Review of İren Özgür, Islamic Schools in Modern Turkey, New Perspectives on Turkey 48 (2013) (original) (raw)

2013, New Perspectives on Turkey

AI-generated Abstract

The book review evaluates İren Özgür's work on Mehmed IV and the history of the Ottoman Empire, which presents an alternative depiction of the sultan as a vigorous and devout leader, contrasting with traditional views of him as a neglectful figure. It discusses the structure of the book, analyzing its themes including the Kadızadeli movement, military campaigns, and the transformation of Mehmed IV's image posthumously. The review critiques the author's reliance on court historians' accounts to construct this positive image, questioning the validity of such sources and highlighting the discrepancies between the narrative and historical realities.

Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe, By Marc David Baer

While conducting my research concerning the change of religion of several hundred Christians and Jews to Islam in late seventeenth-century Istanbul, I became the unwilling target of fervent proselytization. As I have slowly realized, I gained a better understanding of conversion from my daily encounters with devout Muslims in the archive than from the brief, frustratingly incomplete narratives of conversion in Ottoman archival records. The director’s exhortations made me realize that one of my original aims, to discover the motivation of the convert was misguided. I had sought to answer why Christians and Jews became Muslims in the early modern Ottoman Empire only to discover that this was a question that I could not answer by reading the available documentary material, as it does not inform us of the conditions of conversion.

Loading...

Loading Preview

Sorry, preview is currently unavailable. You can download the paper by clicking the button above.