Babai revolt
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The Babai revolt was a rebellion in the Sultanate of Rum in the thirteenth century.
Background
The Sultanate of Rum was a medieval state in Anatolia founded by the Seljuk dynasty, whose ancestors were converted to Islam in the 11th century and entered Anatolia after 1071. Although initially a part of the Seljuk Empire, it lasted longer than the Empire, reaching its apogee during the reign of Kayqubad I.
In the mid-13th century, Rum faced the problem of refugees. The Mongol invasion of the Khwarazmian Empire in the east meant that Oghuz Turks were escaping from the Turkestan area to Anatolia. These clans were nomadic and mostly Tengrist, i.e. non Muslim.[citation needed] The Seljuk sultan Kaykhusraw II attempted to settle these people in southeast Anatolia (the Asiatic part of what is now Turkey), but they defied his diktat. They started to convert to Islam, but their interpretation of Islam was more tolerant than that of the settled population, and they were regarded as heretics. However they were supported by the nomadic Turkmens of Central Anatolia, who had migrated earlier than the newcomers but had the same problems.[citation needed]
The revolt
Gıyasettin had ceded power to his ministers, notably Sa'd al-Din Köpek, who was suspicious of a rebellion by Afshar immigrants who had settled in Anatolia, migrating from Persia after the Mongol invasion. He accordingly imprisoned the suspects which led to their movement towards Aleppo in Ismaili- dominated areas.[1] He had the leaders from Khwarazm imprisoned.
The revolt began in 1239 around Samsat (now in Adıyaman Province) and spread quickly to Central Anatolia. Baba Ishak, who led the revolt, was a follower of Baba İlyas, the qadi (judge) of Kayseri. He declared himself Âmīr’ūl-Mu’minīn Sadr’ûd-Dūnya wa’d-Dīn and Rāss’ūl-Allāh.[2] Although the Seljuk governor of Malatya tried to suppress the revolt he was defeated by the revolutionaries around Elbistan (in modern Kahramanmaraş Province). The revolutionaries captured the important cities of Sivas, Kayseri and Tokat in Central and North Anatolia. The governor of Amasya killed Baba Ishak in 1240, but this did not mean the end of the revolt. The revolutionaries marched on Konya, the capital. The sultan saw that his army could not suppress the revolt, and he hired mercenaries of French origin. The revolutionaries were defeated in a decisive battle on the Malya plains near Kırşehir.[3]
Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī
Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī († 1240)[4] was an influential mystic from Greater Khorasan, who was the murshid of Aybak Bābā who in turn was the murshid of one of the leading actors of the Babais Rebellion, namely Baba Ishak as well. Eventually, Bābā Eliyās Khorāsānī was held responsible for the insurrection organized by Bābā Ishāq Kafarsudī, and consequently executed by Mūbārez’ūd-Dīn-i Armāğān-Shāh,[5] the supreme commander-in-chief of the armies of Rum.[citation needed]
Aftermath
The revolt was suppressed with much bloodshed. But with the diversion of resources needed to suppress the revolt, the Seljuk army was severely affected. The defence of the eastern provinces was largely ignored, and most of Anatolia was plundered. The Seljuks lost the valuable trade colony in Crimea on the north of the Black Sea. The Mongol commander Baiju Noyan saw this as an opportunity to occupy East Anatolia, and in 1242 he captured Erzurum. In 1243, he defeated Kaykhosrow's army in the battle of Köse Dağ, and the Seljuks became vassals of the Mongols.[3]
See also
- Bābā Ishāq Kafarsudī
- Dada Kārkğın (in Turkish)
- Ebû'l-Bakā Bābā Elyās (in Turkish)
- The Bābāīs (in Turkish)
References
- ^ Hamad Subani (2013) "The Secret History of Iran". Printed by Lulu. ISBN 9781304082893, Pg 164
- ^ Encyclopedia of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, vol 4, pages 368-369.
- ^ a b Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 125
- ^ Mehmet Fuat Köprülü, citing ibn Bibi in his book "Anadolu'da İslamiyet" (Islam in Anatolia) (1922), identifies Bābā with Baba Ishak who led The Bābā Ishāq Rebellion; this is contradicted by other scholars, such as David Cook in his book Martyrdom in Islam (2007; p. 84), citing historical references, such as the Manākib ul-Qudsiyya (14th century)
- ^ Ibn Bibi, Al-Avāmer’ûl-‘ālā’īyyah, pages 498-499.