The City of Mighty Emperors and Sultans
By Dr Syed Amir
Bethesda, MD
I enjoy visiting Istanbul every time I get an opportunity. The emotional attachment of South Asian Muslims to Turkey is historic and abiding. This attachment arises from the status that Turkey enjoyed as the seat of the Islamic Caliphate for close to four centuries until 1924. Ottoman Sultan Salim I conquered Egypt in 1517 and transferred the paraphernalia of the Caliphate to Constantinople, pronouncing himself the Caliph. Ottoman Sultans from then on were recognized as the legitimate successors to the Prophet by Muslims.
British-Indian Muslims especially treated the Caliphs with great reverence and affection, and looked upon them for help and succor. Tipu Sultan in 1789 applied to Sultan Abdulhamid I for military assistance against the British, and unsuccessfully sought alliance with him. However, the empire was so weak at the time that the Sultan could hardly defend his own domains. Towards the end, it was decaying and its structure collapsing. Regardless, Imams in India dutifully recited the name of the Caliph in their Friday sermons.
After the First World War and defeat of Turkey, when it seemed that neither the Caliphate nor the Empire would survive, Indian Muslims got alarmed and mounted a vigorous campaign, known as the Khilafat Movement, to pressure the British Government to save them both. However, Mustafa Kemal, whose heroic efforts saved Turkey, abolished the Caliphate describing it an archaic institution and sent the last Caliph into exile.
In late November 2010, while planning a trip to Karachi, I decided to break my journey at Istanbul for a few days. I reasoned that it would enable me to spend some time in my favorite city, and at the same time, would afford me some needed rest and recovery time. Turkish Airlines has a direct flight from Washington to Istanbul that reaches there at mid-afternoon. Hotels generally offer a shuttle service from the airport, but the price is usually exorbitant. I had booked a hotel in the old city and most of the historic monuments I was interested in visiting were within walking distance. Another advantage was the abundance of restaurants, cafes and shops that populated the street just outside the hotel. December is not a popular time for tourists to visit the city and it had both advantages and disadvantages. The city was not crowded and its restaurants were desperate for customers. They follow a strange, rather unsavory, practice. Thus, one or more of the employees stand outside the restaurant and try to pull prospective customer inside, offering various inducements.
My hotel room offered an excellent view at night. The six minarets of Sultan Ahmad’s blue mosque were clearly visible, suffused until dawn in flood lights. Flocks of white seagulls swarmed around the mosque during the night, with the light reflecting eerily from their white wings. The magnificent mosque was built on the orders of Sultan Ahmad I in the year 1609 by the Ottoman architect Mehmet Aga. The young Sultan who had wanted his creation to be unparalleled did not live long enough to see its completion and died at the age of 27 just a year before. The interior is decorated with beautiful blue tiles that, as sunlight filters in, generate a stunning spectacle. The mosque is closed for visitors at prayer times; otherwise it is full of roving tourists.
The Topkopi Palace, situated close by, served as the official residence of the Ottoman Sultans for nearly 400 years, until the end of the 17th century when Sultan Abdul Magid decided to move his residence to the newly built Dolmabahçe Palace on the Bosporus. The Topkopi initially built by Sultan Mohammad, the conqueror, is now a museum. In one of the chambers, a large number of royal robes worn by various Sultans and a variety of precious article and gifts received by them are on display. The most important relics preserved are the Prophet’s cloak and sword secured behind a glass shield. When I visited the palace, a Qari was reciting the Qur’an in a melodious voice in an adjacent chamber.
Many of the original buildings have now disappeared, and the extant buildings are not impressive, and do not compare well with some of the Moghul palaces in Delhi and Agra. The high grounds outside the palace offer a spectacular view of the Sea of Marmara and the city skyline.
One of the most celebrated historic buildings in Istanbul is Hagia Sophia, also known as Ava Sophia. Built by Byzantine emperor Justinian in the sixth century, for nearly a millennium it served as the Christian Cathedral of Constantinople. When the city was conquered by Sultan Mohammad I in 1453, it was converted into a mosque where many of the Ottoman Grand Viziers prayed in the morning before going to audience with the Sultan at the nearby palace. The building saw another transformation, when Kemal Ataturk ordered its conversion from a mosque to a museum in 1935. The building is massive and breathtaking inside, representing one of the best specimens of Byzantine architecture. Over the years, it has been damaged by the moisture and rising water table under the floor and massive restoration work was in progress when I visited it.
A visit to Turkey brings into focus the sharp contrast between it and present-day Pakistan. Both countries were founded by leaders who brought a liberal, enlightened and secular outlook. Mohammad Ali Jinnah and Kemal Ataturk had fought European imperialism in their different ways, but were eager to borrow and adapt all the modern mores that had made them dominant powers. Turkey had been defeated and ravaged by a vindictive foreign occupation and was without any political or administrative setup; however, Pakistan had inherited an administrative structure from the British that was relatively efficient and functioned well.
A Pakistan visiting Turkey might by intrigued by the question of what if. Today, Turkey under the leadership of Prime Minster Erdogan is fast becoming an economic powerhouse, with its political influence and business interest stretching much beyond its border. It is also reaching out to its Kurdish population, recognizing many of their grievances.
A secular, modern country, Turkey follows tolerant, liberal policies that are anchored in Islamic roots. Pakistan, unfortunately, has regressed over time where religious extremism is on the ascendancy, threatening the very foundation of the state. The hope is that eventually, the enlightened silent majority of patriotic Pakistanis will reassert itself and the inexorable tide of fanaticism will be checked.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
