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

on Erzincan and Sivas; the latter, especially, lied on the crossroads of caravans.
Sohrweide underscores the point that such places did not provide only for the people of
different countries a suitable ground of communication and making contact, but also for
the nomads and sedentary people as well. 546 Nonetheless, as mentioned earlier, she
thinks it is not likely that Shaykh Sadruddin and Hoca Ali adopted large numbers of
disciples from among nomadic Turkomans. Rather during this period the gravity of the
Order in Anatolia was in cities among educated people. 547
What is apparent in our knowledge is that by the arrival of Juanyd in Anatolia the
Safavid order had considerable adherents from among the nomadic Turkomans of the
region 548 , as well as among the urban population; and the enthusiastic propaganda led by
Junayd decisively gave impetus to the recruitment of new disciples from within the
Ottoman realm, especially among tribal nomads. 549 For instance, Irène Beldiceanue
observes on the tahrir-registers of the province of Kirsehir that considerable numbers of
names mark attachment to Ali and to his family, which might well have indicated
attachment to the shaykh of Ardabil Hoca Ali as well. She counts some examples: ‘Şah
Ali, Seydi Ali, Arslan, Şīrī, Sāfī, Şahverdi, Şahkulu.’ 550 It must be because of the
546 Sohrweide, pp. 115-6.
547 Some famous khalifas of the early Safavid Shaykhs, who preached the Safavid order among principally
the townspeople of Anatolia, were Shaykh Hamid b. Musa (d. 1412), the spiritual master of Haci Bayram
Veli and the disciple of Hoca Ali (d. 1429), and Abdurrahman Erzincānī. Sohrweide, pp. 116-7.
548 As Roemer states, in explaining Junayd’s adventure in Azarbaijan, Anatolia, and northern Syria, “It
was thus not fortuitous that Junayd visited precisely these areas on these raids. Here he could be certain of
support and assistance.” See Roemer, “The Safavid Period”, p. 206.
549 See Roemer, p. 201; Sohrweide, p. 118. Sohrweide puts special emphasis on that Junayd’s main
interest turned towards nomadic Turkomans, whose lifestyle and religious perception were under
suspicion of urban population. She says, “Verstärkt wurde dieser Eindruck dadurch, daß er sich seine
Anhängerschaft weitgehend unter Nomadenstämmen suchte, deren Lebensweise und
Glaubensvorstellungen städtischen Kreisen stets mehr oder weniger verdächtig waren; außerdem nahm er
anerkannt ketzerische Elemente, wie ehemalige Anhänger Scheich Bedr ed-Dīns, in seine Reichen auf.”
See Sohrweide, pp. 119-120.
550 Irène Beldiceanue-Steinherr, “A propos d’un ouvrage sur la polémique Ottomane contre les
Safawides”, Revue des Études Islamiques, XXXIX-2, Paris, 1971, p. 398.
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