Posted on: 1999

By Dr. Hala Fattah

Although the opening up of the Ottoman archives to scholars has resulted in the revision of many flawed arguments on Ottoman history, the remarkable thing is that many biases remain in the literature. Among the most persistent have been the periodic attempts to portray the empire as inherently anti-Christian and, of course, anti-Jewish. The presumption is that because the Ottomans upheld Islam as the state religion, and fought against Christian states to expand their territories, they automatically discriminated against other faiths in the empire.

And yet, archival history tells a different story. Amnon Cohen’s article on Muslim policies with regard to the Christian community of 16th century Jerusalem explores the complexity of relations between state and religion without resort to simplistic arguments.

Although Christians were not considered as equal to Muslims in many instances, the state never “prevented any of the Christian communities from exercising their historically acknowledged rights of free passage into Jerusalem” nor interfered in any way with their religious conduct.

Moreover, even though several incidents throughout this period gravely affected this relationship, Cohen puts them into perspective. He concludes that, overall, the expulsion of the Franciscan monks from Mt. Zion in 1551, Muslim attempts to legally seize parts of the Monastery of the Cross and threats to the Coptic monastery in Jerusalem were not so much the work of official policy as they were the actions of Muslim “zealots”.

In any case, Istanbul reimbursed the monks’ loss by providing them with other properties on which to build monasteries. The important thing is that these episodes never formed part of Ottoman ideology. Quite to the contrary, the state continued to treat all its citizens with justice and to uphold their rights throughout the Ottoman period, even though the empire itself was constantly prey to anti-Muslim prejudice (and potential dismemberment) from Christian Europe.

Further evidence that the Ottoman empire kept to its contract with ahl al-kitab (people of the Book) is provided in Ottoman church documents. They reveal the systematic building, renovation and upkeep of churches and monasteries in Jerusalem and beyond. This is apparent even in times of inter-communal friction.

For instance, an interesting phenomenon is the permission granted to the Armenian Catholic community in Jerusalem in 1887 to build a church on property close to a Muslim mystic fellowship, even though the Armenian Catholics in Jerusalem numbered but four houses comprising 22 men and women. What is extraordinary about the incident is that this permission was given to the Armenians of Jerusalem at about the same time as state elements were massacring Armenians in Anatolia.

In another instance, when the Greek Orthodox community asked the Porte for allowance to renovate their church in 1881, they were automatically allowed to do so. Even on the rare occasions when Istanbul initially refused permission, as it did in 1894 when the 30-odd Greek Catholic rite wanted to erect a second church in Jerusalem (on property already inhabited by Muslims), eventually official consent was given for a second church to be built.

Significantly, all permission was granted based on the same formula: that the governor of Jerusalem ascertain that the property on which the churches would be built belonged to the community in question, that it did not infringe on Muslim property, and most important of all, that no force would be used to extract contributions from community members to build the churches.

Of Iraqi origin, Dr. Hala Fattah is a historian of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman empire, especially Iraq. She is the author of The Politics of Regional Trade of Iraq, Arabia and the Gulf, 1745-1900 (S.U.N.Y Press, 1996). Presently, she is an Independent Scholar.

References:
Abu-Husayn, Abdul-Rahim and Saadawi, Salih eds., Al-kana’is al-arabiyya fi al-sijjil al-kanasi al-uthmani, 1868-1922 (Arab Churches in Ottoman Church Documents, 1868-1922), Amman : Royal Institute for Interfaith Studies, 1998.

Cohen, Amnon, “The Ottoman Approach to Christians and Christianity in Sixteenth Century Jerusalem”, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, vol.7, no.2, June 1996.