Dealing with dervish headcoverings (tac) in the Ottoman Empire and interpreting them in a broad sense this book is based on a late 18th century treatise of the Naqshbandi scholar Müstaqim-zade Süleyman Sadeddin (d. 1788) from Istanbul.
The introduction interprets the meaning of headcoverings in both the Ottoman society as well as in a dervish’s private world and it discusses the terminology used in the dervish literature.
The second chapter is the critical transliteration of Müstaqim-zade’s treatise. Müstaqim-zade does not only tell the history and meaning of headcoverings in Islam but also examines precisely the differences of the headcoverings in different tariqats.
Nine different indices conclude the book. Some of these are commented. The index on dressing terminology is especially important and serves as a reference. The book is illustrated with partly non-published hand drawings from Ottoman manuscripts as well as prints and photographs