II. International Seljuk Historical Geography Symposium FULL TEXT BOOK-I
SUFI LIFE IN NISHAPUR DURING THE GREAT SELJUKS PERIOD
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Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Yayınları
The city of Nishapur has been a center of science, thought, culture and art in every period of history. The reason for this was due to the fact that Nishapur was the center of military and political administration during every period of political power, as well as being located at the crossroads of important trade routes. It is thought that the construction of khanqah and sufism conversations first started in the city of Nishapur in the geography of Khorasan. Especially sufism, sufi and sect etiquette are based on Abu Sa’id-i Abu’l-Khayr (d. 440/1049), who established his own khanqah in Nishapur and trained many students. It is seen that there are many sufi people in Nishapur except Abu Sa’id-i Abu’l-Khayr. Among them, can be counted Abu Ali ed-Dekkak (d. 405/1014-15), Muhammad b. Husayn as-Sulami (d. 412/1021-22), Abu’l-Qasim alQushayri (d. 465/1072-73), Abu Ali al-Farmadi (d. 477/1084) and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111). Abu Sa’id-i Abu’l-Khayr preferred to sing couplets, ghazals and organize sema assemblies instead of constantly reading the Qur’an and worshipping in the khanqah. This unfamiliar situation and rituals attracted the attention of all environment, especially madrasah scholars. At first, in the city of Nishapur, where the people of the madrasa and the people of sufism had a conflict, they reconciled with the studies and efforts of scholars such as Qushayri and Ghazali, the khanqah and madrasahs intertwined and were in solidarity. In this respect, the Sufi aspect of many scholars has begun to come to the fore. Sometimes it has been observed that the education that started in the madrasa continues in the khanqah. Scholars and sufis in the Khorasan region had started to establish their own madrasas and khankahs independently of the state centuries ago. The Seljuks who dominated the region, XI. from the second half of the century, they began to establish madrasahs and khanqahs, support scholars and sufis. Seljuk vizier Nizam al-Mulk (d. 485/1092), while establishing a great number of madrasahs in the Seljuk lands, had also built a series of khanqahs. In addition, Abu Ali al-Farmadi and Abu’l-Qasim al-Qushayri, one of the famous sufis, received support and patronage during the Seljuk period. Especially sufis such as Baba Tahir-i Uryan (d. 447/1055) and Abu Sa’id-i Abu’l-Khayr were received with respect and dignity by Tughril Beg (d. 455/1063) and Alp Arslan (d. 465/1072). The fact that Sultan Sanjar (d. 552/1157) sent money to Yusuf al-Hamadani (d. 535/1140)’s khanqah shows that the Seljuk sultans also protected and supported the sufis. In fact, the Seljuks supported the scholars and sufis who strengthened the Sunni Islamic thought of the Turks in all aspects of Maveraunnehir and Khorasan, and showed great respect and reverence. Thus, sufism decisively spread and strengthened among the Turks. Because the Seljuks supported sufism and the city of Nishapur had a strong scientific and contemplative life, sufism found the most suitable ground for its development in Nishapur.
