Abstract
THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCEOF DERVISH LODGES AND RETREATS IN THE BALKANS
Ahmet Yesevi was the founder of the first sect in the history of Turks. Ahmet Yesevi sent his disciples to Anatolia and those disciples became the spiritual architects of Anatolia. The number of the disciples is said to have been ninety nine thousand by the people of Anatolia. Those disciples are also called Khorasan Erens (Saint).
Each disciples settled in a different place in Anatolia and they established islamic monestaries and dervish lodges in their places. Just not confined to Anatolia, the Balkans, many dervish lodges were built.
Those mystical establishments (islamic monastry and dervish lodge) and their administrators (sheikh and founders) had important roles not only in religious, cultural and social lifes but also in regulating political and economical lifes, in expanding political boundaries, in managing the conquered lands and in the process of their developments.
Keywords
Dervish Lodge, Islamic Monastries, Islamic Sect, Ahmet Yesevi, Khorasan Erens, Balkans.
