Political and Administrative Secularization of the Ottoman Empire

Abstract

The Ottoman empire was established in the last decades of the 13th century by the efforts of a Turkish Osman-I and continued till early 20th century. His father Ertugral Ghazi migrated from Mangolia towards Middle Eastern regions and worked as employ of the Saljuks. The Saljuks built a powerful Muslim empire in Central and Southwest Asia decades before, after the defeat of the Byzantine Empire. However, after its decline Ottoman Turks established the Empire, which was a typical combination of Western and Eastern multi-cultural societies and their traditions. According to the historians and many writers, it was an Islamic state, but in fact, it based on the secularism and non-Islamic traditions. The Ottomans used religion-Islam to make integrity in the conquered areas of the Islamic world and the western regions, because they felt that the religion could play a vital role in the establishment of strong empire. In the early sixteenth century, the Ottoman ruler got the title of caliph and became the custodians of Hermain-ul-Sharefain because the caliph ideally played a role as a spiritual and political leader of the Muslim world. So, it remained under the influence of Islamism, but after many decades the secularization of the empire reemerged and it transformed into a secular/modern empire. The proposed paper focuses on the emerging elements of the secularism in the empire after its establishment. The research study is based on the theoretical and analytical approaches of research to investigate that it was substantially a religious state or used religion Islam as the instrument to get the stability and favour of the Muslim world.