Abstract
There aren’t many words in the common Turkic vocabulary that would contain such a wide range of meanings as akhilik. Originating from a religious and philosophical tradition, this concept eventually acquired social significance and developed into its modern form: originally a religious community based on the postulates of the Sufi tariqat, an association; later retaining the basis of the original Sufi teachings, a social organisation that managed to unite the productive forces in one direction; an association that united the productive forces of its era, in particular tailors, craftsmen who produced leather goods, blacksmiths, jewelers; It further developed into a community of wood, leather, iron, jeweler, decorative workshops, butchers' shops, bakeries; it grew further and became recognised as a major community association shaping commodity logistics and warehousing, valuation and trade policy. Thus, the ‘friendship of imams and mullahs’, which at first emerged in an unknown, quiet, cosy environment, over time turned into a religious and social association that was in the centre of real life. The Ahis who were able to find the source of their internal and external principles of organisation within themselves, without looking far and wide, were followers of Sufi teachings coming from the founders. Thus, combining the moral, spiritual tenets of Sufi philosophy with the good human qualities of the individual, they formed a human internal order and ethics that reflected the principles of shame, which became the Kazakh ‘moral, ethical code’. He channeled this into ‘industry and qualifications’, creating an ‘alphabet’ of production and quality, as well as general trade, and payment of taxes. Our goal is a review with special attention to Kazakh language sources. The etymology of words such as mutasavvyf, tekke, futuvvet are also considered. In this regard, we have given illustrative examples from the words of thinkers and poets such as Yunus Emre, Sheikh Ghalib about the founder of the Akhilik community, Ahi Evran. In addition to Kazakh translations, we used data from explanatory dictionaries and thematic studies in Turkish.