Religion in the Ottoman Empire
The Nomadic tribes of the Middle East were savage peoples. They were recruited to work for the Sultan in Turkey and they were taught manners, religion and war craft. They were transformed from nomads to respected generals serving the Holy Muslim Army in Constantinople under the name of Ghazis (or religious fighters). These nomadic peoples were the beginnings of one of the greatest empires to rule this world, The Ottoman Empire.
The Ottoman Empire started in the year 1299 and lasted until the year 1923, over 700 years of existence. They ruled their huge empire from Constantinople, which is in modern day Istanbul, Turkey. The founder of the Empire and one of its many Sultans was Osman I, hence the naming of the empire. He will start a long chain of powerful Sultans that will change the coarse of history for a long time to come.
The Ottoman Empire was no doubt a Muslim Empire but one of its keys to success was religion itself. See, Islam didn’t only affect them in a spiritual and religious way it also affected their political issues, their rivals, their allies, their battle strategies, foreign affairs, religious tolerance, taxation, trade, education, prayer, economy but most of all it affected their everyday life. The way the Ottomans ruled and the systems they created to help them with issues pertaining to religion where such a success that one of the empire’s generals said: “I have had less problems with Jews and Christians than I have had with Muslims.”(1)
Ever since the introduction of the “Millet System” in the empire they have had no problems pertaining to religion or religious differences. This point was very important to the Ottomans because if they could secure the stability within the empire then they could focus on conquering lands abroad and gaining power amongst the other empires around the world. The Millet System essentially separated the different religions so that a person from that religion would dictate their social affairs, (such as marriage, divorce, inheritance etc.) but the top allegiance was always to the Sultan.
Another System pertaining to religion that was used to help the empire’s military strength was the Devshirme System. This system led to the formation of the most feared warriors of all time through children. Yes, Children. The Ottomans had the genius idea to take young children that were Christian or Jewish and teach them Islam and give them the best education available and teach them that their allegiance rests only with the Sultan and God. Once the children grew up they were trained to become warriors or great architects in the Royal Palace.
Going back to their beginnings they took many of their ideas and philosophies from the Islamic faith. They ran their government based on the Islamic Shareea’ (code of Islamic rules and laws). Their warriors were taught Islam, even if they were Christian (this is because the Islamic Shareea’ prohibits soldiers from killing women, children and old men, there are also other laws pertaining to warfare that are different in the Islamic Shareea’ from Christianity and Judaism).
Furthermore, Islam changed the way that they saw the surrounding world. When the Ottomans occupied another nation with different cultures, religions or beliefs, the first thing they did was send one of their many scholars to the locals and he was to study and essentially live the same way those people lived. After a certain time the Sultan would call the scholar back to the palace and would inquire him about everything that he saw. If the Sultan liked (for example) a certain law that was being implemented before their arrival, he would include it in their code of laws (this also depended on the agreement of the change with the Islamic Shareea’).
Religion also greatly affected the empire’s economy. Religion allowed the empire more taxes. The Islamic Shareea’ says that all people with different faiths living under Muslim rule are due taxation called cizya (or gizya); this was for the simple reason of protection. No non-Muslim was required to go to war for the Empire. On the contrary, all Muslim males (adults, that are healthy and have no sisters or parents to take care of) were required to go to battle for the empire. They also made a deal with the Christians and Jews pertaining to this rule of war. If they were to fight with the Holy Muslim Army (as Muslims – even if they are not actually Muslim) they (them and their families) would be relieved of the burden of the cizya (gizya).
Continuing on in the field of the empire’s military (Askeri), one of the most important battles that the Empire took part in was during the Habsburg wars, specifically the battle of Lepanto. The battle of Lepanto was one of the empire’s greatest losses. Even though the Sultan, Ali Pasha, out numbered King Don John of Austria the empire lost that naval battle. This was a conflict of religions that lead to the end of Ottoman expansion to the west and was the turning point of the empire from being a great, prosperous, growing empire to a slowly but surely declining one.
Ali Pasha commanded 230 galleys and 56 galliots. This was considered to be the grandest naval fleet ever to fight. But the European fleet, lead by Don John of Austria was composed of many different European armies. The Venetians were under the command of Agostino Barbarigo to the Left of the Real (the ship that Don John was in). The Genoese under Giovanni Andrea Doria were on the right and a reserve fleet led by Álvaro de Bazán was located behind the Real, bringing the number of Europeans to a grand total of 206 galleys and 6 gallasses. All of these European armies were under the name of the Holy League, while the Ottomans were under the name of The Holy Muslim Expansion. Both sides were fighting for God but only one side prevailed.
After the capture of Sultana (the ship that Ali Pasha was on), the Sultan was publically executed in front of his loyal subjects. His head was cut off and displayed on a pole at the front of the ship and his subjects tied to that pole in a possession that didn’t allow them to look away from the bodiless head. This was morally scaring for the Ottomans because ever since they were children they were taught to always think highly of the Sultan and obey his commands. When he was executed (against the will of Don John) it left a mark in the Ottoman’s history that they would never forget for centuries to come. This execution marked the beginning of the end for the Ottoman Empire.
The empire’s foreign affairs were greatly affected by Islam as well. Originally the Islamic Shareea’ prohibited a Muslim nation to fight against another Muslim nation. Some Sultans took it upon themselves to “bend” this rule and “join” other nations. Finally, through corruption and bribery the Sultan Mahmud II changed the Islamic Shareea’ for the first time in history. Mahmud II was later executed for this change in Shareea’ and his head was displayed on the main door of the city with a flag next to it saying these words: “Traitorous, non-believer not a Sultan. Allah Akbar (God is the greatest).”
Also under the genre of foreign affairs, in battle all dead were respected. If the enemy troops (no matter what religion) allowed the Ottomans to collect and burry their dead they were allowed to do the same. If not the Ottomans would take the enemy corpses and display them on backs of donkeys or hanging off the back of carriages with horse manure. This nasty custom was later made illegal by vote of Islamic Council and agreement of the Sultan Suleyman The Magnificent. This was because the Islamic Shareea’ specifically says that: “All corpses are allowed respect and traditional burial rights. Every Muslim man who dies in defense of himself, his family, his money or his country will not be washed or stripped of his armor or parted from his blade. (He is to be buried the way he is found, in bloody clothes, with his armor and his sward.) He shall be treated with mercy by the all merciful Allah and forever in paradise he shall be.”(2)
In the spreading of religion to foreign lands, trade played a big role. The Silk Road was most famous for the goods that traveled its path but it was a main porthole for Islam to cross over into Asia. Since the discovering of the Silk Road Islam has spread heavily to Asia and specifically Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. The spreading of Islam through the Silk Road was an accident. Traders from the Ottoman Empire would travel to Asia, using the Silk Road, to trade with the peoples of Asia. In their trading and dealing the people noticed their honesty and behavior and asked about them and eventually discovered Islam. This was a gateway into Asian countries such as Russia. The increasing Muslim population made it easier to conquer such nations.
Coming to the closing curtain of the empire’s sensational performance for over 700 years amongst the other empires in the world, comes more war. Specifically World War II and I. World War I was an extremely traumatizing for the Ottomans, it turned their strong unified country empire into a bunch of feeble states. This put its military in critical condition. Finally, when World War II came it basically finished off the empire and left the banner of Islam dangling, without a savior. After World War II the empire was left to crumble. Once the empire finally came to a political, social and military standstill it finally surrendered to the modern world of Democracy and the Arab Republic of Turkey was formed, leaving the crescent on their flag as a reminder of their great Islamic Ottoman history.
The Ottoman Empire
Bibliography
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