Histories of Political Thought in the Ottoman World

There is a tendency to view political thought in the Ottoman Empire as stagnate, with very little dynamism in terms of its ideas and all politics emanating from the all-powerful Sultan who ran a medieval-like oriental despotic regime. These types of views have a long history in Europe, but the last few decades of scholarship have undermined this view. However, attempting to capture the width and depth of political diversity in the Ottoman world is still hard to achieve in a single book. Histories of Political Thought in the Ottoman World, edited by Nedim Nomer and Kaya Sahin, aims to give you a taste of what Ottoman political thought has to offer. The perspectives differ from author to author featured in this volume and it covers political thought from the early Ottomans and takes us into the 20th century. Quite an ambitious scope and the subjects covered include state, nonstate, elite and non-elite political thought throughout the ages. We find discussions of law, governorship, legitimacy, love, friendship, freedom, civil society and gender covered in this book.

In Nomer and Sahin’s chapter on legitimation under Sultan Suleyman (1520-1566), otherwise known as Suleyman the Magnificent or the law giver, we learn that Suleyman did not take his ascent to the throne for granted as the despot model would suggest. He was not automatically legitimate in everything he did just by the fact of who he was and what he was born into, he had to constantly legitimise himself and his rule giving way to new political dynamics that differed from his predecessors.

“To consolidate and sustain his authority, Suleyman like any of his predecessors or successors, had to build his own team of advisors and administrators…In doing so, he needed to develop and propagate persuasive discourses of self-portrayal and self-justification,” they explain. 

Ottoman Sultans were quite responsive to the needs of their subject population, more so than previous scholarship has emphasised, according to the authors. They needed to secure the allegiance of different groups and they did not overlook the fact that this was not necessarily automatic nor secured. Sultan Suleyman jumped straight into the process of legitimation as soon as he took to the throne, he sought to undo the injustices of his father, this included ending the exile of a group expelled from Egypt by his father, paying restitution to merchants who suffered as a result of his father’s boycott of goods coming from Safavid Iran and the execution of senior members of his father’s regime accused of wrongdoing.

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While the book covers different historic periods, another chapter that covers Sultan Suleyman that I found fascinating was Orit Bashkin’s chapter on Jewish political thought. As Bashkin points out, Jews had few options of places to live in 16th and 17th centuries, Spain was expelling Jews, there were anti-Semitic purges happening in eastern Europe and the Safavids in Iran were quite restrictive towards Jews. The tolerance of the Ottomans led many Jewish groups to firmly attach themselves to Istanbul. In 1524, the Egyptian Governor Ahmed Pasha rebelled against the Ottomans, but he was defeated and his defeat was celebrated by Jewish communities in Egypt.

So much so that the Jewish holiday of Purim, which celebrates Queen Esther and the triumph over the Persians, was extended to include the Ottoman victory over Ahmed Pasha. On the 27 of Adar in the Jewish calendar, Egyptian Jews would fast to condemn Ahmed Pasha’s violence and the 28 would be the day they celebrated the Ottoman victory. The second Purim was commemorated up until the 20th century, but as Bashkin observers, Jewish texts from the period go much further and praise Sultan Suleyman’s virtues, “All versions of the scroll represent Suleyman as a biblical king.”

In Judeo-Arabic texts, Sultan Suleyman is compared to the biblical King Soloman and a political theory is outlined. “The texts, then, present a particular hierarchy of politics, composed of God, the Sultan and the Jewish courtier…Under God, rules a just Sultan who resembles in his might Biblical kings; those who challenge this order are devils, who try to undo a divine plan.”

Perhaps one of my favourite chapters was Aslihan Gurbuzel’s chapter on the political philosophy of love, friendship, community and civil society. Looking at the ethical treaties of Kinalizade (d.1572) and Muhyi-i Gulseni (d.1608), Gurbuzel looks at the concept of muhabbet or love as a social glue. In order for justice to thrive, communities that cultivate virtue are a political necessity and thus isolation or loneliness are unjust. Communities have broad meaning here, they mean both inherited communities such as social class, religion, ethnicity, family and voluntary communities too that are cultivated through friendship. The idea that a just society and a just political system should foster civic integration does speak to the diversity of political thought and the self-critiquing nature within the Ottoman world that is rarely addressed by scholars.

Histories of Political Thought in the Ottoman World is a wonderful resource which covers a diverse array of topics with the most up-to-date research in the field of Ottoman political and philosophical studies. It will surely be required reading for anyone serious about dissecting the Ottoman world and the casual reader will take away an appreciation of the complexity of Ottoman history made simple.

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