Futuwwa in Arabic means chivalry - courage, honor, courtesy, justice, and a readiness to help the weak. It refers to the acceptance of trials and tribulations. Futuwwa has been defined as the aggregate of all those virtues that would be acquired by a chivalrous young man.
Briefly the term can be expounded as the Islamic tradition of spiritual chivalry. Young men of the Futuwwa groups had connections with artisan guilds (association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular territory) and also sometimes appeared as paramilitary fighters. Based on chivalry and virtue, the Futuwa associations of young Muslim men gained significant trust and support as honest and stable social segments that exerted religious, military, and political influence in much of the Islamic world. Within the cities, the brotherhoods sought to preserve order and stability, in some cases operating as diplomats with foreign leaders and the central state to maintain peace.
In the 8th century, after the melding of traditions of the Islamic Arab world and Islamic Persia, the institution of Futuwwa distinctly represented a moral code. By the 12th century, Futuwwa organizations appeared in most parts of the Muslim world. It’s best known origin is in Turkiye. Turkish artisanal unions of craftsmen were gradually formed to compete with the Byzantines in Asia Minor. These Futuwwa unions contributed greatly to the establishment of brotherhoods unified by common trades and common goals. In 1180 the Abbasid Caliph, Al-Naṣir, officially approved and supported Futuwwa. This also led to the flowering of literature regarding the institution. The trek through time saw the Futuwwa ideology spawning an unprecedented diversity inclusive of religion, education, literature, trade, commerce and craftsmanship.
According to many observers of history, the Islamic tradition of Futuwwa arose from military associations and then inherited by artisanship associations. Akhis (Brotherhoods) were integrated into the upper stratum of the Ottoman Empire under Sultan Orhan. In the 1300s the Akhis of Anatolia were linked with evolution of the Futuwwa tradition and it was because of their dedication that this fine tradition survived through the Ottoman era. The tradition was promoted within the structure of the more professional trade guilds. Alongside other Ottoman institutions, their trade guilds also came to Bosnia after the fall of the country to the Ottomans in mid 1460s. A number of documents found in Bosnia show a strong and widespread presence of Futuwwa tradition within Bosnian guilds from their establishment until the 19th century.
Information from the University of Chicago and the Journal of Near Eastern Studies:
When the adventurous traveler of Tangier (Morocco), Abu Abd’Allah Ibn Batuta, arrived in Antalya (southern Turkiye) in the beginning of his Anatolian tour early 1333 and took up his residence in the Muslim seminary of the town, he was visited by a young Turk of unpretentious appearance who invited him and his company to dinner. The Moroccan traveler’s attitude was one of condescending reluctance, for, as he tells us, he was loath to burden the finances of a man who seemed to be anything but wealthy. He was reassured however, by the Shaikh in charge of the school who hastened to inform that the hospitable Turk was the leader of the local Akhiyat Al-Fityan (Brotherhood of youth), which as the traveler learned afterward, existed in every important city of Turkiye. In Antalya it had a membership of about two hundred. They were commonly mentioned as Akhi or Brethren. The dinner party was Ibn Batuta’s first contact with the Akhis, and Ibn Batuta in turn became the first source of information concerning Brotherhood (in this region). As he pursued his journey from town to town in Anatolia, he had the occasion to become acquainted with more than a dozen chapters of Akhiyat al-Fityan and to learn the organization’s aims and practices. When back in Morocco several years later, he dictated the recollections of his journeys in three continents. He did not fail to describe the Akhis of Anatolia. Thus, Ibn Batuta’s Travels came to shed light upon a facet of Turkish history not known earlier .. at a time when scholarship headed by Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall (1174-1856) seemed to have explored much but not beyond the heroic personalities of Osman, Orhan and their contemporaries.
Distribution of food or public feasts primarily for the poor who couldn't afford fancy food was an important concept within the Turkish Futuwwa in particular. It was established into a ceremony as part of the political system. The Janissary division organized its own kitchen with a head cook. Janissaries were the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman Sultan's household troops, the first modern standing army in the entire region including Europe. The corps was established under Sultan Orhan. May 1st was a customary celebration known as the 'halva gathering' - specifically a Futuwwa tradition of the craft guilds and the tariqas – with foods such as seasoned bread (tuzekmek), pastries made of fried honey-sweet dough (lokma), semolina halva and sherbet were served with prayers to The Almighty.
In Turkiye, after the foreign intervention to end the Ottoman rule in 1923, the political influence of the Akhiyat al-Futuwwa declined and many of its more spiritual members would join the various dervish orders.
The modern Turkish semolina halva.With the passage of time, different Muslim societies defined Futuwwa according to their own perspective. For example, later on Sufiism practiced Futuwwa based on the principles they upheld. In modern-day Egypt, the term Futuwwa is linked with youths who try to do chivalrous acts such as assisting the oppressed.
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