Sûfîs as combat, spiritual and logistical support element in the Ottoman army (19th century)

Sûfîs had an important place in many areas of social life in the Ottoman Empire. Turkmen, ancestors, fathers, sheikhs and dervishes, also called Abdalan-ı Rum (Abdalan-ı Rum), undertook important missions in vital issues such as conquest and settlement of nomads during the establishment and development phase of the Ottoman state. Particularly in the military sphere, which is the subject of this study, sheikhs played a leading role both with their dervishes and in the participation of Turkmen tribes, over whom they had great influence, in conquest movements. Most of the Sûfîs of this period, who are understood to have personally participated in the army as a fighting force, have a gazi dervish typology. With the gradual institutionalization of the Ottoman Empire and the maturation of the Kapıkulu Quarry and the Tımar system, this combatant role of Sûfîs in the army gradually took on a spiritual and logistical nature. As a matter of fact, it is understood that Akşemseddin, a Bayramî sheikh, first participated in the conquest of Istanbul as an army sheikh to provide spiritual support. By the 19th century, the Ottoman modernization process, i.e. the 19th century, orders and dervishes were also affected by the centralist reforms. Bektashism, which had been associated with the Janissary Corps since the early days of the state, was banned, and many regulations were made against the orders. In this period, Sûfîs, on the one hand, participated in the campaigns themselves, and on the other hand, they recited the suras, prayers and dhikrs requested from them in their lodges and dervish lodges and prayed for the victory of the army. This study was conducted to investigate and reveal the Sûfîs' perspective on ghaza and jihad activities, their participation, and their effects on the army, which were understood to have different characteristics. The study has an original character both in terms of its subject and in terms of being based on the sources and archive documents of the period.