ERTUGRUL GHAZI

The Turkish nation holds a special significance in world history. The Turkish tribes, whose lineage goes back to the son of Prophet Noah, Japheth, are among the ancient nations. In the pre-Islamic era, the Turks emerged from Central Asia and established great states in most parts of the world. When the light of faith entered the Turks by the grace of God, they gained physical strength as well as spiritual and religious strength, after which they rose to the heights of fame and glory in a very short time and gave birth to hundreds of scholars, poets, sultans and conquerors. Among these great figures of the Turks, one name comes to mind: Ertugrul Ghazi, who began his activities by traveling to Anatolia with four caravans and in a very short time gathered an army of thousands of Ghazis of Islam and rendered valuable services against the Tatars and Byzantines. Although the name of Ertugrul Ghazi does not appear among the Ottoman sultans and caliphs, Ertugrul has the distinction of having 37 sultans from his descendants, ruling over three continents and seven seas from 1299 to 1922. It will also be of interest to the readers that the descendants of Ertugrul Ghazi have had a long-standing connection with the subcontinent. From the seventh generation of Ertugrul, Prince Yusuf, brother of the Ottoman Sultan Muhammad Fatih, founded the Adil Shahi Dynasty in the Bijapur region of South India, which lasted for two hundred years. When Zahiruddin Babur invaded India, the Ottoman Caliph and Sultan Selim I sent several famous generals to help with cannons and armies. Later, the Muslims of the subcontinent launched a great movement in defense of the Ottoman Caliphate in the form of the Khilafat Movement during the British era.
In the past few years, while an intellectual revolution was witnessed all over the world due to the Turkish serial Diriliş Ertuğrul [Diriliş: Ertuğrul], the name of this unknown hero of history was revived in Pakistan as well and everyone started to have a passion to read and know about his life and exploits. But with the advent of this drama, many false information also became popular among the viewers and a large number of people have considered the drama to be completely true. Although the real life of Ertuğrul Ghazi and the circumstances mentioned in the history books are very different. This has been explained in detail in a chapter. In addition, a section has gone so far in its hatred and hatred against Ertuğrul that they have started raising questions by objecting to his personality and history and raising doubts about his Muslimness. The answer to these objections has also been written in the book.
Very little has been written in Urdu about the Ottoman Empire. No Urdu historian has been able to write more than five to ten pages on Ertugrul Ghazi. Therefore, now the need for a scientific and research book on this personality began to be felt. Keeping this deficiency in mind, it was decided to bring this book to the fore.
In fact, writing about Ertugrul's circumstances was a very laborious and difficult task because very little has been written about Ertugrul's personality in the history books. In the books compiled in later periods, some orientalists have expressed their hatred and hatred on this subject by distorting history, with the aim of weakening the faith of the people of Islam, especially the younger generation, by distancing them from their ancestors. With this aim, some such books have been written in the last century that have acted as silent weapons.
There were two ways to compile a comprehensive book on the life of Ertugrul. The first is that a book would be written by combining authentic and non-authentic materials about it, exaggerating and embellishing the events, which would be of interest to the readers, but the book would take the form of a fictional story and fiction more than history. The second way was to narrate history based on the real life of Ertugrul, family background, and important figures and events associated with Ertugrul during that time in the light of reliable books and traditions, which would provide maximum information about Ertugrul.
We considered it more appropriate to take the second way in this book.
Before Islam, the main source of information about the early Turks is the ancient Oghuz Nama, the Book of Dede Korkut, and the Epic of Gorogly, which have been passed down from generation to generation among the Turks in the form of folk tales for thousands of years. Over time, the events in these books took on a legendary form due to changes. But legends are also necessary to understand history better. Where the reach of written history ends, these legends and stories gain importance. It should be remembered that if a nation has its own folklore, it means that its history is also very extensive. In the last advice and will given by Ertugrul Ghazi to his son Osman, the importance of history is described as follows:
“My son Osman! He who is unaware of his past remains unaware of his future. Gain awareness of your history, so that you can move forward with satisfaction. Always remember where you came from and where you have to go.”
So, here is the book. I have no hesitation in claiming that this is the first comprehensive and research-based book on Ertugrul Ghazi published in Urdu. In publishing this book, I would like to express my gratitude to the Director of Book Corner Jhelum, Mr. Amar Shahid, who encouraged me to write on this important topic and provided me with the true and authentic story of Ertugrul Ghazi.