The Baktashiyeh (Baktashid) is one of the major Sufi fraternities (tarighats) in Anatolia. Its founder Haj Baktash-e Vali migrated to Anatolia from Khorasan in the first half of the 7th century A.H. His arrival in Anatolia coincided with the rise of the Babaids, something that gave rise to the possibility that Haj Baktash, the caliph of Baba Elyas-e Khorasani, was the real leader of that uprising. Avoiding military confrontation with the Rum Sultanate, Haj Baktash followed the intellectual path of the Babaids. Adopting such diverse elements as pre-Islamic Turkic religious beliefs, prevalent Sufi thought in Anatolia, Christianity, etc., he founded a school that transformed into one of the official Sufi fraternities during the Ottoman era and even expanded its spiritual influence over the elite Janissary corps. Later on, the Baktashiyeh came under the influence of Sufi trends such as the Horufieh and ideas propagated by the Safaviyeh (Safavid) Sufi Sheykhs.
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