The title says it all. The works of Ibn-Khaldun and al-Kashgari amount to a good amount of information about the relatively cyclical series of events that occurred in Central Asia and the Middle East during the Medieval Era in pertinance to Turkic dynasties. Enjoy my take on al-Kashgari's famous 'Divan Lugat at-Turk' and Ibn-Khaldun's even more-renown 'Al-Muqadimmah'.
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The work of Mahmud al-Kashgari in the ‘Divan Lugat at-Turk’ – the Compendium of Turkic Dialects – is a fascinating display of Medieval Islamic linguistics as conducted by a native speaker of Turkic languages as well as an important example of a commissioned Abbasid court document constructed in order to better understand the Caliphate’s powerful new neighbors. Al-Kashgari’s writing also shows what the ‘favor of Allah’ was to medieval Muslims as well as the utter importance of the concept. When studied in combination with Ibn-Khaldun’s seminal ‘Al-Muqaddimah’ – The Introduction – a certain sort of appreciation (well past fear) for the Turkic people and nomadic riders of the East can be seen in their educated, cosmopolitan contemporaries. ‘Al-Muqadimmah’ and ‘Divan Lugat at-Turk’ work well hand-in-hand due to their mutual respect of the Turkic nomads: through Allah’s favor and their possession the ‘asabiyyah’ (social solidarity, group spirit), they are a supremely powerful force.
Al-Kashgari’s reasons for writing the ‘adab’ (or instructional) document ‘Divan Lugat at-Turk’ lie mostly on the shoulders of the inquisitive and opportunistic Abbasid courts. Al-Kashgari speaks repeatedly on the importance of dealing with the Turks in accordance to their own customs and languages in order to avoid their ire and possibly gain their favor and protection, as they were a people like none other. The author states repeatedly the many honors bestowed upon the Turks – the favor of Allah, for instance, is pronounced in a way that is not mildly epic.
“The slave Mahmud ibn al-Husayn ibn Muhammad says: I saw that Allah the Most High made the sun of power to rise in the constellation of the Turks and let the orbiting of the stars be directed by means of their authority. He called them Turks and entrusted to them dominion…”
The Turks were mighty in battle and in leadership as a result of Allah’s favor – a concept that the Abbasids must have realized in their encounters with them. According to Al-Kashgari, descendants of Turkic peoples would be emboldened with religious power and would be destined to lord over the world. The blows struck against them by any foe would be turned aside due to their invincibility through Allah and any who hoped to survive and thrive under their rule would submit as quickly as possible or be pierced through by the projectiles of nomadic bowmen. Al-Kashgari goes on to state that in is dealings, he discussed the importance of subservience to the Turks with several Islamic clergymen; the concluding discussion of the subject was that learning the languages of the Turks seemed almost to be a required duty of the Muslims because their favored position and even if the Turks have not received a holy decree, it could be decided logically that learning their tongues would still be extremely beneficial.
In summation, the purpose of al-Kashgari’s work on the Divan Lugat at-Turk is one of necessity on the part of the Abbasids. As professed in the Divan, the Turks are becoming a major power in the Middle East and Central Asia at the time of the writing. At this time, the Abbasid Caliphate’s authority was waning; not to be undone through the abandonment of their rule by new Persian and Syrian dynasties, the Abbasids were most likely hoping to bring the Turks into their fold in order to regain not only territory but also prestige. For a well-situated native speaker of Turkic languages like al-Kashgari to compose a book of dialects and tongues would be a major boon for the Caliphate: the chance to ally with the nomadic Turks may prove to the Islamic world that the Abbasids not only retained their authority but would reassert it upon their rebellious former vassal. Al-Kashgari’s emphasis on religion only pushed this further: a new force rising from the East and having Allah’s divine invincibility meant very much to the Caliphate, who throughout history had been Islam’s closest earthly link to Allah’s authority. If the two forces came to blows, the Abbasids would all but surrender their divine authority by attacking their rivals instead of proving their position. Thus, the Caliphate took the logical route: ally with those who shared a common role of religious importance and reap the benefits.
In comparison to al-Kashgari’s linguistic and commentarial work in Divan Lugat at-Turk, Ibn-Khaldun’s Al-Muqaddimah is more of a sociological piece that investigates the success and collapse of dynasties and empires throughout time with a central focus on ‘asabiyyah’ – a group feeling or solidarity among Muslims. Ibn-Khaldun’s opinion on the subject of the all-important asabiyyah, which allows for a group to spread, conquer and flourish, is that the folk of the cities forgets what unites them after years of easy living, disunity and little faith. Ibn-Khaldun states plainly that those who live within the confounds of dynastical power cannot comprehend asabiyyah because they have not put it to use or lived under it since their lives have lacked the difficulty dealt with by nomads or less-sedentary people.
“The situation is not at all understood by the great mass. They forget it, because they have forgotten the time when the[ir] dynasty first became established… Thus, they know nothing about what took place with God’s help at the beginning of the dynasty. They merely notice...that group feeling is no longer needed to establish power.”
To Ibn-Khaldun, ‘asabiyyah’ is the very foundation for power in the Muslim world – without it, the disconnected, faithless masses cannot hope to succeed. ‘Asabiyyah’ is essential to nomadic life because it stresses a tribal unity that allows the individual to simply survive under the protection of their family. The people of the city lack this sort of familial unity because they are protected by the ruling dynasty and no longer need to relate to one another like the nomads. Religion too, is important under asabiyyah, because it acts as a uniting factor that brings followers together for very basic reasons: worship and support. Settled people begin to factionalize in terms of power and have no use for unity or respect for faith as they fight amongst themselves, or in the name of their political leaders ; a very poignant example of this would be the split of the Muslim world between Sunni and Shiite as a result of a succession crisis over the position of Caliph. Without ‘asabiyyah’, sedentary folk find themselves enraptured with earthly luxuries and political intrigue; the Turks as nomads, however, live only for the survival and supremacy of their people– they are united in this aspect . Among the nomadic Turks there is little corruption caused by luxury as their austere lifestyles disallow much opportunity for it; the nomads do not lose their toughness or focus over time as city folk do.
Faith and religious favor are aspects heavily investigated by Ibn-Khaldun – his conclusion is heavy in its support for nomads and their use of ‘asabiyyah’. Without group feeling, Ib-Khaldun states, a group cannot achieve societal superiority: the use of religion as a central tenant of ‘asabiyyah’ is an extremely important aspect of this superiority . Ibn-Khaldun also professes that the positions of rulers and dynasties can be usurped and destroyed by family groups that possess a strong enough backing, be it religious or otherwise . This is most certainly the case in the Muslim world, as the very founding of its faith occurred and was allowed to thrive as a result of social unity among early Muslims under Muhammad himself.
A group hoping for change or supremacy must back up their strong, truthful message with both cohesive, honest meaning and capable offensive and defensive ability. The Turks, as spoken of by al-Kashgari, are a militarily strong and mobile group who are united not only by a similar nomadic culture but also in their religion – an honest, uncorrupted form of Islam that is free of political influence. Without strength and capable unity, a group hoping to bring about change would undoubtedly fail, and rightfully so – their message would be found lacking. Ibn-Khaldun provides the examples of the Sufi at-Tuwayziri and the Ghumarahan al’-Abbas, both of whom attempted to prompt revolt against those in power and failed due to dishonesty and a lack of strength .
The nomadic peoples of Central Asia and the Middle East are described by al-Kashgari and Ibn-Khaldun as a superior, overpowering force against the tranquil, weakening city dwellers of Mesopotamia and the Levant. Their effective use of religion and culture as a uniting factor – ‘asabiyyah’ – as well as their superior military ability threaten the very existence of cosmopolitan dynasties, which have become weak and indulgent due to a lack of difficulty or challenge. Once united, the Turkic nomads had a major effect upon the Middle East – through the various stages of nomadic migration, the Middle East either thrived or waned drastically. In the case of al-Kashgari’s Divan Lugat at-Turk, the Abbasids would honor its political and linguistic importance by allying with the powerful Seljuq Turks – a move that would allow the Abbasids to bolster their forces significantly with powerful mobile regiments as well as regain an amount of authority among former vassals such as the Qarakhanids and Ghaznavids of Central Asia. In an interesting twist of fate, the Abbasid Caliphate would eventually fall under the political control of Turkic peoples and come to be ruled by them; soon afterward, another Turkic group – the Mongol Hordes – would demolish the Caliphate’s center at Baghdad with little hope for resistance. This cycle of invasion by toughened nomads upon complacent settled conquerors would continue in the area and across the world for a fairly long amount of time – truly a testament to the efforts of al-Kashgari and Ibn-Khaldun as well as the messages promoted in their works.
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The end. I hope you didn't find it too dry - really, I hope you found it.
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