Futuwwa

Originally linked to the military associations of the Middle Ages, the Islamic tradition of futuwwa was with time inherited by artisanship associations. The Anatolian Akhis of the 14th century represent an important link in the evolution of the futuwwa tradition, and it was thanks to them that this tradition survived well into the Ottoman era, this time within the framework of the more centralized, professional trade-guilds. Together with other Ottoman institutions, administrative, military and economic, Ottoman crafts and their trade-guilds appeared in Bosnia soon after the final fall of the country to the Ottomans in 1463. Sources which provide information on the organization and activities of Bosnian guilds also give a picture of their religious character and, related to it, the presence of futuwwa tradition within them. The most important of these sources are those that originate from the guilds themselves, the guild defters and their statutes, which are often called fütüvetnames. A number of documents of this kind found in Bosnia illustrate a strong presence of different futuwwa traditions within Bosnian guilds from their establishment well into the 19th century, while some also provide valuable information on the futuwwa tradition in Ottoman guilds in general.

This presentation aims to compare two great traditions of self-cultivation in Japanese and Islamic culture. Various studies had showed that ethical values of a certain tradition are often linked with others'. Each is unique in its own ways comprising universal code of ethical values such as mutual respect, fairness, and trustworthiness.

I would like to frame this presentation as a comparative study between Japanese culture of ethics (Bushido/武士道) and Islamic Futuwwa. Bushido is commonly known as unstipulated ethical code among Samurai class. Amidst the westernization that struck Japan in the late 19th century, a Japanese visionary scholar - Nitobe Inazo (1862-1933), was calling to the vital essence of Bushido to all Japanese citizens arguing that its comparable with (if not better than) the seemingly eloquent Western values. Futuwwa (or Futuvvet) is often freely translated as 'chivalry'. Although it is particularly difficult to be translated into English, futuwwa is broadly understood as an ethical code and nobility of Islam which is highly appreciated among Sufis. According to Kınalızade Ali  who is an author of Ahlak-i Alai, Futuwwa was considered as an essential element of Muslims in Anatolia.

In addition to the comparison between the two ethical traditions, this presentation will further study both influence in modern society and  their future prospects in build intellectual bridge between Japan and the Muslim world. Discussing ethical code of Futuwwa with Japanese Bushido（武士道) provides not only an equipotential comparative studies but also invites a global perspective in the study of cultural values.

Although by its title, this book seems to be about a specialized topic, the spread of Mithraic societies and its avatars, in time and geographical expanse, much enhances its relevancy. From Roman legionaries to chivalry orders, from dervish circles to guild organizations, and from Freemasons to French revolutionaries, the hierarchy of Mithraic societies, their initiation rites, and their oaths of secrecy, provided a model for brotherhood organization that was efficient, but also flexible. They could adapt their philosophy to the prevailing politico-religion conditions of the day, because they did not worship any particular god. Mithra was the initial guarantor of their oath, and if need be it could be replaced by Jesus, Allah, or any other divinity. Their “religion” was their brotherhood, and as such they usually provided a counter-balance to the power elite, and had the potential to become politically active. Occasionally, they would even make a bid for power, sometimes successfully and sometimes not. By the same token, they could be comrades in arms with nascent religious movements, as with Christianity, or be an adversary when their paths diverged. In this book, its author traces back the appearance of these societies to the early days of the Achaemenid Empire and to the religious cataclysm that Herodotus has dubbed as Magophonia. The Mithraic magi were pursued and massacred, and to avoid persecution, they went underground, often literally. That’s how—secret—brotherhood societies were born.

La sacralité que l‘islam reconnaît à la langue arabe a poussé les auteurs mystiques à développer une attention particulière au langage et à ses éléments constitutifs. Si donc la reconnaissance du caractère sacrale du langage a été d‘un coté la base sur laquelle les soufis ont forgé leur lexique mystique, elle est aussi à l‘origine d‘un développement doctrinal, beaucoup moins connu jusqu‘à nos jours, qui repose sur une lecture symbolique des règles de la grammaire arabe et de son lexique. Ce texte d‘Abū al-Qāsim al-Qušayrī représente un des plus anciens essais d‘interprétation mystique de la terminologie grammaticale.

« Il est inutile de scruter les œuvres des mystiques musulmans si l’on n’étudie pas de très près le mécanisme de la grammaire arabe, lexicographie, morphologie et syntaxe. Ces auteurs rattachent constamment les termes techniques qu’il proposent à leurs valeurs ordinaires, à l’usage courant constaté par les grammairiens ».
Louis Massignon

يوِّثق أحمد أمين في هذا الكتاب كلمتي «الفتوةِ» و«الصعلكة» توثيقًا لغويًا وتاريخيًا يوضح فيه تغيُّر المدلولات اللفظية لهاتين الكلمتين عبر الزمن؛ حيث استهل حديثه عنهما بالعصر الجاهلي وصدر الإسلام، مرورًا بالعصر الأموي والعباسي، وانتهاءً بالعصر المملوكي، كما أشار إلى مدلول هاتين الكلمتين عند الصوفية. وقد استطاع الكاتب أن يجمع بين الأصالة والمعاصرة؛ فلم يوصِدُ الأبواب الدلالية والتاريخية للكلمة عند العصر المملوكي، بل فتحها لتطل على ساحات الحاضر؛ فربط بين الدلالة اللفظية لكلمة الفتوة والمدلول الواقعي والسياسي لها أوائل القرن العشرين. بهذه المقاربة التاريخية والدلالية نجح الكاتب إلى حد كبير في إبراز المعنى الإنساني لكلمتي «الفتوة» و«الصعلكة».

عن المؤلف
أحمد أمين إبراهيم الطباخ: أحد أعلام الفكر العربي والإسلامي في النصف الأول من القرن العشرين، وأحد أبرز من دعوا إلى التجديد الحضاري الإسلامي، وصاحب تيار فكري مستقل قائم على الوسطية، وهو والد المفكر المعاصر جلال أمين.

ولد أحمد أمين في القاهرة عام ١٨٨٦م، لأب يعمل مدرسًا أزهريًّا، دفعه أبوه إلى حفظ القرآن الكريم، وما أن أتم الطفل ذلك الأمر، حتى التحق بمدرسة أم عباس الابتدائية النموذجية، وفي الرابعة عشرة من عمره انتقل إلى الأزهر ليكمل تعليمه، وبالرغم من إبدائه التفوق في دراسته الأزهرية، إلا أنه فضل أن يترك الأزهر وهو في السادسة عشرة من عمره ليلتحق بسلك التدريس، حيث عمل مدرسًا للغة العربية في مدارس عدة بطنطا والإسكندرية والقاهرة، تقدم بعدها لامتحانات القبول بمدرسة القضاء الشرعي ليجتازها بنجاح وليتخرج منها بعد أربع سنوات، ويعين مدرسًا فيها.

بدأ أحمد أمين مشواره في التأليف والترجمة والنشر، حيث قادته الأقدار في عام ١٩١٤م إلى معرفة مجموعة من الشباب ذوي الاهتمامات الثقافية والفكرية، والتي كانت تهدف إلى إثراء الثقافة العربية إثراء، حيث قدمت للقارئ العربي ذخائر التراث العربي بعد شرحها وضبطها وتحقيقها، كما قدموا بدائع الفكر الأوروبي في كثير من حقول المعرفة بالتأليف والترجمة.

وفي عام ١٩٢٦م اختير أحمد أمين لتدريس مادة النقد الأدبي بكلية الآداب جامعة القاهرة بتوصية من طه حسين، كما انتخب عميدًا للكلية فيما بعد، رغم عدم حصوله على درجة الدكتوراه. إلَّا أن انتخابه عميدًا للكلية شغله بمشاكل عدة أثرت علي سير مشروعه الفكري، ففضل الاستقالة من العمادة في عام ١٩٤٠م. وقد حصل بعدها بثمان سنوات على الدكتوراه الفخرية.

كتب أحمد أمين في العديد من الحقول المعرفية كالفلسفة والأدب والنقد والتاريخ والتربية، إلا أن عمله الأبرز هو ذلك العمل الذي أرَّخ فيه للحركة العقلية في الحضارة الإسلامية، فأخرج لنا «فجر الإسلام» و«ضحى الإسلام» و«ظهر الإسلام» أو ما عرف باسم «موسوعة الحضارة الإسلامية». وقد ظل أحمد أمين منكبًّا على البحث والقراءة والكتابة طيلة حياته إلى أن انتقل إلى رحاب الله عام ١٩٥٤م بعد أن ترك لنا تراثًا فكريًّا غزيرًا وفريدًا، راكم عليه من جاء بعده من الأجيال.

Chapter from  Lloyd Ridgeon (ed.) Javanmardi. The Ethics and Practice of Persianate Perfection. Bips, Gingko, 2018.

This chapter pays attention to several questions about javanmardi, the world of the zurkhaneh and its link with Sufism. It is divided in two parts. The first part investigates six concepts: i) the modern myth, built around three famous historical characters: Takhti, Tayyeb and Shaban-e Jaʿfari; ii) zurkhaneh’s reputation; iii) zurkhaneh and the issue of martial arts; iv) the historiography of the zurkhaneh until the beginning of the 1980’s; v) academic opinions on the recognised development model; and vi) problems in defining javanmardi (and the genre of fotovvat-nameh). The second part considers the links between Sufism and the zurkhaneh through the analysis of a quite unusual manuscript written in 1875, which also provides an example of an intellectual and social adaptive process.

Following a theoretical framework that relies on the concept of the construction of collective identities through heroes, this paper demonstrates that the concept of javanmardi is a focal point in creating a hegemonic modern Iranian identity. In the official discourse of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the national hero Tayyeb Hajj Rezaʾi (1912–1963) is presented as the first martyr who sacrificed his life for Ayatollah Khomeini and additionally as a javanmard-e bozorg (a grand javanmard). Thus, his example is used to mediate the ideal virtues of javanmardi to the public. Accordingly, this paper is dedicated to a study of the motives present behind the public depiction of the hero Tayyeb Hajj Rezaʾi.

ʿAli Akbar Khatāyi's Khatāynāmeh (Book of China), a detailed description of state and society in Ming China written in 922/1516, includes citations from the Kanz al-Haqāyeq (attributed to Mahmud Shabestari) and ʿAttār's Elāhināmeh. By citing these two texts at key points in his description of the Chinese government, Khatāyi articulates a radical political vision in which the civil officials, rather than the emperor, are the true rulers. Furthermore, by using the Kanz al-Haqāyeq as a portal text, and through frequent citations of other gnostic poetry, he crafts his own authorial presence by identifying his own text with fotovvat and gnosticism, and invokes a conceptual framework based on the thought of Ibn ʿArabi epitomized in his intertexts.

By exploring the hegemonic implications of the Jesuits’ presence in Iraq, this paper examines the geopolitics of desire and cultural dominance that schools may exercise as a representation of institutional power. The Jesuit endeavour in Iraq, including the formation of Baghdad College in the 1930s, is often romanticized and popularized as a true civilizing mission. Baghdad College is often treated as a fetishized commodity that needs to be de-romanticized if it is to be better understood in light of the historical and educational milieu of the time. In what ways can Baghdad College, for instance, be considered a representation of what Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin refer to as “the locus classicus of [the] hegemonic process of control”? (2000, p. 63). This paper also argues that the Arab nationalistic movement of Al-Futuwa, which was gaining ground in the first half of the twentieth century, played a crucial role in subverting the hegemonic apparatus exercised by Baghdad College through the use of English and the appropriation of certain worldviews and narratives.

This article compares the contents of a 17th century futuwwa statute of Bosnian tanners with those of a similar document found in Albania, and assesses what implications these two documents together, and the similarities between them, have on the thesis about the existence of an Akhī-Qādiriyya Sufi order in the Balkans, and wider in the Ottoman Empire.

Please download from: https://brill.com/view/journals/jie/4/1-2/article-p38_4.xml?language=en

Abstract: While Sufi writings have largely depicted futuwwa as the selfless virtue of upright young men, there has been, throughout Islam's intellectual history, an underlying current characterised by brave rebelliousness, a current tied to the virtue's complex relationship with urban fraternal societies. This paper investigates Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī's (d. 638/1240) deliberate response to futuwwa's implications of recalcitrance. Making a case for a law-abiding variety of the virtue, Ibn ʿArabī builds a theoretical frame in which this manly trait, one of consideration and altruism, mimics divine attributes , especially a divine calculating wisdom. In doing so, Ibn ʿArabī performs a role that Jeff Mitchell describes as the prerogative of noble elites, historically speaking, namely, the social construction of virtue. As is argued here, while Ibn ʿArabī makes a careful case for a law-abiding futuwwa, the lingering resonances of the virtue's gangster associations indicate that social influence is, to a degree, reciprocal. That is, while Ibn ʿArabī's framing of futuwwa makes a detailed and metaphysically-substantiated case for law-abidingness, his argument also suggests, however implicitly, that the virtue cannot completely escape its non-elite outlaw framework.

Traduction annotée d'un court texte d’Ibn Taymiyya sur l'usage de l'arc à jalet (qaws al-bunduq) et le milieu peu recommandable de ses adeptes, qu'il compare à ceux qui fréquentent les salles de lutte (qâ‘ât al-‘ilâj) ; voir Ibn Taymiyya, “Jāmi‘ al-masā’il VII”, édition ‘A. b. M. AL-‘IMRĀN, La Mecque, Dār ‘Ālam al-Fawā’id li-l-Nashr wa l-Tawzī‘, « Āthār Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyya wa mā laḥiqa-hā min a‘māl, 17 », 1432[/2011], p. 299-307. Avec addenda.

In Dervishes and Islam in Bosnia, Ines Aščerić-Todd explores the involvement of Sufi orders in the formation of Muslim society in the first two centuries of Ottoman rule in Bosnia (15th - 16th centuries C.E.). Using a wide range of primary sources, Aščerić-Todd shows that Sufi traditions and the activities of dervish orders were at the heart of the religious, cultural, socio-economic and political dynamics in Bosnia in the period which witnessed the emergence of Bosnian Muslim society and the most intensive phase of conversions of the Bosnian population to Islam. In the process, she also challenges some of the established views regarding Ottoman guilds and the subject of futuwwa (Sufi code of honour).

This is a short editorial introduction to the Journal of Islamic Ethics' special issue on virtue and manliness. Please access here: https://brill.com/view/journals/jie/4/1-2/article-p1_2.xml

The entire issue is open access. You can read and download all articles here: https://brill.com/view/journals/jie/4/1-2/jie.4.issue-1-2.xml?language=en

This article provides an overview of the fotovvat tradition in Bosnia, developed following the country’s conquest by the Ottomans in the 15th century and its subsequent incorporation into the Ottoman domain as the Western-most European province of the Ottoman Empire. I assess the extent to which the Bosnian fotovvat tradition related to and preserved the characteristics of its predecessors from the earlier periods of Islamic history, both the ‘classical’ variety of fotovvat from the 11th-13th centuries – as most significantly elaborated and defined in relation to Sufism first by Mohammad ebn al-Hosayn al-Solami (d. 1021) and later by Abu Hafs ʿOmar al-Sohravardi (d. 1234) – and the later manifestations of fotovvat in the form of the Anatolian akhi brotherhoods from the 14th-15th centuries.

Ortaçağda Irak coğrafyasında fütüvvet anlayışı Abbasi Hilafetiyle başlamış, Selçuklu hâkimiyeti sayesinde gelişmiş ve Kerkük- Musul havalisinde yaşayan Türkmen halkın kültürüyle bütünleşerek, Ahi teşkilatının özünü oluşturmuştur. Selçuklulardan bu yana Türk ahlak ve erdemlerinin mesleki eğitimle birleştiği bu oluşum, bütün Türk-İslam coğrafyasında olduğu gibi Kerkük-Musul bölgesinde de etkili olmuştur. Mesleklerin adlarını taşıyan Türkmen oymakları ve mahalleler ile köylerde varlığını sürdüren meslek erbapları ve şehir merkezlerindeki çarşılar bu bölgede Türk kültürünün egemen olduğunu göstermektedir. Gerek bölgeye uğrayan seyyahların seyahatnameleri, gerekse Osmanlı döneminde Kerkük ve Musul’un sosyo-ekonomik yapısını ihtiva eden tahrir defterleri ve muhtelif arşiv belgeleri bize bu konuda çok önemli bilgiler vermektedir. Bilhassa debbağ, küzeci (çömlekçi), neccar (marangoz), demirci, terzi, kazancı gibi meslek kollarının hangi yerleşim yerlerinde bulunduğunu bu kayıtlardan öğrenmekteyiz. Yerli Türkmen ahali bugün bile yaşam tarzını ve aile unvanlarını atalarının meslekleriyle ifade etmektedir. Özellikle Kerkük’te bugün işleyişini sürdüren çarşılar ve usta-çırak ekolüyle devam ettirilen meslekler Ahiliğin bölgede halen yaşadığını kanıtlar niteliktedir. Halkın günlük yaşamında önemli bir yere sahip olan tarihi çarşılar, Kerkük-Musul bölgesinde ticari hayatın canlılığı üzerinde büyük etkiye sahiptir. Şehircilik anlayışında da halen Selçuklu ve Osmanlı şehirlerindeki gibi çarşıyı merkez alan yapı korunmuştur. Aynı zamanda Ortaçağdan günümüze kadar muhafaza edilen Ahilik geleneği, bölge halkının üretkenliğinin devamını ve iş hayatındaki güvenini sağlamakla birlikte Türkmen harsının yaşatılmasında önemli rol oynamıştır.

Abstract

In the Middle Ages, the understanding of futuwwa began with the Abbasi Caliphate, developed thanks to the Seljuk domination and Turkmen people living in Kirkuk-Mosul air became integrated with the culture and formed the nature of the Akhi organization. Since the Seljuks, Turkish morality and virtues have been combined with vocational education, and this formation has been effective in the Kirkuk-Mosul region as it is in the whole Turk-Islamic geography. The Turkmen tribes carrying the names of the professions and the merchants and the merchants who carried on their existence in the villages, and the bazaars in the city centers show that the Turkish culture is dominant in this region. The travelnames of the travelers who came to the region, the detailed cadastral registers containing the socio-economic structure of Kirkuk and Mosul and various archival documents in the Ottoman period give us very important information in this regard. In particular, we learn from the records where the occupational branches such as tanner, potter, carpenter, blacksmith, tailor, coppersmith are located. Even today, the native Turkmen people express their lifestyle and family titles with the professions of their ancestors. Especially in Kirkuk, the bazaars that continue to function today and the professions that continue with the master-apprentice school are evidence that the
Akhism is still in the region. Historical bazaars, which have an important place in the daily life of the people, have great influence on the vitality of commercial life in Kirkuk-Mosul region. In the concept of urbanism, as in the Seljuk and Ottoman cities, the bazaar centered structure was preserved. At the same time, the Tradition of Akhism, which has been preserved from the Medievals to the present day, has played an important role in maintaining the Turkmen culture with the continuation of the productivity of the people of the region and the confidence in business life.

Abstract: The ideals of manhood have been celebrated in all cultures through interesting stories of adventure, warfare, and love. The concept of Sahibqiran as an ideal king and
world conqueror remained ingrained in the consciousness of the Muslim ruling elite as well as in the common reader’s sensibility throughout Islamic history and across the widespread Islamic territories from the Arabian Peninsula to the South Asian subcontinent.
This article analyzes the concept of Sahibqirani as illustrated by the compositional techniques and thematic devices employed by storytellers of an oral narrative titled
Dastan-e-Amir Hamza Sahibqiran (1855). It explores the historical, political, and cultural backdrop of the honorific Sahibqiran and its romanticization in popular Islamic literature. The Adventures of Amir Hamza: Lord of the Auspicious Planetary Conjunction (2007) is
an English translation of Dastan-e-Amir Hamza Sahibqiran. The work is the longest romance cycle in Urdu, comprising a forty-six-volume written record of an oral storytelling tradition. The stories in this work are centered on the heroics of Amir Hamza, a fictitious character with complex historical and religious affiliations. As a popular Indo-
Islamic romance, it combines history, religion, and culture. This article explores the ideals of manhood and kingship as depicted in this romance and introduces a non-native speaker of Urdu to a new world of collective imagination informed by history, religion, and culture.

Cultural exchange is a constant process governed by no fixed rules, working independently of the will of the societies involved.  It is difficult to grasp all the give and take between distant or even neighboring traditions because of the vastness of the process and the complications associated with human interactions on an international scale.  Yet, cultural interaction is a, perhaps the, essential component of world civilization.  Scholarship continues, nevertheless, to isolate and examine discrete moments of exchange between cultural zones.  In this essay I propose to re-examine a number of instances of such contacts between traditions.  In the three examples which follow, I would like to reflect on the broader implications of recent research on medieval Armenian history and art, particularly about the interaction of cultures, the integration of new external elements into a tradition, the use of scholarship developed in one domain in that of another.

Concepiti inizialmente come testi per conferenze e convegni, i tre saggi che compongono «La Testa e la spada» raccolgono non soltanto la storie e le vicende note dell’Ordine dell’Ospedale di San Giovanni di Gerusalemme, ma anche risvolti poco conosciuti della loro millenaria presenza, l’anelito spirituale che ne animò la fondazione e una disamina dei rapporti con gli altri Ordini, sia di matrice occidentale che orientale.
Ne emerge una visione d’ insieme illuminante sull’Ordine Ospitaliero, impegnato nell’assistenza ai poveri e nella difesa della fede, ma animato nel profondo da una intensa ricerca spirituale tesa ben oltre i dogmatismi, intimamente legata alle tradizioni più antiche e pregna di elementi condivisi anche dalle cavallerie spirituali sufi mediorientali.
Conclude il trittico un’accurata analisi sull’attività di accoglienza popolare e nobiliare e sulla presenza dell’Ordine nell’estremo nord italiano, nell’area compresa fra Novara e l’Ossola, nelle cui installazioni locali e vicende è nuovamente possibile riconoscere la stessa spiritualità silenziosa che animò i Cavalieri Giovanniti a Gerusalemme, a Cipro, a Rodi, a Malta e in Europa.

Patrocinato da S.O.G.IT. - Soccorso dell'Ordine di San Giovanni in Italia, sezione di Verbania