Ghāzī (title)

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Ghāzī , Turkish spelling Gazi , sometimes also Ghasi ( Arabic غازي, DMG ġāzī  , who undertakes a war campaign, aggressor, conqueror ') is the name for a Muslim warrior who takes part in the Ghazw and thus becomes a “fighter for the cause of God ” ( al-ġāzī fī sabīli ʾllāh ).

In Islam it is considered particularly meritorious to take part in campaigns against unbelievers as a Ghazi; In this sense, however, the term is not used in the Koran, but only in the Hadith , which are preserved in the canonical collections of traditions , especially in the chapters on the advantages of jihad. The military fortresses of the Muslims were built on the border marks to the Byzantine Empire in the late 8th century : the stay there as Murābiṭ was considered a virtuous act by scholars. They themselves are also referred to as Ghāzī in Islamic literature: Al-Auzāʿī , his disciple Abū Ishāq al-Fazārī , who dealt with the legal issues of jihad and the Siyar , were not only theoreticians but also fighters. The historian Muhammad ibn Saʿd dedicated a special section in his class book to those scholars who worked as fighters on the border marks of the Islamic empire ( thaġr / thuġūr / ribāṭ ).

On the Anatolian borderline between the Christian and Muslim world ( al-ʿAwāsim and later Uc ) Gazi was an antithesis to the Byzantine Akritai . In his now controversial Ghazi thesis, the historian Paul Wittek assumes that the early Ottoman princes in Anatolia were inspired by the religious zeal to wage war against their non-Muslim neighbors.

Honorary title

Later the term was used as an Islamic title for conqueror, knight, ruler. The terms gazi and ghazwa come from the times of the Turkish principalities in Anatolia and played a decisive role in the establishment of the Ottoman Empire . Alp was an equivalent of the Gazi term .

The Ottoman title Gazi was usually given for merit in a battle. Ottoman sultans often carried the nickname Gazi, so the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I (1258-1326), as well as his son Orhan I (1281-1360).

The word Gazi was later used in Turkey to create a cultural Ottoman context. It is also often used in the veteran sense. In 1921 the city ​​of Antep was given the name Gazi . This recognized their role in the Turkish Liberation War . And Mustafa Kemal , who at that time did not yet have the name Ataturk , was given the honorary title Gazi after his victory over the Greeks .

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Big Brockhaus . 16th edition, volume 4, entry Ghasa . FA Brockhaus, Wiesbaden 1963.
  2. ^ AJ Wensinck, JP Mensing et alii : Concordance et Indices de la Tradition Musulmane. Brill, suffering. 1962. Volume 4, pp. 488–489 (sn ġāzin)
  3. ↑ Ibn Saad: Biographies ... Vol. VII / 2. (Eduard Sachau). Brill, Leiden 1918. P. 185. P. XLIX: Summary in German
  4. ↑ I. Melikoff Gh Azi in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition - In this zone where the Ghazis were fighting against the akritai, guardians of the Byzantine frontiers who were themselves often recruited from among Turkish mercenaries [...]
  5. ^ Elizabeth A. Zachariadou : U dj in The Encyclopaedia of Islam. New Edition - In mediaeval Eastern Anatolia, those entrusted with the defense of the marches, in which they were established, were called ékrḪtai on the Byzantine side and gh āzīs [qv] on the Muslim one.
  6. ^ Paul Wittek: The Rise of the Ottoman Empire . London 1938.
  7. ↑ Halil İnalcık Devlet-i Aliyye - Osmanlı İmparatorluğu Üzerine Araştırmalar 1 - Klasik Dönem (1302-1606) , p. 25 - Osmanlı sultanları son padişaha kadar gazi ünvanını en başta tercih ettanikleri.