Browsing by Subject "Religious minorities--Turkey--History."

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2

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
Legal status of Ottoman non-muslims in Bosnia (1463-1699) : a case study
(2007) Kursar, Vjeran
Since their emergence Islamic states included great number of nonMuslim subjects. The manner in which the Islamic states regulated the position of non-Muslims is the central topic of the thesis. The Ottoman Empire was yet another Islamic state with large number of non-Muslim subjects, but its legal system was somewhat different from that of its predecessors. In addition to Islamic law, legislation of the Empire was based on the ‘örfî law that was enacted by the sultan in order to serve pragmatic needs of the state. Correlation between the şerî‘at and the sultanic law, and their influence on the status of non-Muslims, will be examined on the example of the fetvâs as legal documents issued by the müftîs and şeyhülislâms as representatives of the Islamic law, and the kânûns and kânûnnâmes as legal acts of the administration. The legislation of the state was generally guided by political considerations, which sometimes might have been beneficial for non-Muslims, or, conversely, it might have deteriorated their status. On the other hand, the şerî‘at kept non-Muslims in somewhat underprivileged status, but it was guaranteeing their basic rights. The area under study is restricted to the territory of the province of Bosnia, with occasional references to the adjacent regions. Border character of Bosnia and often wars inevitably influenced the society in general. Depending on circumstances, the position of Bosnian non-Muslims oscillated, sometimes above and other times below the prescriptions of the şerî‘at.