Islamic Political Identity in Turkey

6The Matrix of TurkishIslamic MovementsThe Nak7ibendi Sufi OrderThe Nak7ibendi order in its many diVerent manifestations has beena part of Turkish history, culture, economics, politics, and individualidentity for several centuries. Like other SuW orders, this order hasundergone an internal transformation and revival in recent decades,despite state-imposed secularization and repression. Not surprisingly,this revival has corresponded with the Turkish state’s gradualliberalization and integration into the global market. Nak7ibendireligious, social, and cultural networks have become suVused withpolitical and economic associations. In response to repression, mostof these orders gradually transformed themselves from strictlyreligious associations into competing informal educational andcultural associations with religious underpinnings. They gatheredsupport from sections of traditional society that regarded theKemalist variant of secularization as too radical and destructive withrespect to Turkish history and traditions. The Nak7ibendi ordersprovided a structure and functioned as a catalyst for maintaining thereligious-moral education and spiritual development of Muslimsociety in Turkey.In recent decades, the Nak7ibendi order has become mobilizedon an internal level because of increasingly worldly concerns. To acertain extent, the order has become secularized, and its religiousviews, in turn, have been modiWed by more profane interests. A closeexamination of the Nak7ibendi orders, and speciWcally the Khalidiyalodge, can provide insights into Turkish Islamism for three reasons.First, the Nak7ibendis are by far the most politically active of thetarikats and indeed represent a model for virtually all subsequentmajor contemporary Islamic sociopolitical movements in Turkey.Second, the order is also the most useful avenue for understanding