Some sources of legal regulation of non-Muslim relations in the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The legal regulation of relations with non-Muslims in the Otto­man Empire was implemented through specific legal acts, as well as thr­ough legal institutions, special taxes, and other regulatory mecha­nisms. This paper examines the principal legal acts governing relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, as well as relations among non-Muslim communities themselves. Particular attention is given to the role of the Medina Charter in laying the foundations for the estab­lishment of an ethnically and religiously pluralistic state. The study no­tes that classical sources of Islamic law demonstrate a relatively tolerant approach toward non-Muslim subjects. It further analyzes the Gülhane Hatt-ı Şerif and the Hatt-ı Hümayun as documents that leg­ally reinforced the autonomy of non-Muslim religious com­mu­nities and established the obligation of the state to protect the life, honor, and property of all subjects of the Ottoman Empire, as well as their equality before the law regardless of religion. The Constitution of the Ottoman Empire of 1876 is examined in the context of attitudes tow­ard non-Muslims and as a manifestation of legal and political com­pro­mise. The study also reviews the taxes “Jizya” and “Isfenci”, as well as the practice of “Devshirme”, as elements of the fiscal and admin­istrat­ive system applied to non-Muslim populations, together with certain regulations concerning their dress and lifestyle. The paper demo­nstr­ates that, despite the declared goals contained in the afor­ementioned legal acts, these measures primarily served to stren­gthen the authority of the Ottoman state and often placed non-Muslims in an unequal position compared with Muslims, which was reflected in the religious, political, social, and economic spheres.