5 pillars and Ottoman history

1. 5 pillars and Ottoman history

2. All Muslims undertake 5 basic “pillars” of Islam

3. Pillars of Islamic Practice • Shahada: “I bear witness that there is no God but God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God” • Salat/Prayer (5 prayers 3/5 times a day) • Sawm/Fasting the month of Ramadan • Zakat/Giving alms (2.5 percent of wealth) “purifies” wealth) • Hajj—pilgrimage made once in a lifetime to Mecca to circumambulate the Ka`ba

4. Law • All pious Muslims also believe that Islamic law (Shari`a), a more expansive concept of law than we have in the West, is one of the fundaments of Islamic practice. • Which laws exactly are part of that is less important than the principle of trying to work out a Divine plan for the world through societal regulation (law).

5. Law • Islamic law is based on 4 sources, (the Quran, accounts of what the Prophet said and did, human reasoning by analogy, the consensus of legal scholars.) • It covers many aspects of life (personal status, contracts, crime, basic behavior, ritual, government.) • It includes five categories of action (required, recommended, neutral, disliked, prohibited.)

6. Law • It is not codified in a single code • It allows for re-interpretation • But one must use the 4 sources (and ancillary “sources” or bases for legal reasoning such as “social welfare” or “need.”) • Using such tools, reformers have made the law malleable, especially in the late 19th and 20th centuries (NOTE: this can be a progressive or regressive element, contrary to first impressions)

7. Historical Sketch of Ottomans • Ottomans/Osmanli • One of several Turkic groups that raid Anatolia and stay in the 13th century, after the Mongols have come and gone. • 1326 Orhon son of Osman conquers Bursa—One way to date beginning • 14th and 15th centuries see conquest of much of SE Europe and all of Anatolia • Constantinople falls in 1453

8. Ottomans up to early 16th Century

9. Mehmet Fatih (the Conqueror)(conquers Constantinople in 1453)

10. Full extent of Ottoman Empire • 16th century sees Ottoman Empire expand to become the dominant world power. • 1516 and 1517 the Arab lands are initially conquered by Selim the Grim • During the reign of Sulayman the Magnificent (qanuni) (1520-66) the Ottomans conquer much of Eastern and Central Europe. Sulayman first besieges Vienna, the capital of the Hapsburg Empire in 1529, although he has to withdraw that winter. • Later Ottomans in 1683 will make another attempt at this, but are defeated.

11. Sulayman the Magnificent

14. Ottomans in 16th and 17th Centuries

15. Ottomans eclipsed • Several battles at the end of the 17th century indicate beginning of European military superiority • 1690s, Ottomans fight Russians and Austrians and are defeated by both. 1699 Treaty of Karlowitz with Austria cedes Hungary to the Hapsburgs • 1700 treaty with Peter the Great of Russia recognizes Russian right to Northern Black Sea • 18th Century sees other defeats as Ottomans forced to cede more and more territory and rights. • Europeans begin to claim rights of protection over non-Muslim minorities

16. Ottoman Institutions • 1. Gazi state, with legitimation in fighting for expansion • Theoretically take on Caliphate from the rump Abbasids in 1517 after conquest of Cairo • 2. Slave Elite. Paradoxical? • Devshirme—levy of young boys from the European provinces. These boys were converted to Islam, trained and educated, and appointed to positions commensurate with their abilities. • Made into military and civilian administrators and elite. • Being taken from family was clearly hard, but this was a good thing for the boys themselves (or their careers) and families tried to have their boys taken into devshirme.

17. Institutions 3. Army comprised of two main units: Janissaries and Sipahis. • Janissaries were a standing army. 40,000 at the time of Sulayman the Magnificent. • Sipahis were a landed cavalry that were given land in exchange for service when called up. • Janissaries will be put down later in 19th century • 4. Religious Establishment • 5. Millet system

18. Millets • The Ottoman Empire was organized around religio-ethnic groups called “millets”, each of which was largely self-governing. Thus the various Christian sects, and the various Jewish sects, and the Shiites (who were not in the majority) were each governed by their own law, courts, etc. • Thus, in pre-modern times, there was great diversity, or a tapestry of cultures.

19. Nationalism and millet system incompatible • Millet system, in many ways very tolerant and open, destroyed by nationalism. • Inspired by ideas coming from France and England, idea of Greek nation leads to war of Gk. independence in 1821-1832. • This is inspired by the revolutionary ideals of the French revolution, but also by an idea rooted in the European Rennaissance, of the link of European civilization to ancient Greece and Rome. In this depiction, the Ottomans are the “other.”

20. Ottomans in 19th century • The “long nineteenth century” (from the French revolution (1789) to the end of WWI (1918)) sees Ottomans losing power relative to Europe • Attempts at reform are made, which succeed but not enough to keep European powers at bay.

21. Empire dismantled after WWI • Ottoman Empire among losers in WWI. • Empire dismantled in treaty of Lausanne (1923) • Arab parts placed under British and French control • Greek and Turkish populations “exchanged”