Unfortunately Seljuk sultan’s religious identity unfortunately wrong in game. Nearly all historical document shown that the Seljuks were Hanafi hence Maturidi. In Sadr’eddin Huseyni’s Seljuknameh, he descibed Islamisation of Seljuks with words ”they became Hanafi”. According to Iranian historian Zebihullah Safa “All the sultans who came to power after that have always been members of the Hanafi sect.” According to famous vizier of Great Seljuks Nizam’ul-Mulk’s Siyasatnameh, Alp Arslan was a devout Hanafi. He was so much loving his madhab (Hanafiyya) and was always saying “If only my vizier dont being Shaafi but be Hanafi.” We see other examples about this. For example according to es-Subki (who wrote famous Shaafi Biography), Sultan Tughrul was a Hanafi. We see another record about Malikshah, son of Alp Arslan. Accordind to Ahmed bin Mahmud’s Seljuknameh, he was the first sultan to lead the eid prayer according to Hanafi fiqh in Baghdad. Some late examples also we have. Muhammed Tapar son of Melikshah was also devout Hanafi according to Bundari’s Zubdat an-Nusra. According to Encyclopedia Iranica :”It was the establishment of a strong Hanafite-Murjiʿite presence in the east, especially among the rapidly increasing mawāli population, that facilitated the eventual spread of Hanafism to the Turks. It was natural that the Samanids, given their power base in the east and their Persian background, should embrace both Hanafism and Murjiʿism. Later, the Saljuqs also became champions of the Hanafite maḏhab, along with Mātu-ridi theology, which had formed in Hanafite circles in Transoxiana under the influence of later permutations of Murjiʿism. Maturidism, though close to Ashʿarism on a number of points, differed with regard to the question of the divine attributes (ṣefāt), freewill, and the relationship between faith and works (cf. Madelung, “Māturīdiyya,” EI2VI, pp. 847-48). The westward expansion of the Saljuqs in the 5th/11th and 6th/12th centuries enabled Hanafism of the eastern variety, with its Persian and Turkish character, to become firmly established in the west, especially in the cities of western Persia, Iraq, Syria and Anatolia.” Hanafi madhab is almost exculusively belong to “Maturidi” faith and unfortunately in game, Seljuks are shown as Ashari. I could not find any sources about “Ashari Seljuks”. I really don’t understand why developers made this and which historical source they used. Even with simple investigation, this can be find. I know for some people it isn’t that important but for historical accuracy I really hope this issue will be fixed.
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