No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the author.
The Spread of Islam in the Ottoman Balkans: Revisiting Bulliet's Method on Religious Conversion
Abstract
The first chronologically comprehensive and conceptually sound view of conversion to Islam was that offered by R. W. Bulliet. His Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period, published in 1979, is of great importance to the study of the conversion process and its ethno-religious and social consequences. Qualifying R. W. Bulliet's method as "an original, bold and provocative work worthy of attention," it should be mentioned that his study has been criticized on many grounds. Some historians conceive it, above all, as "food for thought," its conclusions being reliable primarily with respect to medieval Iran only, due to the great limitations of the source base. I would maintain, however, that given the sufficient amounts of available empirical data, R. W. Bulliet's research technique is reliable and meaningful. In my paper I have attempted to show through the results of my research that his quantitative model and timetable of conversion to Islam are valid in relation to the investigation of the dynamics of ethno-religious processes in the Ottoman Balkans. The similar results revealed in both this researcher's theoretically drawn model and the curve of conversion that I obtained when using a sufficient quantity of numerical data from the Balkans, prove that Bulliet's method is applicable in investigating the diffusion of Islam in its broadest chronological and territorial scope.
The Islamisation of the population of two neighbouring regions south of
Prizren, Gora and Opolje, occurred in varying degrees during the
centuries-long rule of the Ottoman Empire in the Balkans. In Gora, inhabited
by the Slavic population, it was extremely slow, while in Opolje, inhabited
by the Albanians, it was incomparably more intensive. This paper aims to
elucidate, based on the analysis of the Ottoman 15th and 16th century
cadastral registers, the factors that affected the rate of conversion to
Islam among the inhabitants of these two former Serbian medieval counties
(župas), later Ottoman nahiyes. Among the most important are the highly
developed church organisation in the region of Gora on the one hand, and on
the other hand, the proximity of Prizren, the military and administrative
centre of the Prizren Sanjak in which high ranking officials of Opolje
origin operated.
This article focuses on communal boundaries in nineteenth-century Ottoman Niš, a city located in what is today southern Serbia. In particular, it explores the implications of Robert Hayden's model of "antagonistic tolerance" for Ottoman urban history. In a first step, by taking into consideration the urban form of Niš from a long-term historical perspective, we consider how urban space was divided between inhabitants with different religious backgrounds. The article then turns to consider the symbolic boundaries that existed between confessional groups in nineteenth-century Niš, which can be traced by looking at the construction of churches and mosques. By examining the ways in which communal boundaries were expressed, negotiated and changed through church and mosque buildings, we can begin to render the confessional policies of the Ottoman authorities more transparent.
The article discusses unutilized Ottoman source material, related both to the Janissary Corps and to the spread of Islam in the Ottoman Balkans. The author attempts to examine the "Janissaries-Islamisation" correlation in a broader sense—the concept of "social conversion" which was introduced by R.W. Bulliet some time ago. The social existence of the converts changed immediately with their conversion—from Christian they became Muslim reaya (flock) of the Sultans. This transformation had an immediate positive effect on their economic status—the new Muslims stopped paying Cizye tax. They gained other prerogatives in their relationship with the administration, avoiding the numerous everyday inconveniences that were the lot of Christian subjects. Apart from that, the Muslim person had one more important advantage—the opportunity for further social prosperity by entering the so-called "military class" (askerî). By this the converts acquired additional fiscal comfort and economic advantages. All these were not imaginary; they were real opportunities. The author calls the phenomenon of conversion of this kind by referring to such converts as "peasant" Janissaries.
