The Sheikh and the Sultan.. This is how the Sufis contributed to building the Ottoman Empire

We know today through hundreds of studies, literature and sources that still reveal more lights on the history of the Ottoman Empire, in all its political, economic, social, religious and cultural aspects, that Sufism played a major role in the course of the development of this state from its inception until the last moments of its fall.

Sufism was present before the advent of the Ottomans, but rather by the Seljuks in Anatolia, as well as the coming of the Turks to the Middle East.

The ancient Sufis played broader roles than the roles that some readers or researchers restricted to asceticism, austerity, and distance from the adornments of worldly life, as we saw a wide participation of them in resisting enemies with life and money, in spreading good morals in society, and in resisting injustice.

Therefore, when the Ribat al-Thughur was established to resist the attacks of the Eastern Christian Byzantine state in Anatolia and North Africa, these Ribat turned over time into gathering places for Sufis.

This was the case with the Sufi sects in Seljuk and Ottoman Anatolia, which were known as “al-Akhiyat” or “fraternities”, as they had a great influence not only in spreading good morals among the classes of artisans, craftsmen, farmers and other people of the middle classes in those eras. Its influence is also evident in the framework of the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, to start from the phase of the emirate to the Sultanate to the global empire.

So what are the "fraternities" of Anatolia?

Where did she get her mystical and ethical knowledge from?

And what are the most prominent of these brotherhoods that were able to contribute alongside the regular Ottoman armies in expanding the area of ​​Islam and spreading it in western Anatolia / Turkey as well as Eastern Europe (Rumili)?

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There are those who trace the beginnings of the concept of Sufism to the people of the Suffah, among the poor companions who used to spend the night in the Prophet’s Mosque, hardly finding what would support their needs, and wear the coarsest clothes, which is wool, so that some of the followers would take that as a Sunnah in worship and austerity.

The development of the Sufi movement was parallel to the development of jurisprudence and Islamic sciences from the tenth century AD to the fourteenth century, when Sufism melted their thought and practice in the crucible of other forms of faith and worship. .

There are different opinions about the emergence of the Anatolian brotherhoods, which worked to tighten the bonds of morality and social solidarity for centuries, and had a role in expanding the territory of the Ottoman Empire later. -622 AH), a movement from which Sultan Al-Nasir Al-Abbasi wanted to exploit the Sufi call to strengthen the political position of the caliphate.

The fatwa in the language is the adjective “boy” derived from him as manhood from a man, and the boy in the language is the youthful youth, and the fatwa has been borrowed since the days of ignorance for courage and the boy has been borrowed for the brave, and two authentic meanings have been attached to “the boy”, which are courage and generosity, then the meanings of fatwa expanded with the passage of time until It became a sign of chivalry and altruism, until it was famously reported on the authority of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan - may God be pleased with them - that he said: “The fatwa is to be generous to your brother from your own money and not to covet his money, and to do justice to him and not demand fairness from him, and to be dependent on him and not ask that he be dependent on you, and bear it Stiffness from him and do not make him dry, and you are burdened by his little righteousness, and you take what reaches him from you.

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And if the fatwa was later divided into sects, especially the fatwa of the clever, the caliber, and the juveniles, and they are more like groups of marginalized criminals whose crimes mixed with a spirit of tolerance and mercy among themselves, then the Sufi fatwa continued in its old state of good reputation, peace and honesty, and they are the ones who He believed in them and cared for them, the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasser for the religion of God, and he belonged to their way, and he was sent to the kings and princes of neighboring countries to him with the necessity of belonging to the doctrine of the fatwa, as Ibn Abi Al-Dam Al-Hamwi (d. He gave him a fatwa - that is, he followed the way of the fatwa for him - "He was created from kings and nobles."

And if the Abbasid caliph al-Nasir for the religion of God wanted, behind his fatwa, to strengthen his political position in Iraq and the surrounding world by redefining the relations of solidarity, brotherhood, and compassion among members of Islamic societies, the Anatolian fraternities appeared thanks to the embassy sent by the Abbasid caliph al-Nasser to the Seljuk Sultan Ghiyath al-Din Kaykhusraw the first, who accepted this invitation, and opened the way for youth and fraternities in his country.

There is an opinion that says that the Mongol attack on Anatolia since 643 AH / 1245 AD, only twenty years after the death of the Abbasid caliph, has led to a kind of confusion, fragmentation and internal strife among the Turkmen themselves, as well as the weakness of the Seljuks of Rome or Anatolia and their subsequent subordination to the Mongols, and they are the ones who perished On the Abbasid state in Iraq in the year 656 AH / 1258 AD, the entry of Sufism and the establishment of these brotherhoods through the corners and ties was the factor of self-strength to restore the moral and fraternal cohesion among the people of Anatolia.

In the next century, specifically in the fourth decade of the eighth century AH, the famous traveler Ibn Battuta visited the country of the Romans, "Anatolia", and his descent was after the breakup of the Seljuk contract and the fragmentation of Anatolia between the Turkmen families or the "Anatolian beacons".

Sultans and Brotherhoods

Ertugrul Ghazi, the father of Osman Ghazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was most likely associated with the brotherhood, and gave her exaggerated appreciation and respect.

During his journey, Ibn Battuta provided us with important information about these fraternities and the definition of “brother”, who became a guide and a spiritual father for his friends who are masters of the industrial, vocational or commercial path. Ibn Battuta says: “One of the fraternities is my brother.” And they are in all the Turkoman-Rome countries (Anatolia), in every country, city and village, and there is no one like them in the world who celebrates strangers more than people and is quicker to feed food and meet the needs, and take the hands of the oppressors. And the stripped and give it precedence over themselves, and that is also the fatwa, and he builds a corner and puts in it the mattresses and saddles, and what he needs from the tools … and they are called the boys, and he is called the one who precedes them as we mentioned my brother, and I have not seen in the world the most beautiful deeds of them.

Ertuğrul Ghazi, the father of Osman Ghazi, the founder of the Ottoman Empire, was most likely associated with the brotherhood, and he devoted exaggerated appreciation and respect to it, and it seems that his son Osman was associated from an early age with the “brotherhood” of his region, whose sheikh was a man who combined the Arabic, Turkish and Persian tongues, and he is Sheikh “Edeh.” Bali" who was born in the Kerman region, south of Konya, and received his education in the Levant in the first half of the seventh century AH, then came and settled in the "Bile Gik" region in western Anatolia, and followed the loyal method established by Sheikh Abu Al-Wafa' Al-Baghdadi, and was at the same time He presides over the brotherhood or brotherhood organization in that region. Rather, Othman had a lineage relationship with this sheikh when he married his daughter to him, and he was his spiritual inspiration, moral teacher, and political mentor as well.

Sheikh Edde Bali 1206-1326 Sheikh al-Islam, teacher of Sultan Osman I and spiritual founder of the Ottoman Empire.

And he has a famous will that the Ghazi Sultan Othman I made, may God have mercy on them pic.twitter.com/2uUfdRKEQL

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﮼ Afnan (@AfnanKhatib) December 18, 2018

Sheikh "Edeh Bali" alone was not the unique Sufi figure on which the strong relationship between the Sultan and the sheikhs was based throughout the Ottoman Empire. Perhaps the influence of Sheikh "Edeh Bali" on the march of the Ottoman Empire, such as: Sheikh "Sadr al-Din Qunavi", "Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi", "Torsun Fakih", "My brother Ifran", and Sheikh "Baba Elias";

Al-Ghazi Othman and the sultans who came after him realized the extent of their influence in politics and society, and with their support Orhan bin Othman completed the conquest of Bursa, then he headed to Rum Ili (Eastern Europe and the Balkans).

Scholars and sheikhs such as Mulla Dawood al-Qaysari, Chanderli Kara Khalil, Karajah Ahmad and Kikli Baba had a great share of these conquests.

And when Sultan Murad scored great tournaments in the battle of "Quswa" (Kosova), he relied in addition to his generals such as "Uranus" and "Katlu Bey", and to the great "Al-Akhyan" or "Al-Akhiya", and scholars such as "Mulla Muhammad Jamal al-Din Aq Saraili" And Mulla Fanari and Koca Effendi, and likewise his grandson, Sultan Bayezid, who was able to conquer more countries of the Balkans. When he won the battle of Negbolu, he was not only accompanied by his great military commanders such as Ali Pasha and Timurtash Pasha, but he also participated with him. Senior brothers, Sufis, and scholars, led by Sheikh Hamid bin Musa al-Qaysari, Sheikh Muhammad Bukhari, Yunus Emre, and others.

Fraternities sects.. and the participation of women

The great historian Muhammad Fuad Kubrilli (d. 1966 AD) confirms in his book "The Establishment of the Ottoman Empire" that the Brotherhood, among all the other Sufi and social Anatolian sects, had great and influential roles in the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, and even in the establishment of the Janissary army.

And Cobrilli presents to us, based on the history of Ashiq Zadeh Pasha (d. 1484 AD), known as "The Virtues of the History of the Othman Family", four sects of these fraternities that had great merit in joining the Ottoman armies during the operations of expansion and conquest, whether in western Anatolia or Rumelli, until the conquest Istanbul and its aftermath.

Returning to the Ottoman historian "Ashek Pashazadeh", we will find that these four sects are: "Ghazian Rum" or the heroes and invaders of the Romans, and they were known before the era of the Ottomans by the title "Alp", and they were combined by "Al-Balar" meaning heroes, and they were the ones who vowed themselves for the sake of their country, nation and religion and did not They hesitate to sacrifice themselves and their money in this way.

Then "My Brother My Formations" or "Brothers' Organizations", which appeared after the Mongolian occupation of Anatolia in the middle of the thirteenth century AD, and these Sufi organizations were based on bringing people together and spreading brotherhood and love among them, and at the head of them was the great Sufi inspirational "Mawlana Jalal al-Din al-Rumi." And the famous Sufi poet "Yunus Emre" and "My Brother Ifrane", and the latter contributed strongly to the establishment of fraternal corners throughout the country.

"Achi Ifrane" contributed strongly to the establishment of fraternal corners throughout the country.

There are two other sects mentioned by Ashiqzadeh Pasha in his history, and they are the “Bajian Rum” or “Rum Bagilari” sect, which means “Rum sisters” or “Anatolian sisters.” It is an institution that brought together Anatolian women in the late Seljuk era and early Ottoman era under the umbrella of Sufism and angles. It is noteworthy that this group contributed militarily in the early wars of the Ottomans against the Byzantines, and the scholar Fuad Kobrilli describes it as the "women's organization" with which the pole of the Bektashi order in Anatolia, Haji Bektash, was associated. The historian Ashiqzadeh Pasha referred to this explicitly in his history.

As for the last sect, it was “Abdalan al-Rum” or “Abdal Anadolu”, and it was called the Sufis and dervishes of Khorasan who came and settled in Anatolia, and participated themselves - despite their poverty and poverty - in the wars of the Ottomans and their expansions in western Anatolia or Turkey, Eastern Europe and even Central, and these were known as the enchanted dervishes And Essam al-Din Tashkebarizadeh told us in his history known as “The Numani Sisters in the Scholars of the Ottoman Empire” about some of these abdal or dervishes who participated in the battles of the Ottoman sultans, including Sheikh Majzoub Musa Abdal who “attended with Sultan Orhan the conquest of Bursa (Bursa), and his grave famous there.

Thus, Sufism and Sufism led men and women from all the various Sufi orders at the time, including the Khalwatiyya, Rifa’iyyah, Mawlawiyya, Wafa’i, Bektashi and others, whose mainstay was the faithful young dervishes who joined under different sects, all of which were included in the “brothers” and corners and bands of Anatolia.

A pivotal and pivotal role in expanding the territory of the Ottoman Empire and spreading Islam in western Turkey, Eastern and Central Europe, and perhaps for this reason the relationship between the Ottoman Empire and Sufism, or between the Sheikh and the Sultan, remained closely related until its last days.

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