Muhammad Al-Fateh

Introduction
Muhammad Al-Fatih was born on 27th Rajab, 835 A.H., 30th March, 1432. He was brought up under the supervision of his father, Sultan Murad II, the seventh Ottoman Sultan. His father prepared and trained him to shoulder the responsibilities of the position of a Sultan. Muhammad Al-Fatih memorized all the Quran, learnt the Prophetic narrations, Islamic jurisprudence, mathematics, astronomy and the skills required for war.
He also learnt Arabic, Persian, Latin and Greek languages. He joined his father in his battles and conquests.
Character
His father appointed him as a ruler of a small emirate so that he could receive practical training on administering state affairs under the supervision of some of the top scholars of that time. This matter influenced the character of the young prince and tinted his personality with Islamic morals and manners.
Shaykh Aaq Shamsd-Deen, one of the scholars who supervised the upbringing and education of Muhammad Al-Faatih, managed to inculcate in his heart the spirit of Jihaad and the desire to be a person with high ambition.
The Shaykh also told Muhammad Al-Faatih, that he may be the one referred to in the Prophetic narration. All this shaped the character of Muhammad Al-Faatih. He was devoted to Jihaad, highly ambitious, widely cultured, and had deep knowledge of the skills of war and combat.
Taking power and his efforts to achieve the glad tiding:
After the death of his father, Sultan Murad II on 5th Muharram, 852 A.H., 7th February, 1451 A.C., Muhammad Al-Faatih, may Allaah have mercy on him, took over and became the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. He was a strong young man, only twenty years old, very enthusiastic and ambitious. He was thinking of the conquest of Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire. This dream overwhelmed him to the extent that he would not talk about any subject except for the conquest of Constantinople. He would not even allow anyone who was sitting with him to talk, except about the expected conquest.
The first step in achieving his dream was to take control of the Strait of Bosporus so that he could prevent any support or supplies that might come to Constantinople from Europe. So he built a huge castle on the European seashore of the Strait of Bosporus. Along with top senior officials, he personally participated in building the castle. It took three months to build this castle that came to be known as the Roman Castle. On the other bank of the Strait of Bosporus, there was the Castle of Anatolia. It then became impossible for any ship to cross unless it obtained permission from the Ottoman forces.
At that time, a talented engineer managed to make a number of cannons for the Sultan, Muhammad Al-Faatih, may Allaah have mercy on him. One of these cannons, never known before that time, was 700 tons and its projectile weighed 1,500 kilograms.
The sound of its shell could be heard from a long distance away. It was pulled by one hundred oxen aided by one hundred strong men. This giant cannon was called the Sultanic Cannon.
The conquest of Constantinople and the realization of the glad tidings:
After completing his preparations, Sultan Muhammad Al-Faatih, may Allaah have mercy on him, marched to Constantinople with an army of two hundred and sixty-five thousand fighters. This army had infantry forces as well as horsemen. Huge cannons supported this army. The army besieged Constantinople and the Ottoman cannons started to fire their missiles at the fortified walls of the city day and night. From time to time, the Sultan surprised the enemy with a new war plan until the city defenders lost control and their forces gave up.
At dawn of Tuesday, 20th Jumaadaa Al-Awwal, 827 A.H., 29th May, 1453 A.C., the Ottoman forces managed to penetrate the walls and drive away the defenders who fled. The people of Constantinople were taken by surprise when they saw the Ottoman flags waving on their walls and the soldiers flooding into the city.
After the Ottoman forces conquered the city, Sultan Muhammad, may Allaah have mercy on him, arrived on his horse in a great procession that included his ministers and army commanders. Ever since that time, the Sultan was known as Muhammad Al-Faatih (the Conqueror). The soldiers were shouting:
Mash-Allaah! Mash-Allaah! Long live our Sultan! Long live our Sultan!
The Sultan's procession marched until it reached Hagia Sophia church where the people of the city had gathered. When they knew that the Sultan had arrived, they bowed and prostrated and they were all weeping and crying because they did not know their fate; what Sultan Muhammad Al-Faatih, may Allaah have mercy on him, would do to them.
When the Sultan arrived, he dismounted from his horse and prayed two Rak`ahs thanking Allaah Who had blessed him with this conquest. Then the Sultan addressed the people of the city who were still bowing and prostrating in tears:
"Stand up! I am Sultan Muhammad and I would like to tell you, your brothers, and all the people present that your lives and freedoms are protected."
The Sultan ordered that the church be turned into a mosque and for the first time, the call for prayer was heard from this place. Until now, this mosque is still known as the Mosque of Hagia Sophia. He also decided to take Constantinople as a capital of his country. It was called Islambul, meaning the House of Islam. Later on the word was viciously twisted to become Istanbul.
The Sultan was very tolerant and merciful with the people of the city, and acted according to the teachings of Islam. He commanded his soldiers to treat their prisoners of war in a good manner. The Sultan himself paid the ransoms for a large number of prisoners of war from his own money. He also allowed those who left the city when it was under siege to return home.
The aftermath of the conquest of Constantinople:
Muhammad Al-Fatih, may Allaah have mercy on him, attained this victory when he was twenty three years old. This indicated his early military genius. He also deserved the glad tidings of the Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, who foretold that a good person would conquer that city.
Later on, Muhammad Al-Faatih, may Allaah have mercy on him, headed to complete his conquests in the Balkan. He managed to conquer Serbia, Greece, Romania, Albania and Bosnia Herzegovina. He also looked forward to conquering Rome so that he would have another source of pride in addition to the conquest of Constantinople.
In order to achieve this great hope, he needed to conquer Italy. He prepared a tremendous fleet for this mission. He managed to land his forces and a large number of cannons near the Italian city Otarant. Consequently he managed to capture its castle in Jumaadaa Al-Awwal 885 A.H., July 1480 A.C.
Muhammad Al-Fatih, decided to take Otarant as a base for his northern military operations until he could reach Rome. The European world was terrified because of this attempt and they expected the fall of the historical city, Rome, into the hands of Muhammad Al-Fatih. However, he died suddenly (on 4th Rabee' Al-Awwal, 886 A.H., 3rd May, 1481 A.C.) while he was preparing to realize this dream. All Europe was very happy when they knew about his death. The Pope of Rome ordered that thankfulness prayer be held in churches as a means of expressing joy and happiness over the news.
Other Conquests:
ASIA
The conquest of Constantinople allowed Mehmed II to turn his attention to Anatolia. Mehmed II tried to create a single political entity in Anatolia by capturing Turkish states called Beyliks and the Greek Empire of Trebizond in northeastern Anatolia and allied himself with the Golden Horde in the Crimea. Uniting the Anatolian Beyliks was first accomplished by Sultan Bayezid I, more than fifty years earlier than Mehmed II but after the destructive Battle of Ankara back in 1402, the newly formed Anatolian unification was gone. Mehmed II recovered the Ottoman power on other Turkish states. These conquests allowed him to push further into Europe.
Another important political entity which shaped the Eastern policy of Mehmed II was the White Sheep Turcomans. With the leadership of Uzun Hasan, this Turcoman kingdom gained power in the East but because of their strong relations with the Christian powers like Empire of Trebizond and the Republic of Venice and the alliance between Turcomans and Karamanoğlu Tribe, Mehmed saw them as a threat to his own power. He led a successful campaign against Uzun Hasan in 1473 which resulted with the decisive victory of the Ottoman Empire in the Battle of Otlukbeli.
EUROPE
Serbia, Bosnia, Kruje, Albania, Otranto (Italy)

Administrative actions
Mehmed II amalgamated the old Byzantine administration into the Ottoman state. He first introduced the word Politics into Arabic "Siyasah" from a book he published and claimed to be the collection of Politics doctrines of the Byzantine Caesars before him. He gathered Italian artists, humanists and Greek scholars at his court, kept the Byzantine Church functioning, ordered the patriarch to translate the Christian faith into Turkish and called Gentile Bellini from Venice to paint his portrait. He was extremely serious about his efforts to continue the Roman Empire, with him as its Caesar, and came closer than most people realize to capturing Rome and conquering Italy. Mehmed II also tried to get Muslim scientists and artists to his court in Constantinople, started a University, built mosques e.g. the Fatih Mosque, waterways, and the Topkapı Palace.
Mehmed II's reign is also well-known for the religious tolerance with which he treated his subjects, especially among the conquered Christians, which was very unusual for Europe in the Middle Ages. However, his army was recruited from the Devshirme. This group took Christian subjects at a young age. They were split up: those regarded as more able were destined for the sultans court, the less able but physically strong were put into the army or the sultan's personal guard, the Janissaries.
Within the conquered city, Mehmed established a millet or an autonomous religious community, and he appointed the former Patriarch as essentially governor of the city. His authority extended only to the Orthodox Christians of the city, and this excluded the Genoese and Venetian settlements in the suburbs, and excluded the coming Muslim and Jewish settlers entirely. This method allowed for an indirect rule of the Christian Byzantines and allowed the occupants to feel relatively autonomous even as Mehmed II began the Turkish remodeling of the city, eventually turning it into the Turkish capital, which it remained until the 1920s.
Muhammad Al-Fatih’s Achievements
Muhammad Al-Fatih as a statesman and a sponsor of civilization
During the reign of Muhammad Al-Faatih and because of his wise leadership and well-planned policy, the Ottoman State reached boundaries that it had never done before.
All these conquests were not the only achievements of Muhammad Al-Faatih. Through the help of some of his loyal men, he managed to establish a constitution based on the Book of Allaah and the Sunnah of His Prophet, sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam, and the Ottoman state adhered to this constitution for about four centuries.
Although he was very busy, he managed to establish more than 300 mosques, 192 of which were in Istanbul alone. He also built 57 schools. Among his most famous architectural monuments are the Mosque of Sultan Muhammad, the Mosque of Abu Ayyoob Al-Ansaari, and Sarai Tub-Qabu Palace.
Muhammad Al-Faatih, was known for his love for literature. He was a good poet and a regular reader. He liked the company of scholars and poets and made some of them ministers. Whenever he heard about a great scholar in any field, he would help and support him or ask him to come to Istanbul in order to benefit of his knowledge.
The character of Muhammad Al-Faatih:
Muhammad Al-Faatih was a committed Muslim who abode by the rulings of Islamic jurisprudence. Because of the way he was brought up, he was a pious man. As for his military conduct, it was very civilized and it was unfamiliar to Europe in its Medieval Ages.
Owing to his ambition fostered by his teachers who always encouraged him to be the conqueror of Constantinople, he managed to make the greatest of his achievements by conquering this city.
Muhammad Al-Faatih, managed to realize his dreams through hard, continuous work, and well-organized planning. For example, before besieging Constantinople, he prepared for the war by making cannons, preparing his fleet, and making use of all the factors that might render him victorious.
Through high ambition, determination, and the effort to achieve his goals, he managed to materialize his dream, make his hope an existing reality which made him one of the great Muslim heroes and conquerors.
Legacy

After the fall of Constantinople, he founded many universities and colleges in the city, some of which are still active. Mehmed II is also recognized as the first Sultan to codify criminal and constitutional law long before Suleiman the Magnificent (also "the Lawmaker" or "Kanuni") and he thus established the classical image of the autocratic Ottoman sultan (padishah). Mehmed II's tomb is located at Fatih Mosque in Istanbul.

During his thirty-one year rule, he waged several wars expanding the Ottoman Empire. The conquest Constantinople, and all the Turkish kingdoms and territories of Asia Minor, Bosnia, Kingdom of Serbia, and Albania. He carried out many internal administrative reforms that put his country on the path to prosperity and paved the way for subsequent sultans to focus on expanding the State and the expansion into new territories. he also put the first principles of civil law and the Penal Code, changed corporal punishment, that was completed through SultanSuleiman the Magnificent later.

The Ottoman Empire

Introduction
The Ottoman Empire was the one of the largest and longest lasting Empires in history.
It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam, and Islamic institutions.
It replaced the Byzantine Empire as the major power in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The Ottoman Empire reached its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-66), when it expanded to cover the Balkans and Hungary, and reached the gates of Vienna.
The Empire began to decline after being defeated at the Battle of Lepanto (1571) and losing almost its entire navy. It declined further during the next centuries, and was effectively finished off by the First World War and the Balkan Wars.
One legacy of the Islamic Ottoman Empire is the robust secularism of modern Turkey.
At its peak it included:
Turkey, Egypt, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Hungary, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Parts of Arabia, Much of the coastal strip of North Africa
Why was the Empire successful?
The recipe for success
There were many reasons why the Ottoman Empire was so successful:
• Highly centralised
• Power was always transferred to a single person, and not split between rival princes
• The Ottoman Empire was successfully ruled by a single family for 7 centuries.
• State-run education system
• Religion was incorporated in the state structure, and the Sultan was regarded as "the protector of Islam".
• State-run judicial system
• Ruthless in dealing with local leaders
• Promotion to positions of power largely depended on merit
• Created alliances across political and racial groups
• United by Islamic ideology
• United by Islamic warrior code with ideal of increasing Muslim territory through Jihad
• United by Islamic organisational and administrative structures
• Highly pragmatic, taking the best ideas from other cultures and making them their own
• Encouraged loyalty from other faith groups
• Private power and wealth were controlled
• Very strong military
• Strong slave-based army
• Expert in developing gunpowder as a military tool
• Military ethos pervaded whole administration
Origin
After Baghdad fell to the Mongols, the Seljuks declared an independent Sultanate in east and central Asia Minor.
In 1301, Uthman, an Uzbek of the Ottoman clan, overthrew the Seljuk aristocracy and proclaimed himself the Sultan of Asia Minor.

Administration

The millet system
Non-Muslim communities were organised according to the millet system, which gave minority religious/ethnic/geographical communities a limited amount of power to regulate their own affairs - under the overall supremacy of the
The first Orthodox Christian millet was established in 1454. This brought Orthodox Christians into a single community under the leadership of the Patriarch who had considerable authority given to him by the Sultan. Armenian Christian, Jewish and other millets followed in due course.
Some millets paid tax to the state as dhimmis, while others were exempted because they were seen to be performing services of value to the state.
The devshirme system
Non-Muslims in parts of the empire had to hand over some of their children as a tax under the devshirme ('gathering') system introduced in the 14th century. Conquered Christian communities, especially in the Balkans, had to surrender twenty percent of their male children to the state. These children were converted to Islam and served as slaves.
The devshirme played a key role in Mehmet's conquest of Constantinople, and from then on regularly held very senior posts in the imperial administration.
The devshirme system continued until the end of the seventeenth century.
Fratricide
Sultan Selim introduced the policy of fratricide (the murder of brothers).
Under this system whenever a new Sultan ascended to the throne his brothers would be locked up. As soon as the Sultan had produced his first son the brothers (and their sons) would be killed. The new Sultan's sons would be then confined until their father's death and the whole system would start again.
This often meant that dozens of sons would be killed while only one would become Sultan.
In the later centuries of Ottoman rule, the brothers were imprisoned rather than executed.
Influences and Structure
Although the Ottoman Empire was widely influenced by the faiths and customs of the peoples it incorporated, the most significant influences came from Islam.
The ruling elite worked their way up the hierarchy of the state madrassahs (religious schools) and the palace schools. They were trained to be concerned with the needs of government and to be mindful of the restrictions of Islamic law.
In its structure the ruling elite reflected a world of order and hierarchy in which promotion and status were rewarded on merit. Thus birth and genealogy, aristocracy or tribe became almost irrelevant to success in the system. Only one post, that of the Sultan, was determined by birth.

Short-termism
Ottoman rulers had a very short-term policy. They rejected the idea of developing territory and investing in it for gain at some time in the future; land and peoples were exploited to the point of exhaustion and then more or less abandoned in favour of new ground.
This policy meant that the Ottoman Empire relied on continuous expansion for stability. If it did not grow, it was likely to collapse.

Decline
The power of the empire was waning by 1683 when the second and last attempt was made to conquer Vienna. It failed. Without the conquest of Europe and the acquisition of significant new wealth the Empire lost momentum and went into a slow decline.
Several other factors contributed to the Empire's decline:
• The European powers wanted to expand
• Economic problems
• Competition from trade from the Americas
• Competition from cheap products from India and the Far East
• Development of other trade routes
• Rising unemployment within the Empire
• Ottoman Empire became less centralised, and central control weakened
• Sultans being less severe in maintaining rigorous standards of integrity in the adminstration of the Empire
• Sultans becoming less sensitive to public opinion
• The low quality Sultans of the 17th and 18th centuries
• The ending of the execution of Sultan's sons and brothers, imprisoning them instead
• This apparently humane process led to men becoming Sultan after spending years in prison - not the best training for absolute power
Soon the very word Turk became synonymous with treachery and cruelty. This led Turks like Kemal Ataturk, who was born late in the nineteenth century, to be repelled by the Ottoman Turkish political system and the culture it had evolved. Seeing little but decay and corruption, he led the Turks to create a new modern identity.
The empire officially ended on the 1st November 1922, when the Ottoman sultanate was abolished and Turkey was declared a republic. The Ottoman caliphate continued as an institution, with greatly reduced authority, until it too was abolished on the 3rd March 1924.

Tanzimat

(Ottoman Reforms)
The Tanzimat (Ottoman Turkish: تنظيمات), meaning reorganization of the Ottoman Empire, was a period of reformation that began in 1839 and ended with the First Constitutional Era in 1876. The Tanzimat reform era was characterized by various attempts to modernize the Ottoman Empire, to secure its territorial integrity against nationalist movements and aggressive powers. The reforms encouraged Ottomanism among the diverse ethnic groups of the Empire, attempting to stem the tide of nationalist movements within the Ottoman Empire. The reforms attempted to integrate non-Muslims and non-Turks more thoroughly into Ottoman society by enhancing their civil liberties and granting them equality throughout the Empire.
Origin
Tanzimat emerged from the minds of reformist sultans like Mahmud II and Abdülmecid I as well as prominent reformers who were European educated bureaucrats, such as Âli Pasha, Fuad Pasha, Ahmet Cevdet Pasha, and Midhat Pasha. They recognized that the old religious and military institutions no longer met the needs of the empire in the modern world. Most of the symbolic changes, such as uniforms, were aimed at changing the mindset of imperial administrators. Many of the reforms were attempts to adopt successful European practices. Changes included universalconscription; educational, institutional and legal reforms; and systematic attempts at eliminating corruption. Tanzimat included the policy of “Ottomanism,” which was meant to unite all of the different peoples living in Ottoman territories, “Muslim and non-Muslim, Turkish and Greek, Armenian and Jewish, Kurd and Arab”. This policy officially began with the Imperial Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839, declaring equality before the law for both Muslim and non-Muslim Ottomans.
Goals
The ambitious project was launched to combat the slow decline of the empire that had seen its borders shrink, and was growing weaker in comparison to the European powers. By getting rid of the millet system, the Ottoman Empire hoped to be able to control all of its citizens. They thought that the Great Powers would accept this as long as reforms were ongoing, leaving them to act as enforcers of these goals.
Reforms
Tanzimat reforms began under Sultan Mahmud II. On November 3, 1839, Sultan Abdülmecid issued an organic statute for the general government of the empire named the Hatt-ı Şerif ofGülhane (the imperial garden where it was first proclaimed). It is also called the Tanzimat Fermanı. In this very important document, the Sultan stated that he wished "to bring the benefits of a good administration to the provinces of the Ottoman Empire through new institutions", and that these institutions would principally refer to:
 guarantees to ensure the Ottoman subjects perfect security for their lives, honour, and property
 introduction of the first Ottoman paper banknotes (1840)
 reorganization of the army and a regular method of recruiting, levying the army, and fixing the duration of military service (1843–44)
 adoption of an Ottoman national anthem and Ottoman national flag (1844)
 reorganization of the finance system according to the French model
 reorganization of the Civil and Criminal Code according to the French model
 establishment of the Meclis−i Maarif−i Umumiye (1845), the prototype of the First Ottoman Parliament (1876)
 institution of a council of public instruction (1846)
 establishment of the first modern universities and academies (1848)
 abolition of the capitation tax on non−Muslims, with a regular method of establishing and collecting taxes (1856)
 non−Muslims were allowed to become soldiers (1856)
 various provisions for the better administration of the public service and advancement of commerce
 The establishment of railroads
 Replacement of guilds with factories
 the first Stock Exchange in Istanbul was established (1866)
The edict was followed up with the Hatt-ı Hümayun of 1856 (called Islahat meaning improvement) which promised full legal equality for citizens of all religions, and the Nationality Law of1869 that created a common Ottoman citizenship irrespective of religious or ethnic divisions. In 1858 homosexuality was decriminalized.
Rescript of the Rose Chamber of 1839:
The Rescript of the Rose Chamber was the first major reform in the Tanzimat reforms under the government of sultan Abdulmecid and a crucial event in the movement towards secularization. It abolished tax farming. It also created salaried tax collectors with a bureaucratic system. This reflects the centralizing affects of the Tanzimat reforms. Additionally, the Rescript of the Rose Chamber forced military conscription on districts based on their population size. Furthermore, it guaranteed the life and property for all subjects, including non Muslims. This put an end to the kul system, which allowed the ruler’s servants to be executed or have their property confiscated at his desire.
The most significant clause of the Rose Chamber is that it enforced the rule of law for all, including non-Muslims. Non-Muslims in the Empire had many grievances and were treated as second class citizens and exploited by corrupt officials. These reforms sought to establish legal and social equality for all Ottoman citizens. The reforms eliminated the millet system in the Ottoman Empire. The millet system created religiously based communities that operated autonomously, so people were organized into societies, often receiving privileges, based on the church they followed. This clause terminated the privileges of these communities and constructed a society where all followed the same law.
The new reforms called for an almost complete reconstruction of public life in the Ottoman Empire. Under the reconstruction, a system of state schools was established to produce government clerics. Ottomans were encouraged to enroll. Each province was organized so that each governor would have an advisory council and specified duties in order to better serve the territory. The new reforms also called for a modern financial system with a central bank, treasury bonds and a decimal currency. Lastly, the reforms implemented the expansion of roads, canals and rail lines for better communication and transportation.
The Rescript of the Rose Chamber also represented a move towards Westernization. It mirrored the liberal ideals of the French Revolution, which glorified humanity and individual rights. The Rescript was imagined as the savior of the Ottoman Empire by imposing “modernizing” and nationalizing forces. European powers were asked to oversee its enforcement in case the sultan reneged. This move towards western ideals was also an effort to keep Europe out of the Ottoman Empire. By conforming to their standards the Ottoman Empire hoped to appease Europe enough to keep them out of Ottoman affairs and avoid European control.
But the reaction to the Rescript was not entirely positive. Christians in the Balkans refused to support the reforms because they wanted an autonomy that became more difficult to achieve under centralized power. In fact, its adoption spurred some provinces to seek independence by rebelling. It took strong British backing in maintaining Ottoman territory to ensure that the reforms were instated. Associations such as the Muslim Brotherhood arose, that dissented from the loss of cultural traditions and religion in society. Although the Rescript of the Rose Chamber and the Tanzimat provided strong guidelines for society, it was not a constitution. It did not replace the authority of the sultan.

Effects
Turkish post card from 1895 about theKanûn-ı Esâsî of November 23, 1876, with the sultan Abdülhamid II, the Grand Vizier, the millets and Turkey receiving freedom; the flying angel show the motto: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.
Overall, Tanzimat reforms had far-reaching effects. Those educated in the schools established during the Tanzimat period included Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and other progressive leaders and thinkers of the Republic of Turkey and of many other former Ottoman states in the Balkans, the Middle East and North Africa. The system was ultimately undone by negotiations with the Great Powers following the Crimean War. As part of the Charter of 1856, European powers demanded a much stronger sovereignty for ethnic communities within the empire, differing from the Ottomans who envisioned equality meaning identical treatment under the law for all citizens. This served to strengthen the Christan middle class, increasing their economic and political power. Muslims, on the other hand, received none of these benefits and were ultimately left worse off by the reforms. This led to anti-Western sentiment in a radicalized population, evidenced by the rise of groups like the Young Ottomans.
The reforms peaked in 1876 with the implementation of an Ottoman constitution checking the autocratic powers of the Sultan. The details of this period are covered under the First Constitutional Era. While the new Sultan Abdülhamid II signed the first constitution, he quickly turned against it.
State institutions were reorganized; laws were updated according to the needs of the changing world; modern education, clothing, architecture, arts, and lifestyle were encouraged.
Religious Freedom-The Reform Edict of 1856 was intended to carry out the promises of the Tanzimat. The Edict is very specific about the status of non-Muslims, making it possible “to see it as the outcome of a period of religious restlessness that followed the Edict of 1839.” Officially, part of Tanzimat was to make the state intolerable to forced conversion to Islam, and the execution of apostates from Islam was made illegal. Despite the official position of the state in the midst of Tanzimat reforms, this tolerance of non-Muslims seems to have been seriously curtailed, at least until the Reform Edict of 1856. In fact, there was constant pressure on non-Muslims to convert to Islam, and the danger of execution for apostates remained real. Thus, Tanzimat, at least at first, failed to actively promote freedom to practice one’s religion without harassment. In fact, for the “Ottoman ruling elite, ‘freedom of religion’ meant ‘freedom to defend their religion.’”
In Lebanon, the Tanzimat reforms were intended to return to the tradition of equality for all subjects before the law. However, the Sublime Porte assumed that the underlying hierarchical social order would remain unchanged. Instead, the upheavals of reform would allow for different understandings of the goals of Tanzimat. The elites in Mount Lebanon, in fact, interpreted the Tanzimat far differently from one another. As a result, “European and Ottoman officials engaged in a contest to win the loyalty of the local inhabitants-the French by claiming to protect the Maronites, the British, the Druze, and the Ottomans by proclaiming the sultan’s benevolence toward all his religiously equal subjects.”
In Palestine, land reforms, and especially the change in land ownership structure via the Ottoman Land Law of 1858, allowed Russian Jews to buy land in Palestine, thus enabling them to immigrate there under the first Aliya. In order to boost its tax base, the Ottomans required Arabs in Palestine, as elsewhere, to register their lands for the first time. Since many fellahinwished to avoid paying taxes to the ailing regime, and furthermore were unable to write, many local mukhtars were able to collectively register village lands under their own name. Thus, they were able to later claim ownership and to sell the local peasants' lands out from under their feet to the new Jewish immigrants, as they themselves relocated permanently to Syria or Turkey.
In Armenia, the Armenian National Constitution (Turkish: "Nizâmnâme−i Millet−i Ermeniyân") of 1863 was approved by the Ottoman government. The "Code of Regulations" consisted of 150 articles which were drafted by the Armenian intelligentsia and defined the powers of the Armenian Patriarch under the Ottoman Millet System and the newly formed "Armenian National Assembly".

I am worried about the objectives as they are not authentic in some books.
Where do i find them? Besides, you have better to Post a question regarding
"role of Arab civilization in European renaissance"

__________________
"I strictly disagree with what you say, but I will defend your right to say it untill my death"

A1 Objective Islamic History ki book Haiderabad se mile gi ap ko, mangwa lain ya Lahore se pta kr lain. that book is good.

ok! ap k is question pe notes I will post as well.

keep me in prayers

[Suleiman the Magnifice]ntIn the long history of the Ottoman Empire, one monarch who stands out from the rest is Sultan Suleiman I, better known as Suleiman the Magnificent. He is perhaps most remembered in the Muslim world for the legal code he left behind but in the Christian world he is more often remembered for his conquests and being a powerful ally to some and a mortal danger to others. Suleiman was born in Trabzon on November 6, 1494 to Sultan Selim I and from the age of seven he was groomed to one day rule, being educated in science, history, literature, Islamic theology and warfare. From the age of 17 he was given a number of important political posts, including three governorships.

Upon the death of his father in 1520 Suleiman became Grand Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Commander of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe. Described as tall, thin, pale studious and wise, great things were expected of him and he was not to disappoint. In his studies he admired the great figures of ancient history such as Alexander the Great and was determined to surpass their deeds. His competitive spirit went to such lengths that he had a 4-tiered crown made for himself in order to surpass the 3-tiered crown of the Pope in Rome. In the spirit of Alexander he immediately set out on a campaign of conquest in southern Europe, taking Belgrade from the Hungarians one year after ascending the throne.

Suleiman the Magnificent (as he soon came to be called) struck fear across Christendom with victory after victory. He invaded Hungary, the King falling in battle, conquered Hungary and after an epic siege captured the island of Rhodes. In 1526 he defeated the Hungarians again, making the Ottoman Empire the dominant power in south-eastern Europe. When the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V liberated Hungary Sultan Suleiman counter-attacked and recaptured Budapest and besieged Vienna, Austria. The survival of Christian Europe hung in the balance but at Vienna Suleiman suffered his first defeat and had to fall back. However, he won other victories later and forced Emperor Charles to sue for peace on his terms.

With the European situation settled to his satisfaction Suleiman then fought a long but ultimately successful war against the Persians, solidifying Turkish control of Iraq and the Middle East. He challenged the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean for control of the trade to the subcontinent, winning control of Yemen but failing to capture key Portuguese positions. He also later assisted rebels in Indonesia against Portugal. However, his attention was drawn back to Europe by the successes of Andrea Doria in the eastern Mediterranean and the gains of Emperor Charles V in Tunisia. Suleiman assembled a massive naval force with the intention of smashing the Christian fleets, invading Italy and perhaps more. He even promised to capture Rome and make St Peter’s Basilica into a mosque. However, despite having every advantage his fleet was defeated by the Christian forces under Don Juan of Austria at the battle of Lepanto in 1571.

Still, Suleiman did not dwell on his losses and soon extended his influence across north Africa at the expense of Charles V. He also famously made an alliance with King Francis I of France who was eager to have such a powerful ally in his own on-going conflict with the Holy Roman Emperor. His naval forces devastated much of Sicily and southern Italy in cooperation with the French but the campaign was marred by the failure to take Malta which narrowly managed to hold out against the Ottoman forces until a Spanish relief force arrived.

At home, Sultan Suleiman undertook a reform and simplification of the law, finally producing the famous code known as the “Ottoman Law” which was to be the law of the land in the empire for the next 300 years. He improved conditions for the Christians and Jews within his empire and made criminal punishments less cruel and decreased the number of capital offenses. The Ottoman Empire went through a flowering of art, literature and architecture during the reign of Suleiman I and the Sultan himself was quite an accomplished poet. One subject he wrote about was his famous wife Roxolana, a harem slave girl who he had broken with tradition to marry and elevate to the role of consort. It was a son by Roxolana that succeeded Suleiman I when he died in 1566 on his way to another campaign in Hungary.

It is a mark of the greatness of the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent that he was widely admired by friends and enemies alike. To his own people and his allies he was known as a wise and just ruler while his enemies had to admire his talent, wealth and power. Under his rule the Ottoman Empire reached a peak in both political power and cultural achievement. Rulers who came after him would build on the foundations he put down until the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful state in the western world.

XAARA JAZAKALLAH great work done by u jany.would u plz snd me notes of islamic histroy part2.as soon as possible i am waiting.

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GEO to aise k sab tumhara ha,MARO to aisa jaise tmhara kuch bhi nhi.

Maza deti han zindagi ki thokerin unko,jinhen NAAM-E-KHUDA le kar sanbhal janey ki adat ho.

they r in hard form

oooooooooh than xaara what to do now.its ok if u cant manage alternative.

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GEO to aise k sab tumhara ha,MARO to aisa jaise tmhara kuch bhi nhi.

Maza deti han zindagi ki thokerin unko,jinhen NAAM-E-KHUDA le kar sanbhal janey ki adat ho.

If u can pick from my place n get copied, that would be great! as my scanner not working as well