The news in the Middle East is so bleak. Death sentences in Bahrain for protestors who killed policemen during demonstrations. Bombs are bursting in air to help Libya from being terrorized by the personality of Muammar Gadaffi (never mind the wounded and the debris). Secretary of State Hillary Clinton now supports economic sanctions against Syria where protestors claim to carry no weapons, only a cry for freedom.
The Ottoman Empire is the civilization that historically gave birth to the relationship between the east and west culminating in the modern Middle East. Istanbul, the largest city modern Turkey, has been the center of activity between Europe and Asia for six centuries.
Sultan Suleyman was the most significant ruler in the world during the 16th century when he governed the Ottoman Empire. At that time the empire included southeastern Europe, southwestern Asia, and northern Africa. In addition to the empire itself, Sultan Suleyman ruled over 29 provinces and numerous vassal states. The city of Istanbul was the capital of the Ottoman Empire.
The word “Kanuni” means law giver; that is what the Ottomans called Suleyman. In Islamic cultures the Shari’ah is a body of law taken from the Qur an. No ruler then as now has the right to overturn that body of law. “Kanun” are the situations not specified by the Shari’ah; these cases were ruled on by analogy. Ottomans trusted their rulers to see them as participants in very unique situations. The Suleyman code of law has not been reformed since his reign in the 16th century; it was renamed Ottoman Laws. Historians say that Suleyman’s era was a period of harmony for the Ottoman Empire because the people regarded their Sultan as a just ruler.
The legislative acts of the Suleyman government have served as the basis for many European constitutions.
Construction of the Tapkapi Palace where Suleyman resided began in 1459. The palace had high walls and wide gates that organized three courtyards. Three institutions were located within the palace: the outer service, the inner service, and the Harem which was a new section of the Suleyman government. Harem literally meant sacred place, and it was the private domain of the Sultan and his family. The harem grew under the reign of Suleyman and eventually included 360 chambers. Vistas from the palace windows included Istanbul, the Golden Horn, and the Sea of Marmara.
Some say that Suleyman is best understood within the sphere of his international politics. His spectacular military occupations of Belgrade and Rhodes horrified Europeans. Suleyman was a superior military strategist even in comparison with his father. His ruling peers included Francis I the first Renaissance King of France who was married to Mary Queen of Scots, Archduke Ferdinand who was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, King Henry VIII in England, and his daughter Elizabeth I
While law and government were highly organized in the extreme in the Ottoman Empire, Suleyman was most appreciated by his denizens as a patron of the arts. He was a trained goldsmith himself which was a tradition of the Ottoman house that ruled over the empire to develop a trade of their own. The fabrics, ceremonial caftans, and Talismanic shirts are among the most exotic and comfortable clothing worn by any ruler. The porcelain canteens, bowls, jars, and dishes were often colored blue and painted to express nature in scenes of peacocks, wisps of leaves, and wildflowers. Sometimes the seal of Suleyman himself was stamped into bejeweled swords and daggers. The embroidery and tapestries went way past meticulous to glorious.
As the Ottoman Empire waned proportionately heading toward the 19th century, one historian has summed up the story of the Sultans following Suleyman as sometimes incompetent and other times mentally defective. That is probably too simple, but Sultan Suleyman was an end of an era.
Many still regard Sultan Suleyman as the greatest poet in all of Islam. Here is a segment of a piece written by the Magnificent Suleyman:
Here is Your Crown
O Suleiman; here’s your crown:
To be generous and kind hearted
Is the pageantry of the throne.
If you want to see your subjects happy
Do not be arrogant, think that they may be
Better than yourself.
We are all brothers; we must love each other . . .
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