Sharia and Kanun

• [li] The Ottoman Empire was the one of the largest and longest lasting empires in history[/li]
  

• [li] It was an empire inspired and sustained by Islam and Islamic institutions[/li]
  

• [li] It reached its height under Suleiman the Magnificent (reigned 1520-66), when it expanded to cover the Balkans and Hungary, and reached the gates of Vienna [/li]
  

• [li] The Empire began to decline in the 16th Century and was effectively finished off by the WWI and the Balkan Wars [/li]
  

The first concrete examples of the codification of Ottoman Kanun took form towards the end

of the 15th Century. This was a period of consolidation of sultanic authority

following the symbolically crucial conquest of Constantinople in 1453 !

By becoming a de facto heir to the Roman Empire, via the Byzantine :

the Ottomans had progressed from a confederation of frontier warlords 

to the much more demanding role of an empire under a single and unchallenged rule.

The Kanun was one of the principal instruments of this transformation,

by granting to the sultan the power he needed to exercise his authority to the full.

One of the most decisive outcomes of the use of Kanun was the redefinition of Ottoman society

in a two-tiered hierarchy.

At the top, were the askeri, literally the "military,"a tax-exempt ruling class consisting of :

the "men of the sword,"  the "men of the book,"  and the "men of the pen."

At the bottom, the rest of the population, labeled as the reaya, the "flock,"

whose duty was to produce and pay taxes. 

The most extreme example was the "law of fratricide"

attributed to Sultan Mehmed II :

known as the Conqueror after he took Constantinople in 1453.

I could never understand the failure at Vienna

"Whichever of my sons inherits the sultanate, it behooves (is necessary for) him

to kill his brothers in the interest of the world order; most jurists have approved this;

let action be taken accordingly."

This was a perfect example of secular law permitting an act:

that Sharia would have never condoned -

[quote author=mapoui link=topic=83930.msg524273#msg524273 date=1380910451]

I could never understand the failure at Vienna
[/quote]

Severe weather conditions led the Ottomans to withdraw after a two-month siege......

Ferdinand had already flee ...