Tariqa and trade: Naqshbandiyya trade activity in the Timurid era

Abstract

This article is devoted to the study of the relationship between the Naqshbandiyya and trade activities in the Timurid era (771 — 913 H/1370 — 1507). An appeal to the ideological principles of this tariqa will clarify the intellectual factors that laid the foundations for the economic activity of its followers. These factors can be divided into four concepts - solitude in society (khalvat dar anjuman), hidden dhikr (dhikr-i khafi), service (khizmat) and work. The presence of the doctrine regulating economic activity in the Naqshbandi order had three important consequences: firstly, the widespread dissemination of this tariqa among peasants and artisans as the most important productive forces; secondly, the support of the tariqa by Timur and his successors; thirdly, the development of a positive attitude towards wealth and power. These consequences allowed the Naqshbandis to get productive forces and political support at their disposal. Thus, the leaders of the tariqa managed to expand their spiritual and material influence in Transoxiana and Khorasan.
The territory of Transoxiana was the cradle of the Timurid state, the patrimony and center of the Khvajagan tariqa, the intersection point of various trade routes and was considered one of the key centers of the Great Silk Road. This situation, coupled with the previously mentioned factors, contributed to the activity of the Naqshbandis in the field of trade during this period.
The large-scale trade activity of the Naqshbandis during this period had an important impact on this tariqa in three directions. Firstly, Naqshbandiyya spread throughout the Great Silk Road, in Central Asia and East Turkestan up to the borders of China. Secondly, it endowed the Naqshbandiyya leaders with wealth, affluence and influence, whereas previously the desire for a wordly life was something unprecedented for Sufi Tariq as, which in the XVI century led to the beginning to disputes and discussions around the connection between tariqa and economic activity. The third consequence was the tragic impact that this activity had on the leaders of the Naqshbandiyya tariqa in the last quarter of the XV — first half of the XVI century, that is, on the Ahrar clan. As a result of the growth of economic influence and close ties with the Timurid state, they inevitably had an impact on the final outcome of this state. The study of the connection between the Naqshbandi Tariqa and trade in the Timurid era from the very beginning to the end is a concrete historical consideration of the important question of what was the connection between the economy and the Tariqa in the history of Iran.