THE TURNING POINT IN UNDERSTANDING OF FUTUWWA: THE REFORMS OF THE CALİPH AL-NĀŞİR Lİ-DĪN ALLĀH REGARDING THE CONCEPT OF FUTUWWA

Abstract

Having been an ʿAbbāsid Caliph in such a period when the Caliphate office lost its political authority and symbolically serviced as a religious power, al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh desired to reset the authority of Caliphate in Islamic world. For doing so he did notable military, political, intellectual and social reforms. One of the reforms he did that dates back to the earlier times was to improve the concept and position of the idea of futuwwa under his authority. Term “futuwwa,” referring youth, bravery and gallantry derives from the Arabic term fetā that means youth in Arabic. Two different types of concept of futuwwa have been developed in historical process. One is resulted in due to the fact that social and demographic changes in the Middle East. Especially, after the Islamic conquests around the Middle East, rapid urbanization has been appeared there. This urbanization phenomen caused to weaken the ties within tribe members. Unitary function of the tribe was replaced with futuwwa unities that were formed by young people who were having same profession and had same ideology. The purpose of this development was to increase the social cooperation and the association activities. Moreover, ṣūfism also created a kind of futuwwa that requires men to be virtuous men and to do favours for others without any personal interest. It is meaningful that this kind of futuwwa also emphasizes public service. As a result of the fact that some of the scattered and disobedient futuwwa unites, Caliph al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh ordered al-Suhrawardī who is the leading ṣūfī of his era to compose a new doctrine related to the concept of futuwwa. Al-Suhrawardī tried to integrate the futuwwa unites with the ṣūfistic approach of the concept of futuwwa and he also aimed to form such virtuous futuwwa unites that they devote themselves to the public interest. Furthermore, al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh who declared himself as a leader of all futuwwa groups did not hesitate to disband some futuwwa groups not obeying his authority. In this way, he not only overcome the disobedient futuwwa unites but also increase his authority over all futuwwa unites, and finally, the entire futuwwa unites unavoidably confirm his power. It is seen that al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh focused on rearranging the concept and mission of the futuwwa to unite all Muslims under the power of futuwwa by ignoring the denominational differences within all Muslims. Thus, the concept of futuwwa that was legitimized during the reign of the Caliph al-Nāṣir li- Dīn Allāh turned to the shape of the craft guilds in following periods as it organize the artisan and craft groups in Muslim societies. Therefore, futuwwa which spread and serviced under the title of Akhīsm in Anatolia contributes to the shape of the socio-economic life in Anatolia. In this study, not only the position and role of al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh as a leader of futuwwa unites were discussed in the sense of his perception of futuwwa and but also his reforms, and possible aims regarding this phenomenon were covered. Keywords: Futuwwa, Akhīsm, al-Nāṣir li-Dīn Allāh, ʿAbbāsid.