MOĞOL İSTİLÂSINA DAİR İKİ FARKLI AKTARIM BİÇİMİ: TARİHÎ KAYNAKLAR VE MENAKIPNAMELER

Abstract

AbstractUndoubtedly, the Mongolian invasions rank first among  the chain of events that shaped the fate of the states and left indisputable effects on the societies in  their path during the Middle Ages. The invasions began during the reign of great Chinghis Khan who had  the ideal of world domination. With the invasions, on one hand, the political equilibrium in  several regions was changed dramatically; on the other hand, the religious and intellectual (including those of ṣūfī structures) patterns of the societieswere also  deeply influenced by depending on the changing political balance. Conventionally, the way the religious and ṣūfī structures in this period were  affected has usually been studied by referencing the historical sources. However, such evaluations  neglecting the menākibnāmes in which the stories of the sheikhs and dervishes of these religious and ṣūfī  structures were told fall short in variety of aspects. As the menākibnāmes were regarded as the  sacred literary texts that were formed in the context of the semantic worlds of the sheikhs and  dervishes, they can serve as complimentary sources for the period that can shed light on the  neglected spots of the historical studies. Nonetheless,the menākibnāmes not only convey the words and  actions of wisdom by the ṣūfīs but also reflectthe traces of the social and religious structures these ṣūfīs lived in. In this study, therefore, themenākibnāmes, which have invaluable significance in terms of cultural history, were used accordinglywith the historical sources. Using menākibnāmes as a source led us to the conclusion that there weretwo different narratives regarding the Mongolian invasions. When historical sources and modernstudies are surveyed, it can be implied that the Mongols’ own belief in their status as selected nationand their notion of a universal empire were among the most important factors in their quest forconquests. Equally important, the richness of the Islamic world and the welcoming attitudes of someMuslim states further motivated the Mongols for conquests. When the historical progress of theconquests is followed from the menākibnāmes, however, a different kind of narrative appears. Thisdifferent narrative was especially elaborated in the narratives of Nafahāt al-Uns, Menāḳib al-ʿĀrifīn,Sipehsālār Risalesi and Vilāyet-Nāme. The records of these menākibnāmes help us comprehend themental and intellectual world of some sheikhs and dervishes, and allow for how they interpreted theMongolian invasions. Keywords: The Mongol Invasions, Historical Sources, Menākibnāmes, Sheikhs and Dervishes,Prophecies.