Baba Ishak, also spelled Baba Ishāq, Babaî, or Bābā’ī, a 13th-century preacher, led an uprising of the Turkoman of

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

against the Seljuq Sultanate of Rûm well known as Babai Revolt ''c.'' 1239 until he was hanged in 1241. Balcıoğlu, Tahir Harimî, ''Türk Tarihinde Mezhep Cereyanları - The course of

madh'hab A ''madhhab'' (, , pl. , ) refers to any school of thought within fiqh, Islamic jurisprudence. The major Sunni Islam, Sunni ''madhhab'' are Hanafi school, Hanafi, Maliki school, Maliki, Shafi'i school, Shafi'i and Hanbali school, Hanbali. They ...

events in Turkish

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

,'' (Preface and notes by Hilmi Ziya Ülken), 271 pages, Ahmet Sait Press, Kanaat Publications, Istanbul, 1940.

Background

It had a become a common practice on Turk lands under the Seljuk reign for these "baba's" to spread their "aggregated band of religiosity under the apparent guise of

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

". "Their extra-Islamic beliefs and non-shari'atic practices had a major influence on Turkish masses, especially those who had remained superficially-Islamized Muslims. It was for the same reasons and in the same regions that these non-orthodox Sufis set out a series of clashes against orthodox Sunnite authorities". "Since the emergence of Babas, the religious distance between the non-orthodox Sufism and orthodox

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

continued to broaden. As the former enlarged their dominance, the tension between the two had grown. At the peak of this tension occurred the first and most severe clash of Anatolian history, known as the Babai Rebellion (1240) wherein Baba Ishak and his followers revolted against the Seljuk sultanate".Heon Choul Kim (2008). "The Nature and Role of Sufism in Contemporary Islam:A Case Study of the Life, Thought and Teachings of Fethullah Gülen". PhD Dissertation, The Temple University, PA, USA. Pg 52-43

Key Events

When Kayqubad I became sultan, he had appointed “Mūhy’ad-Dîn Muhammad bin Ali bin Ahmad Tahīmī”, an

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

ian Shia as the kadı of Sivas. ''"Bābā Ishāk Kafarsudī"'' was the student of this bātīn’īyyah Sufi philosopher in Shiraz. According to Turkish historian Hüseyin Hüsameddin (1869-1939), Bābā Ishāk Kafarsudī was actually a member of “Binaz/ Komnenos Dynasty” and planning to establish a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

vassal state A vassal state is any state that has a mutual obligation to a superior state or empire, in a status similar to that of a vassal in the feudal system in medieval Europe. Vassal states were common among the empires of the Near East, dating back to ...

in Amasya for the “ Komnenos Dynasty.” He was disguising his true identity and preaching a creed of mixture of

Muslim Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God ...

belief. According to Tahir Harimi Balcıoğlu, while attending the lectures of Mūhy’ad-Dīn in Shiraz, Bābā Ishāk Kafarsudī was appointed by “the President of the Nizārī Ismā'īlī state and Nizārī Ismā'īlī Da’i Â’zām Nūr’ad-Dīn Muhammad Sānī ibn Ḥasan ʿAlā of the Alamūt Hūkūmat-ee Malāheda-ee Bātīn’īyyah” as the

n Da'i for the mission of the Shiʿa-ee Bātīn’īyyah. According to Ibn Bibi, the celebrated Seljuk historian, Baba Ishaq was a Turkish holy man who practiced his gifted magic and its related arts like talismans. Having preached among Turkish tribes, he acquired a large number of followers, Turkmen and Christian alike, in various parts of Anatolia, and became one of the greatest Qalandar babas. Baba Ishak proclaimed himself as the

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divinity, divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings ...

or the

messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of '' mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach ...

, and thus was revered with the title Baba Rasul Allah among his followers. His followers used to think that Baba Ishak was immortal. Baba's followers clearly wanted to get away from basic orthodox Islamic teaching and wanted to drink

alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

and pray with music. They did not want to go to mosques or fast in Ramadan. Hamad Subani has researched on this further and established a relation between their practices and those of early Jews and Christians. As the dominance of his influence with this belief was growing enough, Baba excited his followers to do armed "jihad" (using an Islamic term to satisfy his personal objectives), against the sultan’s regime. In the consequent clash, while the followers of Baba Ishak took over several prominent cities of the north eastern Anatolia, their Baba, so called, Rasool Allah, was captured and executed (1240). This uprising is claimed to have contributed to weakening of Seljuk empire eventually leading to takeover of much of Central and Eastern

Mongols Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China ( Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family o ...

in 1243.De Nicola, B., Yıldız, S. N., & Peacock, A. C. S. (Eds.). (2015). Islam and Christianity in

Medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with the fall of the West ...

. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.Pg 317

Notes

Sources

*Claude Cahen, “Bābā’ī,” ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', edited by P. Bearman, et al. (Brill, 2007). *Claude Cahen, ''Pre-Ottoman Turkey: a general survey of the material and spiritual culture and history'', trans. J. Jones-Williams (New York: Taplinger, 1968), 136-7. *Speros Vryonis, ''The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century'' (University of California Press, 1971), 134. {{Authority control 1241 deaths Year of birth unknown People from the Sultanate of Rum Executed Turkish people People executed by Turkey by hanging Turkish Alevis

Background

Key Events

See also

Notes

Sources