Browsing by Subject "Christianity and other religions--Islam."

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Open Access
The image of the other in the fifteenth-century Christian and Muslim hagiographies
(2008) Nazlar, Nergiz
In the thesis we have aimed to examine the image of the other in fifteenthcentury Ottoman history. With this aim in mind, we have carried out our research focusing on the analysis of the image of the other both within the population of Orthodox Christians under Ottoman rule, and also within Ottoman society. We have argued that hagiographies and menakıbnames can be utilized as reliable historical sources for cultural-historical research. With this view we have examined eight Orthodox Christian neo-martyr hagiographies and two Ottoman menakıbnames from the fifteenth century (more specifically those of Şeyh Bedreddin and Otman Baba), in addition to Byzantine and Ottoman chronicles of the period. Three fundamental tasks are established as the focus of the thesis: who the other is, how the other is perceived, and what this process of otherization reveals about the prejudices, preoccupations, and concerns of the authors in relation to the broader world. Our analysis of the image of the other in fifteenth century Ottoman history shows that although the hagiographical and menakıbname sources were written from a religious perspective, how the other was perceived in this period had much more to do with political than theological motivations. The socio-religious antagonisms witnessed in these texts should thus be seen a result of the underlying political antagonisms arising in the fifteenth century, both within the Orthodox Christian populations under Ottoman rule and among the Muslim Ottoman population, rather than being treated in isolation as a strictly religious affair.
Open Access
Islam in Albanian lands during the first two centuries of the Ottoman rule
(2003) Egro, Dritan
This dissertation provides a detailed picture of the religious situation in Albanian lands before the Ottoman conquest and analyzes the conditions upon the establishment of Ottoman rule and the initial stages of Islaınllslamization in that area. A complex approach is necessary to find the roots and to understand the phenomenon of the massive conversion of Albanians to Islam throughout the Ottoman period. The lack of a "national" church, the weak organisation of the Christian churches after the Ottoman conquest, and the establishment of Ottoman rule with a great measure of finality, were the most important factors which caused the gradual process of massive conversion to Islam.
Open Access
Newman and the Ottoman Turks
(2001) Demiraj, Voltisa
The nineteenth-century British intellectual, John Henry Newman in his short History of the Turks in their Relation to Europe, written just before the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, disclosed his attitude towards his country`s policy of waging a war in support of Turkey. Newman, regarding Russia as the protector of the Christians living under Ottoman rule, and the Ottoman Empire as a declining non-European power which did not merit to be counted part of Europe, opposed that war. In his work, Newman, wishing to direct his countrymen`s attention to a matter so neglected, but fundamental to the solution of the Eastern Question, that is, to the issue of ‘civilisation’ among the Turks, showed, based on his own understanding of the notions of ‘barbarism’ and ‘civilisation’, that the Ottoman state and its society were uncivilised, barbarous and un-progressive. Therefore, this study dedicated to Newman`s thought and intellect, and his views and opinions with reference to the Turks, revealed that Newman did indeed favoured civilisation and progress, at least when he dealt with the history of the Turks and their empire. Thus, it offered a corrective to some unjust judgements of Newman. In drawing up the picture of the past and present state of the Turks, Newman was open to the Orientalist and secularist view of those nineteenth-century British writers that he selected to use.