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Islam an Illustrated Journey extract

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During the reign of Selim i, the Ottom<strong>an</strong>s conquered Mamlukcontrolled<br />

Palestine, Syria, Egypt <strong>an</strong>d the Hijaz. They then<br />

C a s p i a n S e a<br />

undertook building <strong>an</strong>d mainten<strong>an</strong>ce projects in Jerusalem,<br />

Mecca <strong>an</strong>d Medina. The Ottom<strong>an</strong>s oversaw the Hajj, maintained<br />

<strong>an</strong>d protected pilgrimage routes (shown on map) <strong>an</strong>d enacted<br />

ceremonies for the departure of Hajj carav<strong>an</strong>s from Ist<strong>an</strong>bul,<br />

Damascus, <strong>an</strong>d Cairo. In addition to the Hajj, the Ottom<strong>an</strong>s<br />

encouraged pilgrimage to Jerusalem’s Dome of the Rock.<br />

Ist<strong>an</strong>bul<br />

Black Sea<br />

Ankara<br />

Ashgabat<br />

Bukhara<br />

Selim’s successor, Sulaym<strong>an</strong> (d. 1566) commissioned the<br />

recladding of the building’s exterior in coloured glazed ceramic<br />

tiles, which brought a distinctive Ottom<strong>an</strong> look to the structure.<br />

Aleppo<br />

Tehr<strong>an</strong><br />

Mashhad<br />

Herat<br />

Detail of a painting of the arrival of the Hajj carav<strong>an</strong> at <strong>an</strong><br />

oasis en route to Mecca by the Germ<strong>an</strong> painter Georg Em<strong>an</strong>uel<br />

Opiz (d. 1841). Ottom<strong>an</strong> officials, dignitaries <strong>an</strong>d soldiers are<br />

shown meeting a religious official (dressed in green robes).<br />

A camel draped in fine textiles carries the mahmal, a ceremonial<br />

pal<strong>an</strong>quin made of silk embroidered fabric that symbolised<br />

the ruler’s authority <strong>an</strong>d accomp<strong>an</strong>ied the Hajj carav<strong>an</strong> from<br />

Egypt to Mecca. Originally established under the Mamluks,<br />

the mahmal ceremony was adopted by the Ottom<strong>an</strong>s. After the<br />

Ottom<strong>an</strong> Empire’s dissolution in 1923, the ceremony beg<strong>an</strong><br />

to lose its signific<strong>an</strong>ce. It remained a popular tradition<br />

in Egypt until 1952.<br />

Mediterr<strong>an</strong>e<strong>an</strong> Sea<br />

Jerusalem<br />

Cairo<br />

Nile<br />

pilgrimage<br />

Damascus<br />

H i j a z<br />

Medina<br />

Jedda<br />

Mecca<br />

R e d S e a<br />

Baghdad<br />

Euphrates<br />

Isfah<strong>an</strong><br />

Basra<br />

Shiraz<br />

Bushehr<br />

P e r s i a n G u l f


c o f f e e<br />

The word ‘coffee’ comes from the Turkish ‘kahve’<br />

which is derived from the Arabic ‘qahwa’. Coffee beg<strong>an</strong><br />

its journey in the Muslim world <strong>an</strong>d Europe from<br />

Yemen where the coffee-berry was cultivated (Yemeni<br />

coffee pl<strong>an</strong>tations shown here) <strong>an</strong>d where Sufis used it<br />

to remain alert during their long devotional practices.<br />

By the end of the 15th century, coffee was available<br />

throughout the Muslim world. Its consumption<br />

became controversial when some ʿulamaʾ likened it<br />

to alcohol, <strong>an</strong> intoxic<strong>an</strong>t, <strong>an</strong>d deemed it impermissible<br />

to consume.<br />

Coffee was also censured because some ʿulamaʾ <strong>an</strong>d rulers regarded coffee-houses as<br />

hotbeds of impious behaviour <strong>an</strong>d rebellion. Coffee-houses, like the one in Ist<strong>an</strong>bul<br />

shown here in a 19th-century painting by the Turkish Armeni<strong>an</strong> painter Megerdich<br />

Jiv<strong>an</strong>i<strong>an</strong> (d. 1906), were male abodes whereas women consumed coffee in private as<br />

shown below in <strong>an</strong> 18th-century French painting of <strong>an</strong> Ottom<strong>an</strong> wom<strong>an</strong> <strong>an</strong>d her<br />

server. During the 16th century the Ottom<strong>an</strong>s imposed a tax on coffee <strong>an</strong>d at various<br />

times both coffee <strong>an</strong>d coffee-houses were b<strong>an</strong>ned, most famously under the sult<strong>an</strong><br />

Murad iv (r. 1623–1640).<br />

Ottom<strong>an</strong> traders introduced coffee into Europe between the 16th <strong>an</strong>d 17th centuries.<br />

Europe<strong>an</strong> coffee-houses <strong>an</strong>d paraphernalia were often replete with Ottom<strong>an</strong><br />

references including coffee tokens produced in London (shown opposite) inscribed<br />

with a ‘Turk’s head’. Referred to as a ‘drink of the Muslims’, attempts were made to<br />

b<strong>an</strong> coffee. Pope Clement viii (d. 1605), who liked its taste <strong>an</strong>d preferred its effects to<br />

those of alcohol, then s<strong>an</strong>ctioned the drink. By the mid-17th century, coffee, coffeehouses<br />

or cafés, along with chocolate, tea <strong>an</strong>d tobacco became fashionable. Cafés<br />

became places for literary, political, <strong>an</strong>d economic gatherings. A London coffee-house<br />

opened by the publisher Edward Lloyd (d. 1713) in 1686 was frequented by merch<strong>an</strong>ts,<br />

seamen, traders <strong>an</strong>d brokers. Eventually, Lloyd’s café became Lloyd’s of London, one<br />

of the world’s largest insur<strong>an</strong>ce brokers. But there were also efforts to b<strong>an</strong> coffeehouses<br />

in Europe owing to their potential to foment political dissent or as alleged in<br />

a London women’s petition (shown below right), the drink’s ability to make men<br />

‘feeble’ <strong>an</strong>d ‘dull-witted’.


Portrait of Mihrimah Sult<strong>an</strong> (d. 1578),<br />

daughter of Sulaym<strong>an</strong> I <strong>an</strong>d his favourite<br />

wife Hürrem Sult<strong>an</strong> (Roxel<strong>an</strong>a), by the<br />

Cristof<strong>an</strong>o dell’Altissimo (1605), second half<br />

of the 16th century, Italy. Mihrimah Sult<strong>an</strong><br />

had political connections <strong>an</strong>d economic<br />

me<strong>an</strong>s <strong>an</strong>d was the patron of a number of<br />

building projects including two mosques<br />

bearing her name built in Üskudar (1548)<br />

<strong>an</strong>d Ist<strong>an</strong>bul (1565).<br />

By the 17th century, when their number may have<br />

been as high as 100,000, the J<strong>an</strong>issaries had become closely<br />

affiliated with the Bektashi Sufi dervish tariqa founded in<br />

the 13th century. The Bektashis were inclined towards Shiʿism<br />

<strong>an</strong>d upheld the centrality of ʿAli b. Abi Talib, the Twelver<br />

Shiʿi line of Imams <strong>an</strong>d extremist (ghulat) beliefs, <strong>an</strong>d<br />

through their dervish lodges (tekkes) influenced the education<br />

of the J<strong>an</strong>issaries, who eventually regarded the founder<br />

of the tariqa, Haji Bektashi Wali (d. ca. 1271) as their patron<br />

saint. If <strong>an</strong>ything, this association with the Bektashis highlighted<br />

the import<strong>an</strong>ce of the J<strong>an</strong>issaries to the Ottom<strong>an</strong><br />

sult<strong>an</strong>s, since their championing of Sunni <strong>Islam</strong> was downplayed<br />

in order to ensure the support of these elite regiments.<br />

Calligraphic tiles in the Valide Sult<strong>an</strong> Mosque<br />

(or Yeni Camii) built in Ist<strong>an</strong>bul’s Eminönü<br />

district upon the order of Safiye Sult<strong>an</strong><br />

(d. 1603), the consort of Sult<strong>an</strong> Murad iii<br />

(d. 1595) <strong>an</strong>d completed in 1665 under the<br />

patronage of Turkh<strong>an</strong> Sult<strong>an</strong> (d. 1683), who<br />

served as Ottom<strong>an</strong> regent for her son Sult<strong>an</strong><br />

Mehmed iv (d. 1693). The mosque is part of<br />

<strong>an</strong> endowed complex (külliye) that included<br />

a hospital <strong>an</strong>d school as well as a market<br />

that is known today as the Spice Bazaar<br />

(or Mısır Çarşısı), one of Ist<strong>an</strong>bul’s most<br />

famous tourist attractions.<br />

The Sult<strong>an</strong>ate of Women <strong>an</strong>d<br />

the Gates of Vienna<br />

In the decades after Sulaym<strong>an</strong> i’s death in 1566, the extent of<br />

the Ottom<strong>an</strong> Empire made it difficult to govern <strong>an</strong>d protect on<br />

all sides. In addition, Suleym<strong>an</strong>’s successors proved ineffective<br />

rulers <strong>an</strong>d their authority was weakened by palace intrigues<br />

<strong>an</strong>d cabals. Some sult<strong>an</strong>s came to power as minors <strong>an</strong>d were<br />

controlled by viziers or relatives serving as regents, while<br />

the decline of some of the sult<strong>an</strong>s’ power encouraged royal<br />

mothers, wives <strong>an</strong>d concubines to take <strong>an</strong> active role in<br />

political life, thus giving rise to the term the Sult<strong>an</strong>ate of<br />

Women to describe this period in Ottom<strong>an</strong> history.<br />

One of the most powerful regents was Kösem Sult<strong>an</strong><br />

(d. 1651), the wife of Ahmad i (d. 1617) <strong>an</strong>d mother (affording<br />

her the title valide sult<strong>an</strong>) of Murad iv (d. 1640). In 1638,<br />

Murad vi had m<strong>an</strong>aged to take Baghdad from the Safawids<br />

of Persia, but his controversial attempts to b<strong>an</strong> alcohol,<br />

tobacco <strong>an</strong>d coffee, <strong>an</strong>d issuing penalties of execution for<br />

those who did not obey, proved unsuccessful. His mother,<br />

who was highly intelligent <strong>an</strong>d politically astute, m<strong>an</strong>aged<br />

to outlive <strong>an</strong>d outm<strong>an</strong>oeuvre Murad <strong>an</strong>d see her second<br />

son, Ibrahim (d. 1648), followed by gr<strong>an</strong>dson Mehmed iv<br />

(d. 1693), ascend the throne. But Kösem Sult<strong>an</strong> was eventually<br />

killed when she was implicate in a plot to overthrow<br />

Mehmed, probably by her daughter-in-law, the mother of<br />

274


A watercolour painting made in Mughal India in ca. 1615–1618<br />

depicting a bejewelled <strong>an</strong>d haloed Jah<strong>an</strong>gir (r. 1605-1627) favouring the<br />

Sufi Shaykh Husayn with a book. The painting is <strong>an</strong> allegory. Jah<strong>an</strong>gir,<br />

who adopted the name me<strong>an</strong>t ‘Seizer of the World’ <strong>an</strong>d honorific title of<br />

Nur al-Din (‘Light of Faith’), is shown to prefer the poor <strong>an</strong>d pious<br />

shaykh to the kings depicted at a dist<strong>an</strong>ce from the ruler <strong>an</strong>d<br />

represented by the Ottom<strong>an</strong> sult<strong>an</strong> <strong>an</strong>d King James i of Engl<strong>an</strong>d<br />

(r. 1603–1625). The painting’s artist Bichitr (active ca. 1610–1660), a Hindu,<br />

has also included himself in the painting with a self-portrait bowing<br />

before the king on the lower left. The painting also has a number of<br />

Europe<strong>an</strong> styled cherubs, two of whom write in Persi<strong>an</strong> at the base<br />

of the hourglass pedestal of Jah<strong>an</strong>gir’s throne, ‘O Shah, May the Sp<strong>an</strong><br />

of Your Life be a Thous<strong>an</strong>d Years’. The painting’s frame is densely<br />

decorated with colourful flowers. Jah<strong>an</strong>gir was known for his<br />

patronage of bot<strong>an</strong>ical paintings <strong>an</strong>d drawings.<br />

seeking the eternal<br />

Jah<strong>an</strong>gir’s successor, Shah Jah<strong>an</strong> (r. 1628–1658) built the Taj Mahal<br />

in Agra as a mausoleum for his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal<br />

(d. 1631). Built on the b<strong>an</strong>ks of the Yamuna, the Taj Mahal is a complex<br />

of buildings within a garden, at the north end of which is the main<br />

mausoleum built of brick faced with white marble decorated with<br />

precious <strong>an</strong>d semi-precious stones including lapis lazuli, sapphire,<br />

corneli<strong>an</strong>, jasper, chrysolite <strong>an</strong>d heliotrope.

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