Ottoman Empire Sultan Quotes

Aurangzeb’s contemporaries included such kings as Charles II of England, Louis XIV of France, and Sultan Suleiman II of the Ottoman Empire. No one asserts that these historical figures were ‘good rulers’ under present-day norms because it makes little sense to assess the past by contemporary criteria. The aim of historical study is something else entirely.

It is the face of rebellion and determination. It does not show age, terror, or ennui. It is frozen in time, in a moment when you took a stand against a man who abused you. It is a mark of rebellion against man’s dominion, even an Ottoman Sultan. What face could be more beautiful, Kucuk?

To think beyond the familiar narratives handed down to us by generations of historians is to see that Columbus’s life simply cannot be understood without taking Islam into account.

Needless to say, most Cronus Club members during the conflict like to move to less fraught areas of the world, such as into the rather more stable heartland of the Ottoman empire, where, while the sultans may be mad during this time, at least their mothers are not.

By the Venetians, the use of gunpowder was communicated without reproach to the sultans of Egypt and Persia, their allies against the Ottoman power; the secret was soon propagated to the extremities of Asia; and the advantage of the European was confined to his easy victories over the savages of the new world. If we contrast the rapid progress of this mischievous discovery with the slow and laborious advances of reason, science, and the arts of peace, a philosopher, according to his temper, will laugh or weep at the folly of mankind.

Not long ago I was in Istanbul, Turkey. While there I toured the Topkapi Palace—the former royal palace of the Ottoman sultans and center of the Ottoman Empire. Among the many artifacts collected throughout the centuries and on display was an item I found quite remarkable—the sword of the prophet Muhammad. There, under protective glass and illuminated by high-tech lighting, was the fourteen-hundred-year-old sword of the founder of Islam. As I looked at the sword with its curved handle and jeweled scabbard, I thought how significant it is that no one will ever visit a museum and be shown a weapon that belonged to Jesus. Jesus brings freedom to the world in a way different from Pharaoh, Alexander, Caesar, Muhammad, Napoleon, and Patton. Jesus sets us free not by killing enemies but by being killed by enemies and forgiving them … by whom I mean us. Forgiveness and cosuffering love is the truth that sets us free—free from the false freedom inflicted by swords ancient and modern. Muhammad could fight a war in the name of freedom to liberate his followers from Meccan oppression, but Jesus had a radically different understanding of freedom. And lest this sound like crass Christian triumphalism, my real question is this: Do we Christians secretly wish that Jesus were more like Muhammad? It’s not an idle question. The moment the church took to the Crusades in order to fight Muslims, it had already surrendered its vision of Jesus to the model of Muhammad. Muhammad may have thought freedom could be found at the end of a sword, but Jesus never did. So are Christians who most enthusiastically support US-led wars against Muslim nations actually trying to turn Jesus into some version of Muhammad? It’s a serious question.

Nevlinsky had a more realistic, or more opportunistic, approach. He suggested that Herzl, as an eminent journalist connected with one of Europe’s most influential newspapers, could be of great service to the Ottoman Empire’s public relations regarding its persecuted Armenian minority. Accordingly, Herzl provided his newspaper a flattering interview with the Grand Vizier, Halil Rifat Pasha, and a pro-Turkish account of recent mass killings in Armenia as well as the empire’s conflict with Greece over Crete. Herzl was not unsympathetic to the Armenian cause, but he believed that Armenian “revolutionaries” were bringing misfortune upon themselves and, in a meeting in London with the Armenian nationalist leader Avetis Nazarbekian, urged him to order his followers to lay down their arms. Herzl may well have viewed the Armenians with compassion, but he also knew that so long as the “Armenian Question” exercised the sultan, he would not brook any consideration of concessions to another non-Muslim minority.

Al-Wahhab allied with Muhammed bin Saud, the founder of the state of Saudi Arabia, and provided religious and ideological backing to the newly formed state.  The Wahhabi Saudi troops took advantage of the chaos of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War I to seize control over the holy cities of Mecca and Medina. It’s probably safe to say that the Shia will never forgive the Wahhabis for the zealotry they pursued upon taking the cities, which included obliterating centuries-old sacred Shia shrines and claiming that they were used to worship the Imams as gods and were therefore heretical.  In the Cemetery of al-Baqi in Medina, they utterly destroyed the tombs of the Imams Hasan, Ali ibn Husayn, Muhammed ibn Ali, and Jafar, as well as the tomb of Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad.  In Mecca, they destroyed the Cemetery of Mualla, where the ancestors of Muhammad and his first wife Khadija were buried.  These prominent destructions were part of a pattern of violence that witnessed the Wahhabi Saudis smash buildings, tombs and mosques associated with the history of the Prophet and his family and which were venerated by Shia.  In addition, they alienated Shia from governance and oppressed them throughout the kingdom[26].  This vandalism has been repeated time and time again by Wahhabis in other areas as well, including the much-publicized destruction of the Buddha statues of the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2001[27] and the outbreak of violence in 2013 around the city of Timbuktu, where Wahhabi fundamentalists  destroyed holy artifacts and burned a priceless library of manuscripts before fleeing the arrival of French troops[28]. While the establishment of the Wahhabi school of thought created an intellectual form of anti-Shia ideology, it is probable that this philosophy would have remained isolated in the political backwater of the Nejd Sultanate (the core of modern Saudi Arabia) if not for the fall of the Ottoman Empire and the final abolition of the Caliphate. The Ottomans had claimed to be Caliphs of the Muslim world since 1453, the same year that they conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) from the Byzantine Empire, and they ruled over a considerable portion of the world's Sunnis, as well as the shrine cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem.  After 1876, the Sultans had placed particular emphasis on their role as Caliphs in order to bolster their global position by asserting their Empire's "Muslim” character, and while this was never universally accepted by all Sunnis or Shias, Sunni Muslims everywhere at least could say that there was a government that claimed to represent the form of rule established by the Prophet and that provided legitimacy and continuity.

Nietzsche hoped that Bayreuth would be the fulfillment of his Greco-German dreams—a modern festival along Hellenic lines, fusing Apollonian and Dionysian elements, presented before an audience of elite aesthetes. Wagner, for his part, clung to his fantasy of a great popular festival, open to people of all backgrounds. Supporters were building up an international network of Wagner Societies, whose members made advance contributions in exchange for tickets. Through their patronage, Wagner hoped to keep admission free. By 1873, fund-raising was lagging, especially among German notables. Two of the biggest donors were, reputedly, Abdülaziz, the sultan of the Ottoman Empire, and Isma’il Pasha, the khedive of Egypt.

The Ottomans, based in Istanbul, would rule Palestine for four hundred years. At its height, the empire stretched from the outskirts of Vienna through the Balkans, Central Asia, North Africa, and the Middle East. From Istanbul, the Ottoman sultan bequeathed to Khair al-Din the productive waqflands that would sustain the family for centuries. By 1936, Palestine was under the rule of a new overseer, the British, who had arrived at the end of World War I as the Ottoman Empire collapsed. By

By 1500 there were 1,700 printing presses distributed in 300 European cities in every country except Russia.16 In the Ottoman empire, a decree of Sultan Selim I specified the death penalty for anyone who even used a printing press. Istanbul did not acquire a printing press until 1726 and the owners were allowed to publish only a few titles before being closed down.

The [Crimean War] victory was bitter sweet for the Ottomans, their weak Islamic realm saved by Christian soldiers. To show his gratitude and keep the West at bay, Sultan Abdulmecid was forced, in measures known as Tanzimat--reform--to centralize his administration, decree absolute equality for all minorities regardless of religion, and allow the Europeans all manner of once-inconceivable liberties. He presented St. Anne's, the Crusader church that had become Saladin's madrassa, to Napoleon III. In March 1855, the Duke of Brabant, the future King Leopold II of Belgium, exploiter of the Congo, was the first European allowed to visit the Temple Mount: its guards--club-wielding Sudanese from Darfur--had to be locked in their quarters for fear they would attack the infidel. In June, Archduke Maximilian, the heir to the Habsburg empire--and ill-fated future Emperor of Mexico--arrived with the officers of his flagship. The Europeans started to build hulking imperial-style Christian edifices in a Jerusalem building boom. Ottoman statesmen were unsettled and there would be a violent Muslim backlash, but, after the Crimean War, the West had invested too much to leave Jerusalem alone.

As the printing press roared across Europe in the fifteenth century, the Ottoman Empire had a rather different response. It tried to ban it. Unhappy at the prospect of unregulated mass production of knowledge and culture, the sultan considered the press an alien, “Western” innovation. Despite rivaling cities like London, Paris, and Rome in population, Istanbul didn’t possess a sanctioned printing press until 1727, nearly three centuries after its invention.

At the same time Beyazid II, the eighth sultan of the Ottoman Empire, issued an invitation to the 250,000 Jews banished by Spain to come to his country.

This period also saw the Yeni Ceri (“New Soldiers” or Janissaries) win their war of influence against the Ottoman nobility. There was a natural rivalry between the Turkish nobility who formed the Ottomans’ cavalry (the Sipahis), and the Janissaries, the Ottoman foot soldiers who were initially foreign slaves coming from Christian villages under Ottoman occupation. This rivalry, also largely fueled by the Sultan who saw it as a way to prevent both sides from allying against him, turned in the Janissaries’ favor during the mid-sixteenth century, leading to the confiscation of the Sipahis’ lands, and the consolidation of their power.

In 1825, however, Sultan Mahmud II issued a fatwa stating that it was the duty of every Muslim to serve in the Ottoman military while reinstating the Nizam-ı Cedid Army in 1826, in an attempt to replace the Janissaries. When the Janissaries revolted in 1826 and sacked parts of Constantinople, the Sultan crushed the revolt, leading to the death of 4,000 Janissaries, and the subsequent dismantling of the old military force.

However, while Western principles were the major source of inspiration for Hatt- I Serif of Gulhane, the document itself made a notable effort to place the reforms in the context of the Ottomans Islamic heritage. In fact, it started by placing the Islamic law (Sharia or Şeriat) as a central source of inspiration, and alleging that the Empire’s decline was due to its lack of observance of the Şeriat: “All the world knows that since the first days of the Ottoman State, the lofty principles of the Qu’ran and the rules of the Şeriat were always perfectly observed. Our mighty Sultanate reached the highest degree of strength and power, and all its subjects [the highest degree] of ease and prosperity. But in the last one hundred and fifty years, because of a succession of difficulties and diverse causes, the sacred Şeriat was not obeyed nor were the beneficent regulations followed; consequently, the former strength and prosperity have changed into weakness and poverty. It is evident that countries not governed by the laws of the Şeriat cannot survive.”[6]

The decree was largely inspired by proposals made by France and Britain who assisted the Ottoman Empire during the Crimean war (1853-1856) against Russia. Both Britain and France used their status as allies to encourage further Westernization of the Empire, as the impact of the initial wave of reform was seen as limited. The second wave of reform was also partly the result of some frustration among the Ottomans regarding the limited results of the initial reforms, which introduced a series of new concepts, yet were either hardly implemented as a whole, or had only an impact on the most central areas of the Empire. The decree affirmed more clearly the equality of all subjects of the Empire without distinction of race or religion, thus largely expanding the scope of the previous edict. It also differed by creating a new political mechanism that, to a certain extent, limited the power of the Sultan.

One of the Young Ottomans’ most prominent figures, Namik Kemal (1840-1888), derived from early Islamic traditions and practices the idea of a representative assembly that would balance the power of the Sultan. Both the idea that the Sultan’s power needed to be checked along with their support for the enshrinement of Islamic tradition as the core of the Ottoman tradition led the Young Ottomans to see the necessity for the drafting of a Constitution. This Constitution would be the cornerstone of the new Ottoman identity, along with the Ottoman state and institutions.

As a consequence, he faced the unavoidable fact that the Ottoman Sultan was conquering the Byzantine Empire by allowing that Islam and Christianity were not incompatible, and that Christian subjects could live under the secular rule of a Muslim.

the support of inspiring figures such as Lord Byron, who fought alongside the rebels, helped grow the revolutionaries’ support among the European nations. Britain, France and Russia signed the Treaty of London in 1827, calling for a cessation of hostilities, and stipulating that in case the Sultan would refuse, the powers could act to enforce such a cessation of hostilities. After the Sultan refused, Britain, France and Russia sent their fleets to the Peloponnese to pressure the Sultan. While it was initially only meant to prevent the Ottoman fleet from reaching the island of Hydra, an initial incident between a British boat and an Egyptian one triggered broader confrontations, resulting in the destruction of the Ottoman fleet during the Battle of Navarino. France later sent an expeditionary corps and, alongside the reorganized Greek forces, defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Petra, in central Greece, leading eventually to the full independence of Greece in 1832.

The Ottoman Empire under the sultan had degenerated into a police state. Political activists were imprisoned and exiled, newspapers and magazines were heavily censored, and citizens looked over their shoulders before speaking, fearful of the ubiquitous spies working for the government.

Despite their great victory on the Iberian peninsula, Christians were losing captives, commercial influence, and territory to the Ottomans almost everywhere else. The ideological wind propelling the white sails of Columbus’s three ships was the fifteenth-century world’s most exigent political struggle—the one between Catholic Europe and the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire, contrary to nearly all conventional accounts of world history, was the very reason Europeans went to America.

Sultan Bayezid I led his men back into the Balkans and took the fight to the Bulgarians,

allow for a slow and gruesome capture of the Byzantines’ crown jewel. When the word of the crusade reached the sultan’s ears,

the inhabitants of Nicopolis, who were hopeful their sultan would arrive to aid in their defense.

However, this decision proved to be fatal for the sultan and forever affected his legacy.

Upon his return, Tamerlane sent an emissary to Sultan Bayezid, proposing that he swear fealty

Prince Murad would become the Ottoman sultan in late 1362 after the death of Orhan.

However, once the Balkan nations saw the sultan abandon their frontiers,

Sultan Selim eventually reaching the Mamluk capital of Cairo in early 1517 after defeating the remainder of the Mamluk

Sultan Selim became the first Ottoman ruler to ever stretch the Ottoman Empire over three continents (Europe, Asia, and Africa).

Sultan Selim has come to be known as “the Grim” for his dreadful personality,

As soon as he had become sultan himself, he slaughtered many of his family members, only leaving Suleyman alive

incredible military, diplomatic, social, and economic achievements as sultan, Suleyman would be forever remembered as “the Magnificent.

Sultan Suleyman would try to capitalize on the Christians’ religious strife by encouraging the promotion of Protestantism in Hungary,

the sultan’s assistance was needed after the French king was captured in the summer of 1525. Suleyman thrust into the Habsburg

not surprising that Sultan Suleyman was referred to by his contemporaries as “the Magnificent” for his achievements.

By the time of Sultan Suleyman’s death in 1566, the empire spanned three continents, possessed a huge army and a competent navy,

However, the roots of these problems went far deeper than harem rivalries and the sultan’s preferences.

Mehmed III, the son of Murad III, became the new sultan in 1595 after the passing of his father.

Suleiman also had another factor in his advantage.

all the more precious since both Murad II and Mehmed II had tried to take Belgrade previously

Sunni vs Shia

Suleiman also drew back for the time being from Selim’s dream of crushing Persia,

Cafer Aga, who had commanded the Ottoman navy during Selim’s Egyptian campaign,

One of Suleiman’s first actions was to dismiss him from office; he was executed in 1521.

After the death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 CE,

as that would deprive the family of its heir and the parents of care in their old age.

Some parents, though, actually volunteered their sons,

Umayyad dynasty, which was recognized by the Sunni.

they could have a splendid career in the Ottoman Empire instead of remaining peasants.

Ali’s second son, Husayn, claimed the caliphate and rebelled against the Umayyads;

he was killed in the Battle of Karbala and is regarded as a martyr by Shia Muslims.

The boys were forced to convert to Islam; they learned Turkish

some joining the Janissaries and others various offices of state.

The most talented were skimmed off and sent to the Enderun School in the Topkapi Palace,

where they would learn Arabic, Persian, and Turkish

Suleiman’s time, virtually the entire ruling class was from the devshirme.

multicultural slave elite that was loyal only to the sultan (at least in theory,

Technically the devshirme converts were slaves,

but many had substantial power and were eventually manumitted

manumitted

eventually Shia theology developed in a different direction from Sunni doctrine, too.

This led to further estrangement between the two sides of Islam.

At the start of Suleiman’s reign, the Byzantine Empire, including Asia Minor and Greece,

The eastern Mediterranean still largely belonged to Venice,

Charles now wore the crown of Spain, the Two Sicilies, and Austria and, as King of Spain

The sultan is only twenty-five years old,” he said. “Tall and slender but tough, with a thin and bony face.

He enjoys reading, is knowledgeable and shows good judgment.

wrong about the age, but the rest of his assessment is correct judging by portraits of this hawk-nosed,

Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini saw him enter Istanbul and was impressed

This gave the sultan effective control of the eastern Mediterranean

Shah Ismail came to power with the support of Turkoman tribes in Azerbaijan and Anatolia

While Suleiman’s empire had Charles V on the western side,

on the east it bordered the Persian Empire.

he had a religious motive for his enmity with the Safavids since,

unlike the Sunni Ottomans, they were Shiites, regarded by Suleiman as heretics.

Next to this, the western armies were poorly motivated, poorly armed, and often unpaid.

Although part of Europe had become more unified under the Habsburgs,

there were several factions that moved in the opposite direction.

The Reformation was just beginning at this time,

taking large parts of Germany and western Europe out of the Catholic Church.

Venice, perhaps the most important maritime state in the Mediterranean,

was negotiating a fresh commercial deal with the Ottomans

whom they had a long relationship—and refused to join forces with the Hungarians.

Louis II of Hungary counted on help from the West.

The pope offered money but no men,

while Henry’s help arrived more than six months late—long after the war had been decided.

Hungary was on its own against the Ottoman Empire.

Suleiman started by attacking Belgrade, which was then held by the Hungarians.

Belgrade held its ground for two months, falling in August 1521.

he now had a firm base from which to move further north.

The system of devshirme (“collecting”) involved taking children from (mainly Christian) Balkan subjects,

to create soldiers loyal to the sultan rather than to other interests.

preferring to circumscribe the Safavid dynasty’s power and influence rather than attempt to eliminate

Islam in Suleiman’s time was divided into two major antagonistic sects: the Sunni and the Shia.

To Suleiman (a Sunni Muslim), the Safavids, who were Shia, were heretics;

Suleiman now allowed most of the deportees to go home to Egypt.

Selim had banned the silk trade with Persia