The roots of Naqshbandiyya political rise in modern Türkiye

The Naqshbandiyya-Khalidiyya constitutes the ideological bedrock of Turkish Islamism and a principal component of popular Islamic consciousness in Türkiye. This article traces the order’s deep historical roots to its emergence in the nineteenth-century Ottoman Empire and, by revisiting that genealogy, explains the expansion of its political influence in recent decades. It argues that the Khalidiyya has exhibited a remarkable capacity for political mobilization since its inception and has never, historically, stood aloof from public affairs and politics. Marked by a flexibility that enabled it to adapt to shifting political circumstances – especially during the early decades of the Republic – the order later benefited both from the state’s policy of synthesizing Turkish nationalism and Islam and from periods of democratization and political liberalization. The resulting rise of Naqshbandi political influence, therefore, was on one side an unintended consequence of the military elite’s policies, yet it has come to dominate Türkiye’s political arena. While Naqshbandis espouse change through the existing state rather than upon its ruins, they sought political participation whenever conditions allowed, and – through experience and pragmatic adaptation – crafted a discourse attuned to contemporary realities, ultimately forging a broad political alliance under the banner of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). The article concludes that the challenges currently confronting the AKP do not signify the decline of Naqshbandi influence per se, but rather reveal the fluidity of alliances among its diverse Khalidi networks.