Since the Turkish rulers did not directly interfere with the works and lifestyles of the people, the social situation in the period of Turkish-Islamic states had generally maintained the appearance of the former periods. The state offices were mostly hereditary and these offices remained in the same family even though the changes in the power. In respect of finance, generally the local conditions and traditions were taken into consideration in various provinces and centres. In the cities, there were still some big families that maintained their influence due to the opportunities that they had acquired through the possession of offices in the state and the facilities provided by the financial power. Dihkan people in the villages were of the same kind. Another class that had influence was the religious leaders. These persons were very influential over the members of the Hanafi and Shafi sects that were widespread all over the country and seyyid (descendants of the Prophet) and sheriffs were influential over the Shiite people that mostly resided in the regions of particularly Baghdad, Basra and Bahrain. The medium- and small-scale merchants, tradesmen, shop owners, and small craftsmen had established separate trade guilds in the cities and towns. The people were generally gathered around Hanafi and Shafi “reis” (chiefs) and the Shiite people were gathered around “nakib” (leader). The idle and unemployed people in the big centres were organised among themselves. In the states of war, these people participated in the war as Mutavvia (volunteers) or Haşer (paid soldiers). They lad a mystic life under the name of rind (humorous men), ayyar (crafty), settar, etc. The villagers that worked in the savannas, rural areas and arable fields subsisted themselves under the protection of the state in accordance with the conditions of their feoff or fief lands. The villagers were as freer as the city-dwellers in respect of legal affairs and they possessed the lands in a hereditary manner as long as they cultivated the lands under their possession. Therefore, they were not considered as the workers that worked in return for food.

The crowded Turkish groups had gradually become villagers under the social and economical conditions of the Middle East and the Mediterranean regions. Therefore, they had showed an inclination towards settlement. The real estates such as houses, gardens, sheep pens, etc. were included within the private property in the Turkish-Islamic states. However, the arable fields and the forests –just like the grasslands and summer pastures in Steppe Turkish Provinces- were the public property. The lands of the country were divided into 3 groups such as has (fief), ikta (feoff), and haraci (liege land). The lands apart from the fief lands pertaining to the palace were shared among the members of the army as the feoff lands. The population subject to taxation and the properties of each person that were subject to tax assessment were registered and determined within the range of every towns and even in the smallest residential places. Then, taxes were collected as the canonical and customary taxes. The money amounts collected from the fiefs and the liege lands were invested the treasury of the state; and the taxes collected from the feoff lands were paid to the feoff-holders.

The tax ratio to be collected from “reaya” (villager farmers) that worked in the feoff lands would be determined by the “Great Divan” and stated within the cadastre registries of Divan in every year in accordance with the region, the type of the products produced and the degree of productivity. The feoff-holders could only take this amount of tax (“mal-i hak”= right from property) that was determined at a specific amount. In case of excessive demands or if the properties of the villagers and farmers or the immunity of families were transgressed, the villagers and the farmers could directly complaint to the sultan, and they could immigrate to any other place if they were dissatisfied with their feoff-holders.

As we have stated before, this procedure of military feoffs had been started in the period of Great Seljuk Empire. This system constituted one of the most robust foundations of the Turkish-Islamic communities in respect of both military and administrative and legal characteristics. When the public order was damaged due to the Mongolian invasions in the Anatolian Seljuk State, the feoff lands were turned into “estate” (private property), in other words, the land regime that was based on “public property”was degenerated. Therefore, these events ended up with the dispersion of the army and the disorder that was caused by the cavalrymen who had been deprived of their feoffs was the main cause for the collapse of the state.

The economical situation was one of the principal factors that helped the transition of Turks from the steppe lands to the culture of villagers in the Turkish-Islamic states. The political stability and the spiritual union that were established by the Turks, the regular organisation that activated under the supervision of the powerful armies, and the protection and control of the trade routes had gradually accelerated the current trade activities among Near East- Middle East- Eastern europe and similarly among Far East- India- Mediterranean ports – Europe. Therefore, all these factors had provided great financial supports. The Turkish states and empires had maintained crowded armies that were properly and completely equipped with the necessary clothes, materials, equipment, and war weapons. In addition, our resources indicated the magnificence and the exorbitant expenditures in the course of the religious festivals, public celebrations, weddings, and official feast ceremonies. All these characteristicsd reveal the prosperity and wealth of the state. At the same time, there was not any consideration about any movement that resulted from the difficult conditions of living among the people. The lack of this incident also reveals that there was a political balance among the people.

These characteristics could also be understood from the type of the coins that were minted. Tugrul Bey, Alp Arslan, Melikshah and Sencer had minted golden coins in the Seljuk Empire. The coins of Kavurd (“Nakd-i Kavurd”) who was the Prince of Kirman Seljuk State had maintained its monetary value even after 1,5 century. Even Gök-börü had minted golden coin in Erbil. From this respect, the total sum of the state incomes was too much in the period of Sultan Melikshah that was the glorious era of the Seljuk State. Particularly when the Crusades that destroyed the economical conditions in Anatolia and Syria slowed down with the disappearance of the invader Crusade passion, the economical situations were invigorated. Seljuk sultans had appreciated properly the great intercontinental importance of Anatolia in respect of being a transit centre and they had adjusted their military and commercial policies in accordance with this principle. Therefore, the country developed as a very powerful state and Turkey probably experienced its most glorious period in its history. The economical devleopments reached to the highest level with Sultan Kilic Arslan II who had minted golden coins. This economical development can also be observed from the extensive public works, the written documents and also the caravan inns that covered all over the country. In those periods, Turks had constituted the overwhelming majority within the Anatolian population. These Turks had participated in all fields of economical life such as tradesmen, craftsmen, transporter, worker, etc. apart from the traditional field of stockbreeding. As a result of these activities, the towns that had been consisted of only the castles surrounded with the city walls in the past had developed, expanded and the cities such as Konya, Amasya, Tokat, Kayseri, Erzurum, Harput and Ankara and the coastal cities such as Samsun, Sinop, and Antalya developed as central Turkish-Islamic cities with their cultural and social institutions such as covered bazaars, mosques, Muslim theological schools, charitable establishments, hospitals, etc. Of these cities, Aksaray, Kirşehir, Alaiye (Alanya) and the others that bore Turkish names were founded by the Turks.

Another important reason for the transfer of the economical activities directly to the Muslim Turks in these Turkish-Islamic states was the organisation of Trade Guilds (ahilik) in the type of guilds of tradesmen. The Abbasi caliph En-Nâsır Lidinillah was the guide in the initiation of these Trade Guilds to be established in all the Islamic states and these trade guilds managed with an extremely regular and disciplined manner. This organisation that did not include Non-Muslim people provided a sort of privileges to the Muslim tradesmen. Therefore, it had facilitated the entrance of Turks in the urban economical structures. On the other hand, it had enabled the adoption of the religion of Islam by the Non-Muslim people that worked in various branches of art and crafts but encountered lots of difficulties since they were not the members of any trade guilds. Actually, as it is known, there had not been any pressure, forced immigration or annihilation in Anatolia for the adoption of the Turkish identity. Similarly, there had not ever been any political or administrative pressure for the adoption of the religion of Islam.