Some Evaluations about Preachers and Sermon Tradition in the Seljuks of Turkey (13-14th Centuries)

The sermon is one of the most common instruments referred to in educating and raising the awareness of community in almost all subjects, especially pertaining to religious and moral issues in Islamic history and culture. Being a preacher is a religious service and guidance activity that has been going on since the Prophet Muhammad. As in all Islamic countries throughout the history, it was also one of the religious institutions in force in the Seljuks of Turkey. In this study, as a part of this deep-rooted and common tradition, some preachers who lived in Anatolia in the 13-14th centuries and sufis, who had preacher qualifications, were mentioned. In this context, the data recorded at that period related to the biography of preachers and the institutional structure of being a preacher were collected and analyzed; specifically the importance of preaching practices in religious and lore life and the nature of the relations between the preachers and the sufis were emphasized. Because we owe most of our knowledge on these issues to sufi sources, particularly to manaqibnamas. The subject is discussed in a comparative manner with the preachers and preaching practices in other Islamic cities of the period. Therefore, it is aimed to gain an idea about the sermon tradition in Anatolia during the period of Seljuks of Turkey. When we look at the institution of preachers and preaching practices in this period, the following cases were observed; as at the present time, sermons were given on blessed days and nights; as in the Ottomans, friday sermons were performed after friday prayers not before; the preacher was, by its nature, especially associated with the science of tafsir; it was not right to include unrealistic and exaggerated stories in the sermons. In the 13-14th centuries, when we look preachers and the sufis, with preacher qualifications, active in Anatolia, we can say that the sermon traditions in the Seljuks of Turkey period was also fed from ancient basins of civilization such as Turkestan, Ma wara’un-nahr and Khorasan. As a matter of fact, Anatolia was fed from the same sources in terms of scholarly and lore in the period mentioned. Moreover, sufism influenced many segments of the state and society during this period. One of the means that spread the sufi thoughts and affected the society was the sermons that the sufi sheikhs performed in various places. The data and conclusions presented to the attention about the sermon tradition are of great importance in terms of understanding the characteristics of the sufi and folk religions and enabling them to compare with the present.