Ottoman Obedience

Ibn Battuta
The Ottomans were the empire that eventually conquered the Roman Empire. If we consider that the Byzantine Empire was an extension of the Roman Empire in the east then this empire had lasted over 1500 years. Compare that with the United States government that is 200 years old. The Ottomans were descendants of Seljuk Turks. They were Muslim and fiercely loyal to the principals of justice. Their empire extended from eastern europe and encompassed all of northern Africa. The Safavid empire another muslim empire at the time established the Shiite sect beside the Ottoman empire in Iran and Iraq today. Baber, "Yes, from the children's story books.", founded a Muslim empire in Mughal India. These people would later form the country of Pakistan. Suleyman the Magnificent’s reign represented the pinnacle of the Ottoman’s rule. He was known as “The Magnificent” by the Europeans but, “lawgiver” by the Muslim people that he ruled. Suleyman himself thought of himself as the second Soloman and the Slave of God. Slavery in the Ottoman Empire proved to be much different than the slavery we are familiar with in the States.

The Muslim people value laws. In the West we tend to value principal, but codifying laws was invaluable in Sullyeman’s time. Those of you who have studied Islam know that their holy book is called the Quran. The Quran also has a more in depth work that interprets its teachings called the "Shari'ah". The "Mullahs" and holy men write the "Shari‘a" . The "Kanun" referred to situational matters that were not spelled out in the Shari’ah. The Sultan showed up the Mullahs by creating laws that unknowingly promoted equality and delegated authority and power. These laws became the laws of the Sultan and they captured and unified the people that he ruled.

Remember that this is all taking place in 1300 after the Magna Carta was signed. Europe was already developing their own concept of Justice ruled by principals. Both Europeans and Arabs probably had difficulty understanding each others values. This has not changed much today. :-) Suleyman thought that he was following in the tradition of Solomon of the Hebrews. He believed he was the second Solomon. Since Christianity had sprung from Judaism he was probably very perplexed that he was so misunderstood by the Europeans. Later in history we will see how another Turk named, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk tried to reconcile this misunderstanding.

In the Sultan’s World law was the way that equality was promoted. The rulers were bound by the laws that they made. So the more laws they passed the more authority they abdicated to the spoken word. For this reason people who were conquered by the Sultan sometimes reached high levels of authority. Eastern European men in particular were raised for the military and became super soldiers called Janissaries. Some of them ruled over thousands of people even though they were technically slaves. The women who were conquered from Eastern Europe also became powerful in the Ottoman Empire. Hurrem Sultan (Roxelane) was abducted from the Balkans in one of Suleyman’s raids. Through her diligence in following the laws of the harem she rose to a position that was only second to the Sultan himself. Where else in the world could a captured prisoner rise to that kind of power in her lifetime. Obedience and adherence to the laws empowered this European woman to rule among the Arab people. Her son Selim the second became the next Sultan.

And, so we come to the virtue of the Ottomans. It could be justice but unfortunately that would not be understood by our western thinking. Obedience is the virtue of the Ottomans and its elements are diligence and the knowledge of right and wrong. To obey is a verb in the language of virtue. The picture above is from Istanbul, (formally Constantinopel). You are looking out over the Sea of Marmara toward Asia over Suleyman’s city and his mausoleum (death place).

Ibn Battuta - The Forgotten Traveller
http://www.ummah.net/history/scholars/ibn_battuta/

Here is another example which describes Baghdad in the early 14th century C.E. :
"Then we travelled to Baghdad, the Abode of Peace andCapital of Islam. Here there are two bridges like that at Hilla, on which the people promenade night and day, both men and women. The baths at Baghdad are numerous and excellently constructed, most of them being painted with pitch, which has the appearance of black marble. This pitch is brought from a spring between Kufa and Basra, from which it flows continually. It gathers at the sides of the spring like clay and is shovelled up and brought to Baghdad. Each establishment has a number of private bathrooms, every one of which has also a wash-basin in the corner, with two taps supplying hot and cold water. Every bather is given three towels, one to wear round his waist when he goes in, another to wear round his waist when he comes out, and the third to dry himself with." p.99, ref 1
In the next example Ibn Battuta describes in great detailsome of the crops and fruits encountered on his travels:

"From Kulwa we sailed to Dhafari [Dhofar], at the extremity of Yemen. Thoroughbred horses are exported from here to India, the passage taking a month with favouring wind.... The inhabitants cultivate millet and irrigate it from very deep wells, the water from which is raised in a large bucket drawn by a number of ropes. In the neighbourhood of the town there are orchards with many banana trees. The bananas are of immense size; one which was weighed in my presence scaled twelve ounces and was pleasant to the taste and very sweet. They also grow betel-trees and coco-palms, which are found only in India and the town of Dhafari." p.113, ref 1
Another example of In Battuta's keen observation is seen in the next passage:
"Betel-trees are grown like vines on can trellises or else trained up coco-palms. They have no fruit and are only grown for their leaves. The Indians have a high opinion of betel, and if a man visits a friend and the latter gives him five leaves of it, you would think he had given him the world, especially if he is a prince or notable. A gift of betel is a far greater honour than a gift of gold and silver. It is used in the following way: First one takes areca-nuts, which are like nutmegs, crushes them into small bits and chews them. Then the betel leaves are taken, a little chalk is put on them, and they are chewed with the areca-nuts." p.114, ref 1

Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims completely dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted on the basis of equality and mutual respect.
Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travellers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact travelled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West. Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great Musiims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach.