The ribat in the Islamic world of the middle-age

The Ribat In The Islamic World Of The Middle-Age Keywords: Ribat, Khankah, Zawiye, Caravansarai. In the first periods of the middle-age Islamic world, the term "ribat" is considered as a military-religious concept. While searching the historical development of this concept, first of all I tried to clarify this word from the point of lexical meaning and termonology. I searched the religious sources to reach the most extensive details about ribats which had been developed since the first periods of Islamic religion searching the Kur' an and the Prophet's words, I noticed that there is a strong connection between the words "ribat" and "cihat". For this reason I especially centered on "ribat" and "cihat" concepts which are based on religious sources. This concept, which is extensively used within Islamic world, has had many meanings. Firstly, for example I searched the meaning from the military point of view. However, when the conquests slowly decreased these ribats lost their popularity and turned to be social institutions. In this period, these institutions were called as khankah and zawiye and served as a kind of dormitory for the poor and a caravansarai for travellers. Another characteristics of ribats is that they are used as places to educate people. However, I noticed that the term "ribat" was used with different meanings in the same periods and in the same territories. Sol thought that the historical process of the term "ribat" should be searched. Finally, I centered on the different situations of ribat within different muslim countries. In the first periods, these institutions were constructed by volunteers but later it turned to be a duty of states. I found out that in the ribats of the last periods which were constructed by the rich and the people who had important roles within states, volunteers wre replaced by military forces who took wage from the state. As a result of this search, I can say that ribats which had a characteristics of military, turned to be social institutions.