Abstract:

               The defensive Jihad conducted by Turkic people against the Crusades in the twelfth and thirteen centuries had a crucial role in the process of the Islamization of the Turks and the Turkification of Islam. Based on a creative adaptation of James Russell’s theory of Christianization of the Germanic people and the Germanization of Christianity,this article shows how that the Arabs were the 'sword of Islam' during its offensive phase, and when they became exhausted, the Turks emerged to be the ‘shield of Islam’. The Frankish invasions gave the Turks a golden opportunity to deepen their presence in Islamic culture, and to legitimize their leadership of the Islamic World at a time where the military skillfulness and religious revival were much needed for the survival of the Islamic faith and heartland. The Turks gained the trust of the Abbasid caliphs, the Sunnī scholars and the Muslim populations at large, as defenders of the Islam.The Turkic 'moment' in Islamic history lasted eight and a half centuries, from the investiture of Ṭughril Beg, the first Seljuq sultan, in Baghdad in 1055, to the deposition of ‘Abd Al-Ḥamīd II, the last Ottoman sultan, in 1909. The center of gravity of Muslim power moved with this Turkic movement westward from central Asia, to Persia, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and then finally to Anatolia. The Article concludes with the lesson of this history of theIslamization of the Turks andTurkification of Islam today, at a time where Islamic civilization is in need for a leading "core state" to be a source of order and protection.

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