Abstract
The Arabic word Akhi or the Turkish word Akhi refers to the lexicon of brotherhood. The Akhi guild emerged as an organised body of youth warriors and craftsmen deeply influenced by the Sufi traditions set by Sheikh Abdel Ali and Ibn Arabi during the Turk Baylick days. Turk Baylicks emerged as the centre of Islamic power in the region during the 15th-century Mongol carnage in Euro-Asia. The Turkish youth at the time, dismayed by the fall of the Seljuk sultanate and decimation of Baghdad, Samarkand, and Bukhara, flocked to the rising Akhi Guild for guidance and stability. The spiritual leaders who had fled from the Mongol carnage also turned to the Northern Turk Baylicks for patronage and protection through the Akhi Guild structure. The stability and strength of the Turk Baylicks metamorphosed under the Ottoman rule. During the Ottoman rule, the Turkish as well as the non-Turkish youth from Arab, Caucasia, and Persian Islamic regions flourished under the patronage of the Ottomans’ organised trade and cultural systems, leveraging the Akhi Guild. The Ottoman Sultans also used the Akhi Guild as a platform for community protection and skills development throughout their history. The contemporary historical accounts of the Akhi Guild are largely obscured due to the biased views expressed by the 20th-century Orientalist historians, such as Herbert Akbert Gibbons' work titled, The Foundation of the Ottoman Empire. Such works make fleeting references to the Akhi Guild merely as a paramilitary youth force used by the Ottoman Sultans to wage special operations. Akhi Guilds were far more significant in the transformation of the Turkish youth at the time in terms of their skill development, trade crafts, and military warfare capabilities. The Arab historian Juzjani’s thirteenth-century work titled Tabaqat e Nasir’i and Rashid Ud Din’s work titled Jami Al Tawarikh provide detailed accounts of the Akhi Guild’s role in the establishment of youth trade schools and entrepreneurial markets that were based on the ethical principles of Islamic economics and Spiritual philosophy. This paper examines the socio-cultural and historical underpinnings of the Akhi Guild from its inception to its demise, given the cultural creep of the Western colonial powers in the Euro-Asian region.
Key Words: Akhi Philosophy, Akhi Guild, Akhi Youth Force, Euro Asian Empires, Social
Yazar: Prof. Dr. Hassan SYED - Prof. Dr. Sema YILMAZ
Dosya