TURKOMANS BETWEEN TWO EMPIRES: THE ... - Bilkent University

3.2.2. The Rise of the Ottoman Elite
It is to be shown in the following chapters that the decomposition of ‘Ak-börg’ and
‘Kızıl-börg’, i.e. the creation of an infantry corps alongside tribal Turkoman fighters,
would ultimately lead to a violent clash between the two in Anatolia, which would
appear as a Qizilbash uprising. Indeed, the bipartition of ‘Ak-börg’ and ‘Kızıl-börg’ was
part of a more comprehensive ongoing process: the formation of the routinized state at
the cost of the tribal chieftancy. Another major part of this process was the emergence of
the bureaucracy and judicial administrative system. The contemporary sources leave no
doubt that both the creation of central army and the establishment of administrative-
judicial bases of the state was fulfilled by continuously arriving ulemā class. As the
tribal war-bands of mounted archers were gradually replaced by a regular army, so were
the popular-sufi shaykhs by the madrasa-educated ulemā, who would transform the
tribal chieftaincy of Osman into a classical Middle Eastern Islamic state. 282
Aşıkpaşazāde’s account clearly points out the role of ulemā in this transformation. Upon
deciding to establish a regular infantry, Orhan Beg was advised to ask ulemā how to
form this army. Then he went to Çandarlı Karaca Halil (d. 1387), who was then the qādi
of Bilecik, and acted according to his advice.
du soufisme turc. Recherches sur l’Islam populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1992, p. 135. Indeed
such an attitude regarding to the early phase of Bektashism, and to Hacı Bektaş himself, was first put
forward by Köprülü. He argued that heterodox tone of Bektashism, and that attributed to Hacı Bektaş, was
mostly a production of later ulemā and sunni circles, starting with Aşıkpaşazāde. See Köprülü, “Abdal
Musa”, p. 198.] … au service des Sultans ottomans, ils deviennent des derviches colonisateurs, éducateurs
et propagateurs populaires de la religion islamique et de la culture turque ; et enfin, victimes de ce rôle de
colonisateurs et d’éducateurs, ils ont fini par devenir un ordre hétérodoxe, libéral, supra-confessionnel,
non-conformiste et révolutionnare.” (Mélikoff, “Un Ordre de derviches colonisateurs: les Bektaşis”, p.
125. Also consider her “L’Origine sociale des premiers ottomans”, pp. 136-7. Also see her “Ahmed
Yesevi et la mystique populaire turque”, in her Sur les traces du soufisme turc. Recherches sur l’Islam
populaire en Anatolie, Istanbul: ISIS Press, 1992, p. 149.)
282 The ulemā immigration to the Ottoman lands gained impetus during under Orhan Beg. As will be
returned later, the first Ottoman madrasa was opened during this time. Compare Lindner, Stimulus and
Justification in Early Ottoman History”, pp. 213-6; Kafadar, Between Two Worlds, p. 16.
106