Legal system and status of non-muslims in the Ottoman empire (15th-18th century) (doctoral studies)

Pre-requisites: -

Course objectives: Furthering knowledge on the position of non-muslims in the Ottoman empire; becoming aware of the reasons for the forming of a general public opinion on the non-existence of an ottoman legal system and learning to independently consider sources, without preconceived ideas.

Course description: This course will help students gain an understanding of the status of non-muslim citizens in the Ottoman empire, both as individuals and a people group, types and options for organization, religious and judicial autonomy in participating in the ottoman government. The status of muslims changed depending on social changes and economic circumstances. The developed legal system was based on religious law (sharia law). However, the advancements as a civilization and the complexity of governing a world empire compelled the Ottomans to develop a holy legal system – canon, more than any other islamic state up until then had. Continuously seeking concordance with canon and sharia law and resisting the attacks of the zealot advocates for state interests according to sharia law, all directly affected the legal status of non-muslims.

Learning Outcomes: Students will have a holistic background on the subject of the status of non-muslims in the Ottoman empire; will be able to interpret historical events and processes related to the theme and even broader; be able to independently and critically think, research and present findings.

Literature/Reading:

• Fotić, A., „Između zakona i njegove primene“, Privatni život na tlu srpskih zemalja u osvit modernog doba, prir. A. Fotić, Beograd: Clio 2005, 27-71.
• Imber, C., Studies in Ottoman History and Law, Istanbul: The ISIS Press, 1996.
• Heyd, U., Studies in Old Ottoman Criminal Law, ed. by V. L. Ménage, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1973.
• Peirce, L., Morality Tales. Law and Gender in the Ottoman Court of Aintab, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London: University of California Press, 2003.
• Gradeva, R., Rumeli under the Ottomans, 15th–18th Centuries: Institutions and Communities, Istanbul: The ISIS Press, 2004.
• Ergene, B. A., Local Court, Provincial Society and Justice in the Ottoman Empire. Legal Practice and Dispute Resolution in Çankırı and Kastamonu (1652-1744), Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2003.
• Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire. The Functioning of a Plural Society, eds. B. Braude and B. Lewis, I, New York–London: Holmes & Meier Publishers, 1982.
• Fattal, A., Le statut légal des non-musulmans en pays d’Islam, Beyrouth 1958.
• Masters, B., Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Arab World. The Roots of Sectarianism, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• Cohen, A., Jewish Life under Islam. Jerusalem in the Sixteenth Century, Cambridge, Massachusetts and London: Harvard University Press, 1984.
• Fotić, A., Sveta Gora i Hilandar u Osmanskom carstvu XV–XVII vek, Beograd: Balkanološki institut SANU, Manastir Hilandar, Sveti arhijerejski sinod Srpske pravoslavne crkve, 2000.
• Fotić, A., „Konfiskacija i prodaja crkvenih imanja u vreme Selima II (problem crkvenih vakufa)“, Balcanica XXVII (1996) 45-77.
• Peri, O., Christianity under Islam in Jerusalem: The Question of the Holy Sites in Early Ottoman Times, Leiden–New York–Köln: Brill, 2001.
• Imber, C., Ebu’s-su‛ud. The Islamic Legal Tradition, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1997.
• İnalcık, H., “Suleyman the Lawgiver and Ottoman Law”, Archivum Ottomanicum I (1969) 105-138 [= isti, The Ottoman Empire: Conquest, Organization and Economy, London: Variorum Reprints 1978, VII].
• Heyd, U., “Kānūn and Sharī‘a in Old Ottoman Criminal Justice”, Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities III, 1 (1967) 1-18.
• Ivanova, S., “Muslim and Christian Women before the Kadı Court in Eighteenth-Century Rumeli: Marriage Problems”, Oriente Moderno XVIII (LXXIX), 1 (1999) 161-176 [The Ottoman Empire in the Eighteen
• Clogg, R., “A Millet Within a Millet: The Karamanlides”, Ottoman Greeks in the Age of Nationalism: Politics, Economy, and Society in the Nineteenth Century, eds. D. Gondicas and Ch. Issawi, Princet
• Al-Qattan, N., “Dhimmīs in the Muslim Court: Legal Autonomy and Religious Discrimination”, International Journal of Middle East Studies 31, 3 (1999) 429-444.
• Gara, E., “In Search of Communities in Seventeenth Century Ottoman Sources: The Case of the Kara Ferye District”, Turcica 30 (1998) 135-162.
• Moačanin, N., “Some Remarks on the Supposed Muslim Tolerance Towards dhimmīs”, Südost-Forschungen XLVIII (1989) 209-215.
• Mujić, M. A., „Položaj cigana u jugoslovenskim zemljama pod osmanskom vlašću“, Prilozi za orijentalnu filologiju i istoriju jugoslovenskih naroda pod turskom vladavinom III-IV (1952-53) 137-193.
• Fotić, A., „Srednjovekovne povelje na osmanskom sudu: primeri iz povesti manastira Hilandara (XV–XVI vek)“, Hilandarski zbornik 11 (2004) 325-336.
• Fotić, A., „Ugovori na „drugim“ jezicima i osmanski šerijatski sud (XVI–XVIII vek)“, Balcanica XXXII-XXXIII/2001-2002 (2003) 175-182.
• Jennings, R. C., Christians and Muslims in Ottoman Cyprus and the Mediterranean World, 1571–1640, New York–London: New York University Press, 1993.
• Svu literaturu obezbeđuje predavač.