The most significant point when beginning to narrate our journey should be to put emphasis on the roots and the goals of our ideals. What “the roots and the goals” implies includes a wide range of approaches; approaches which each requires a detailed inspection by experts of each of their own branches. To be honest, in spite of it being absolutely beyond our capacity to present all the detials of these approaches, due to the immense scope of the school of thought we advocate, that does not mean we need to remain silent: Something means much more than nothing and what we are trying to achieve by making this website is to give you an idea about BÜYÜK DOĞU [GREAT EAST]-IBDA to some extent. As time goes by, we will be enhancing the contents of our website.
To start with, it appears necessary to make the common name of both our organization and school of thought as clear as possible before illustrating its features. The common name of our organization is IBDA, which is considered to be short for “Islami Buyuk Dogu Akincilari” or “Islamic Great Eastern Raiders” in English. Despite not being mentioned as such in any of Mirzabeyoglu’s complete works, we are apparently named like this because of the fact that the founder of IBDA, Salih Mirzabeyoglu, was also the opinion leader of the very well-known “Raiders (Akincilar) Movement” which got involved from 1975 until the military coup of 1980 in a nationwide resistance which had an Islamic character and was against the regime in Turkey. Mirzabeyoglu became extremely popular after he started publishing the monthly revolutionary periodical “Golge (Shadow)” in 1975 and the concept “Raider (Akinci)” was mentioned as the common name for members of the Islamic resistance for the first time by Mirzabeyoglu in this publication. Mirzabeyoglu’s works, and the fact that a number of his comrades were martyred during their struggle, inspired an unprecedented “revolutionary Islam” all over Turkey, with almost all members of the Islamic resistance appearing after that time calling themselves “Raiders (Akincilar).”
As for the essential meaning of IBDA, one of our comrades has written a wonderful article on the essential beliefs of our movement, and focuses on its historical journey. This article was published on the website of “IBDA Documents” and provides a suitable amount of information for our website audience, according to the original sources of IBDA: “Rise of the Great East”. We highly recommend it to be read thoroughly and attentively. Here is a fragment from this article which is relevant to our topic:
Mirzabeyoglu is quoted as saying: “As the name IBDA is so much appropriate bearing in mind the meaning which is considered and represented, it corresponds to the perception that the opposite cannot be thought similar to the manifestation of the soul in the body. The Arabic Ibda’ means Allah’s creation and invention without instrument, matter, time, and place. To put forward a new work never before seen: invent. It is similar to telling a poem which has not existed in the past. This word, Ibda’, is to demonstrate; climb from one place to other; create; to make something without a sample.
As the Architect of IBDA, Salih Mirzabeyoglu, states, IBDA can express its name and meaning, its past, present and future, what it did and what it will do, and the entire universe with profundity and dignity of the abstraction, by leaving the reason behind and addressing the heart: The mystery of the BÜYÜK DOĞU [GREAT EAST] is IBDA and the mystery of IBDA is the BÜYÜK DOĞU [GREAT EAST]. And it is never sufficient, no matter how much it is repeated, taking into consideration the relation to thought and meaning, IBDA is not a name found by chance. On the contrary, it is an attribute manifesting its quality of relation to the BÜYÜK DOĞU [GREAT EAST], that is, in the position of representating “the understanding addressed by Islam.” Therefore, IBDA is an attribute, a name, an interior meaning, an exterior representation, the essence, and also an embroidery.”
It is better to refer you to the rest of the article mentioned above to benefit from it and to move on to some key points of our school. IBDA stands on three pillars, three prominent individuals who constitute the main body of our school. Here are their short biographies from a website of our comrades:
EXCELLENCY, SAYYID ABDULHAKIM ARVASI
He was born in the village of Arvas, town of Baskale, in the province of Van. The family of Arvasi are descendants of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and immigrated to Kurdistan during the invasion of Baghdad by Hulagu Khan. The Arvasi family, up until World War I, for 600 years had become leaders in both science and culture in their area. In 600 years they produced more than 3.000 hand-written works, books, and during the first World War so many of those works were destroyed by the Russians. After World War I, Abdulhakim Arvasi came to Istanbul and taught people in the Bayezid and Agha Mosques there. He continued to give lessons in Islamic wisdom in Kasgari Stoa in the Eyüp Sultan quarter of Istanbul, was authorized to give lessons in almost all Sunnite orders, and was even a member of the Naqshibandiyyah Order. Abdulhakim Arvasi was named as «Muftu-is Sakaleyn» (teacher of human beings and spirits) because he could teach invisible existences also. In fact, since his childhood he had practised all his prayers without any retardation.
Abdulhakim Arvasi’s classrooms were closed by Mustafa Kemal and he was sent into exile. His tomb is in the town of Baglum, near Ankara. It is believed that his illumination continues even after his death as a Saint. His greatest works include: «Gardens of Tasawwuf» and «Rabita-i Sherife» (Honnoured Supreme Relation).
NECIP FAZIL KISAKUREK
Necip Fazil Kisakurek was the founder of the school of the BÜYÜK DOĞU [GREAT EAST]. He was born in Istanbul on 25 May 1905. He originally came from the province of Maras and was a son of a noble family.After graduating from the Naval Military Gymnasium in Heybeliada and the Philosophy Department of the University of Istanbul, Necip Fazil was sent to France by Mustafa Kemal. While in France he led a bohemian life. After later returning to Turkey, he worked as a supervisor in Is Bank and as a lecturer at the Fine Arts Academy. He met Abdülhakim Arvasi in 1938 and he chose to lead a pure Islamic lifestyle. In 1943, he resigned from his official post and began to publish the review of Buyuk Dogu (Great East). Up until 1978, Buyuk Dogu had been shut down many times by the State. Between 1979 and 1980 Necip Fazil published another review titled «Report» with Salih Mirzabeyoğlu.
Throughout his life, he struggled against Kemalist ideology and because of this led half of his life in prison and actually had attempted to lead revolts twice but was not successful. In his “Memories,” Necip Fazil said that during his first attempt he had tried to make use of Prime Minister Adnan Menderes. During his second attempt, he tried to benefit from the leader of the nationalist movement, Alpaslan Turkes. In May 1983, on the same day of his birth, he died. His tomb is in Eyüp Sultan cemetery.
In his lifetime, Necip Fazil wrote over 100 works, most about topics in history, politics, and thought. He also wrote drama and cinema scenarios. He began to write poems when he was 12 years old and his first poem book was published when he was 17. He was honored by what has been said about him, “One of his verses is enough to suprematize Turkish people,” which was acceptable by all the circles in Turkey.
When he was 33 years old, he met Abdülhakim Arvasi. This was a turning point in his life. Since that day, he devoted himself to destroying the Kemalist Turkish regime and to founding a new state under the name of “State of Başyücelik”.
SALIH MIRZABEYOGLU
Salih Mirzabeyoglu was born in Erzincan in 1950, but is originally from Bitlis. His family descends from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Khalid ibn Al-Waleed (may Allah be pleased with him) “The Sword of Allah”, and were given special status by the Kurdish tribes as leaders of these tribes. His great-grandfather Musa, his great-grandfather’s brother Nuh and his grandfather Izzet Bey were among the first opponents of Mustafa Kemal. The most famous figure of Kurdish Literature, Cigerxun, even wrote about the heroic life of Salih Mirzabeyoglu’s grandmother, Gulnaz Hanım.
Salih Mirzabeyoglu first met Necip Fazıl in Eskisehir when he was 15 years old. He studied Law in the University of Istanbul, and in 1975 began to publish his works. In some of the periodicals he published between 1979 and 1980 he wrote his political-ideological perspectives. After the death of Necip Fazıl, he founded IBDA in 1984 and until his martyrdom in 2018, wrote about 70 works.
Interlacing of thought and action is the key point to understanding IBDA. Neither pacifism alone nor activism alone is favorable to IBDA. For instance, IBDA has immense wisdom to write and talk (and, in some cases of course, stand and fight) about! The action should be just like a surgeon’s scalpel. Otherwise, it would be savagery. A struggle on behalf of an ideal is understandable but the most significant point to be achieved is the carrying out of a struggle on behalf of an proposed ideal “system.”
The system is apparently the key word for the proposal that only IBDA provides in the Islamic world. IBDA does not deal with only action but it also provides its alternative system to replace the which is to be eliminated. What IBDA explicitly proposes to the world is an unprecedented solution, as we mentioned before. Its comprehensive proposal contains all the main ideas and procedures of administrative, judical, economic, cultural, educational and other subsystems in accordance with the supersystem which is available. Contrary to other types of wishful thinking, this magnificient system proposal is on hand in Mirzabeyoglu’s complete works. That is why he was assaulted brutally and was wanted dead several times by using sophisticated means: “electromagnetic weapons, radiation emitters, directed-sound headphones and hallucinogenic agents put in meals,” actions which were carried out until his martyrdom and led to his martyrdom in 2018. That is why, where Salih Mirzabeyoglu was concerned, Western imperialism and Turkish militarism always had assasination plots on process and in store. He was arrested in 1998 and kept in several high security prisons until 2014, having been accused of destroying and replacing the secular regime with an Islamic one.
His works are on themes of Islamic wisdom, Western philosophy, linguistics, politics, economics, law, fine arts, literature, history, quantum physics, mathematics, and so on. He defines himself as a “water bird” which flies between Western Thought and Islamic Wisdom. When he speaks of his relationship with Necip Fazıl, he says that it is like that of Plato and Socrates.
His main target is to found the State of Basyucelik. The main goal of IBDA is to establish an Islamic state in the world starting with Turkey’s territories, and then by targeting the unity of all other Islamic states, hopefully joining them in a confederation-like system. It seems possible to name it as the European Union model of the Islamic world, for instance; more independent in borders, more dependent out of borders in Union. What it proposes is a distinguished type of regime which is exclusive to IBDA: Aristocracy of Literati, in other words, Aristocracy of Intellectuals, who are the most prominent figures of their time. Only the best of society deserve to rule a country, IBDA says. Not like an autocracy, in which all the power is in one person’s hands; not like democracy, where a scholar’s vote is equivalent to that of an ordinary man. He depicts his proposal in his masterpiece, “Basyucelik Devleti – The State of Head Supreme” (Grandsublime, also possible).
IBDA’s diagnosis for the Islamic world is deviating from the pure principles of its own, which encourage intellectual curiosity, nourishment and growth to sustain, without any interruption. When it was achieved, all triumphs came in history and when it failed, Muslims were defeated in every aspect of life. The modern Western world owes its prevalent developments to following those principles and making use of Islamic thought and the Islamic community’s scientific legacy during the Renaissaince, right after the zenith of Islamic civilization. The task that we should accomplish is to take back our original assets, those which were stolen from us, by showing their Islamic roots and origins. Moreover, we should nourish them much more so that they are corresponding to contemporary necessities.
IBDA’s diagnosis for the nourishment of Western thought during the Renaissance period was that it emerged as a reaction to Islamic legacy, along with benefiting from Sufi wisdom and Muslim scientists’ research.
IBDA is a school of thought and action which is also based on “Tasawwuf”. IBDA is based on the wisdom of a Sufi school (tariqat) known as Naqshbandiyyah. Salih Mirzabeyoglu acknowledges the great contribution and influence coming from Imam Rabbani on his works, the greatest Sufi and Naqshbandi author of all. Mirzabeyoglu also expresses that he has highly benefited from Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi.
In this humble introduction we tried to make some of the roots and characteristics of our school of thought and action clearer to our audience. Compared to the main body, that is the Himalayas, this was supposed to be only the least bit. We are no more than the servants of genuine intellectuals and combatant heroes.
