The effect of simulation and implosion phenomena on religious groups in Turkey

The simulation theory of Jean Baudrillard states that the world has been in a certain transformation since the Renaissance, we have lost the principle of reality by the postmodern era, and we have lived in a simulated universe that imitates reality through cybernetics, codes and models. Implosion, which is the most significant one of the mechanisms that reveal the simulation universe; It describes the melting of the immanental-transcendental, physical- metaphysical, real-fake polarizations within each other. According to Baudrillard, the simulation universe is the latest form of a gradual process in the West, which has been called the simulacrum order since the Renaissance. In our opinion, the simulation has shown its effect to the Anatolian geography, which interacts intensively with the West, albeit with a delay. The first effect is that the erosion of the opposition for Islam, which emphasizes a strong afterlife. Its output in the simulation universe is the transformation of religious groups that have been rigidly anti-worldist throughout Islamic history. Religious groups in Turkey have experienced a significant economic growth in after 1980. Religious activity; has imploded by the activities in many areas such as media, health, education, tourism. A believer who addicted to the religious group, now finds an sacred canopy structure that can satisfy not only lodge activity but also social and consumption needs in daily life. The lodge is no longer just a lodge; it has become a sacred canopy where different places imploded, such as educational institutions, hospitals, television channels or energy companies. In our study, the religious groups in which simulation and implosion theory were applied were Menzil, Süleymanlı, Işıkçılar and İskenderpaşa orders belonging to the Nakşibendi tradition, which have long existed in Anatolia in terms of their historical roots. The known activities of these orders in the sectors of education, media, health, tourism etc. respectively put under the group-specific title. In these groups where holding-up and commercial expansions are seen most intensively, in the simulation universe where the connection with transcendence and divine metaphysics is broken, the dervish lodge and trading house are imploded.