Abu-Manneh, B. 'The Islamic Roots of the Gulhane Rescript

8/20/2019 Abu-Manneh, B. 'The Islamic Roots of the Gulhane Rescript'

1/32

The Islamic Roots of the Gülhane Rescript

Author(s): Butrus Abu-MannehSource: Die Welt des Islams, New Series, Vol. 34, Issue 2 (Nov., 1994), pp. 173-203Published by: BRILLStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1570929 .

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2/32

Die

Welt des

Islams

34

(1994),

?

E.J.

Brill,

Leiden

THE ISLAMIC ROOTS OF THE GULHANE RESCRIPT*

BY

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

Haifa

1. Mustafa Reqidand theDrafting of the GiilhaneRescript

Ottoman

historiography

of the

Tanzimat

period

generally

attrib-

utes the

drafting

of the

Giilhane

Rescript

to

Mustafa

Re?id

Papa.1

In

the

middle

and late

1830s

Re?id

served for a

number

of

years

as

Ottoman

ambassador to Paris

and

London,

which

brought

him

in

contact with

the

leading

statesmen of

Western

Europe,

and

obvious-

ly provided

him

with a

chance to

observe

closely

the

functioning

of

European political systems.2 Thus it is believed by modern histori-

ans

that

Re?id

and other

Ottoman

diplomats

who like him

served

in

the

capitals

of

Europe

at

this

time,

had an

opportunity

to

undergo

in

person

the

direct

impact

of the

West .3

He

acquired

the

French

language

noted

Henry

Layard,4

an

attache at

the

British

*

I

owe

gratitude

to several

institutes

which

facilitated the

researching

and

writing

of this

paper:

the

Ba*bakanlik Arqivi,

the

Atatiirk

(Belediyye)

Library,

and

the Orient Institute, all in Istanbul, and the Skilliter Centre for Ottoman Studies

at

Newnham

College,

Cambridge.

A

summary

of

this

paper

was read at the

Sixth

International

Conference of

the

Economic

and

Social

History

of the

Otto-

man

Empire

and

Turkey,

held in

Aix-en-Provence,

France,

in

July

1992,

and

a

fuller

version at

the

Institut ffir

Islamwissenschaft,

Freie

Universitat

Berlin.

My

thanks are

due to all

who

participated

in

that

discussion.

Professor Dr. F.

Steppat

had

read the full

version of

this article

and

suggested

valuable

remarks.

I

owe him

special

thanks.

1

On

Mustafa

Resid

Papa,

see

Re,at

Kaynar,

Mustafa

Resit

Pasa

ve Tanzimat

(Ankara,

1954);

Ali

Fuat,

Ricali

muhimme-i

siyasiye(Istanbul,

1928);

Abdulrahman

~eref, Tarih Musahabeleri(Istanbul, 1339/[1920-21]), pp. 75-87; Cevid Baysun

Mustafa

Resid

Papa

in

Tanzimat

(Ankara,

1940), pp.

723-46;

Erciiment Ku-

ran,

Resit

Papa

in

Islam

Ansiklopedisi

(hereafter

IA)

X,

701-

705;

F.E.

Bailey,

British

Policy

and the

Turkish

Reform

Movement

(Cambridge,

Mass.,

1942),

pp.

179ff.

2

Cf.

Ahmed

Lutfi,

Tarih, VI,

55,

59-60.

3

B.

Lewis,

The

Emergence

of

Modern

Turkey

(London,

1961),

p.

87.

4

On

Henry

Layard,

see

Dictionary of

National

Biography,

Supplement

III

(Lon-

don,

1901),

pp.

82-4.


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3/32

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

Embassy

in

Istanbul

in

the

late

1840s,

and

through

it

had

studied

much of the

political

literature of

Europe .5

It was

sweeping

and

weighty statements such as these which led modern historians to

conclude

that the Giilhane

Rescript

was written under the

impact

of

the

West.

Niyazi

Berkes,

for

instance,

had no

doubt

about it.

We

do

not

need

to

look

at

the

English

or French

political impact

in

order to discover

the

origins

of

the

ideas

contained

in

the

Tanzi-

mat

Charter

[sic],

and we shall not

find

them in the Muslim

political

thinking

of the

past ,6

he

wrote. S. Shaw

goes

yet

further

in

sug-

gesting Western origins for the Rescript: Though presented in the

context of

the

Ottoman

experience

and

expressing particular

goals

rather than

abstract

principles,

the

decree of Gfilhane thus encom-

passed

many

of the

ideals contained

in

the French

Declaration

of

the

Rights

of Man

and the Citizen of

1789 .7

On

the face

of it

thesis looks

plausible

and

fits

within the

widely

accepted

views that the

reforms

in

the

Ottoman

Empire

in

the

nineteenth

century

were,

as

a

whole,

undertaken

under

the in-

fluence of the West. However, it is our contention that while this

might

be

true of the

later

period

of the

Tanzimat,

as far

as

the

Gill-

hane

Rescript

is

concerned,

contemporary

evidence

tends to

con-

tradict such

views.

Moreover,

the

contents of

the

Rescript

itself

lend

no

evidence of

ideas

or ideals

borrowed from

Western

political

the-

ory.

On

the

contrary

the

traditional

state

philosophy

was

genuine-

ly apparent

in it

states Halil

Inalcik,

and the

basic

principle

of

legislation, also,

was ... not

in

natural

rights

but

in

the

practical

necessity

of

resuscitating

the

empire

.8

There is

no doubt

that

serving

in

West

European

countries im-

parted

Re?id

with

some

knowledge

of

the

political

systems prevalent

in

those

countries.

But

it

does

not seem

that

this

knowledge

served

him

in

the

drafting

of

the

Guilhane

Rescript,

suggesting

that

either

5

Quoted in A. Hourani, Arabic Thoughtin the LiberalAge, 2nd imp. (Oxford,

1969),

p.

44.

6

N.

Berkes,

The

Development

of

Secularism

in

Turkey(Montreal,

1963),

p.

144.

7

S.J.

Shaw

and E.K.

Shaw,

History of

the

Ottoman

Empire

and

Modern

Turkey

(Cambridge,

1977),

II,

61.

8

H.

Inalclk,

The Nature

of

Traditional

Society: Turkey,

in

R.E. Ward

and

D.A. Rustow

(eds.),

PoliticalModernization

inJapan

and

Turkey

Princeton,

1964), pp.

56

-7.

174




4/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF THE

GULHANE

RESCRIPT

he had

partners

in

the act or the earlier and

perhaps

more

lasting

in-

fluence

of

his formative

years

prevailed

upon

him. That

influence

originated from Pertev Papa, his mentor and protector at the

Porte for

many years,

who

was

known to

hold an

extremely

Sunni-

orthodox

outlook.9

Indeed,

as

we

shall see

in

this

paper,

the

ideals

that

were to find

expression

in

the

Rescript

seem to

have been shared

by

many

members

of the

Ottoman

political

and

religious

elite,

and

were the

subject

of much

discussion

before the

drafting

of

the

Guilhane.

While

modern

historiography

has

put great emphasis

on the

role

played by

Re?id

personally,

and

by

a few

other

young

associates

in

the

drafting

of

the

Guilhane

Rescript

and on

its

promulgation

and

application,10

it

has,

at the

same

time,

ignored

many

other

impor-

tant

figures,

perhaps equally

motivated and

without

whose

support

and

backing

nothing

would have been

achieved. First

and foremost

among

these

was Sultan

Abdiilmecid. The

Sultan,

portrayed

as

young

and

inexperienced ,11

is

regarded

as

a

passive

witness,

as

are such old, experienced and powerful functionaries as the Grand

Vizier

Hfisrev

Papa,

and the Sheikh

ill-Islam

Mustafa

'Asim Efendi.

They

and

many

other

statesmen and

ulema are seen

as no

more

than

onlookers,

while

Re?id

upon

his

return from

Europe,

so

it

is

claimed,

was

immediately

received

by

the

Sultan

and

succeeded in

winning

him

over to

his views.12

To

my

mind,

the

prevailing

view of

the

origins

and

drafting

of

the

Giilhane

Rescript

does

not stand

up

to

closer

scrutiny.

While

the contribution of Mustafa Re?id and associates of his to the draft-

ing

of

the

Rescript

and to

other

measures

of

reform

cannot be

underestimated,

the

truth

was much

more

complicated.

The

fol-

lowing

is

an

attempt

to have a

fresh look at the

origins

and

making

9

serif

Mardin,

The Genesis

of Young

Ottoman

Thought

(Princeton,

1962),

pp.

158f.

On

Pertev,

see

note no. 70

below.

10 Modern historiography is virtually united in its claim that Resid was the sole

drafter.

See

Kaynar, p.

154;

5eref,

p.

48

and

Bailey, pp.

185f.

A

slightly

different

view

is

found

in

Shaw and

Shaw,

p.

60:

the

text itself

[was] prepared

under

Mustafa

Resid's

guidance

at the

Porte

by

its

Consultative

Council

...

The

authors

provide

no

evidence

for their

statement.

11

C.

Baysun,

Mustafa

Resid

Papa,

in

Tanzimat,

(Istanbul,

1940), p.

734.

12

Baysun,

Ibid.; see also

5eref,

pp.

61-2;

Bailey, p.

180

and

Tanzimat in

IA, XI,

719.

175




5/32

BUTRUS ABU-MANNEH

of the

Giilhane

Rescript,

to

suggest

new

avenues for

understanding

it,

and

to find out Sultan Abdiilmecid's

motivations in

promulgat-

ing it. Finally, we will try to briefly ascertain its immediate effects.

2.

The

Inner

Conditions

of

the OttomanLands in the 18th and

early

19th Centuries

In

the

period

of

decline,

especially

in

the 18th

century, govern-

ment

in

the Ottoman lands

degenerated

into

injustice

and

tyranny.

The sharia

and

laws,

were

disregarded

and

corruption

spread

through all governmental services and the judicial system.13 The

checks and balances of the

earlier

period

which

had

helped

to

keep

the

officials and

governors

of

the

provinces

under

control,

became

largely

ineffective.14 The

central

government,

concerned

primarily

in

obtaining

the

annual

tax,

turned

the

governors

of the

provinces

practically

into chief tax

farmers.15

Because

they

had to cover the

expenses

of

their

household and of the civil

and

military

administra-

tion

by

themselves

and had

in

addition

to

pay

for

various

influential

people

in

Istanbul

in

order to

secure their

next

appointment,

they

were

obliged

to collect much

more

in

taxes

than

they

actually

turned

over to the

treasury.

What is

more,

they

did

not collect

these taxes

directly

but

divided

them

up

and

farmed

them

out

to the

highest

bid-

der,

which

made

matters

worse since the main

burden fell

on the

peasantry. Many

governors

were

not

particularly

concerned with

the

welfare

of

the

subjects.

The

object

of

appointing

a

beylerbeyi

nd

a sancakbeyi .. is not to have them descend upon a province to exact

illegal

taxes

and

lay

to

ruins the

country

and

the

province

stated

a

rescript

of

justice

in

160916.

About a

century

later

Mehmed

13

See

W.L.

Wright,

Ottoman

Statecraft,

The

Book

of

Counsels

or

Vezirs

and

Gover-

nors ...

of

Sarz

Mehmed

Pasha

(Princeton,

1935),

pp.

53 and 91.

14

This

system

was

based

primarily

on

the Kazi

(Qadi)

whose

functions

in

the

Ottoman

system

were much

wider

than

dispensing

justice and

included

many

civil

duties. Cf.

H.A.R.

Gibb

and

H.

Bowen,

Islamic

Society

and

the

West, I, 2 (London,

1957),

pp.

125,

128.

On the

corruption

of

theJudicial

System,

see

132,

and

Wright,

p.

53.

15

Mustafa

Nuri,

Neta'ic

ul-VukuCat,

vols.

(Istanbul

A.H.

1294-1327),

see

III,

99.

16

Quoted

in

H.

Inalcik,

Centralization

and

Decentralization in

Ottoman

Ad-

ministration in

Naff,

Thomas

and

R.

Owen

(eds.)

Studies

in

Eighteenth

Century

s-

lamic

History,

(Southern

Illinois

Uni.

Press,

1977) pp.

27-52,

see

especially p.

28.

176




6/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF THE GULHANE

RESCRIPT

Sari

remonstrated

about the same

abuse:

The

giving

of office

means

the

giving

of

permission

to

plunder

the

property

of the

subject

people .17 When the Gfilhane Rescript stated that the harmful

practice

of

tax-farming

amounts

to

handling

over the financial and

political

affairs of

a

country

to the

...

grasp

of force

and

oppres-

sion ,

it

was

referring

to

exactly

this

situation.18

Since

they

were

in

constant need

of

money,

the

governors

did

not

hesitate to resort

to

tyrannical

measures: When

governors

and

mutesellims

a

substitute of a

governor]

in

towns and cities

happened

to

recognize

a

rich

man,

they,

because of a minor

offence,

or

merely

through

unbased fabrication

(iftira')

would threaten

him

with severe

punishment,

such

as

death

or exile

and exert a

fine

on him or confis-

cate his wealth and

property .19

To maintain their

rule,

governors

at this

stage

depended

on

troops

which

they

hired

at

their

own

expense.

The

power they

thus

acquired,

with

no checks to

stop

them,

they generally

abused

grossly

while on

the whole

behaving

like

tyrants.

The fate

[of

the

subjects]

was on the lips of powerful men, relates the historian Abdulrah-

man

5eref.

One

morning

a

vali

put

to

death a most trusted

person

of

his

men ,

and when

the kazi

inquired

about

the

reason,

the

Papa

answered,

I

had

a

dream

last

night

in

which he

frightened

me.

I

don't

trust

him

any

longer

. .

. .20 This

is

one

among

several sto-

ries

{eref

recounts

to

show to what low

level the

security

of the

sub-

jects

had

sunk.

By putting

to death

high

functionaries without

trial,

and confis-

cating their wealth and property, it was in fact the sultans themselves

who

set the

example

for such

oppressive

behaviour.21

In

other

words,

in

the

period

of

decline, life, honour,

and

property,

which

is the basic

duty

of

a

responsible government

to

guarantee

for

its

subjects,

were in

jeopardy

and

oppression

and

17

As

translated in

Wright, p.

88.

18 See the translation of the Giilhane Rescript in J.C. Hurewitz (ed.), The

Middle

East and North

Africa

in

WorldPolitics

(Columbia,

1975),

pp.

269-

71.

Inciden-

tally,

this

translation is

not

complete,

see

note 87 below.

19

Mustafa

Nuri, IV, 102;

Wright, p.

55,

cf.

also Ahmed

CAta, Tarih,

5

vols.

(Istanbul,

A.H.

1292-93),

III,

203-4.

20

5eref,

pp.

50ff.

21

On the

practice

of the

Sultans,

see Ahmet

Mumcu,

Osmanli

evletinde

Siyaset-

en

Katl

(Ankara,

1963),

pp.

147-62.

177




7/32

BUTRUS ABU-MANNEH

tyranny prevailed

throughout

the land.22 This

state of affairs

en-

couraged

the

people

to seek other means for

protection

and

securi-

ty,23 which in turn accelerated the decline of the central govern-

ment and its

agencies

in the

provinces.

Perhaps

due to such

conditions,

or

for other

reasons,

there

emerged

in

the 18th

century

in

Anatolia local notables who

were

called

derebeys,

lords of the

valleys, indigenous

rulers

who were

inclined

...

to consider the interest of the

peasantry

more

sym-

pathetically

than the

...

governors

that

represented

the

sultan .24

Not only did the derebeysucceed in establishing ruling families and

achieve a

great

deal

of

self-rule,

their

rule was

hereditary.

They

con-

tinued to

acknowledge,

however,

the ultimate

sovereignty

of the sul-

tan

and

paid

him

tribute.

According

to

some,

their

dominions

were

far better

governed

than

those that were under

direct

government

control.25

About the

same time

in

the

towns and cities of

the

Balkans,

there

emerged

local notables

(ayain)

whose rise and

origin

perhaps

differed

from that of the derebeys,but who came to occupy a very similar sta-

tus.

As

the

derebeyshey

set out to

protect

the

subjects,

had

their own

troops

and

enjoyed

full control

over

their

districts,

while

paying

trib-

ute

to

Istanbul.26

Thus,

by

the

beginning

of

the 19th

century,

rule

in

the

provinces

of

the

Ottoman

Empire

resembled to a

large

extent to

a decentral-

ized

system

of

government.27

Aydan

and

derebeys

and other local

chieftains

were the

virtual

rulers of the

land.

Loyalty

to the

sultan

was

observed,

but

his

authority

in

most of the

regions

of the

Empire

was

ineffective.

22

Cf.

Wright,

pp. 54-5.

23

Inalcik,

pp.

47-8.

24

Gibb

and Bowen

I, 1,

p.

256.

On the

Derebeys

see

Lewis,

p.

440

and

El2,

III,

206-8

and

Gibb and

Bowen, I, 1,

256-7. See also

Yuzo

Nagata

The

Role

of Ayans in Regional Development During the Pre-Tanzimat Period in Turkey:

A

Case

Study

of

the

Kara-Osmanoglu

Family

in

Urbanism

n

Islam

Tokyo,

1989)

vol.

1

pp.

165ff.

25

A.

Slade,

Records

f

Travel,

2

vols.

(London,

1832);

I,

216f.

Inalcik,

pp.

45ff.

26

On

the

acyan

ee

Gibb

and

Bowen, I,

pp.

198-9

and

256-7;

Mustafa Nuri

IV,

98-9 and

EI2

I,

778. See

also

Yuzo

Nagata,

Muhsin-ZadeMehmed

asa

veAyan-

lk Muessesesi

Tokyo,

1976), pp.

27ff.

and

pp.

74ff.

27

Mustafa

Nuri,

IV,

46-58;

Inalcik,

pp.

51-3,

and

Lewis,

pp.

378-9.

178




8/32

THE

ISLAMIC

ROOTS OF THE GULHANE

RESCRIPT

At

this

time,

too,

the

authority

of the sultans was

challenged

even

in

Istanbul,

the

seat

of

government.

As

had

happened

in

1806

-

1807

to Sultan Selim III,

Janissaries

or rather

Janissaries

together

with

a faction of

high

ulema

contested

his

freedom

of action.

For

the

Sul-

tanate of the House

of

Osman

this

meant

that it

had reached its

lowest

ebb.

Sultan Mahmud

II

rose to

the

Sultanate

after

great

disturbances

in

Istanbul which

had claimed

the

lives of his cousin

Selim III

and

of his

elder

brother

Mustafa

IV. He

himself was elevated to the

Sul-

tanate by an acyanof Rus~uk (Russe) in Rumelia named Mustafa

Bairakdar,

who had

occupied

Istanbul

with

his own

troops

and con-

trolled it for several

months,

a course of action unheard of

in

the

his-

tory

of

the

Ottomans.

It

seemingly

heralded the final

move of

the

acydnand

derebeys

owards

taking

control of

the

central

government

and

deciding

the fate of the

Empire.28

To attain

the

Sultanate

in

circumstances

such as these was not

a

particularly great

honour for

Mahmud,

nor indeed for the

Ottoman

dynasty, and he was determined to restore the power of the sultan

at

whatever

price

and

by

whichever means

necessary.29

First

of

all,

he

set out

to restore

centralization to the

system

of

government

in

the

provinces,

which

meant that he

had

to

destroy

the

power

of

the

a'ydn

and

derebeys

nd substitute

them

by governors

that he

himself

had

appointed

and

whose

powers

emanated

from

him.

Many

of

the

aydan

and

derebeys

were

moved to

other,

further

away

districts,

and

many were declared rebellious, attacked and destroyed, while others

were

done

away

with

by

other

means.30

Even

before the

annihilation of the

power

of the

acydn

and

derebeys

was

complete,

Mahmud

moved

against

the

Janissaries

and in

1826

had them

eliminated,

followed

by

the

suppression

of their

centuries-

28

See

especially

what Nuri

(p. 58)

and Inalcik

(pp.

52-3)

wrote

about the

Sened-i ttifak which the a5yan nd derebeysigned in Istanbul in the Fall of 1808;

see Ahmed

Cevdet,

Tarih,

12

vols.

2nd

ed.

(Istanbul

A.H.

1309);

see

IX,

278-82

(appendix 2)

for

the text of

the

Sened .

29

There is

no

monograph

on

Sultan

Mahmud II. Short

assessments,

however,

are

found in

Lutfi,

Tarih, VI,

pp.

32-7;

Lewis,

pp.

75ff; IA, VII,

165-70,

and

El2,

VI, 58-61

and

bibliography.

30

Mustafa

Nuri,

IV, 98;

Slade

I,

218-20 and Ch.

MacFarlane,

Constantinople

in

1828,

2

vols.

2nd ed.

(London,

1829),

II,

11Off.

179




9/32

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

long

allies,

the Bektashi order.31

The

destruction of the

Janissaries

had removed the

last

stumbling

block

in

Sultan Mahmud's drive

for

absolute power.32 Finally he could work unhindered to take full

control

over the

ulema and

state functionaries and subdue

the

Sub-

lime Porte to his absolute

will.

To

achieve his aim

he did not

hesitate,

to exile or

put

to death

without trial

many

of the

highest

and most trusted

functionaries,

for

the

slightest suspicion

on his

part,

confiscating

their wealth

and

property33.

In

short,

during

his

reign,

a

great many

atrocities

were

committed and much blood

was

spilled.

At

no other time

indeed,

both in

Istanbul and

in

the

provinces,

were life

honour and

posses-

sions of the

empire's

subjects,

as insecure

as

during

the

reign

of

Sul-

tan

Mahmud.34

In

one of the

provinces,

however,

he

was not

successful-

Muhammad

Ali

Pasha,

wali of

Egypt

since

1805,

and

himself

of

a'yan origin,

had

firmly

established himself and

had become too

powerful

for Sultan

Mahmud

to

remove

him.

In

the

end,

Muham-

mad Ali moved against Mahmud, and only the intervention first

of

Russia and then the

other

European

powers

(except

France),

appears

to have

saved

Sultan Mahmud.35

The

reign

of Sultan

Mahmud

was a hated one

throughout

the

provinces.36

In

Anatolia,

for

instance, the

aydan

and

conservative

masses were

hostile to

Mahmud's reform

and when the

army

of

Muhammad Ali

entered

Anatolia,

they

were

sympathetic

to

him .37

We are

told,

moreover,

that

several

deputations

arrived

31

On the

destruction

of the

Janissaries,

see

Mehmed

Es'ad,

Uss-i

Zafer,

2nd

imp.

(Istanbul,

1292),

Cevdet, Tarih,

XII,

177ff.;

Lufti, I, 136ff;

Mustafa

Nuri,

IV,

76ff,

and

IA, XIII,

394f.

32

On the

growth

of Mahmud's

despotic

rule,

see

Slade

I,

267-8

and

276,

Lewis,

75,

and

Ahmed

Rasim,

Istibdattan

Hakimiyet-i

Milliyeye,

2

vols.

(Istanbul

1342/1923-24),

I,

172ff.

33

Such as

Halet

Efendi in

1822

or Pertev

Pasha

in

1837

and

many

others sent

into exile who

never

put

a

foot

again

in

Istanbul.

34

Ahmed Rasim, I, 141ff; and ;. Mardin, The Genesisof YoungOttomanThought

(Princeton,

1962),

pp.

158f,

and n.

88,

and

Slade,

I,

209f.

35

See

my

forthcoming

article

Muhammad

Ali

Pasha and

Sultan

Mahmud

II,

the

Genesis of a

Conflict.

36

D.S. Frank

(ed.),

Islam n the

Modern

World(Washington,

1951), p.

42

(the

ar-

ticle of

Birge);

see

also I.H.

Danismend,

Izahli Osmanli

Tarihi

Kronolojisi

4

vols.

(Istanbul,

1947-61),

IV,

122-3.

37

Inalcik,

p.

54;

Mustafa

Nuri, IV,

95.

180




10/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF

THE

GULHANE

RESCRIPT

in

Egypt

from Asia Minor and

other

provinces

to

testify

to

him

the

good

will

of

the

people

there

.

..

.138

In the light of the policies of Sultan Mahmud and the attitudes

they provoked,

there

seems

to have been an

attempt

in

the late 1830s

to convince him to

proclaim

a decree

along

the lines we later

will

find

in

the Guilhane

Rescript.39

This is

reported

by

Abdulrahman

~eref,

the

last official Ottoman

historian

(VakCa

Nuves).

While

he

does

not

say

when

and

by

whom the

Sultan was

approached

on the

matter,

he

adds

that

Akif

Papa,

the minister of the

interior,

convinced

him

against

such

an act.

Sultan Mahmud

did, however,

at this

stage

decide

upon

a

num-

ber

of measures

of reform.

In

March

1838

he

established

the

High

Council of

Judicial

Ordinances

and

put

at its

head

the

veteran

officer and

statesman,

M. Hfisrev

Papa,

who

in

January

1837 had

been

dismissed from

the

office of Serasker.40

Moreover,

the

Sultan

cancelled the

arbitrary practice

of

miusdere,

the

confiscation of the

property

of a

deceased

high functionary.41

That Mahmud would not be persuaded to promulgate an edict as

the later

Guilhane

Rescript,

was

possibly

because

he

was still

hoping

for

a

military victory

over

Muhammad Ali. Such a

victory,

he

deemed,

would vindicate his acts

and

policies

and silence his

oppo-

nents. Whatever

reform measures

he

introduced,

Mahmud's

mo-

tives

were far

from

being

inspired

by

the

ideals

later

to

underpin

the

Guilhane

Rescript.

For

him

absolute

sultanic

power

was and should

remain

supreme

throughout

the

land.

38

[Anonymous],

Three Letters on

the

Policy of England

towards the Porte

and Mo-

hammedAli

London,

1840),

p.

18;

see

also

[Anonymous]

The Sultan

Mahmud and

Mehmet

Ali

Pasha

2nd

ed.

(London,

1835),

p.

24.

See

also

Y.

Hofman,

The

Ad-

ministration of

Syria

and

Palestine under

Egyptian

Rule

(1831

-

1840)

in M. Ma'oz

(ed.),

Studies

on

Palestine

During

the

OttomanPeriod

(Jerusalem,

1975),

pp.

311

-33,

see

p.

312-3

and

n.

12.

39

Abdulrahman

5eref,

Tarih-i Devlet-i

Aliyye,

2

vols.

(Istanbul,

A.H.

1315)

II,

317 and

idem,

Tarih

Musahabeleri,

p.

48;

and M.

Nuri, IV,

94; Danismend,

IV,

123.

40

On Mehmet

Hiisrev,

see

Ahmed

CAta,

Tarih,

II, 118-

27.

5eref,

TarihMusa-

habeleri,

p.

10-5.

Inalcik,

in

IA, V,

609-16.

41

On the

abolishing

of

the

Miisadere,

see

Cavid

Baysun

in

IA,

VIII,

673.

Mumcu,

pp.

16

If;

see also Carter V.

Findley,

Bureaucratic

eform

n

theOttoman

m-

pire,

The

Sublime

Porte,

1789-1922

(Princeton, 1980), pp.

145f.

Findley

states,

however,

that

according

to the Penal Code

of

1838 of Mahmud

only

what

is

termed

undeserved

expropriation

was

actually

abolished.

181




11/32

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

3. The

Palace,

the

Porte and Sunni-Orthodox

slam

From his rise to the Sultanate at the beginning of July 1839, Sul-

tan

Abdiilmecid, however,

seems to

have

charted a course whose

ideals differed

vastly

from those

of

his

father. His

priorities,

too,

were

different. Whereas Mahmud

II

dedicated

his efforts

to restore

sultanic

power,

Abdfilmecid

put

his

emphasis upon

being regarded

as a virtuous ruler42 and

worked to

rectify

malpractices

and

to

up-

root the

oppression

and

abuses

of

power

briefly

discussed

in

the

previous

section.

How he

thought

to achieve

this

will

be discussed

in the following section. We shall try to find out what determined

the

convictions and

the

socio-political

outlook of

the

new

sultan

and

of

those

who were close

enough

to

him

to

be

able

to affect his deci-

sions and course of action.

Similarly,

we shall ask whether

there

were certain ideals common to

the

Palace

and the Porte

at

this

stage

because

it is

assumed

that the Guilhane

Rescript

would

not have

been

possible

without

complete understanding

between the sultan

and the

leading

bureaucrats.

It is known that three

high standing

ulema of Istanbul had been

the

private

tutors of Shah-zade

Abdfilmecid.

The first

of

these was

Mehmed

Emin

?ehri

Hafiz

Efendi,43

the

second Mehmed

Zeyn-uil

Abidin

Efendi,

the

first

imam

of

Sultan Mahmud in

his

later

years,44

and the third

Ak?ehirli

Omer

Efendi.45

We

do not know

whether

Abduilmecid

was

subjected

to a

systematic

course of

study.

42

In

an article

by

H.

Inalcik,

entitled

Sened-i Ittifak

ve GuilhaneHatt-i Hu-

mayun

and

published

in

Belleten

XXVIII

(1964),

a

summary

is

given

of a

procla-

mation

issued

by

Sultan

Abdiilmecid

at his rise. The

Sultan

proclaimed

that

God

has

appointed

me

Emir-illMiimininand a

Caliph

and he exhorted the

Muslims

to

perform

the five

daily prayers

and

called

upon

state

officials

that if

they

see men

in

the

streets

who did not

go

to the

mosque

they

should ask

them

about the

reason

. . .

p.

618.

Moreover,

at

his

rise

Abdiilmecid

ordered that

many

hundreds of

wine bottles

from the cellar of

his

father,

the late Mahmud

II,

to

be

poured

into

the

Bosphoros.

See Ch.

White,

ThreeYears

n

Constantinople,

vols.

(London, 1846),

III, 100-101.43

On

5ehri

Hafiz M.

Emin,

see

Ahmed

cAta, Tarih, III,

119

(he

calls him

Kankarilizade

el-Seyyid

el-Haj

Hafiz

Mehmed

Emin);

M.Z.

al-Kawthari,

Irghdm

al-Murid

Istanbul, 1328),

pp.

91-2;

Sicill-i Osmani

hereafter SO),

I,

433

and

IV,

718.

See

also

I.H.

Uzuncarilih,

Osmanli

Devletinin

Ilmiye

Teskilatz.

(Ankara,

1965)

p.

146,

n.

2

44

Ahmed

Lutfi, Tarih,V,

39

and

SO,

II, 435,

and

IV,

720.

45

On

Ak?ehirli

Omer, SO, III,

600-1.

182




12/32

THE ISLAMIC ROOTS OF THE GULHANE RESCRIPT

Nothing

could be found of the

material of his

studies,

neither

sub-

jects

nor

books,

except

for the

fact

that

at the

age

of ten he

completed

the reading of the QurPn (hatm-i

Fur.kan).46

We may assume,

however,

that

he was

introduced to such

subjects

of Islamic

learning

that

a future Muslim ruler should

acquire.

This

makes the role

his

tutors

played

in his

education

exceptionally important.

Little is known

about

Zeyn-fil

Abidin Efendi and Omer

Efendi,

but

about

?ehri

Hafiz we

know

a

good

deal more.

When on a

visit

to

Makka,

he

was

initiated

and trained

in

the

Naqshbandi-Khalidi

suborderby Sheikh Abdullahal-Makki, a khalifadeputy) of Skeikh

Khalid,47and thus became

a

follower of the Khalidi suborder. This

is

important

for

our

discussions,

because to become

a

follower of this

order

required

certain convictions and

a

way

of

life

turned towards

Allah. The

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi

order,

of

which the

Khalidi

suborder

is a

branch,

is

distinguished by

its strict adherence

to

Sunni-Orthodox

Islam,

and

by enjoining

its followers to abide

by

shariFa

recepts.48

Moreover,

it

enjoins

them

to

seek

influence

with

rulers and their men in order to insure the supremacyof the sharFia

in

the state

and thus to

bring justice

and

righteousness

into

their

acts.49

One

may

assume

that,

as a

Naqshbandi-Khalidi,

5ehri

Ha-

fiz

tried to influence

his

young

student

in

that

direction. When Ab-

duilmecidbecame Sultan he

gave

due

respect

to

his

former tutor

and

had him

appointed

as the

mufti

of

the

Imperial

Guard

(Hassa

Ordu

Humayunu).

This means

that

5ehri

Hafiz

continued

his

connections

with the Palace. He remained in this capacity until 1263 (1847).50

46

Lutfi,

IV,

102.

47

He was a

follower of Sheikh

Abdullah

al-Makki;

see

Kawthari,

and M. Fev-

zi,

Hediyyet-iil

Hilidin

(Istanbul,

A.H.

1313),

p.

24

and

Irfan

Giindiiz,

Giimiushanevi

Ahmed

Ziyaiiddin

(KS)

(Istanbul,

1984),

pp.

22-4.

48

On Sheikh Kh.lid

and the

Khalidi

suborder,

see A.H.

Hourani,

Sufism

and

Modern Islam:

Mawlana Khalid

and the

Naqshbandi

order in

idem,

The

Emergence

f

theModern

Middle

East

(London,

1981),

pp.

75-89. See

also Hamid Al-

gar A Brief History of the Naqshbandi Order in Marc Gaborieau et al. (eds.)

Naqshbandis

Istanbul,

1990), pp.

28ff. and

my

article The

Naqshbandiyya-

Mujaddidiyya

in

the

Ottoman

Lands

in

the

early

19th

Century,

Die Welt

des

Is-

lams,

XXII

(1982-84),

pp.

1-36

and n. 1 and n.

4.

49

Ibid.,

p.

14

and H.

Algar,

Political

Aspects

of

Naqshbandi

History

in

Marc

Gaborieau

et al.

(eds.),

op.

cit.

p.

126

and

p.

139ff.

50

On this

army corps,

see

M.Z.

Pakalin,

Osmanli

Tarih-i

Deyimleri

ve

Terimleri,

3

vols.

(Istanbul,

1946-56),

I,

763.

183




13/32

BUTRUS ABU-MANNEH

At the

time,

the

Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya

had

a

long

tradi-

tion of more

than

one

hundred

and

fifty years

behind it in

Istanbul.

It was first introduced into the Ottoman capital by Murad al-

Bukharl,

towards the end of

the

17th

century.51 During

the

18th,

more missionaries

of

the

order arrived

in

Istanbul,

and

interest

in

its

teachings

grew.

Not

only

did

ulema or

higher

state function-

aries

join

the

order,

it

also found

many

followers

among

the

lit-

terateurs. Towards the

end of the 18th

century,

Sheikh Muhammad

Emin,

one

of the

order's

khalifas,

exerted a

growing

influence

among

those state functionaries who stood behind the military reforms un-

dertaken

by

Sultan Selim III.52

When

khalifas

of Sheikh

Khalid

began

preaching

in

Istanbul

a

lit-

tle before

1820,

many

people

of

high

rank

and

of

good

fortune

among

the

dignitaries

(rijdl)

and ulema

.

..

.53

joined

them. And

when

towards

the

end

of the

1820s

Sultan

Mahmud tried to

remove

the

Khalidi

sheikhs from

Intanbul

(which

turned out to be a tem-

porary

measure),

it

did

not halt the

expansion

of

the

Naqshbandi-

Mujaddidi order in the city. In the later 1820s a sheikh of Indian ori-

gin,

Muhammad

Jan

(al-Bajuri),

settled

in

Makka. He was a

khalifa

of the

famous

Sheikh

of

Delhi,

Shah

Ghulam

Ali,

who was also the

preceptor

of Sheikh

Khalid.

Muhammad

Jan

was active as of

the

1830s and

succeeded

in

gaining

many

followers

in

Istanbul.54

One

of

the

believers and

followers

of

Muhammad

Jan

in

Istanbul,

was

Abdiilmecid's mother

Bezmi-Alem.

Originally

a

Georgian

slave,

she

had

been

purchased

and

brought up by

Esma

Sultan,

a

sister of

Mahmud

II.55

Esma

Sultan

was

the widow of

Kuiuik

Hiiseyin

Papa

(d.

Dec.

1803),

the

celebrated

kapudan

(admiral)

of

51

On

Murad

al-Bukhari see

Khalil

al-Muradi,

Silk

al-Durar,

4

vols.

(Cairo

A.H.

1291-1301),

IV,

129-30.

52

See

my

article,

n.

48,

above,

pp.

17-21.

53

Suleiman Faik

Mecmulasi,

Istanbul

Universitesi

Kuitiiphanesi

TY

9577

fols.

4a-b; Lutfi,

Tarih

I, 286; and my article in n. 47, p. 24.

54

On sheikh

Muhammad

Jan,

see H.

Vassaf,

sefinet-ul

Evliya

Suleymaniye

Kiitiiphanesi

Yazma

Ba'gllar

2306,

fol.

161,

Abdulmajid

al-Khani

al-Hada'iq

al-

Wardiyya

Cairo,

A.H.

1308),

pp.

221-

2

and

M.

Murad

al-Qazani

al-Manzilawi,

Dhayl

al-Rashahat

(on

the margin

of

Rashahat

'Ain

al-.Haytah

(Makka,

A.H.

1307/[1889-90], pp.

81ff.

55

Charles

White, III, 2;

on

Esma Sultan

see M.

Qagatay

Uluqay

Padisahlarnn

Kadinlarz

ve

Kzzlarz

(Ankara,

1980),

pp.

111

-

2.

184




14/32

THE

ISLAMIC ROOTS OF

THE

GULHANE

RESCRIPT

Selim III's

times

who

himself

originally

had

been

a

Circassian or a

Georgian

slave.56

Hfiseyin

Pa?a

was remembered

for his

firm

be-

lief and observation of his religious duties ,57 which may have left

their mark on

his

household

after

him.

Esma Sultan

presented

Bezmi-Alem

to her brother

to

become

his

second

wife and the

mother

of

his

son,

Abdiilmecid.58

According

to

all

surviving

evidence,

Bezmi-Alem was

a remarkable woman. Ab-

duilmecid

was

her

only

son,

and she adored

him.

Throughout

her life

(she

died

in

1853 after

an

illness),

she was

very

close to

him,

and

seems to have exerted a powerful influence

on

him,

both before and

after

his

rise

to the

Sultanate.59

Bezmi-Alem stood out

for her

generosity

and

her

piety.

Till

to-

day,

she

is

remembered,

especially

in

Istanbul,

for

her

many

benevolent acts.60

Her

piety

and

firm

religious

belief

may

have

originated

in the

household of Kfiufik

Hiiseyin,

but as mentioned

she was also a believer

in

Sheikh Muhammad

Jan.61

It is not ex-

actly

known how she learned

of

him,

but her

kethuda

(affairs

manager),

Hasan Tahsin Bey who had won her favour,62 was a

khalifa

of

Sheikh

Jan.63

A

sign

of her

veneration

of the

sheikh and

her

favourable attitude

towards

the


order

was the

building

of a zawiya in Makka

for

Sheikh

Jan

at her

ord-

er . She

did

so,

in

fact,

through

the services of Sheikh Shumnulu

'Ali

Efendi,

another

deputy

of

SheikhJan

and head

of the Bala

derga-

hi in

Istanbul.64

In other words, through his tutor on the one hand and his mother

on the

other,

it

is believed

that

Sultan Abdfilmecid at a

young age

56

On

Kuiiuk

Hiiseyin

see

Cevdet, Tarih,

2nd

ed.

(Istanbul,

A.H.

1309),

VII,

369;

and

CAta,

Tarih

II, 193-8,

and

El2, III,

627-8.

57

cAta,

II,

197.

58

On

Bezmi-Alem,

see

Uluqay,

pp.

120-

1;

see also

IA, XIII,

185 Valide

Sul-

tan ;

TiirkAnsiklopedisi,

VI,

306-7.

59

Ch.

MacFarlane,

Turkey

nd

its

Destiny,

2

vols.

(London,

1850),

see

II, 244f;

Lewis, p. 104.

60

On

the

benevolent

acts

of

Bezmi-Alem,

see reference in n. 57

and

5emseddin

Sami,

Kamus-ul

Aclam, II,

1307.

61

On

Bezmi-Alem

being

a believer in

M.

Jan,

see

al-Khani,

p.

222.

62

Ahmed

Cevdet, Tezakir,

I, 157,

nezdinde

hayli

mukbil

olup .

63

On Hasan Tahsin

Bey,

see

M.K.

Inal,

SonAsir

Turk

'airleri,III,

1866ff;

Lut-

fi,

Tarih

X,

64 and

SO,

II,

49.

64

Vassaf,

II,

fol.

161;

al-Khani,

222.

185




15/32

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

was

exposed

to


belief and

that orthodox

Is-

lamic ideals

formed

the foundation

of his convictions

and

socio-

political outlook, which naturally after his rise and for some years

to

come,

continued

to

reflect itself

in

his

actions.

Moreover,

there

were other

people

related

to the Palace who at

this

stage

were followers

of

the


order.

First

of

all

the

Sultan's

sister,

CAdile

Sultan,

who in

about

1845 became

a follower of

Sheikh Shumnulu

CAli.65Two other

ulema

employed

at the

Palace

during

the later

days

of Sultan

Mahmud

were

Naqsh-

bandis.

The first

was

Eyyubi

Abdullah Efendi

(d. 1252/1836)

who

was

the

head

reciter of the

Qur'dn

re'is-il

kurra').66

The second was

the

calligrapher

Mustafa

Izzet. He had become a

khalifa

of

Sheikh

Muhammad

Jan

when

on

a visit

to Makka

in

1830. After

returning

to Istanbul

and because of

his

beautiful voice

he was taken to

the

Palace as muiezzin.

Prior to the death

of

Mahmud, however,

he be-

came

the khattbat the

Eyyup

mosque.

One

Friday

in

1845,

Sultan

Abdfilmecid

performed

his

prayers

at his

mosque

and heard

his ser-

mon. Much impressed by it, he took him back into the Palace service

as his second and soon thereafter his first imam.

In

1852, however,

Izzet left this

position

to

join

the

legal

service.67

Indeed,

it

would

appear

that not

only

the

Sultan,

the

Valide

Sultan,

and

a number of Palace functionaries were

influenced

by

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi teachings

but that

many

members of the

upper

echelons

of the state

were

affected

by

them to one

degree

or

other.

Among

the

Khalidi followers

in

1839,

we find the

incumbent

Sheikh

il-Islam Mustafa

CAsim

Efendi who

had

occupied

this office

65

CAdile Sultan was the wife of

Damad

Mehmed CAli. She contributed a

chandelier

for

the

zawiya

of Sheikh M.

Jan

in

Makka. She is also

remembered

in

Istanbul for

her

many

benevolent acts. Cf. Vassaf

II,

fol.

161,

Inal,

I,

32

-3, SO,

III, 501 and

IA,

IV, 710-1.

66

Cf. M.T. Brussali,

Osmanli Miiellifleri,

3 vols. (Istanbul, A.H. 1333), I,

379-80 and

Lutfi,

V,

72-3

and

SO,

III, 396. His son Mehmed Emin

wrote a

biography

of

him,

Gelsen

Mesayihi

Selatin

(in ms.)

but it could not be

located.

Ac-

cording

to

Brussali,

Abdullah

Efendi was

the

author of

a number of

books one of

which was a translation

of

Naqshbandi

treatises,

another

Nasihat

l-Muluk

(Counsel

for

Princes).

67

On

Mustafa

Izzet,

see

M.K.

Inal,

Son

Hattatlar,

pp.

154ff,

and

Tarih

Musa-

habeleri,

pp.

316-8.

186




16/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF

THE GULHANE

RESCRIPT

twice

before,

but now

was to

serve

in

this

capacity

for about

14

years

successively

(1833

-1846)

and

there are

many signs

that he

enjoyed

a growing influence in the councils of the state, especially after the

death of

Sultan Mahmud.68

At the rise

of Sultan

Abdfilmecid,

the

aged

statesman

Hfisrev

Papa

occupied

the

post

of Grand

Vizier.

An

Abaza

by origin

who

had been

brought

to Istanbul

as

slave,

Hfisrev started

his career

in

the

Palace,

then became

a

secretary

and afterwards

a kethuda o

Kui-

?uk

Hiiseyin

Papa.

After

his

mentor

had

died,

he maintained his

connections with the Palace and served Sultan Mahmud II faithfully

in

various

military capacities.

We

do

not

know of

any

sufi affiliations

he

may

have

had,

but

his

closeness

to

Kiiufik

Hiiseyin

in

his

early

life

might

have affected his

views.

In

old

age

we find

him

establish-

ing

a

Naqshbandi

tekke

n

Emirgan,

a

township

on the

Bosphoros,

beside his

mansion,

and

renovating

the

mosque

of the

place

and es-

tablishing

a

library

there.69

Moreover,

in

his

vakfiye,

he

assigned

an

adequate

amount

for the

upkeep

of the dervishes

of the

Naqshbandi

tekkeof Koca Mustafa Pa?a outside the Edirne gate in old Istan-

bul.70

Both

acts

suggest

a favourable attitude towards

the

Naqsh-

bandi order.

Not

only

the sheikh ill-Islam

or,

to some

degree,

the

Grand

Vizier

but also Mustafa

Re?id,

foreign

minister

in

1839,

had

been

exposed

to

similar influences.

His mentor at the

Porte,

Pertev

Pa?a-whom

Sultan Mahmud had

put

to

death

in

September

1837-had been a

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi adept and a follower of Sheikh 'Ali Bahcet,

the

head

of the

Selimiyye

tekke

n

Uskiidar.71

Mustafa

Re?id

owed

much to Pertev and held his

memory

in

great

respect.72

In

summary,

when Sultan Abdfilmecid rose to the

Sultanate,

both

68

On

Mustafa

CAsim,

see

Ilmiyye

alnamesi,

.

580;

A.

Rifcat,

Devhat-iil

Meidyih

(Istanbul,

n.d.),

pp.

124f.

On

his

being

a

Khalidi see Ascad

Sahib

(ed.),

Bughyat

al-

Wajidfi

MaktubatMawlanaKhalid

Damascus, 1915),

p.

105f.,

p.

252f.;

Algar,

Political Aspects . . . , p. 140.

69

CAta, Tarih, II,

120.

?

70

On

Hiisrev,

see above n. 39.

71

On

Pertev

Pasa,

see M.K.

Inal,

SonAsir Turk

5airleri,

pp.

1301

-9;

TurkAn-

siklopedisi,

XXVI,

477-78,

and

my

article cited

above,

n.

47,

p.

21;

and

El2, III,

1066.

72

On

Resid's

debt

to

Pertev,

see

Baysun,

p.

725

and

n.

3,

4,

5

and

Mardin,

p.

161.

187




17/32

BUTRUS ABU-MANNEH

the

Palace and the

Porte

appear

to

have been motivated

by

the ideals

of Orthodox

Islam,

perhaps

more than at

any

time before. This

might have helped to determine their view as to the measures needed

to

put

an

end

to the

prevailing

malpractices

and

abuses of

power,

and

to restore

security

and

justice

into

the

acts

of the

government

and

throughout

the Ottoman

lands.

There is no doubt that it was this

united resolve

which

made

the

promulgation

of

the

Guilhane

Rescript possible.

In

this sense Mu-

hammad Ali was

right

when he wrote to his

son Ibrahim

in

Syria

to

keep on his guard because after the death of Sultan Mahmud

Istanbul started

...

to close

its ranks .73

As

a final

remark,

it

is

perhaps appropriate

to

add that

this

rise

of the

impact

of Sunni-Orthodox

Islam

in

Istanbul and

in

many

other

urban areas

of the

Empire

was

clearly

manifest

in the

cultural

field

in

the first half or so of the 19th

century. According

to

one

authority:

In

the field of literature

and

philosophy

the

Tanzimat,

as

a

whole,

was an era

during

which translations into

[Ottoman]

Turkish of Islamic literature reached unprecedented proportions

...

Conversely,

no translations from

European

thinkers,

philosophers,

or litterateurs were undertaken in

Turkey

[sic]

in the

first half of the nineteenth

century .74

Furthermore,

with the

ad-

vent

of

printing

both

in

Cairo

(the

Bulaq

printing

press)

and

in

Istanbul

many

of these translations found a

relatively

wide circu-

lation.

75

4. The

making of

the

Gulhane

Rescript

As we

saw

above,

prior

to his

rise Sultan

Abduilmecid

had been

exposed

to


beliefs

through

his

tutors,

espe-

73

A.

Rustum

(ed.),

al-Mahfu.zat

l-Malakiyya

al-Misriyya,

4

vols.

(Beirut,

1940-43), IV, 155,

Doc.

5918.74

Mardin,

p.

203;

see

also Tanzimat

(Ankara, 1940),

p.

445.

75

Translations

from

European

languages

took

place

in the fields of

engineer-

ing,

medical and

military

sciences for

specific

purposes only.

See

Ekmel

Eddin

Ihsan-Oglu,

Some critical

notes on the introduction

of modern

sciences to the

Ot-

toman

state

...

in

Jean-Louis

Bacque-Grammont

and Emeri

van Donzel

(eds.),

Comiti

International D'Etudes

. ..

Ottoman,

[the proceedings

of

the]

VI

Symposium

(Istanbul-Paris-Leiden,

1987),

pp.

235-52.

188




18/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF THE

GULHANE RESCRIPT

cially

~ehri

Hafiz

and,

through

his mother

Bezmi-Alem.76 How far

this influence went

and what

impact

it

left on him

could

only

be

ascertained after a study of the life at the Palace during this period

and

in

particular

of the life

and customs of the Sultan

himself.

But

the fact that he

gave

his

approval

of

and funded the

building

of a

mausoleum and

a

large

zawiya

over

the tomb

of Sheikh

Khalid

in

Damascus

(between

1842-

1846)

and

designated

evkaf

for their

up-

keep,77

was

undoubtedly

a sure

sign

of the

respect

in

which the

Sul-

tan

held the

memory

of

the

founder of

this


suborder.

One

other

spectacular

act of

religiosity

of the

Sultan

was the

building

anew

of the

mosque

of the

Prophet

in

Madina

(1270/

1854-1274/1858),

after he had the

old

building,

dating

from

the

late

15th

century,

demolished.78

The benevolence

the Sultan

had shown

towards the

followers

of

the

Khalidi

suborder

by

erecting

the

mausoleum

over the tomb of

the

founder must

have

endeared

him

to

them.

Abdulmajid

al-

Khani, the author of a history of the Naqshbandi order in Arabic,

eulogized

the

Sultan

as ahlam

muluk

bani

Cuthman

the

most cle-

ment

of

the

Ottoman

Sultans)79-an

epithet

of

high

praise, espe-

cially

in

a

ruler. On his

part,

Abdiilmecid seems to

have been

eager

to

live

up

to such

a

reputation.

Thus,

in

an

Imperial

edict

(Hatt-i

Hu-

mayun)

addressed

to

the

Grand Vizier80

three

days

after his

rise to

the

Sultanate,

Abdiilmecid wrote the

following:

The

Caliphate

has

passed on to us by inheritance and by right. Because of that and

because God

had

entrusted to our

care the

lands and the

people

(memalik

ve

Cibdd),

we have

to

depend

upon

divine

support

and

upon

the

spiritual

aid of

the

Prophet.

Consequently

it is

our

wish to

see

that the

exalted

fericat

s

applied

in

all

matters

and that

all the

in-

habitants

(kaffeyi

ehali

...

ve

beraya)

should

enjoy

tranquility

and

peace.

76

See

above,

pp.

183-186.

77

CAbd

al-Razzaq

al-Bitar,

.Hilyat

al-Basharfi

Tarikh

al-Qarn

al-Thalith

CAshar,

3

vols.

(Damascus,

1961-63),

I,

586.

78

Ibid.,

II, 1036.

79

al-Hada'iq

al-Wardiyya,

p.

268.

80

Ahmed

Lutfi, Tarih,

VI,

39-40 cf.

also Ed.

Engelhardt,

La

Turquie

et

Le

Tan-

zimat,

2

vols.

(Paris,

1882),

I,

35.

189




19/32

BUTRUS

ABU-MANNEH

Two

weeks

later,

on 17

July

1839,

Sultan

Abdfilmecid

issued an

irade to be read

to

the ministers

who,

it

seems,

were

meeting

at

the office of Sheikh ill-Islam, in which he exhorted them to follow

the law

of

justice

and

equity

in

all matters and to observe

constant-

ly

the

application

of the

honoured

erPiat

n

all the affairs

of the

ex-

alted sultanate

...

Moreover

he

called

upon

all

officials

not

to

deviate from the

ways

of

uprightness

and

honesty

and

to avoid

bribery

.

..

and

repugnant

and

oppressive

acts

.

..

[and]

to be ex-

tremely

careful

not to

give

room

to the rise

...

of

unacceptable

methods.

All the

inhabitants of our protected lands,

rich

and

poor,

he

emphasized,

should

enjoy tranquility

and

repose.

It

is

our most

special imperial

desire that

in

my

exalted

sultanate,

property,

soul,

dwelling,

and

place

should be secure

and safe

from

...

offence and

aggression

...

(mal ve can ve mahall ve makdnindan

miisterih ve emin ve adsri rencis ve

taddidenmasuinve mutma'in

olmalarn

ahass-i matlabi

iihdne).81

It

was not

unusual for a new

sultan,

at

his

ascent,

to address state

functionaries and enjoin them to act justly, to avoid corrupt methods

and to

care

for his

subjects,

which all fell

within the

duties of a Mus-

lim

ruler

towards his

subjects. Many

such

exhortations

survive of

former

sultans and are known

as

justice

decrees

(adaletnames).82

But these

decrees differ

from

Abdiilmecid's irade

in

that

they

were

normally

addressed

to

governors, judges,

or

military

commanders

in

the

provinces

and

concerned

with

abuses of

authority

committed

by

them or

by

their

subordinates there. This

irade of

Sultan

Abdiil-

mecid was

issued to his

own ministers

meeting

in

council

and

was

concerned not

with

specific

abuses

but with

general principles.

This

is

what makes it of

special

interest to us

here

because it

contains basic

principles

that were to

appear

afterwards in

the

Giilhane,

for

exam-

ple,

that the sharPia

hould be

applied,

that

justice

and

righteousness

should

prevail,

and

that care

should be

given

to all the

subjects

of

His

Majesty,

as well

as the

required guarantees

for

their well-

81

Published

in

Takvim-i-Vakayi,

no.

182,

on

the

16th

CA

(Cemaziyelevvel)

1255,

but

it

was read to the

ministers on

the

5th of

CA

(17 July

1839).

82

Halil

Inalcik,

The

Ottoman Decline

and its

effects

upon

the

Reaya, pp.

342-6,

(Article

no.

13 in

the

author's

collected

studies: The

Ottoman

Empire:

Con-

quest,

Organization

and

Economy,

Variorum

Rep.,

London,

1978);

see

also

idem,

Adaletnameler in

Belgeler,

Turk

Tarih

Belgeleri

Dergisi,

II

(1955),

pp.

49-145.

190




20/32

THE ISLAMIC

ROOTS

OF THE GULHANE RESCRIPT

being.

Furthermore,

this iradewas drafted

at the Palace while

Re?id

was still

in

London and about two months

before

his

return,83

which means that such ideas were not exclusively Re?id's and his

young

associates but shared

by

others.

As we

shall

see,

it

was the

death of

Sultan Mahmud and the rise of a new sultan of a

different

mind which

created

the

opportunity

to voice

such ideas.84

In

other

words,

we wish

to

suggest

here to

regard

this

irade

of

Ab-

dfilmecid

as

a

prelude

to

the Giilhane

Rescript.

Since, however,

the

Rescript

carries more

than is

contained

in

the

irade,

our next

ques-

tion is:

what was the source of the other

ideas of

the

Gulhane?

Late in summer

1839,

according

to

directives

of

His

Majesty,

a

meeting

of the

Meclis-i

?ura

was held at the

Sublime Porte

in

order

to discuss

foundations

upon

which

the

gerCi

aws should

be

enact-

ed

in

the

spirit

of the

above-mentioned irade of the sultan. A

memorandum was

read-though

it is

not stated

by

whom

it

was

pre-

pared

or

read-and at

the

end of the

meeting

a

petition

was

drawn

up

and submitted to the Sultan which

carried the

seals

of

38

digni-

taries who apparently attended the meeting. The list was headed by

Husrev

Pa?a,

the

Grand Vizier

to be

followed

by

the Sheikh

uil-

Islam

Mustafa cAsim

Efendi. Halil

Rifcat,

the

Seraskerand

Ra'uf

Pa?a,

the

Chairman

of

the

Council of

Judicial

Ordinances,

came

third

and fourth.

Mustafa

Re?id's

seal

is number

seven.

It

would

ap-

pear

that half

of the

signatories

were

ulema

and

the

others

high

state

officials.85

The

petition opens

with

the

statement that

there

should be full

guarantees for soul and property and for the preservation of honour

and

dignity

according

to

the

requirements

of

the

erFiat .

This basic

right

was to

extend

to

all

His

Majesty's

subjects,

the

Muslims

and

83

Re?id

arrived

in

Istanbul on

4

September

1839;

see

Bailey,

p.

184,

n.

21.

84

See,

e.g.

on

Ibrahim

Sadib

Efendi in

Ba~bakanhlk

Arpivi

(hereafter

BBA),

Da-

hiliye

Iradeleri

no.

197,

dated

18

Ramazan,

1255.

85

This

document

is found in

Topkapi

Saray

Arpivi,

no.

3084/2.

My

thanks

are

due to Ms. Ulkii Altindag, the director of the Archives, for providing me with a

clear

photocopy.

A

photocopy

is

found in

Tanzimat

(Ankara,

1940),

opposite

p.

708,

and a

transliteration into modern

Turkish in R.

Kaynar,

Mustafa

Re;id

Papa

ve

Tan-

zimat

(Ankara,

1954),

pp.

172-

73.

A

photocopy

was

also

published

in

an

article

about the

archives

by

U,

Altindag

in

Sanat,

no.

7

(Istanbul, 1982), p.

81. None

of

these writers

commented on the

document.

Berkes in

his book

(n.

6)

referred to it

as

A

protocol

prepared

by

a

Consultative

Council

without further

additions,

see

p.

145.

191




21/32

BUTRUS ABU-MANNEH

the various

other communities

(ehli

Islam

ve mileli

sa'ire).

Conse-

quently,

the

petition

demanded

public

trials for

criminals,

and that

no one should be put to death openly or secretely, by execution or

by poison

without a verdict

according

to the

erMiat

nd

the law of

the

state.

An

Documents

Abu-Manneh, B. 'The Islamic Roots of the Gulhane Rescript