who is said to have been a disciple of the dervish
Muslim or the Arabic Baṭṭāl Ghāzī, the latter
Ṣarī Ṣaltūq Dede, the thirteenth-century semi-
immortalised in the Turkish romance Baṭṭāl-
legendary Turkish warrior saint,185 and to have
nāma (“Book of Baṭṭāl”),195 possess pronounced
received from him both supernatural powers and
supernatural skills They represent a dervish-sha-
his name (Barāq: Qıpchaq Turkish “hairless
man type celebrated for their religious leadership
dog”) The mixed, composite cultural and ethnic
among the wandering dervishes, and conduct
elements of frontier life were a melting-pot of
jihād against fire-spitting underground dragons,
contradictions that in spite of its ambiguous
sometimes polycephalic, in order to liberate
dimensions brought about the awareness of a
young men and women 196 The tales of Abū
special identity This was at times characterised
Muslim and Baṭṭāl Ghāzī provided the models
by the common ideology of jihād, in its guise as
for other epic works on Malik Dānishmend (Pers
holy war186 inspired by esoteric mystic beliefs with
“wise, learned man”) and Ṣarī Ṣaltūq Dede that
a military following as well as guilds dominated
celebrate the exploits of the conquerors of Ana-
by akhī s,187 a kind of fraternal congregation com-
tolia 197
parable to the classical Islamic futuwwa institu-
In the campaign of conquest in Asia Minor,
tion,188 and sects of heterodox dervishes 189 The
or Anadolu as it was later called by the Turks,
ghāzī s were inspired to fight the infidels and
which continued for more than three centuries,
expand the frontiers of Islam but at the same time
advancing Saljuq troops were harried by raids on
were driven by the economic motivation of having
the part of irregular, unruly and often tribal
to obtain their livelihood from plunder These
nomad elements, generally referred to as Türk-
regions thus witnessed a whole spectrum of coun-
men (Turkoman) The bel igerent activities inher-
tercultural occurrences, “interstitial events” or
ent in their modus vivendi led to ravaged lands
liminal phenomena, thus offering an appropriate
that characterised a major frontier zone called uj
abode for the liminal symbol par excellence, the
(extremity, border or border fighter), often inter-
dragon A chivalric-heroic code developed in
changeably used with the Turkish term aqīnjī
these frontier societies, propagated principally
(raider) alongside that of ghāzī 198 The ever-
through prose epic tales in which the dragon
increasing numbers of these nomads on the
played a key role 190
Armenian and Byzantine frontiers in eastern Ana-
One of the main characteristics of these epic-
tolia swelled the ranks of the Arab, Kurdish and
chivalrous frontier narratives is the jihād against
Dailamī ghāzī s who had long fought their Byz-
the dragon In Abū Ṭāhir of Ṭūs’s popular epic
antine counterparts, the akritai The location of
Abū Muslim-nāma (“Book of Abū Muslim”),191
this frontier warfare stretched from Tarsus along
the legendary Abū Muslim Khurāsānī (d c
the Taurus mountains through Cilicia up to
137/754–5), champion of the jihād, fights against
Malatya (Melitene) and the mountains of Arme-
the heretics who transformed themselves into
nia in eastern Anatolia The disputed land was
dragons 192 At the same time, the dragon is con-
known as ḍawāʾiḥ al-Rūm (the exterior lands
sidered a heroic ideal and the ghāzī s are called
facing the “Roman”/Byzantine lands), in other
upon to be as valiant as dragons in the fight,193 a
words, it was situated at the periphery of one cul-
notion that can also be found in the epic Wīs u
tural complex and adjacent to another As the
Rāmīn, in which the warriors are similarly urged
invasions into Asia Minor progressed, a gradual
to be as heroic as a dragon (azhdahā-kirdār) 194
displacement of old boundaries towards the west
Muslim epic heroes such as the Iranian Abū
took place In Anatolia the Muslim ghāzī s were
185 Eadem, p 43 and n 1
192 Eadem, p 134
186 Jihād literally means “striving” for faith, and has been
193 Eadem
interpreted as both a spiritual struggle for religious perfec-
194 Cf Widengren, 1969, p 17 and n 35
tion (jihād al-nafs) and holy war against enemies of Islam
195 The epic was translated into German in 1871 on the
(jihād al-akbar) See pp 202, n 67, 208 Also Bonner, 1996;
basis of a post-sixteenth-century manuscript preserved in
idem, 2006; and Tyan, “Djihād,” EI 2 II, 538a
Dresden; Ethé, 1871 For a recent translation, see Dedes,
187 Taeschner, “Akhī,” EI 2 I, 321b
1996, 2 vols
188 Cahen and Taeschner, “Futuwwa,” EI 2 II, 961a
196 Mélikoff, 1960, vol 1, pp 50–1, 162; eadem, 1962,
189 Mélikoff, 1960, vol 1, p 48
p 37; Dedes, 1996, p 41
190 Eadem.
197 Mélikoff, 1960, vol 1, p 47
191 On Abū Ṭāhir Ṭūsī who is said to have been active at
198 Cahen, 1948, pp 5–7, and idem, 1968, p 58 Cf Bauer,
the court of sulṭān Maḥmūd of Ghazna, see Mélikoff, 1962,
1995, pp 45–53; Dedes, 1996, p 14, n 36
pp 31–6