Introduction

The Turkish involvement with Islam provides vivid examples of how a religion affects a people and how a people affect a religion. This article traces the story of that involvement from the adoption of various forms of Islam by the Turks, through their rise to become the strongest champions of the faith, their subsequent decline, loss of empire, proclamation of secularism in the Republic and on to the present where the struggle over the place of Islam in the state is still being fought.

Turks came to Islam in different ways. In their origi­nal Central Asian homelands they had followed shamanistic practices and in the course of time had come into contact with Buddhism, Manichaeism and Nestorian Christianity. But when they started moving westwards and encountered Arabs carrying their new faith into and beyond Iran it was Islam that made the greatest impact upon them and thereby changed the course of history.

Among the various categories of convert were: the warrior taken into the service of Muslim armies; the tribe or community following its leader’s example; and the convinced individual. In the first category come the Turks like those that the Abbasid Caliph Mutasim (833-42 ce) recruited for his bodyguard. Their martial prowess brought them swift advancement until soon they themselves were in control and had reduced the caliphs to powerless figureheads. An example of the second type of conver­sion is provided by the Seljuks who became Muslims at the behest of their leader, Seljuk, after whom the tribe was named. By becoming Sunnis they strengthened this orthodox branch of Islam when it had appeared to be in decline. Some other tribes came under the influence of various Sufi orders, both Sunni and Shi‘a. As for the individual converts, they include many Turks who were attracted to the faith by Muslims with whom they came in contact; some became strictly orthodox, whilst others joined the dervish orders.

These dervish, or Sufi, orders—known in Turkish as tarikats—were to play an important part in Turkish history. Some of them were Sunni orders and others Shi‘a. Many orthodox Sunnis maintained that several of these tarikats were heretical, whereas other orthodox believers themselves joined Sunni tarikats. One feature common to all the tarikats was the total allegiance owed by devotees to their leaders (who often bore the title seyh). This gave the heads of the main tarikats political as well as spiritual power.

Conversion meant different things to different peo­ple. To many the adoption of Islam lent religious encouragement for what they would probably have done anyway, namely take possession of land in Anatolia. To some it meant the abandonment of old ways and the substitu­tion of a new lifestyle that required among other things the performance of ritual prayers five times a day. To yet others it meant simply putting an Islamic gloss upon old beliefs and customs. This was particularly true in the case of many of the nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkoman tribes that would have found the formal demands of orthodox worship inconvenient. Among them in particular the tarikats with strong heterodox elements and distinct traces of shamanism found favour. The roots of religious schism among Turkish Muslims go back to these days. But although the interpretations of Islam to which Turks subscribed varied widely, the common acknowledge­ment of the one God did provide a focus for unity among the Turkish tribes.

Moreover, all these Turkish Muslims eagerly accepted the demand of their faith that they should extend its territorial bounds. (This was in contrast to the pacific attitudes fostered by some other creeds that had been held to blame for the weakness of some Turkish tribes in pre-Islamic times.) It was natural therefore that they should seek to wrest Anatolia from the enfeebled grasp of the Byzantine Empire. Turkish raiders had penetrated to Konya in central Anatolia as early as the middle of the tenth century but had not then attempted settlement.