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

mastership or merit in Sufism. Furthermore, with the departure of Junayd from Ardabil
these young shaykhs were brought up in the Turkoman socio-cultural milieu. Indeed,
except for Junayd, they received their education and training under the auspice of these
Turkoman khalifas, who were principally of nomadic origin. Thus, it would not be an
exaggeration to argue that since the cognitive process and mental development of the
Safavid shaykhs of the ‘transformation period’, that is between Junayd and Ismail, was
surrounded by the cultural and intellectual environment of Turkomans; and thus was
conditioned by this environment. This leads us to the conclusion that the doctrinal and
ideological synthesis came out under Junayd and his successors, which is said to be
ghulat shi’ism, was not a personal choice or production of these shaykhs, but was a
natural outcome of the marriage of the Safavid Order with the Turkoman culture and
mentality. Both the ghulat shi’ism and the political aspiration that appeared during
Junayd’s shaykhdom were the products of this marriage, and were brought to the Order
not primarily by the shaykh but by the socio-cultural roots of the dominating ‘new type’
disciples, that is the nomadic Turkomans.
4.2.4.3. Varsak, Taurus, Aleppo: Consolidating Ties with Tribal and Heterodox
Elements
After such a fierce dispute with an influential sunni Shaykh of the region, Junayd must
have realized that he could no longer take shelter in Konya due to the fact that he left the
city by the following morning. The third stop in his journey was the Varsak land
(vilāyet-i Varsak) 570 . It is well-known that the Varsak were one of the few tribes that
570 APZ, p. 250. The nomadic tribal people of Varsak were living in the mountainous region around Taş-ili
(Đçel) of South Anatolia.
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