ti që himmetin do
Çasti ik, bota ndryshon, t'nesrit të sotmen mos ia ngarko..."
(Nefes anonim bektashian; fragment nga një mbishkrim i vitit 1785 mbi hyrjen e Kubbeli Mejdanit në Teqenë Harabati Baba në Tetovë/ Bektashi nefes from an uknown author, dated 1785, engraved as an inscription on the gate of the Kubbeli Meydan of the Harabati Baba Tekke in Tetovo)
Përgjegjës i shtypit / Print coordinator
Mujadin Bajrami
Adresa e redaksisë / Address of the editorial office
Rr. Dervish Cara nr. 5
1200 Tetovë, Maqedoni
ISSN 2545-4412
===============================================================
Founded in 2017, the Mejdani Journal on Religious, Philosophical and Scientific Thought is a quarterly publication of the GNOSA Foundation for the Culture and Science in Tetovo, Macedonia (www.gnosa.mk).
The main goal of the Mejdani journal has been to present the depth and diversity of Islamic intellectual thought, by publishing scientific papers and studies from different authors in the field of human sciences, with special emphasis on religion, philosophy, history, mysticism, sociology, philosophy of science etc. The Mejdani journal was conceived neither as a strictly academical journal aimed at expert scholars of the fields mentioned above, nor as a magazine aimed at the general populace, with short articles and superficial information. Rather it takes a middle position between the two and is aimed at the general educated class of the old and new generation, particularly individuals who would like to have a deeper insight into what Islamic thought has to offer. Despite occasionally having some articles which require prior knowledge of a certain field, the general approach has been to make Islamic wisdom accessible for this spectrum of the audience.
Apart from original articles written in Albanian, the journal has mostly featured translated articles from foreign languages, particularly English, Turkish, Bosnian and German, which have been meticulously translated, edited and proofread, in order to offer texts of highest quality. /
-------------------------------------------------------------
E themeluar në vitin 2017, revista Mejdani mbi mendimin fetar, filozofik dhe shkencor, është botim periodik i Fondacionit për Kulturë dhe Shkencë GNOSA në Tetovë, Maqedoni (www.gnosa.mk).
Qëllimi kryesor i revistës Mejdani ka qenë paraqitja e thellësisë dhe shumëllojshmërisë së mendimit intelektual islam, duke botuar punime shkencore dhe studime nga autorë të ndryshëm në fushën e shkencave humane, me theks të veçantë mbi fenë, filozofinë, historinë, misticizmin, sociologjinë, filozofinë e shkencës etj. Revista Mejdani nuk është konceptuar as si një revistë rreptësisht akademike që u drejtohet ekspertëve të fushave të sipërpërmendura dhe as si një fletushkë që u drejtohet shtresave të gjera të popullsisë. Mejdani ndodhet në një pozitë të ndërmjetme dhe i drejtohet kryesisht shtresës së arsimuar nga gjenerata e re dhe e vjetër, e në veçanti individëve që kanë dëshirë të fitojnë njohuri më të thella lidhur me mendimin intelektual dhe shpirtëror islam.
Krahas artikujve autorialë në shqip, revista Mejdani ka botuar kryesisht artikuj të përkthyer nga gjuhë të huaja, veçanërisht nga anglishtja, turqishtja, boshnjakishtja dhe gjermanishtja. Këta artikuj janë përkthyer dhe redaktuar me kujdes të veçantë, për t’i ofruar lexuesit tekste të një cilësie të lartë gjuhësore.
Fjala jonë/Editorial:
1. Edin Q. Lohja
"Njohje me Ḥadīthin shīʿī"/
"Getting to Know Shīʿī Hadith"
UDC 284
2. Mark Sedgwick
"Sufizmi tradicionalist"/
"Traditionalist Sufism
UDC 141.336
3. Mehmet Yazıcı
"Një portret i paplotësuar historik: Haxhi Bektash Veliu"/
"An Incomplete Historical Portrait: Hacı Bektaş-ı Veli"
UDC 28-3:929
4. Rıza Yıldırım
"Kujt i thonë 'bektashi'? Përpjekje për një studim analitik mbi shtrirjen dhe kufijtë e nocionit 'bektashi'/
"Who is Called Bektashi? A Historical Analysis on the Content and Boundaries of the Term"
UDC 28-78-9
---------------------------------------------------
Botues/Publisher:
Fondacioni për Kulturë dhe Shkencë GNOSA
GNOSA Foundation for Culture and Science
Kryeredaktor/Editor-in-chief
Numan Mustafa
Redaktimi gjuhësor/Proofreading
Prof. dr. Fatmir Sulejmani
Kopertina & faqosja / Cover design & Paging
Adnan Salih
Teksti në kopertinën e pasme / Text on the back cover
"Tâlip isen ey ahî erenlerin irfanına
Olma nâdâne mukârin gerçeğin gel yanına
Can kulağın açıp dinle ne der ehl-i kemâl,
Sıdk ile olsun niyâzın âlemin sultanına.
Bil ganimet bu demi ey tâlib-i himmet olan
Dem geçer, devrân döner, bugünü koma yarına..."
***
"Vëllai im, në kërkon nga erenlerët irfan,
lër padijen e shko te e Vërteta që është pranë.
Hap zemrën e dëgjo, të përkryerit çfarë thonë,
Mbretit të Botës bëja ti zemërpastër duanë.
Dije dhunti çastin, ti që himmetin do
Çasti ik, bota ndryshon, t'nesrit të sotmen mos ia ngarko..."
(Nefes anonim bektashian; fragment nga një mbishkrim i vitit 1785 mbi hyrjen e Kubbeli Mejdanit në Teqenë Harabati Baba në Tetovë/ Bektashi nefes from an uknown author, dated 1785, engraved as an inscription on the gate of the Kubbeli Meydan of the Harabati Baba Tekke in Tetovo)
Përgjegjës i shtypit / Print coordinator
Mujadin Bajrami
Adresa e redaksisë / Address of the editorial office
Rr. Dervish Cara nr. 5
1200 Tetovë, Maqedoni
ISSN 2545-4412
===============================================================
Founded in 2017, the Mejdani Journal on Religious, Philosophical and Scientific Thought is a quarterly publication of the GNOSA Foundation for the Culture and Science in Tetovo, Macedonia (www.gnosa.mk).
The main goal of the Mejdani journal has been to present the depth and diversity of Islamic intellectual thought, by publishing scientific papers and studies from different authors in the field of human sciences, with special emphasis on religion, philosophy, history, mysticism, sociology, philosophy of science etc. The Mejdani journal was conceived neither as a strictly academical journal aimed at expert scholars of the fields mentioned above, nor as a magazine aimed at the general populace, with short articles and superficial information. Rather it takes a middle position between the two and is aimed at the general educated class of the old and new generation, particularly individuals who would like to have a deeper insight into what Islamic thought has to offer. Despite occasionally having some articles which require prior knowledge of a certain field, the general approach has been to make Islamic wisdom accessible for this spectrum of the audience.
Apart from original articles written in Albanian, the journal has mostly featured translated articles from foreign languages, particularly English, Turkish, Bosnian and German, which have been meticulously translated, edited and proofread, in order to offer texts of highest quality. /
-------------------------------------------------------------
E themeluar në vitin 2017, revista Mejdani mbi mendimin fetar, filozofik dhe shkencor, është botim periodik i Fondacionit për Kulturë dhe Shkencë GNOSA në Tetovë, Maqedoni (www.gnosa.mk).
Qëllimi kryesor i revistës Mejdani ka qenë paraqitja e thellësisë dhe shumëllojshmërisë së mendimit intelektual islam, duke botuar punime shkencore dhe studime nga autorë të ndryshëm në fushën e shkencave humane, me theks të veçantë mbi fenë, filozofinë, historinë, misticizmin, sociologjinë, filozofinë e shkencës etj. Revista Mejdani nuk është konceptuar as si një revistë rreptësisht akademike që u drejtohet ekspertëve të fushave të sipërpërmendura dhe as si një fletushkë që u drejtohet shtresave të gjera të popullsisë. Mejdani ndodhet në një pozitë të ndërmjetme dhe i drejtohet kryesisht shtresës së arsimuar nga gjenerata e re dhe e vjetër, e në veçanti individëve që kanë dëshirë të fitojnë njohuri më të thella lidhur me mendimin intelektual dhe shpirtëror islam.
Krahas artikujve autorialë në shqip, revista Mejdani ka botuar kryesisht artikuj të përkthyer nga gjuhë të huaja, veçanërisht nga anglishtja, turqishtja, boshnjakishtja dhe gjermanishtja. Këta artikuj janë përkthyer dhe redaktuar me kujdes të veçantë, për t’i ofruar lexuesit tekste të një cilësie të lartë gjuhësore.