An attempt at confessionalization and social disciplining in the reign of Mustafa II (1695-1703)

Abstract

The central focus of this thesis is a set of Mühimme orders from the reign of Mustafa II. These orders concerned teaching basic religious knowledge to Muslim subjects, examining the creedal knowledge of religious personnel and replacing incompetent personnel with qualified ones, renovating mosques and madrasas, and urging the regular participation of all adult Muslim males in congregational prayers. While the orders in question were sent to various places in the empire, special emphasis was placed on the religious education of Muslims in the Balkans. This study makes use of the paradigm of confessionalization to analyze the religious and moral reform program outlined in these orders. It is argued that these policies, while designed by Şeyhülislam Feyzullah Efendi, were also the product of at least a two-century long process of confessionalization in the Ottoman Empire. Alongside the evolution of Ottoman confessional policies from the fifteenth century to the end of the seventeenth century, the social and political problems that faced the Ottoman administration in the Balkans and beyond in the aftermath of the Second Siege of Vienna are also emphasized.