In Islamic civilization, the heads of state and the person who leads any community are called chiefs. Reis is also a name, a title that people use for people who meet their authority needs. The concept of chief, which was also used for mayors and governors in the past, is still accepted as an expression that the people see and adopt to the administrators.
Group leaders gathered for a specific purpose in our society are called chiefs, and the chief is perceived as the person who manages and directs the group to which he is affiliated. Boat captains engaged in fishing in the Black Sea Region are called chiefs and the chief is accepted as the person who takes all responsibility of the boat.
During the Great Seljuks period, chiefs were appointed by the central government, Nizam al-Mulk appointed Ebu Ali Nasah el Meni to Nishapur as the chief. Seljuk sultans continued to appoint chiefs to big cities until the 12th century, and the appointed chiefs successfully continued the administration of the towns they were in.
The chiefs were usually chosen from the wealthy, for example Sayyid Ebu Hashim, the chief of Hamadan, and İmadüddin Hamza, the chief of Nesa, were among the richest of the period. The chiefs ensured the safety of the people, built complexes, inns where passengers could stay, roads and provided authority.
Society still has a subconscious need for an authority and a need for a chief to meet this need. For this reason, our people immediately feel close to a leader or administrator who will act as a brother to them, get angry when necessary, and have a sweet-tempered temper as the old saying goes, and they give the title of chief. The chief in people's minds is a person who exhibits paternalistic attitudes, can make tough decisions when necessary, and can establish authority over individuals. These people also fill the void of natural fathers who cannot convey their love to their children and make their presence felt. As a matter of fact, when we look at the Turkish political history, we come across politicians that the society feels close to them sometimes as father, sometimes as brother, sometimes as chief.
People respected the people they gave the title of chief because the chief was the people who prioritized justice and embraced the people with a paternal approach. However, the vast majority of these people assumed public authority, began to perceive themselves as kings or sultans, looked down on the public, and lost their reputation in the eyes of the people.
I look at the course of history and think of leaders, chiefs, administrators, opinion leaders who have had an impact on the masses, and I see that the society's need for authority manifests itself predominantly in the father figure. The impression left in the minds of my late Erbakan Hodja, who has an important place in Turkish politics, was rather in the dimension of teacher student or Islamic brotherhood. My late Hodja was a well-known and respected figure in the Islamic world, a mujahid who brought politics together with moral values, and a person of cause, which we attributed to him more as a teacher. Erbakan's word was respected all over the world, he had a positive impression and an embracing attitude in every part of the society. However, he never saw himself as a chief and preferred to be a brother rather than a chief in his relations with his interlocutors… When asked how he would like to be remembered after your death, he said, “I would like to be remembered as a mujahid who fought with his property and his life,” and it was so. We have engraved him in our memories as Mujahid Erbakan, and we have known him as a teacher, a litigator, a person who has left a mark on history and benefited from his shadow.
Erbakan Hodja has never been in the memory of the people as an authority, he was a teacher, a man of the cause, a pioneer who recommended the right and devoted his life to the cause he believed in, and made efforts for the material and spiritual development of Muslims. How important is it to be a teacher of a society! Because there is nothing more precious in the world than raising people, and our Hodja is one of the rare people with this title.
Erbakan Hodja would not compromise his courtesy while speaking, he would not offend his interlocutor, and he would give his message in a way that his addressee could understand. He would narrate the main problems and solutions of the Islamic geography in a fluent style and would raise political awareness. Regardless of the response of the interlocutor, he was unaffected and approached patiently. Erbakan Hodja was a person who took a place in people's minds not as a chief, but as a man of cause, as a mujahideen, and continued to convey his message with the spiritual legacy he left behind. We learned a lot from him and continue to learn. May Allah bless him.