Research Information System
Turk Kulturu ve Haci Bektas Veli - Arastirma Dergisi, no.115, pp.339-367, 2025 (Scopus, TRDizin)
Since the beginning of life, human beings have needed certain conditions to survive. They are born with material needs such as eating and drinking, as well as spiritual needs such as loving, being loved, happiness, peace, and health. Humanity has desired to meet these needs in abundance and prosperity, and to ensure the continuity of what it has obtained, striving diligently to achieve this. The Muslim people of Kyrgyzstan have not viewed abundance merely as material increase; they have also perceived it as a state spiritually supported by a sacred source, even if not visibly apparent in material terms. Although abundance is often associated with agricultural productivity, it is a concept that influences many areas of life, such as human health, happiness, and family life. The subject of our study is the concept of abundance and the beliefs related to it that have been preserved from past to present among Muslim Turkic peoples in the Anatolian and Kyrgyz regions, who share a common historical, religious, and cultural background. The aim of our study is to identify the beliefs related to abundance in both cultures that share a Muslim Turkic identity, to reveal their similarities and differences, and to demonstrate the influence of both pre-Islamic Turkic beliefs and Islam on contemporary beliefs. In our study, a literature review was carried out on the beliefs and practices related to abundance. We made use of articles and scholarly works written on Anatolia and Kyrgyzstan, particularly theses based on field research. The contents of these works were analyzed, and the subject was examined using descriptive and comparative methods. In our study, it was determined that beliefs related to abundance in Anatolian and Kyrgyz cultures show a high degree of similarity, and these similarities reflect the influence of a shared historical and cultural foundation. It was also observed that both preIslamic Turkic beliefs and Islamic tradition play a joint role in shaping the interpretation of abundance in both cultures. However, it was also found that, at times, differences arise between the two cultures due to geographical, sociocultural, and religious interpretative variations.