Taking into account the sources of Islamic law, what changes did the ulama in Persia undergo during the reign of Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) that would have direct influence on the Iranian Revolution of 1979?
Shah Abbas (or Abbas I) hated sunnies and he suggested a new denomination to people: Twelver Shiism. Shah Abbas and many other traditional religious people were against any change in Iran. They wanted to follow the belief of Shiism.
The Ulama (the respected religious people with religious degrees) was trying to unite the belief of Shiism and the philosophy of Aristotelian and neo-Platonic. The ulama was thinking that the western philosophy was the best and their society, instead of following traditional beliefs, had to understand the western philosophy. Shiism had many metaphysical arguments and following those believes were causing some uncertainties. These uncertainties in the social life were causing a slow-down in development.
The western philosophy were following the laws of the nature, and these laws were helping people to understand the environment. Actually not only the environment, these laws were helping people understand the laws working in the community and themselves. This way they could develop themselves and the society better. The ulama tried to explain the things in the Quran and in the resources of Shiism by using the western methodology.
Connecting the belief of Shiism and the western philosophy has had influences on the Khoemini times in twentieth century. Ayetollah Khoemini followed this idea and this idea created the idea of a revolution in Iran.
What is Pan-Slavism and how does it relate to the Muslim world?
Pan-Slavism is the idea of uniting all the Slavic nations (people) in min-19th century. Slavian people were living under the Ottomans, Byzantine Empire, and Austira-Hungary Empire for centuries. Pan-Slavism was the beginning of nationalist movements which was followed by other nationalist movements in Europe. While Pan-Slavism started, another movement in Europe occurred: Pan-Germanism. Pan-Germanism was aiming at uniting all the nations who were speaking German.
Both of these movements were affecting an empire: the Ottoman Empire. It was a reaction to Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism. The European countries were pushing Pan-Germanism and Russia was pushin Pan-Slavism against the Ottomans and the Ottoman Empire was having bad times. They have started losing their lands in many wars going on these years. The Padisah of this term, Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918) – the last Padisah of the Ottomans- started Pan-Islamism to gain some power back and he aimed at uniting the countries with high population of muslims. A group in the Ottoman Empire took this idea and they tried to develop it: the Young Ottomans. At the beginning, Abdul Hamid II were aiming at uniting muslims, however, the Young Ottomans changed this and they aimed at uniting the people who were calling themselves Ottoman regardless of their religion and nationality. It was the beginning of the nationalism in the Ottoman Empire. The influence of this movement affected the new Republic of Turkey after the Ottoman Empire, or in another word, it was the beginning of a new state in the lands of the Ottoman Empire.
What were the Capitulations in the Ottoman Empire? What consequences did they have?
The capitulations were the priviliges in trade given to some European countries. The Ottoman Empire was using the capitulations as a political tool to support some countries in Europe, thus the Ottomans were having more power in Europe. First capitulations were given to France. The French people could freely trade in the lands of the Ottomans. After the Ottoman Empire started losing its political and economical power in Europe, the capitulations are given to many other countries which created more trouble for the Ottomans.
The most important influence of the capitulations on the Ottomans was that the Europeans and some minorities started doing most of the trade in Istanbul. The capitulations affected all the dimensions of the Ottoman economy. The minorities and the foreigners in Istanbul started the first banks in Istanbul. They were functioning under the institutions named Vakifs. In the Ottomans, collecting interest was forbidden according to the Islamic rules. These vakifs were a unity of real estates which were supposed to be use for a charity. The jewish people, the Greek people, other minorities and the Europeans in Galata neighborhood in Istanbul started banks under the name of vakifs and they gave debt to the Ottoman Empire which was losing its power. The capitulations and other related following developments in the Ottoman Empire became essential reasons for the collapse of the Ottoman Empire.
Discuss briefly the new order (nizam-i-jedid) established in the Ottoman Empire under Selim III, and explain its significance from a military, political, and cultural perspective.
Nizam-ı Cedid (in Arabic means new orders) was a reformist approach in the Ottoman Empire by Selim III in the late 18th century. It has influences on the Ottoman political life, social life and the Ottoman army. There was a group of soldier in the Ottoman army called “Jannisaries- Yeniçeri in Turkish”. They were the soldiers who were the foreigner kids in the lands that the Ottomans invaded. They were being collected and raised as soldiers for the Ottoman Empire. They had been successful for a long time and helped the Ottomans invade many lands in Europe. However, after a while they started strikes against the Empire for asking higher wages and more rights.
Selim III, to replace the Janniseries, established another army called “Nizam-ı Cedid” a modern army.
Nizam-ı Cedid was more than establishing an army. Furthermore, Selim III made new rules on organizing the taxation and the tax collecting and the management of the Empire organization. He tried to modernize the management of the State. There were some people called Ulama in the Ottomans. They were like scientist at the Ottoman time. They, instead of creating new information, were stuck in the traditional information. They were against any new and modern approach. They were stopping the development of the Empire. That is why Selim III started Nizam-ı Cedid reforms to modernize the Empire.
The Islamic civilization in the history had a large influence on the European countries. When the Europe was experiencing the middle age (or dark age), the muslims started moving north to the Anatolia and they started using the Mediterranean Sea for trading. They invaded the Anatolia and some part of Europe after the Turks became muslim. At this times, muslim scientists were producing very important information, even we can observe that the western science has been influenced by the muslim scientists. However, after the Ottomans started losing power, the scientists in the Ottomans had been transformed to Ulama. Instead of creating new scientific information, the scientists wanted to be important persons in the management of the Empire.
They created very strict Islamic rules and they advised the Padisahs to be very strict to the people. At the schools, they taught a stagnant and an unprogressive science. As a result of this kind of education, the Ottoman Empire could not follow the new inventions in Europe, even the new inventions in Europe called as sins.
The scientists in the middle eastern countries have followed this approach long time, and for long years, the muslim scientists assumed that the western science is causing sins. They have tried to get information from the Quran. However, the Quran is religion book, not a science book. Also different denominations in the Middle East caused many wars and the scientists have supported these wars by getting information from their religious believes.
Trace the rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire from its early beginnings to the the Treaty of Karlowitz (1699). Discuss why the Ottomans were so successful and what contributed to their decline.
The Ottomans were just a Turkish tribe migrating from the Mid-Asia to the Anatolia: A few hundred people. They had a nomad life at the beginning, instead of building a city, they preferred to keep moving till they came to a city in Anatolia “Bursa”. They met Islam in the Anatolia and they became muslims. They were great warriors and they were not afraid of death. Their new religion, Islam, leaded them to conquer new lands. First they invaded other side of Istanbul, Edirne, and from there they moved to the west. The last point they could reach in Europe became Vienna.
The first Ottomans were really good fighting on horses and they could use their arrows while riding horses. The book named “Mukaddime” by Ibn-i Haldun explains how immigrant nations beat the civilizations: The civilized people are afraid of losing their wealth, their city, their relatives etc. They have many things to lose. However, the immigrants do not have anything to lose. This way, they become more brave and they try new things in their lives which make them more energetic and more active. This explanation fits to the Ottomans. The European civilization was strong, they built many beautiful cities, in another word, they had many things to lose. However, the Ottomans were more active immigrants.
Until the time of Kanuni Sultan Suleyman -Suleiman the Magnificient-, the Ottomans could develop, however, they had a very large lands starting from the Arabia to Vienna. Many nations were ruled under the Ottomans. The Ottomans' treasury were truly full. After Suleiman the Magnificient, the Ottomans started enjoying their power and their richness. The padisahs were marrying foreigner princesses; people were having night long celebrations in the palaces; the scientists, instead of producing new information, preferred getting more power by making very strict Islamic rules.
All these negative developments in the Ottoman Empire caused a lack of management over other nations. The western communities such as Bulgarians, Greeks, and other western countries and the arabic countries started strikes against the Ottomans. The Ottomans, while enjoying their power and richness, they missed the developments in Europe. Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism caused a nationalist movement everywhere. Nations wanted to get separated from the Ottomans and become a single country. At the beginning time, the Ottomans were still powerful and they could stop the strikes. However, through the end of the 18th century, the Ottomans lost their power. Thus the Europeans started invading some Ottoman lands. The Treaty of Carlowitz was the first time that the Ottomans lost a land after a long time.
Not only the Europeans stroke against the Ottomans, also the eastern countries, Arabs, stroke also. Therefore the Ottomans had a lot of sides to fight against the enemies. The Ottoman army were running from one side to another site to fight against the enemies, however, it was not possible to continue. After Russia started a war against the Ottomans, they started losing wars and many soldiers. Finally, after the World War I, the Empire collapsed.
Compare and contrast the process of Westernization by Middle Eastern governments during the late eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries. Why did such attempts take place, and what consequences did they have?
Westernization was a big fear for the middle eastern countries until the 18th century. It was assumed that all the western countries were enemies and the western culture was full of sins. However, through the end of the 18th century, the nationalist movements started by the Pan-Slavism and Pan-Germanism stimulated a feeling for all the nations such as Bulgarians, Greeks, Arabs etc. to have their countries. The middle eastern countries, the Ottomans, the Persians, Egypt, and other countries, did not have a structure to develop while the European nations were enjoying some economic development.
The western countries invested in science and developing human capitals, while the middle eastern countries ruled by the kings who were enjoying richness of their countries without investing in any projects which could help the country develop. The Europeans had very developed cities, high level of production and freedom for everybody after the reformist approaches in Europe. During this developments in Europe, the middle eastern countries had a lot of wars shaping their borders. The wars had very negative influence in these countries.
The new generations in the middle eastern countries became more interested in the western countries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, many young people from the middle eastern countries including Turkey were sent to the European countries for the purpose of education at the beginning of the twentieth century. These young people were influenced by the western civilization. When they returned to their own countries upon completing their educations in the western countries, they took more than scientific information to their countries: idea of freedom. They stroke against the traditional science and traditional lifestyle. This freedom movement in the middle eastern countries was more than a reformist movement: the traditional people in the middle eastern countries with an Islamic culture stood against the new reformist movements.
This reformist movements and the reaction against them was beginning of a conflict time in the middle eastern countries. In some countries, the reformist people could get on power like Turkey, however, others had a kingdom.
Therefore, it can be claimed that most of the middle eastern countries have a dualist structure: Traditional society vs. Reformist society. The reformist in these countries wanted to change the traditional management in their countries and they asked more freedom and democracy, whereas, the traditionalists, mostly religious people, were claiming that getting westernized was trap for the muslims who could get into sins for the favor of modernization.
Long years, these countries have experienced many revolutions and many radical changes. Recently, the Arabic spring in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon showed us that the reformist people and the traditional people still exist. This time, the reformist people have had a strike against kingdoms, and they want to be free individuals with human rights. Especially, the younger generation want to have a life like Europeans. However, not all the young people want to be a part of the European culture. A new generation in Turkey, instead of being a part of the European culture, they want to develop a new Islamic approach. Considering the Islamist Government in Turkey and the Gezi Park strike, we see that the Islamist people have been more powerful in Turkey which might be a leader country in the middle east. Consequently, we can say that the middle eastern countries still could not make their decision of getting westernized.
