All sultans of the Ottoman Empire and the years of government history are divided into several stages: from the period of creation to the formation of the republic. These time periods have almost exact boundaries in the history of Osman.
Formation of the Ottoman Empire
It is believed that the founders of the Ottoman state arrived in Asia Minor (Anatolia) from Central Asia (Turkmenistan) in the 20s of the XIII century. The Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, Keykubad II, provided them with areas near the cities of Ankara and Segyut for living.
The Seljuk Sultanate in 1243 perished under the blows of the Mongols. Since 1281, Osman came to power in the possession allocated to the Turkmens (beylik), who pursued a policy of expanding his beylik: he seized small towns, proclaimed a gazzavat - a holy war against the infidels (Byzantines and others). Osman partially subdues the territory of Western Anatolia, in 1326 takes the city of Bursa and makes it the capital of the empire.
In 1324, Osman I Ghazi dies. They buried him in Bursa. The inscription on the grave became the prayer that the Ottoman sultans recited when they ascended the throne.
Successors of the Osmanid dynasty:
Expanding the boundaries of the empire
In the middle of the XV century. the period of the most active expansion of the Ottoman Empire began. At this time, the empire was headed by:
- Mehmed II the Conqueror - ruled 1444 - 1446 and in 1451 - 1481. At the end of May 1453 he captured and sacked Constantinople. Moved the capital to the plundered city. Sophia Cathedral was converted into the main temple of Islam. At the request of the Sultan, the residences of the Orthodox Greek and Armenian patriarchs, as well as the chief Jewish rabbi, were located in Istanbul. Under Mehmed II, the autonomy of Serbia was terminated, Bosnia was subordinated, Crimea was annexed. The death of the Sultan prevented the capture of Rome. The Sultan did not value human life at all, but he wrote poetry and created the first poetic duvan.
- Bayazid II Saint (Dervish) - ruled from 1481 to 1512. Practically did not fight. He stopped the tradition of personal leadership of the Sultan's troops. He patronized culture, wrote poetry. He died, passing power to his son.
- Selim I the Terrible (Merciless) - ruled from 1512 to 1520. He began his reign by destroying the closest competitors. Brutally crushed the Shiite uprising. Captured Kurdistan, the west of Armenia, Syria, Palestine, Arabia and Egypt. A poet whose poems were subsequently published by the German Emperor Wilhelm II.
- Suleiman I Kanuni (Legislator) - ruled from 1520 to 1566. He extended the borders to Budapest, the upper reaches of the Nile and the Strait of Gibraltar, the Tigris and Euphrates, Baghdad and Georgia. He carried out many government reforms. The last 20 years have passed under the influence of the concubine, and then the wife of Roksolana. The most prolific among the sultans in poetic creativity. He died during a campaign in Hungary.
- Selim II the Drunkard - ruled from 1566 to 1574. There was an addiction to alcohol. Talented poet. During this reign, the first conflict of the Ottoman Empire with the Moscow principality and the first major defeat at sea took place. The only expansion of the empire is the capture of Fr. Cyprus. He died from hitting his head on stone slabs in the bathhouse.
- Murad III - on the throne from 1574 to 1595 A "lover" of numerous concubines and a corrupt official who practically did not manage the empire. Under him, Tiflis was captured, the imperial troops reached Dagestan and Azerbaijan.
- Mehmed III - ruled from 1595 to 1603. Record holder for the destruction of competitors to the throne - on his orders, 19 brothers, their pregnant women and son were killed.
- Ahmed I - ruled from 1603 to 1617. The board is characterized by a leapfrog of senior officials, who were often replaced at the request of the harem. The empire lost Transcaucasia and Baghdad.
- Mustafa I - ruled from 1617 to 1618. and from 1622 to 1623. He was considered a saint for dementia and sleepwalking. He spent 14 years in prison.
- Osman II - ruled from 1618 to 1622. He was enthroned at the age of 14 by the Janissaries. He was pathologically cruel. After the defeat near Khotyn from the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, he was killed by the Janissaries for trying to escape with the treasury.
- Murad IV - ruled from 1622 to 1640 At the cost of a lot of blood, he brought order to the corps of the Janissaries, destroyed the dictatorship of the viziers, and cleared the courts and the state apparatus of corrupt officials. He returned Erivan and Baghdad to the empire. Before his death, he ordered to kill his brother Ibrahim, the last of the Osmanids. Died of wine and fever.
- Ibrahim - ruled from 1640 to 1648. Weak and weak-willed, cruel and wasteful, avid for women's caresses. Displaced and strangled by the Janissaries with the support of the clergy.
- Mehmed IV the Hunter - ruled from 1648 to 1687. Proclaimed sultan at the age of 6. The true government of the state was carried out by the grand viziers, especially in the early years. In the first period of the reign, the empire strengthened its military power, conquered Fr. Crete. The second period was not so successful - the battle of Saint Gotthard was lost, Vienna was not taken, the Janissaries rebelled and the Sultan was overthrown.
- Suleiman II - ruled from 1687 to 1691. He was elevated to the throne by the Janissaries.
- Ahmed II - ruled from 1691 to 1695. He was elevated to the throne by the Janissaries.
- Mustafa II - ruled from 1695 to 1703. He was elevated to the throne by the Janissaries. The first division of the Ottoman Empire under the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 and the Treaty of Constantinople with Russia in 1700
- Ahmed III - ruled from 1703 to 1730. He hid Hetman Mazepa and Charles XII after the Battle of Poltava. During his reign, the war with Venice and Austria was lost, part of the possessions in Eastern Europe, as well as Algeria and Tunisia, were lost.
Osman I Ghazi (1258-1326) ruled from 1281, founder of the Ottoman Empire in 1299
The first Turkish sultan, Osman I, at the age of 23, inherited vast territories in Phrygia from his father, Prince Ertogrul. He united the scattered Turkish tribes with the Muslims who fled from the Mongols, later they all became known as the Ottomans, and conquered a significant part of the Byzantine state, gaining access to the Black and Marmara Seas. In 1299 he founded an empire named after him. Capturing the Byzantine city of Yenisehir in 1301, Osman made it the capital of his empire. In 1326, he stormed the city of Bursa, which already under his son Orhan became the second capital of the empire.
The territory in Asia Minor, on which Turkey is located today, was called Anatolia in ancient times and was the cradle of many civilizations. Among them, one of the most developed was the Byzantine Empire - a Greco-Roman Orthodox state with its capital in Constantinople. Created in 1299 by Sultan Osman, the Ottoman Empire actively expanded its borders and seized neighboring lands. Gradually, many provinces of the weakening Byzantium came under his rule.
The reasons for the victories of Sultan Osman lay primarily in his ideology, he declared war on Christians and intended to seize their lands and enrich his subjects. Many Muslims flocked under his banner, including Turkic nomads and artisans who fled from the invasion of the Mongols, there were also non-Muslims. The Sultan welcomed everyone. He first formed an army of Janissaries - the future regular Turkish infantry, created from Christians, slaves and prisoners, later it was replenished with the children of Christians brought up in Islamic traditions.
The authority of Osman was so high that poems and songs began to be composed in his honor during his lifetime. Many scientists of that time - dervishes - pointed to the prophetic meaning of his name, which, according to some sources, meant "beating the bones", that is, a warrior who knows no barriers and knocks the enemy down, according to others - "hawk-vulture", which feeds on the carrion of the slain. But in the West, Christians called him not Osman, but Ottoman (hence the word ottoman came from - a soft Turkish seat without a back), which simply meant "Ottoman Turk".
The broad offensive of Osman, his well-armed army, led to the fact that the Byzantine peasants, who were not protected by anyone, were forced to flee, abandoning their well-cultivated agricultural areas. And the Turks got pastures, vineyards, orchards. The tragedy of Byzantium was that its capital Constantinople in 1204 was captured by the knights-crusaders who were making the Fourth Crusade. The completely plundered city became the capital of the Latin Empire, which collapsed by 1261. At the same time, Byzantium was created again, but already weakened and unable to resist external invasion.
The Byzantines concentrated their efforts on creating a fleet, they wanted to stop the Turks at the sea, to prevent them from advancing deep into the mainland. But nothing could stop Osman. In 1301, his army inflicted a crushing defeat on the combined Byzantine forces near Nicaea (now the Turkish city of Iznik). In 1304, the Sultan captured the city of Ephesus on the Aegean Sea - the center of early Christianity, in which, according to legend, the Apostle Paul lived, John wrote the Gospel. The Turks sought to Constantinople, to the Bosporus.
The last conquest of Osman was the Byzantine city of Bursa. This victory was very important - it opened the way to Constantinople. The sultan, who was dying, ordered his subjects to turn Bursa into the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Osman did not live to see the fall of Constantinople. But other sultans continued his work and created the great Ottoman Empire, which lasted until 1922.
Turks are a relatively young people. His age is only 600 years old. The first Turks were a bunch of Turkmens, fugitives from Central Asia, who fled from the Mongols to the west. They reached the Konya Sultanate and asked for land for a settlement. They were given a place on the border with the Empire of Nicaea near Bursa. The fugitives began to settle there in the middle of the 13th century.
The main among the fugitive Turkmens was Ertogrul-bey. He called the territory allotted to him the Ottoman beylik. And taking into account the fact that the Konya Sultan lost all power, he became an independent ruler. Ertogrul died in 1281 and power passed to his son Osman I Ghazi. It is he who is considered the founder of the dynasty of the Ottoman sultans and the first ruler of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Empire existed from 1299 to 1922 and played a significant role in world history.
Ottoman sultan with his warriors
An important factor contributing to the formation of a powerful Turkish state was the fact that the Mongols, having reached Antioch, did not go further, as they considered Byzantium their ally. Therefore, they did not touch the lands on which the Ottoman beylik was located, believing that it would soon become part of the Byzantine Empire.
And Osman Gazi, like the crusaders, declared a holy war, but only for the Muslim faith. He began to invite everyone to take part in it. And seekers of fortune began to flock to Osman from all over the Muslim East. They were ready to fight for the faith of Islam until their swords became dull and until they got enough wealth and wives. And in the east it was considered a very big achievement.
Thus, the Ottoman army began to be replenished with Circassians, Kurds, Arabs, Seljuks, Turkmens. That is, anyone could come, pronounce the formula of Islam and become a Turk. And on the occupied lands, such people began to allocate small plots of land for farming. Such a site was called "timar". He represented a house with a garden.
The owner of the timar became a rider (spagi). It was his duty to appear at the first call to the Sultan in full armor and on his own horse in order to serve in the cavalry. It was noteworthy that spagi did not pay taxes in the form of money, since they paid the tax with their blood.
With such an internal organization, the territory of the Ottoman state began to expand rapidly. In 1324, Osman's son Orhan I captured the city of Bursa and made it his capital. From Bursa to Constantinople, a stone's throw, and the Byzantines lost control over the northern and western regions of Anatolia. And in 1352, the Ottoman Turks crossed the Dardanelles and ended up in Europe. After this, the gradual and steady capture of Thrace began.
In Europe, it was impossible to get by with one cavalry, so there was an urgent need for infantry. And then the Turks created a completely new army, consisting of infantry, which they called Janissaries(yang - new, charik - army: it turns out Janissaries).
The conquerors took by force from the Christian nations boys aged 7 to 14 years old and converted to Islam. These children were well fed, taught the laws of Allah, military affairs and made foot soldiers (Janissaries). These warriors turned out to be the best foot soldiers in all of Europe. Neither the knightly cavalry, nor the Persian Qizilbash could break through the line of the Janissaries.
Janissaries - infantry of the Ottoman army
And the secret of the invincibility of the Turkish infantry was in the spirit of camaraderie. Janissaries from the first days lived together, ate delicious porridge from the same cauldron, and, despite the fact that they belonged to different nations, they were people of the same fate. When they became adults, they got married, started families, but continued to live in the barracks. Only during the holidays they visited their wives and children. That is why they did not know defeat and represented the faithful and reliable force of the Sultan.
However, having reached the Mediterranean Sea, the Ottoman Empire could not confine itself to the Janissaries alone. Since there is water, ships are needed, and a need arose for a navy. The Turks began to recruit pirates, adventurers and vagabonds from all over the Mediterranean for the fleet. Italians, Greeks, Berbers, Danes, Norwegians went to serve them. This public had no faith, no honor, no law, no conscience. Therefore, they willingly converted to the Muslim faith, since they did not have any faith at all, and it did not matter to them who they were, Christians or Muslims.
From this motley crowd, a fleet was formed that looked more like a pirate than a military one. He began to rage in the Mediterranean, so much so that he horrified the Spanish, French and Italian ships. The very same navigation in the Mediterranean began to be considered a dangerous business. Turkish corsair squadrons were based in Tunisia, Algeria and other Muslim lands that had access to the sea.
Ottoman navy
Thus, from completely different peoples and tribes, such a people as the Turks was formed. And the connecting link was Islam and a single military destiny. During successful campaigns, Turkish soldiers captured captives, made them their wives and concubines, and children from women of different nationalities became full-fledged Turks born on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
The small principality, which appeared on the territory of Asia Minor in the middle of the 13th century, very quickly turned into a powerful Mediterranean power, called the Ottoman Empire after the first ruler Osman I Gazi. The Ottoman Turks also called their state the High Port, and they called themselves not Turks, but Muslims. As for the real Turks, they were considered to be the Turkmen population living in the interior regions of Asia Minor. The Ottomans conquered these people in the 15th century after the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453.
European states could not resist the Ottoman Turks. Sultan Mehmed II captured Constantinople and made it his capital - Istanbul. In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire significantly expanded its territories, and with the capture of Egypt, the Turkish fleet began to dominate the Red Sea. By the second half of the 16th century, the population of the state reached 15 million people, and the Turkish Empire itself began to be compared with the Roman Empire.
But by the end of the 17th century, the Ottoman Turks suffered a series of major defeats in Europe.. The Russian Empire played an important role in weakening the Turks. She always beat the warlike descendants of Osman I. She took away the Crimea, the Black Sea coast from them, and all these victories became a harbinger of the decline of the state, which in the 16th century shone in the rays of its power.
But the Ottoman Empire was weakened not only by endless wars, but also by ugly farming. Officials squeezed all the juice out of the peasants, and therefore they ran the economy in a predatory way. This led to the emergence of a large number of waste lands. And this is in the "fertile crescent", which in ancient times fed almost the entire Mediterranean.
Ottoman Empire on the map, XIV-XVII centuries
It all ended in disaster in the 19th century, when the state treasury was empty. The Turks began to borrow loans from the French capitalists. But it soon became clear that they could not pay their debts, since after the victories of Rumyantsev, Suvorov, Kutuzov, Dibich, the Turkish economy was completely undermined. The French then brought a navy into the Aegean and demanded customs in all ports, mining as concessions, and the right to collect taxes until the debt was repaid.
After that, the Ottoman Empire was called the "sick man of Europe." She began to quickly lose the conquered lands and turn into a semi-colony of European powers. The last autocratic sultan of the empire, Abdul-Hamid II, tried to save the situation. However, under him the political crisis worsened even more. In 1908, the Sultan was overthrown and imprisoned by the Young Turks (a political movement of the pro-Western republican persuasion).
On April 27, 1909, the Young Turks enthroned the constitutional monarch Mehmed V, who was the brother of the deposed sultan. After that, the Young Turks entered the First World War on the side of Germany and were defeated and destroyed. There was nothing good in their reign. They promised freedom, but ended up with a terrible massacre of Armenians, saying that they were against the new regime. And they really were against it, since nothing has changed in the country. Everything remained the same as before it was 500 years under the rule of the sultans.
After the defeat in the First World War, the Turkish Empire began to agonize. Anglo-French troops occupied Constantinople, the Greeks captured Smyrna and moved inland. Mehmed V died on July 3, 1918 from a heart attack. And on October 30 of the same year, the Mudros truce, shameful for Turkey, was signed. The Young Turks fled abroad, leaving the last Ottoman sultan, Mehmed VI, in power. He became a puppet in the hands of the Entente.
But then the unexpected happened. In 1919, a national liberation movement was born in the distant mountainous provinces. It was headed by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He led the common people. He very quickly expelled the Anglo-French and Greek invaders from his lands and restored Turkey within the borders that exist today. On November 1, 1922, the Sultanate was abolished. Thus, the Ottoman Empire ceased to exist. On November 17, the last Turkish sultan, Mehmed VI, left the country and went to Malta. He died in 1926 in Italy.
And in the country on October 29, 1923, the Grand National Assembly of Turkey announced the creation of the Republic of Turkey. It exists to this day, and its capital is the city of Ankara. As for the Turks themselves, they have been living quite happily for the last decades. In the morning they sing, in the evening they dance, and in between they pray. May Allah protect them!
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine
National University of Internal Affairs
Test
on the course “History of the state and the law of foreign countries”
on the topic
"Law of the Ottoman Empire"
Completed:
Shevtsov I.P.
Checked by: Assoc. Etc.
Plan
1. State structure of the Ottoman Empire.
2. Sharia.
3. Sultan's eve-names.
4. "Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya" (Code of Laws, 1869-1876).
5. Conclusions.
This paper discusses the basic principles and evolution of the legal system of one of the largest states of the Middle Ages - the Ottoman Empire. The task of the study is to use the preserved or reconstructed legal monuments of this state, as well as sources reflecting modern research in this area. It should be noted both the general importance of the role of the Ottoman Empire among other countries of the Middle East, and its influence on the Ukrainian lands located in the immediate vicinity. It should be emphasized some factors that give additional relevance to the problem under study in our time. Perhaps one of the most important features of the geopolitical situation in the world is the so-called East-West conflict: the conflict between Western and Eastern cultures, Western and Eastern values. In the autumn of 2005 in France (pogroms of immigrants from Muslim countries) one profile of the conflict emerged, and the events surrounding the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in early 2006 are a new confirmation of tense relations, a round of a long confrontation between civilizations. One of the central problems of the modern world community is terrorism. Moreover, very often he is associated with radical Islamist movements. In this regard, it is important to note the relationship between the Islamist manifestation of terrorism and jihad, which includes a "holy war against the infidels" (jihad of the sword or small jihad (ghazawat) - armed resistance to the enemies of Islam). It is this theory, perhaps formally, that formed the basis of modern radical Islamist organizations, such as Al-Qaeda, which resulted in one of the most high-profile terrorist attacks in world history - September 11 in New York. Some of the legitimized rules of jihad come from the Qur'an or from hadiths - information about the deeds, approvals or sayings of the prophet Muhammad. And the hadiths, in turn, are the source of Sharia - Islamic law. Particular attention should be paid to the evolution that took place in the legal system of the successor of the Ottoman Empire. The Republic of Turkey is practically the only state in which the influence of the previously dominant Muslim law has not been preserved. The new legal system was built on the European model, for example, the Turkish civil code, based on Swedish, granted civil rights to women and banned polygamy. The Turkish Constitution of 1982 declared the republic a democratic, secular and social-legal state.
Separately, it should be said about the sources used in this work. To obtain general information on the history of the Ottoman Empire and Islamic law, textbooks for law and history faculties were mainly used. Their names are included in the bibliography at the end of the work. In particular, this is a textbook Skakun O.F. "Theory of State and Law" and the book by Vasiliev L.S. "History of the East". Also, translations into Russian, directly, of individual legal monuments were used, such as, for example, “The Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I” (translated by Tveritinova A.S., 1969). It is necessary to say about the characteristic feature of the medieval legal monuments of the Ottoman Empire. The most serious works containing data analysis on this topic belong to a prominent Turkish specialist, professor of Istanbul University Omer Lutfi Barkan. O.L. Barkan noted that great difficulties for a comprehensive study of Turkish legislation in the Middle Ages are created by the absence in the archives of Turkey of official texts, even of those legislative codes that are known to historians from various publications. Obviously, the consequence of this is insufficiently extensive information in the literature on the general history of the state and law. And in conclusion, the author of this work analyzed a number of contemporary articles in the media devoted to Muslim law and culture, including foreign (English-language) ones.
The high Ottoman State (Ottoman Empire) appeared as a result of the conquests of Anatolia (Asia Minor) in the 11th century. the Seljuk Turks, who took possession of the lands that previously belonged to Byzantium and assimilated it, mainly the Greek population. The heirs of the first Turkic conquerors became the Ottoman Empire, which completed the conquest of Byzantium with the capture of Constantinople in 1453. At the height of its power, during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1555), the empire stretched from Vienna to the Persian Gulf, from the Crimea to Morocco. The period of the Ottoman Empire ended after the end of the First World War, when it broke up into many independent states, and the Turkish lands became part of the modern Republic of Turkey.
The Ottoman Empire over 6 centuries developed a rather complex state structure. During the reign of Osman (1288 - 1326), a powerful military state was formed, absolutist, in fact, although the generals, to whom the sultan gave different areas to control, often turned out to be independent and reluctantly recognized the supreme authority of the sultan. This period is marked by the creation of the Ottoman system of state administration, which remained virtually unchanged for four centuries. Mostly for practical reasons (trade, taxes), the Ottoman state was relatively tolerant of non-Muslims, in particular, forced conversion to Islam was not practiced. The concept of "millet" was introduced, according to which religious and ethnic minorities were given the opportunity to be independent from the central government in resolving their issues. Millet was an interpretation of the Muslim rules for the treatment of non-Muslim minorities (dhimmi). The leader of each millet was an ethnarch, most often a religious hierarch, such as the Patriarch of Constantinople, who reported directly to the Ottoman Sultan. The Millets had real power—they made their own laws and collected and distributed taxes. When a member of one millet committed a crime against a member of another, the law of the victim was applied, but if the case involved a member of the Muslim community, then the primary Islamic law, Sharia, was used. Neighboring states that were in vassalage in relation to the Ottoman Empire were forced to pay taxes to the Sultan, as well as to provide their formations in the event of Ottoman military campaigns. Many vassal states were eventually transformed into provinces of the empire itself. However, there were those that did not become provinces, such as the Crimean Khanate, which later became part of the Russian Empire.
In the Ottoman Empire, there was no strict rule for the transfer of the Sultan's power by birthright (from father to eldest son) or by seniority (older brother). Although the crown often passed to the sultan's son, the system of succession changed frequently and was unstable. The state apparatus, like the entire system of administration, the entire internal structure of the empire, was very close to the classical standard, which corresponds to the general scheme of the command and administrative structure of the traditional East, including institutions of power - property and centralized redistribution (redistribution). All the lands of the empire were considered state lands, and the apparatus of power disposed of them on behalf of the Sultan. In the conquered territories, the forms of land ownership partly changed in accordance with Ottoman standards, partly remained the same, but at the same time they were still brought into line with the orders that were adopted in the empire. Although the sultan was the supreme monarch, he had many advisers and ministers. The most powerful among them were the viziers and the Diwan (essentially the government), subordinate to the Grand Vizier. The sofa was a council where the viziers discussed the policy of the empire. The duty of the Grand Vizier was to inform the Sultan of the opinion of the Divan. The sofa consisted of 3 viziers in the 14th century to 11 in the 17th century. The activities of the government were regulated by the code of laws of Kanun-nam, adopted under Mehmed II (1444–1481), as well as Islamic law, Sharia. Organizationally, the central apparatus of power consisted of three main systems - military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious. Each of them was presented both in the center and in the field. The military-administrative system, headed by the Grand Vizier himself, was the backbone of the entire structure of the empire. Country to the XVI century. was divided into 16 large regions-eyalets, headed by governors-beylerbeys, subordinate to the Grand Vizier and responsible for the state of affairs in their regions - primarily for the combat readiness of those units that this or that region should always be ready to put forward. The Beylerbeys, in turn, were subordinate to the uyezd sanjakbey governors (there were about 250 sanjak uyezds in the country), who were administratively responsible for their uyezds. In the counties, the power of the sanjakbey was very strong, although formally it was regulated by the county Kanun-name, which over time were created for each sanjak. And, finally, at the lowest level of power, the entire military-administrative system relied on the timariots, subordinate to the sanjakbeys and responsible to them both for the combat capability and equipment of the sipahi warriors sent from their timar-landownership, and for maintaining administrative order among the local population.
The functions of the financial department, headed by the vizier-defterdar and represented at the regional and district levels by special officials with scribes subordinate to them, included keeping a strict record of the resources and income of the treasury, determining the amount of taxes and taxes, and various duties. Apparently, it was the officials of this department who had to strictly control the amount of taxes from each timar, including the share that went to the timariot, and which he had no right to exceed. The system of taxes in the empire was quite complex, especially considering that some of the outlying provinces that were in a semi-autonomous position had their own traditional types of taxes. On the whole, however, the system was coherent and rigidly obligatory. It was divided into two main parts - legal taxes (i.e., those corresponding to Sharia - tithe-ushr from Muslims, kharaj and poll tax jiziya from non-Muslims, zakat from the wealthy and the corresponding heavier duties from non-Muslims, especially from wealthy citizens, etc.). etc.) and additional fees, which included various local and emergency taxes, duties, taxes. The Muslim clergy, both serving (judge-kadi, etc.) and non-serving (ulema), were exempted from taxes, except for servicemen.
The judicial-religious system, within the framework of the general administrative-political structure of the empire, had the function of controlling the way of life and behavior of the population. Headed at the level of the central government by the sheikh-ul-Islam and represented at the governorate level by a few (initially only two) qadi-askers, this system was closed at the county level by Muslim qadi judges and their assistants. Qadi judges were, first of all, judges who decided on behalf of Islam and on behalf of the authorities all court cases concerning Muslims. But this was only a part of their functions, although the main, most important. In addition, qadis acted as notaries who recorded documents and transactions, as well as mediators resolving trade, financial and other disputes, controllers who monitored the regulation of income and the procedure for collecting taxes, the setting of prices, the procedure and nature of public works, etc. . In a word, in conditions of fusion of politics and religion typical for Islamic structures, qadis who were in the administrative service were both confessors and officials. As far as other, non-Muslim strata of the population were concerned, similar functions were entrusted to the leaders of the respective religious millet communities - Greek Orthodox, Armenian Gregorian, Jewish, who received wide powers for this.
As a result, it should be noted the basic principles on which the concept of the Ottoman state was based. It is important to highlight the religious component, which is an integral basis, the foundation of statehood. From this follows the root of the entire legal system of the Ottoman Empire - Sharia. The next feature is the weak centralization of state power. Indicative in this case is the presence of millets - ethnic-religious autonomies that exercised self-government quite independent of the sultan's power.
The next topic to be considered will be the basic principles and scope of Shariah. Sharia (- the proper (correct) way, mode of action) - a set of - and, covering all aspects of life, proclaimed "eternal and unchangeable". This legal system, which eventually acquired world significance, arose and took shape within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. The process of its development was closely connected with the evolution of the Arab statehood from a small patriarchal-religious community at the beginning of the 7th century. (under the Prophet Muhammad) to one of the largest empires of the 8th-10th centuries. under the Umayyad and Abbasid dynasties. After the fall of the Arab Caliphate, Muslim law became effective in a number of medieval countries in Asia and Africa that adopted Islam to one degree or another (including the Ottoman Empire).
According to Islamic traditions, the main sources of sharia are the Koran and the Sunnah, and all other sources should not contradict them. Below is a list of the basic sources of Shariah:
As an additional source of law, Sharia also allowed local customs that were not directly included in Muslim law itself during its formation, but did not directly contradict its principles and norms. At the same time, the legal customs that had developed in the Arab society itself (urf), as well as among numerous peoples conquered as a result of the Arab conquests or later subjected to the influence of Muslim law (adat), were recognized.
Thus, it can be summarized that Sharia is the core of the Islamic religious and legal system of most Muslim countries. This system spread to the territories of all countries under the influence of the Arab Caliphate, in particular, the Ottoman Empire. And now, even though it is not really effective legislation, it still has an impact on the social life of the heiress of the Ottoman Empire - Turkey.
A source of law derived from Sharia was the decrees and orders of the caliphs - firmans. Subsequently, with the development of legislative activity, laws - eve - began to be considered and play an ever-increasing role as a source of law. Firmans and kanuns were not supposed to contradict the principles of Sharia and supplemented it, first of all, with the norms regulating the activities of state bodies and regulating the administrative and legal relations of state power with the population. The legal system, built on eve laws, resolved issues not directly reflected in Sharia law, and, in fact, was the secular legislation of the Sultan. By the first half of the XV century. also include the first attempts to codify Ottoman feudal law in the form of sets of legislative provisions (qanun-name) for individual provinces of the state. They summarized the provisions on administrative, financial and criminal cases, established the principles of taxation of various groups of the taxable population, regulated issues of land relations, taking into account the practice that had developed in these areas by the time they were included in the Ottoman state. From the point of view of Islamic law, such codes were an innovation that detracted from the role of Sharia. The legal provisions that constituted them were based mainly on the norms of customary law and regulations that were in force before the Ottoman conquest, and therefore sometimes significantly diverged from the Sharia dogmas, which were usually guided by Muslim judges - qadis. Later, during the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (1451-1481), on their basis, general kanun-names (Fatih Kanunnamesi) were compiled, which became mandatory guidelines for solving state affairs and in the practice of Sharia courts. The texts of the decrees of the first Ottoman rulers have not reached us. It is known only from the writings of chroniclers and the later records of jurists that Osman established the rules for collecting bazaar duties and announced a law on the procedure for distributing timar possessions, and under Orkhan, in 1328, it was decided to mint his own coins (akche), to introduce a special clothes (in particular, white caps) for military captives (sipahis; persons in vassal dependence), “so that you can see the differences between them and commoners (rayats)”, about the creation of an irregular infantry army of yay and mucellems, kept on salary in wartime and dispersed through the villages to engage in agriculture at the end of the war. Sultan Murad I, on the advice of Beylerbey Rumelia Timurtash Pasha, clarified the procedure for the succession of Timars and the execution of military obligations by their owners, and also established a law on the deduction in favor of the treasury of 1/5 of the value of the spoils delivered by Turkish conquerors from campaigns, including prisoners , having determined the price of each captive-slave at 25 Akçe. Under Sultan Bayezid I, a fee was established for qadis for writing testimonies, petitions and similar documents, as well as for performing various judicial duties. The listed and many other decrees of the first Ottoman sultans, apparently, remained in a scattered, unsystematized state, at least until the second half of the 15th century. Their first codification refers to the period of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih, which we can judge from the texts of two legislative codes (qanun-name) of this time that have come down to us. One of them contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks, 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to public office, 3) several articles on punishments for criminal offenses, determining the maintenance of dignitaries and their titles.
After Mehmed II Fatih, Sultan Bayezid II (1418-1512) became the publisher of the kanun-name. In this collection of laws, the rules for religious fees and taxes from the Timars were expanded. Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494-1556), also called Kanuni (Legislator), established an even more complex system of kanun-name rules: from the rights and responsibilities of the Timar-sipahi warriors to the rules of appearance. New laws were also issued for the conquered countries and regions. So, for example, in 1520, the kanun-name of Amfissa (Kanun-name-i Salna) was published, which regulated mainly the procedure for collecting taxes and customs duties in areas of Central Greece, which was under Ottoman rule. So, for example, in the kanun-name of Amfissa it is said: “From infidels who have reached adulthood, 25 akce is charged as ispendje (land tax); Married [infidels] are charged 6 Akçe as a tax on hay, and widows of infidels (i.e. non-Muslims) are charged Ispendje of 6 Akçe.” Or about customs duties (baj) on food, clothing, etc.: “For the sale of a slave or a slave, 4 akçe are charged from both the seller and the buyer, which is 8 akçe in total.”
Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of Sultans Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1666), Ahmed I (1603-1617) and with the activities, mainly in the 16th-17th centuries, of many jurists (Sheikh ul-Islams and etc.).
From the foregoing, we can conclude that the sultan's kanun-names were one of the most important sources of law in the Ottoman Empire. It is also very significant that the further development of Ottoman legal concepts is connected precisely with those, albeit still insufficiently systematized, provisions that are set forth in these codes of Sultan's laws.
In 1869-1877. The Majallat al-Ahkam al-Adliyya (Code of Laws) was adopted, which is also called the Civil Code of the Ottoman Empire. After the appearance of the code, judges (qadis) were obliged, first of all, to apply its norms, and not to base their decisions on doctrinal interpretations. The Code forbade the interpretation of issues regulated by its norms. Primary attention in this code (another name - Majalla) is given to issues of civil and judicial law. Majalla was the first serious attempt to codify the norms of Islamic law, the importance of which cannot be overestimated, some civil codes of Arab countries still include certain provisions of this source, for example, to this day, separate norms borrowed from Majalla remain in the legislation of Kuwait and other countries . Its action extended to most of the Arab countries that were part of the Ottoman Empire (with the exception of Egypt). The Code regulated issues of legal capacity, but did not affect family relations, which, in accordance with the principle of freedom of belief and personal rights of followers of numerous sects and persuasions, continued to be regulated by various traditional schools of Muslim law. Majalla operated in Turkey until 1926, in Lebanon until 1931, in Syria until 1949, in Iran until 1953, in Jordan until 1976. Currently, its operation is partially preserved in Israel, Kuwait and Cyprus. The principles of legal regulation are widely represented in Majalla, formulated as a result of the interpretation of the causal prescriptions of Islamic law and considered as a starting point for the application of specific legal norms. A significant number of these articles are devoted to liability for harm caused. These included such rules as “damage is not eliminated by damage” (Article 25), “damage is not long-standing” (Article 7), “greater harm is eliminated by lesser” (Article 27), “harm is avoided as far as possible” ( Article 31), “recovery for acquired” (Article 87), etc. Violation of the terms of the contract, illegal taking of another's property and causing damage to another's property (“itlaf”) are considered the grounds for civil liability. In "itlaf" Muslim jurists also included unintentional crimes against a person (murder; bodily harm), the responsibility for which was also of a compensatory nature. At the same time, responsibility for crimes came under criminal law. The concept of "itlaf" distinguishes between direct and indirect damage to someone else's property. In the second case, there must necessarily be a gap between the qualifying action and the occurrence of damage in the form of another action or event. According to the rule of Art. 92 and 93 of the Majalla, the burden of liability for damage rests with the person whose actions directly led to the damage: the person who caused it indirectly is liable only if his actions were intentional.
Thus, the "Code of Legal Norms" is the first legislative act that consolidated the norms of Muslim law as an integral system in the form of state law. Subsequently, these provisions were adopted by the legislation of a number of countries in Asia and Africa at the level of industries or even individual norms.
Some conclusions should be drawn from this work. Firstly, it is necessary to state the fact that a feature of the legal systems in states in which Islam has become the dominant religion is a rigid connection between law and the state system of power with religion. This type of legal systems is fundamentally different from the Western (European type). Researchers usually call a class of such systems traditional-religious. The main sources of law in this case are the holy books, the statements of the prophets (in particular, in Islam - the Koran and the Sunnah), as well as the legal traditions and customs inherent in this ethnic group or region. Another characteristic feature of Muslim law is the widespread principle of authority: individual decisions of prophets, historical figures, religious leaders, starting from the Prophet Muhammad, and ending with individual muftis (fatwas) became the norms of law. Secondly, in addition to analyzing the very essence of the law of the Ottoman Empire, it is necessary to draw conclusions based on a temporary perspective, that is, the transformation of the legal system over time. Significant changes have taken place over 7 centuries in Asia Minor, starting from the strict application of Sharia norms during the period of the Seljuk Turks who conquered Anatolia. An important role was played by the Arab Caliphate, which laid the foundations of the Muslim religious and legal system. Further, the relationship between religious norms and the Sultan's law developed in the direction of increasing the role of the latter, although it never abolished Sharia law. Indicative in this regard are the codes of laws issued by Suleiman the Magnificent (Kanuni). And, finally, the most important event in the history of the law of the Ottoman Empire was the publication of the "Code of Legal Norms" (Majalla) at the end of the 19th century, which further limited the operation of the norms of religious law. There was a principle indicating, first of all, to use the norms written in Majalla. As a conclusion, it must be said that even after the disappearance of the Ottoman Empire from the political map of the world in 1923, the trend of reducing the role of religious law remained unchanged, which, in the end, led to the declaration of Turkey as a democratic and secular state.
Add at least some literature on Majalla
Is in Anthology of world legal thought. Volume 1. Ancient World and Eastern Civilizations / Ruk. scientific project G.Yu. Semigin. - M.: Thought, 1999. - 750 p.
List of used sources and literature
1. Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 vols. T. 1. -M., 1998.
2. Regulations on Amfissa. (translated by J. Kabrda) // Eastern sources on the history of the peoples of southeastern and central Europe. T. 1. - M., Institute of Oriental Studies, 1964.
3. History of the East. In 6 volumes. V.2. / Ch. ed. R.B. Rybakov. - M.: Eastern Literature, RAS, 1997.
4. History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries: A Textbook for Universities: At 2 pm, Part 1 / Ed. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I. A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M .: NORMA Publishing House, 2003.
5. The book of laws of Sultan Selim I. (translated by Tveritinova A.S.) - M., Main edition of Eastern literature, 1969
6. Nersesyants V.S. General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. - M .: Publishing group NORMA-INFRA, 2002.
7. Skakun O.F. Theory of State and Law: Textbook. – Kharkiv: Consum; University int. cases, 2000.
8. Syukiyainen L.R. West and East - a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. -<#"#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title="">Sukiyainen L.R. West and East - a smoldering conflict // Nezavisimaya Gazeta. -<#"#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title="">Fiona Simon. Analysis: The roots of jihad // BBC News. – #"#_ftnref3" name="_ftn3" title=""> Nersesyants VS General theory of law and state. Textbook for law schools and faculties. - M.: Publishing group NORMA-INFRA - M., 2002. - p. 471-473
Skakun O.F. Theory of State and Law: Textbook. – Kharkiv: Consum; University int. cases, 2000. - p. 650.
Vasiliev L.S. History of the East: In 2 vols. T. 1. -M., 1998. Chapter 4, - p. 225-227.
History of the State and Law of Foreign Countries: A Textbook for Universities: At 2 pm, Part 1 / Ed. ed. prof. Krasheninnikova I. A. and prof. Zhidkova O. A. - M .: Publishing house NORMA, 2003. - p. 551.
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§ 1. Formation and main stages of development of the Ottoman Empire
AT 11th century The Seljuk Rum Sultanate was defeated by the Turks and moved to the borders of Byzantium, the process of Turkization of the local population began: Greeks, Slavs, Georgians, Persians. True, these peoples retained their religions, including Christianity. In the XIII century. The Sultanate of Rum completely collapsed. At the turn of the XIII - XIV centuries. Bey Osman created the Ottoman Sultanate. The Ottomans gradually pressed Byzantium in the southeast of Asia Minor, then captured the Balkans. In 1389 they defeated the Serbian army on the Kosovo field, and in 1396 they defeated the united militia of the crusaders from almost all of Europe. In 1453 Constantinople was taken by storm. In 1475, the Crimean Khanate, as a fragment of the Golden Horde, became a vassal of the Turkish Sultanate. At the beginning of the XVI century. the Ottomans conquered Iran, Kurdistan, Syria, Arabia, then Egypt and almost all of North Africa. The power of the descendants of the Arab caliphs in Cairo was abolished, while the Sultan, as it were, became the successor to the caliph as a religious leader, although in fact the Ottoman sultans, not being descendants of Muhammad, did not have the right to be considered the heads of the Muslim church, but in fact they were at the head of the Muslim world. Almost all of the Mediterranean, the Middle East and Transcaucasia were part of the Ottoman Empire.
State system of the Ottoman Empire in the XV - XVII centuries.
The Ottoman Empire is a typically eastern state. The ancient Eastern despot states were characterized by the absolute all-encompassing power of the monarch. K. Marx believed that the supreme property gave rise to the supreme absolute power of the monarch. Hegel derived the form of property from the form of power. So what is primary, what is secondary in the ancient Eastern states - power or property?
In our opinion, there is no absolute superiority here. In the East, there is primary property, secondary power, and vice versa - primary power and secondary property, but most often they form a unity: power - property or property - power, in other words, power over property and at the same time ownership of power. This is an alternative to the European model of the relationship between property and power. In general, the European model is only suitable for Europe. Most of humanity did not live according to the European model. The European model is an offshoot of the universal main line of the world development of the state. The attempt of the crusaders to seize the East failed, in the XVI - XVII centuries. Europeans, relying on a powerful shipbuilding industry, firearms began a new expansion in the world. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. having conquered almost the entire non-Christian world, the Europeans imposed on the public consciousness and scientific developments that the optimal and most progressive model for the development of civilizations is the European model based on predominantly private property, where state power is secondary to production relations.
Thus, it is believed that despotism appears where there is no private property. Primitive communal forms of power (potestas) are gradually developing into tribal state authorities. In the East, all power passes to the leader; communal democracy, with its popular assemblies and councils of elders, remains in the lower tier of government, while the upper tier is occupied by monarchs and their administration. Thus, the military-communal democracy grew into a tribal state, which also gradually grew into an absolutely totalitarian monarchical state. Over the years, a powerful centralized administrative system has been formed. Power-property in it is original. The market, private property, social strata are subordinate to power-property.
In the Ottoman Empire, on the basis of a tribal state, a “theocratic military-administrative monarchy” is being formed, based on the eastern model of ownership of land, water, mines and other real estate. Initially, a tribal system of power develops according to this model, gradually it is superimposed on the territory, the economy, covers politics, management, administration, armed forces, and law enforcement. Gradually tribal and tribal bodies merged with military-territorial, military-administrative bodies, they grow together with forms of ownership, lease, allotments for service. According to European terminology and ideas, it seems that a military system of government is being formed here, but the Ottoman system of ownership and use of land, water, other property, territorial, military, administrative management is a completely different system.
It is arranged according to the tribal, military-territorial principle. The territorial unit of the country is sanjak("banner") - the battle banner of the clan, the clan division of warriors, headed by the head of the clan, the sanjak-bey. Warriors on the territory of the sanjak sipahis("cavalrymen") received Timar- conditional hereditary possession of the territory with the right to collect a strictly defined amount of taxes from the population. Timar - collection in favor of timariot should not exceed the amount necessary for the maintenance of the family, horse and military equipment of the warrior. The state strictly followed this. Timar was neither an estate nor a possession, the timariot was not supposed to exceed his rights and powers and infringe on state interests.
In connection with large land conquests, large land grants appear - zeamety. Timariots and Zeamets formed the basis of the Ottoman army. Subsequently, hassy and arpalyks- territories with tax immunity. The tax from them went completely to the owner, was strictly fixed by the financial authorities of the country, but was never inherited, remaining strictly in state ownership, and infringement of state interests was also not allowed. This is how a military-administrative monarchy is formed, which was based on the power-property formula. All land belonged to the state in the person of the Sultan, it was disposed of by the state apparatus.
Sultan crowned the top of the state pyramid. However, there was no succession law in the empire, all members of the next generation potentially had the right to power, the throne, cruel dynastic fights were inevitable and often ended in bloody massacres. Given the polygamy and the harem, there could be dozens of brothers, and in this case they were all destroyed, in a word, blood flowed like a river.
The Sultan was the personification of omnipotent power over his subjects, the system of total slavery. Each subject could at any time end his life on a stake. The personality of the Sultan was not deified, but his power was sacred, sacrificial. At the same time, he was not a representative of Allah on Earth, he was considered his shadow. At the same time, the Sultan was not required to have any outstanding abilities or charisma. He and his personality had to meet a number of requirements:
1.Belonging to the Sunni persuasion in Islam.
2.Only male, because according to Sharia, a woman is not equal to a man.
Fine appearance without external defects.
Be an adult, at least 15 years of age.
Mental and intellectual usefulness.
Free status past and present.
Moral qualities go back to traditional norms: prudence, wisdom, justice, greatness, dexterity. But it was not required that the ruler of the faithful surpass his subjects in knowledge and deeds.
Endowed with the highest authority, the person of the Sultan is sacred and inviolable.
All secular and spiritual power was concentrated in the hands of the Sultan, the ruler of the Sunni Muslims.
1. Opening a common prayer on holidays and daily.
2. Minting coins.
3. Maintenance of general order in the country.
4. Control over the execution of sacred laws.
5. Supreme High Command.
6. He has the supreme judicial power.
7. He is obliged to suppress rebellions.
8. Issues laws that must be consistent with Shariah.
As the Ottoman Empire grew, a powerful centralized system of government was formed.
The Sultan delegated his power to the Vezir, who ruled on his behalf. He headed the Grand Council - the government of the country (Divan-i-Humayun), consisting of ministers - viziers. The government in its activities was guided by the Sharia and the Code of Laws Kanun-name.
The central administrative apparatus consisted of three main departments (systems) of administration: military-administrative, financial and judicial-religious.
military administrative department, which was headed by the Grand Vizier himself, was the backbone of the entire governing structure of the empire. The country was divided into 16 regions - eyalets headed by beylarbey(governors) subordinate to the Grand Vizier and having all kinds of power in the territory of the eyalets. They were subject to sanjakbeys - commanders - governors of sanjaks - counties, of which there were 250. The power of the sanjakbey was quite strong, it was controlled from above by the beylarbey and regulated by county laws and Kanunname. The lower level of the military-administrative power in the empire was the Timariots, the holders of the land, who were responsible for the security and equipment of the soldiers (sipahs), who had to be represented by their Timars. The Timariots also kept order in the territory of the Timar.
Financial department headed by a vizier-defterdar had special officials in eyyalets and sanjaks. The functions of the central department and its local officials included: accounting for the resources and income of the treasury; determining the amount of taxes, taxes and other duties; control over the incomes of the Timars, Khass and Arpalyks. Types of taxes: legal taxes - tithe from Muslims, "kharaj" and poll tax "jizya" from non-Muslims; zakat is a tax in favor of the poor from all those who have. There were additional duties, emergency and local.
Judicial-religious department in the most general sense, controlled the way of life and behavior of the population and every Muslim. Sheikh-ul-Islam was at the head of the department. In the eyyalets (provinces), this department was headed by two Qadis - judges. Qadis had very broad judicial, religious, financial and administrative functions. They resolved cases concerning Muslims, in addition, they were notaries, intermediaries in transactions, resolved trade, financial and other disputes, exercised control over the collection of taxes, prices, and order; were clergymen and officials. In non-Muslim areas, the leaders of the communities performed the same functions.
This state system flourished in the 16th century. during the reign of Suleiman I Kanuni (Legislator) or Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566).
§ 2. The development of the statehood of the Ottoman Empire in the second half of the XVI - early XX centuries. Major government reforms
By the middle of the XVI century. The state system and the system of government of the Ottoman Empire experienced a certain crisis. First of all, the causes of the crisis were seen in the shortcomings of the timariot system. Timariots were an integral part of the military, administrative, tax and police system. Important factors that led to the weakening of the empire were the distribution of state lands, a decrease in military booty, and the cessation of the increase in territories.
The first reforms in the Ottoman Empire were practically military reforms. In the XVI century. instead of warriors - sipahis, the corps was created and repeatedly increased janissary("yeni cheri" - new army), who were in the public service and received state salaries, which dramatically increased government spending on the army. In addition, the Janissaries, being the Sultan's guard, often interfered in the political and palace life of the country. After this failed reform in the middle of the XVII century. a new reform was carried out by the Grand Vizier Mehmed Keprelu. He again strengthened the Timariot system, seizing the lands of the Hass and the waqf lands.
Late 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries in the Ottoman Empire became centuries of major state reforms.
The first two rounds of reforms are associated with the activities of Sultan Selim III (1789 - 1807) and Mahmud II (1808 - 1839). The first round dealt mainly with the reform of the allotment timar system, military and partially religious spheres:
The formation of a new army on the European model, the creation of modern artillery, fleet and engineering troops.
Liquidation of the Janissary corps (1826).
Elimination of the Bektashi Sufi order from the political life of the empire (1826 onwards).
Complete abolition of the timar system.
1.Reform of the central administration according to the European model, the creation of new ministries and departments.
2. Tax reform.
3. Reform of the post office, hospitals, education system.
The reforms of the second round quickly came to naught. The wars of Muhammad Ali of Egypt weakened the empire. Among the great powers of Europe, the question arose of dividing the "sick man" of Europe - the Ottoman Empire. In 1839, the West took the Ottoman Empire under "collective guardianship." Sultan Abdul Majadid received him.
The next stage of reforms 40 - 70 years. received the name "tanzimat" (transformation, reform).
On November 3, 1839, the “Gulhane Hatt-i-Sheriff” (rescript), sometimes simply called the Gulhane Act, was signed. Hatt-i-sheriff prescribed:
To provide all citizens, representatives of all religions with guarantees of inviolability of life, honor and property.
Abolish the system of farming out and streamline taxation.
Change the order of conscription for military service.
In 1865, a movement of “new Ottomans” arose in the Ottoman Empire, who advocated the creation of a constitutional monarchy. After nine or ten years, their activities have brought certain results. In 1876, Sultan Abdul-Hamid adopted the constitution of the Ottoman Empire. She proclaimed the rights and freedoms of the citizens of the empire, and a bicameral parliament was created. However, already in February 1878, Abdul-Hamid carried out a coup d'etat, dissolved the already elected parliament and established tyranny - "Zyulyum". Under this regime, newspapers were closed, censorship was tightened, many new educational institutions were closed. For the first time, the doctrine of “pan-Islamism” was proclaimed, the purpose of which was to adapt the world of Islam to existence in the new conditions; to oppose Muslim unity to the onslaught of European colonialism. At the same time, Abdul-Hamid saw pan-Islamism as a tool to strengthen his power. However, his ambitious plans soon failed. The country had long been bogged down in foreign debts and in 1879 was declared bankrupt. Western powers began to prepare tools for establishing their control over the empire. First of all, financial control became an instrument of Western governance of the country. In 1881, the Office of the Ottoman Debt was created, and then the Ottoman (Ottoman) Bank, the main purpose of which was the control of the Western powers over the Ottoman government, the country's budget, by controlling or even participating foreign representatives in the collection of taxes and spending budgetary funds. Of course, as in other cases in Europe and Asia, Western governments, bankers and entrepreneurs sought to destroy the remaining empires on earth in order to destroy them, establish control and even seize the parts that had broken away from the empires.
The failure of the reforms, the establishment of foreign control over the country, caused a protest both in the ruling circles and among the officials, military and intelligentsia of the country. Secret anti-government circles and organizations began to emerge. The “New Ottomans” movement was replaced by the “Young Turks” movement. In 1889, an underground cell was created in Istanbul among the cadets of the military medical school, whose members set the goal of ridding the country of despotism and restoring the constitution. In Paris, Riza Bey created the Ittihad ve Terraki (Unity and Progress) society. His program included: the struggle for freedom, justice and equality of all subjects; preservation of the empire on the path of reforms; establishment of a constitutional order; non-intervention of foreign affairs of the empire.
In 1902, the first, obviously, founding congress of the Young Turks took place. In 1907, the Second Congress of the Young Turks adopted a Declaration calling for an uprising against Adul-Hamid. In 1908, there was an uprising of Turkish troops in Macedonia. The Sultan accepted their demands. The Chamber of Deputies was created, a third of the seats in which went to the Young Turks. In 1909, Abdul-Hamid tried to carry out a counter-coup, but the Young Turks occupied the capital with their troops and, having real power, enthroned the new Sultan Mehmed V. This is how the Young Turk revolution took place.
The Young Turks carried out a number of reforms, the essence of which was the preservation of the empire, the doctrine of Ottomanism was proclaimed - the retention of non-Turkish lands and peoples within the empire. Since 1910, under the slogans of Pan-Islamism and Pan-Turkism, they began to persecute non-Islamic peoples.
In 1912, the Young Turks were overthrown by the Islamic liberals "ittilafists" - members of the association "Hurriyet ve ittilaf" ("Freedom and Consent"), who stood for granting autonomy to other peoples. Using Turkey's failures in the Balkan War of 1912, the Young Turks overthrew them. In 1914, the Young Turkish triumvirate came to power: Enver Pasha, Talaat Pasha and Dzhemal-nami. They pushed the Ottoman Empire into a world war on the side of Germany and the Triple Alliance. As a result of the defeat of Germany, the dictatorship of the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire also fell, the Young Turks fled the country. The empire agonized, the outskirts sought to secede, the nationalist idea matured more and more - to preserve the Turkish lands proper in Asia Minor in a single strong state. The allies decided that they could dictate their terms of peace to the Ottoman Empire. On October 30, 1918, they signed the “Truce of Mudros”, which provided for the opening of irrigation for foreign, including military, shipping, the demobilization of the army, the surrender of warships to the allies, and the establishment of control of the Entente over the country's railways, telegraph and radio, the occupation of the Armenian eyalets. The Ottoman Empire was ending its centuries-old existence.
The history of legislation in the Ottoman Empire in all its details has not yet been studied and written, although it is of great interest to students of Islamic law. Islamic law arose and developed within the framework of the Arab Caliphate. Since the Ottoman Empire can rightfully be considered the successor of the Arab Caliphate and one of the largest Muslim powers of all time, for a more complete picture of the development of Muslim law, it is necessary to consider its development in the Ottoman Empire.
In historiography, it is believed that, to one degree or another, legislative activity took place under all the Ottoman sultans. It is recorded in many decrees, resolutions, etc., which were in an unsystematized state until the second half of the 15th century. The first codification refers to the reign of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih. The code of laws compiled by him contains three parts: 1) a table of ranks; 2) the basics of court ceremonial and the rules for appointing dignitaries and their children to public office; 3) several articles on penalties for criminal offenses, determining the content of dignitaries and their titles. There was another set of laws, compiled under the same sultan. It differed significantly from the first in content, structure and style, and consisted of the following sections: 1) on punishments for adultery; 2) about punishments for fight and murder; 3) on taxes and trade duties; 4) about nomads (Yuriuks); 5) about taxes and duties from non-Muslims (kafirs). The further development of legal concepts in the Ottoman Empire is connected precisely with these still rather primitive provisions set forth in the second code of Mehmed II.
Turkish historians associate the main stages in the development of Ottoman legislation after Mehmed II with the names of the sultans Selim I (1512-1520), Suleiman Kanuni (1520-1566), Ahmed I (1603-1617), the activities of jurists in the XVI- 17th century and the legal reforms of the Tanzimat period.
In the Ottoman Empire for centuries, there were two systems of law - religious laws - Sharia and secular laws that came from the name of the Sultan - eve.
Muslim legal doctrine allowed the introduction of legal changes. Muslim jurists believed that since the rules of conduct on those issues that are not regulated by the Qur'an and Sunnah are formulated by people and are not guaranteed against erroneous judgments, they can be replaced by other judgments. In the writings of medieval Muslim jurists, the opinions of all jurists belonging to the same madhhab were cited. Even if these opinions were contradictory, they were all recognized as valid. Cadius could choose the norm at his own discretion when deciding. The direct abolition of obsolete norms that did not meet the needs was not practiced either. one
Thus, it was traditionally uncharacteristic for Turkish lawmaking to create unified legislative structures.
The religious system of law in the Ottoman Empire was connected with the general principles of Muslim law and corresponded to the interpretation of the Hanafi legal school officially accepted in this country. The difference of this madhhab is that it is applied more flexibly to local circumstances, trying to adapt the rigid framework of Sharia to the practical needs of life. When solving specific issues, the Hanifites operated with three methods of interpretation: rai, qiyas and istikhsan (see page of the manual). At the same time, this teaching was fraught with the danger of arbitrary actions of the Qadis. Sheikh-ul-Islam fatwas were issued on controversial issues, which became the legal basis for subsequent court decisions. Since both the fatwas and the actions of the Qadis had to correspond to the Hanafi sense, in the empire the Hanafi law had primacy and invaded those areas where other schools of Sunni Islam had previously dominated. Qadis and muftis could adjoin any of the Sunni madhhabs, but judge and make conclusions only according to the Hanafi sense. one
Another system of law in the Ottoman Empire is secular laws - kanuns, coming from the name of the sultan. The coexistence of eve and Sharia is a specific feature of the Ottoman state. Kanuns, originally conceived as unofficial - only for the information of the Sultan, later became mandatory in solving state problems and in the practice of Cadian courts. Moreover, in many cases, the Sultan's decrees differed significantly from Sharia dogmas.
The reasons for the emergence in the Ottoman Empire of such a system of law as eve are as follows. First, by the XV-XVI centuries. As a result of aggressive campaigns, the Ottoman state reached the maximum expansion of its borders. A tendency began to appear for the Ottoman sultans to become absolute monarchs, whose power was not limited by any corrective institutions. In their desire to expand the scale of power, the sultans began to rely on the Turkic-Mongolian and Byzantine models of political organization, based on the primacy of the secular principle. An expression of this was the publication under Sultan Mehmed II of the first kanun-nam. The Sultan in his actions relied on the divine destiny, reflected in the norms of Sharia and on his state mind. The first determined the order of the material and spiritual world, and the second made it possible to maintain this order. The Sultan, through his absolute power, had to determine the place of each person in society, ensure social order, and the safety of people. This was achieved with the help of kanuns, which, unlike Sharia norms, were temporary in nature and operated only during the reign of one sultan. In addition, Sharia and eve, according to Muslim views, have never stood on the same level. The purpose of Sharia is to lead believers to perfection during life, and happiness after death. Kanun had a lower status, was aimed only at establishing order in the state and protecting citizens from violence. Eves have never been canceled, but only supplemented by religious laws.
Such a system is called mazalim and is accepted today in all Muslim states. The Ottoman feature consisted only in the fuller inclusion of qadi in the system of government and the more frequent use of kanuns in state administration. one
In order to have a more complete picture of the eve of the XV-XVI centuries, consider the Book of Laws of Sultan Selim I - one of the authoritative collections of laws of this period.
The book of laws of Sultan Selim I is not divided into any structural units, but there is a certain system. The first provisions of the law contain criminal law norms. There are few of them, it is said about the punishments of lechers and harlots, about blood feud, murder and theft. Much of the law is devoted to taxation. It is noteworthy that the criminal law refers to the death penalty only in the case of malicious theft, very little about self-harmful punishments. For most crimes, a fine is provided, even if this does not comply with the provisions of Sharia. For example, in the case of committing adultery, the Qur'an speaks of only one punishment - "beating with a hundred blows" in public. In accordance with the adat regulations in Muslim states, adulterers were traditionally stoned. The book of laws of Sultan Selim I provided for a fine, the amount of which varied depending on the social status of the perpetrator. The rich and married paid more than the poor and single; a slave paid less than a free Muslim for committing any crime, a non-believer paid more. The punishment for the murder was a legalized blood feud, but if there was no one to take revenge or for some other reason the revenge did not take place, a fine was also paid. The death penalty is mentioned in this law only once, it is provided for committing theft with penetration into the house or repeatedly: - let them hang.
For minor thefts, a fine was also provided, despite the fact that the Koran is very strict in relation to thieves and prescribes cutting off hands for any theft.
A distinctive feature of this law is its unusual for the Muslim society of the early XVI century. humanity. However, one should not think that fewer executions were carried out in the Ottoman Empire during this period than in any other. Firstly, the kanuns were valid only during the reign of the Sultan who adopted them, which means that this law existed as valid only for 8 years (the years of the reign of Selim I: 1512-1520), and, secondly, Sharia in relation to the kanun always had dominance and decisions were made mostly on its basis. And the eve only added to it. Qadis, on the other hand, could make decisions both on the basis of Sharia and on the basis of eve. For example, more secular provisions of kanuns were more often applied to non-believers than Sharia. one
In general, the criminal laws of the Ottoman Empire were one of the branches of law that were most free from Sharia norms. Most of the vital criminal law norms were not mentioned in the Koran and Sunnah, so the missing ones were developed by jurists with the help of interpretation, mainly on the Sultan's eve.
As W. Heid notes, a lot of work in this direction was done in the 16th century. under Sultan Suleiman I. The code of criminal laws was improved, systematized, replenished with new articles containing elements of the legal culture of the conquered peoples. one
During the reign of this sultan, the peak of the activity of publishing kanuns fell, for this reason Suleiman I was nicknamed Kanuni - the Legislator. Under him, the General Code of Laws of the Ottoman Empire was compiled. In general terms, this legislative code is as follows. It consists of three chapters, each of which includes a number of sections.
