Signs from Allah: History, Science and Faith in Islam
65. The Second Siege of Vienna (1684), Part 1 of 2
By Professor Nazeer Ahmed
Concord, CA
The rise and fall of societies, nations and civilizations does not take place with a big bang. Barring natural calamities or invasions, the process takes place over generations. Critical events are like flashes in the panorama of history that show up the stresses built up in societies over a period of time.
An observer living in Istanbul in the year 1683 would have been awed by the expanse of the Ottoman Empire. Extending over three continents, it was by far the largest land empire in the world. In Europe, it extended to the very gates of Vienna, and included Hungary, Romania, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Albania, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Greece, and parts of Poland, Ukraine and Russia. In Asia, it included Anatolia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Iraq, the Persian Gulf region, Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon. From the Suez area, it extended over North Africa through Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria. The eastern Mediterranean was an Ottoman preserve. Only Sa’adid Morocco, with its capital at Marrakesh, separated the Ottoman Empire from the Atlantic Ocean and America.
The world of Islam-with the exception of Safavid Persia-recognized its claim to the Caliphate. Its embassies were honored in Moghul India and in the Emirates of the Sudan and of East Africa. European monarchs eagerly sought trade and commerce with the realm of the Sultan. Ottoman ships plied the Indian Ocean, and carried goods and guns to places as far away as the Straits of Malacca. Its capital, Istanbul, was the largest cosmopolitan city in the world with a population approaching a million. Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Jews, and Armenians lived peacefully together, each governed by their own religious code. Freedom of religion was guaranteed. The Empire, with extensive agricultural lands in Rumilia (European Turkey), Iraq, Syria and Egypt, was divided into 32 provinces, each with an appointed governor (pasha or bayg), with a rank commensurate with his position. Some of the provinces were grouped under a governor-general (beglerbeg). In turn, each province was divided into districts (sanjaks) administered by a sanjakbey who had the additional responsibility of supplying a prescribed number of troops to the governor in times of war. Administrative and military functions were thus combined at the local level, leading to efficient governance. The empire lay across the main east-west and north-south trade routes. External trade with Persia and India to the east, and the Italian city-states to the west was brisk. In North Africa, caravan routes cut across the Sahara and carried on a thriving trade with the states of the Sudan. Istanbul, Alexandria, Algiers, Smyrna, Aleppo, Adrianopole, Basra and Yemen were thriving trade centers. Tax revenues were derived from agriculture and trade. Land was owned by the state and was leased to peasants and officers of the army who were required to raise horses and supply soldiers (sipahis) in proportion to the land allocated to them. Crafts were organized into guilds. Members of the guilds were often associated with local Sufi zawiyas. The system ensured that the craftsmen were represented both in the economic and the social milieu of society.
The Ottoman Empire was an Islamic State governed by the Shariah. Although the Ottomans followed the Hanafi Fiqh, all four of the Sunni Schools of Fiqh enjoyed equal weight before the law. Even with their adversaries, the Safavids of Persia, who practiced the Ithna Ashari Fiqh, the Ottomans agreed on the principles of adl (justice) and ihsan (noble work). The Grand Mufti of Istanbul carried the title of Shaykh ul Islam, and was a powerful man in the Empire, although he held that position only at the pleasure of the Sultan. The mufti’s consent was required on important matters of legislation, including a declaration of war. The kadis performed the administration of justice at the local levels. Religious endowments, known as awqaf, maintained schools, roads, canals and other public works. In this function, the role of the awqaf was supplemented by the work of the Sufi zawiyas.
The Empire was held together by the army, an institution that had enjoyed the highest prestige since the early days of the ghazis of Rum. Since the reign of Bayazid I (d.1402), the standing army was composed of young men who were requisitioned from the conquered territories. These men, brought into Ottoman territories as boys, were trained in the arts of war, exposed to Islamic teachings, and inducted into the army. These were the janissars, who constituted the most efficient fighting machine in Europe for over three centuries. In 1683, the core of the standing army of janissars had approximately 120,000 men. This standing army was supplemented at times of war by sipahis provided by the provincial governors. Each sipahi was obligated to provide his own horse and armament, the expenses for which were offset from revenues derived from land allocated to him. There were more than 100,000 sipahis in the empire. In addition, the Tatars of Crimea supplied 30,000 troops when called upon to do so.
Sulaiman the Magnificent (d.1565) had endowed the Empire with the institutions that were to serve the Ottomans well into the following century. Under his successors these institutions had been allowed to decay, so that by 1683 the vast Empire was like an old oak tree, which was rotted from within. Under the façade of its outward expanse there were structural and technological weaknesses that were soon to surface and cause a galactic regression of its boundaries. The principal reason for this weakness lay in the structure of the Ottoman enterprise. The empire was like an inverted pyramid standing on its head. The efficiency of this structure depended on the capability of the Sultan. Under capable and far-sighted Sultans, such as Sulaiman, the Empire prospered. When the Sultan was incompetent, or had no inclination to govern, corruption set in.
In the hundred years following the death of Sulaiman the Magnificent, few Sultans, with the possible exception of Murad IV (1623-1640), demonstrated effective skills and capabilities. They spent more time in the harem than paying attention to affairs of the state. The harem itself emerged as a center of power wherein the mother of the Sultan and the Sultan’s consorts jockeyed for power. The chief eunuch of the harem became an intermediary between the harem and the court. Appointments to high posts were often made based on influence rather than merit. Neglect from the highest levels bred corruption. Under the circumstances, the burden of administering the Empire fell on the Grand Vizier, a position of high risk in the Empire. If the Grand Vizier was successful, he was rewarded with the highest honor and riches. If he failed, he faced execution. The process carried with it a ruthless logic. Only the most capable aspired to the office. The potential rewards were so great that the council of viziers themselves became a focus of intrigue and influence peddling.
The most important change in the Empire was a transformation of the standing army as a result of prolonged warfare with Persia and the Christian powers of Europe. Naval warfare in the eastern Mediterranean against the combined navies of Venice, Spain and the Vatican took a heavy toll at the Battle of Lepanto (1571). Naval engagements against the Portuguese in the Indian Ocean were ongoing and inconclusive. The campaigns in North Africa (1572-1578) against the armies of Charles V were prolonged and arduous. The intermittent war with Safavid Persia over the control of Azerbaijan and Iraq (1585-1610) was bloody. To the north, the Russians started a new front on the River Volga. The 13-year war with Austria (1593-1606) for control of Hungary brought no additional gains. These conflicts imposed an enormous strain on resources of men and material. The supply of young men from Albania and the conquered territories for induction into the janissars was insufficient to meet this demand. Up until that time, young men who were born into Muslim families were precluded from entry into the janissary corps. The strain of continued war and the losses sustained therein made the Ottomans change this policy. Native born Muslims were inducted into the janissary corps for the first time. This had a two-fold impact. First, it increased the size of the standing army, adding to the burden on the treasury. Second, the old guard resented the introduction of the new recruits, and morale suffered.
The financial strain of enlarging and maintaining the army was compounded by the influx of silver from America. Starting with the year 1519, the Spanish transported enormous quantities of the metal from Mexico to Madrid. From there, the silver found its way into France, England, Italy and the Ottoman Empire. Simultaneous discoveries (1518) of silver mines in Germany added to the flood of this precious metal on the continent. As the currencies of Europe were based on silver, the infusion of so much silver lowered the value of the currencies. Inflation became endemic. The Ottoman soldiers and administrative personnel, unable to feed their families on fixed incomes, demanded an increase in pay. In 1589, the janissars rose in rebellion. The Ottomans responded by devaluing their currency and increasing taxation on the peasants. The increased taxation, in turn, caused an increase in migration from the villages to the urban centers, with resultant widespread dislocation in agriculture. A large number of these vagrants joined the auxiliary troops of the Sultan where their lack of discipline caused additional problems. The breakdown in the morale of the janissars reduced their fighting efficiency. Often, they made up for their reduced purchasing power by imposing themselves on the peasants and helping themselves to their granary and their fodder. A breakdown in discipline made them pawns in the competing centers of power in the harem and the council of viziers.
A combination of these adverse circumstances explains the Ottoman losses to the Safavids in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia and Iraq (1593-1640). Sultan Murad IV, who demonstrated an exceptional zeal for affairs of state, and a capability, intelligence and dedication unmatched since Sultan Sulaiman, arrested the slide towards disintegration. The first nine years of his reign were spent in consolidating his position within the court and eliminating competing centers of power. Taking personal charge of state affairs in 1632, he moved decisively, first to eliminate rebellious elements in the provinces, and then to recapture Tabriz (1635) and Baghdad (1638), which had fallen to the Safavids. A prolonged war with Persia ensued, at the end of which Baghdad remained in Ottomans hands but Tabriz reverted to Safavid (1639) control. By the Treaty of Zuhab (1639), the border between Anatolia and Persia was demarcated, and it corresponds roughly to the present boundaries between Turkey and Persia. To protect the peasants and the merchants from brigands, Sultan Murad issued the Adalat Nameh (Code of Justice), which served as a blueprint for justice in the Ottoman empire until the 19th century. Sultan Murad passed away in 1640.
(The author is Director, World Organization for Resource Development and Education, Washington, DC; Director, American Institute of Islamic History and Culture, CA; Member, State Knowledge Commission, Bangalore; and Chairman, Delixus Group)
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