Özet:

Shaykh is one of the important agents in Islamic culture and especially in tasawwuf. In this study the shaykh has been treated as a concept and a type. Before tarīqat' institution, the essence of the term shaykh in tasawwuf has been examined by semantic analysis method. Some issues such as the shaykh as an ideal type, the meaning of the term shaykh in a specific date section and how this type was classified according to his mission in that process have constituted the subject of the study. The (sufi) master, who is called as shaykh or murshid, refers to sufi who has the highest authority in tasawwuf. The shaykh is the person who gives talīm/religious education and tarbiya/spiritual education to students called murid (disciple). Among the objectives of this research are to determine the shaykh's education-teaching method and to indicate his obligations in the early period of taṣawwuf. After the spread of the ṭarīqats, some scholars from the sufism circles or excepts for them included shaykhs of the early era in some classifications because of their (shaykhs') styles in the education. These scholars divided the shaykhs into two main groups: shaykh al-talīm and shaykh al-tarbiya. Based on some data in early works, a number of contemporary researchers have also pursued this theory. The purpose of this study is to question the legitimacy of trying to categorize exactly the shaykhs as well.

Anahtar Kelimeler:

Özet:

Shaykh is one of the important agents in Islamıc culture and especially in tasawwuf. In this study the shaykh has been handled as a concept and a type. Before tarīqat’ institution, the essence of the term shaykh in tasawwuf has been examined by semantic analysis method. Some issues such as the shaykh as an ideal type, the meaning of the term shaykh in a specific date section and how this type was classified according to his mission in that process have constituted the subject of the study. The (sufi) master, who is called as shaykh or murshid, refers to sufi who has the highest authority in tasawwuf. The shaykh is the person who gives talīm/religious education and tarbiya/spiritual education to students called murid (disciple). Among the aims of this research are to determine the shaykh’ education-teaching method and to indicate his obligations in early period of taṣawwuf. After the spread of the ṭarīqats, some scholars from the sufism circles or excepts for them included shaykhs of the early era in some classifications because of the their (shaykhs’) styles in the education. These scholars divided the shaykhs into two main groups: shaykh al-talīm and shaykh al-tarbiya. Based on some data in early works, a number of contemporary researchers also have pursued this theory. The purpose of this study is to question the legitimacy of trying to categorize exactly the shaykhs as well.