TURKIC HETERODOXY AS A SOCIO-PHILOSOPHICAL CONSTRUCT

Abstract

This article examines Turkic heterodoxy as a multidimensional socio-philosophical construct formed within the broader context of Islamic civilization, particularly across Central Asia, Iran, and Ottoman Anatolia. The author analyzes heterodox movements such as Alevism, Hurufism, Nurbakhshiyya, and others, which combine mystical esotericism with elements of social critique, bodily asceticism, and hermeneutic self-reflection. The study also presents a schematic structure illustrating various Islamic philosophical and religious schools, highlighting a separate category of foundational mystical orders. Turkic heterodoxy is interpreted not as a deviation from orthodox Islam, but rather as an alternative mode of Islamic philosophy, possessing its own internal logic, symbolism, and form of spirituality. The research emphasizes that with shifts in social foundations or changes in the ideological stance of political authorities, formerly orthodox doctrines can become heterodox, while heterodox teachings may in turn be normalized into orthodoxy. The article draws a comparison between the encoding practices of the Hurufi movement and contemporary processes of digitalization, proposing that Hurufism can be understood as an early form of “semiotic digitalization” a system aimed at representing and interpreting the world through codes, signs, and their transformation. The methodological framework was grounded in an interdisciplinary approach that integrates philosophical hermeneutics (Hans-Georg Gadamer, Paul Ricoeur), poststructuralist deconstruction (Jacques Derrida, Gilles Deleuze), fractal aesthetics (Benoît Mandelbrot, Yuri Lotman), mystical semiotics (Ibn Arabi, Annemarie Schimmel), and cognitive poetics (Mark Turner, Gilles Fauconnier). These approaches enable the author to describe heterodoxy as a semiotically complex, nonlinear, fractally organized system in which mystical experience and ritual practices construct an alternative epistemology of Islam. The article also explores the sociocultural role of heterodox brotherhoods as carriers of living memory, spiritual resistance, and autonomous meaning-making in the face of political pressure and religious standardization.