Suharto (June 8, 1921, Kemusuk, Dutch East Indies - January 27, 2008, Jakarta, Indonesia). Second president of Indonesia. The son of a minor village official in Central Java, Suharto pursued a professional military career, joining the Dutch colonial army in 1940 and the Japanese sponsored PETA in 1943. During the Indonesian Revolution (1945-1950), he became a prominent army commander in the Yogyakarta region (Central Java). He commanded the Central Java Diponegoro Division (1956-1959) but was removed following allegations of involvement in smuggling. In 1960, however, Suharto was appointed first deputy army chief of staff and in 1961 head of the army’s strategic reserve (Kostrad). In 1962, he commanded the Mandala military campaign to capture West Irian from the Dutch. He was still Kostrad commander at the time of the Gestapu (also known as the 30th September Affair), an attempted coup d’etat, and as one of the most senior surviving generals he played a major role in defeating the coup.
On September 30, 1965, the PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) leader, DN Aidit (apparently acting on his own), and a small group of leftwing officers launched a botched coup in which six senior generals were killed. Suharto, who mysteriously survived, quickly suppressed the uprising. Over the following six months, army units and local vigilante groups launched a nationwide purge of so-called communists, a catch-all label that included labor and civic leaders and thousands of others who would never have even heard of Karl Marx. Most were shot, stabbed, beaten to death or thrown down wells in acts of horrifying violence.
The purge was masterminded by Suharto, who soon persuaded Sukarno to vest in him leadership of the armed forces. On March 11, 1966, Suharto obtained from Sukarno the Supersemar (Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret, Executive Order of March 11), vesting Suharto with authority “to take all measures considered necessary to guarantee security, calm and stability of the government and the revolution.” Suharto used trusted officers to carry out the order. It is thought that up to 600,000 were killed.
Suharto while professing complete loyalty to the president, quickly marginalized Sukarno. By March 1966, Sukarno had transferred most of his power to Suharto. Suharto was sworn in as acting president in March 1967, was elected by Parliament as full president in March 1968, and was subsequently re-elected without opposition in 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, and 1998. Sukarno remained under house arrest until his death in 1970.
From his assumption of office until his resignation, Suharto continued Sukarno's policy of asserting Indonesian sovereignty. Suharto shrewdly retained Sukarno's pancasila ideology, first put forward as Indonesian state philosophy in 1945 -- the five vague principles were a belief in God, national unity, humanitarianism, social justice and democracy. Suharto presented his own regime as a rational choice between communism and Islamism, with occasional forays against overseas Chinese business interests.
Suharto acted zealously to stake and enforce territorial claims over much of the region, through both diplomacy and military action. In 1969, Suharto moved to end the longtime controversy over the last Dutch territory in the East Indies, western New Guinea. Working with the United States and United Nations, an agreement was made to hold a referendum on self-determination, in which participants could choose to remain part of the Netherlands, to integrate with the Republic of Indonesia, or to become independent. Though originally phrased to be a nationwide vote of all adult Papuans, the "Act of Free Choice" was held July - August 1969 allowed only 1022 "chiefs" to vote. The unanimous vote was for integration with the Republic of Indonesia, leading to doubts of the validity of the vote.
In 1970, corruption prompted student protests and an investigation by a government commission. Suharto responded by banning student protests, forcing the activists underground. Only token prosecution of the cases recommended by the commission was pursued. The pattern of co-opting a few of his more powerful opponents while criminalising the rest became a hallmark of Suharto's rule.
In order to maintain a veneer of democracy, Suharto made a number of electoral reforms. According to his electoral rules, however, only three parties were allowed to participate in the election: Suharto's own Golkar party; the Islamist United Development Party (PPP); and the Democratic Party of Indonesia (PDI). All the previously existing political parties were forced to be part of either the PPP and PDI, with public servants under pressure to join Golkar. In a political compromise with the powerful military, he banned its members from voting in elections, but set aside 100 seats in the electoral college for their representatives.
In 1971, Golkar won 62.8% of the vote in general elections held in July. Golkar became entrenched as the dominant political force in Indonesia, winning 62.1 and 64.3 percent of the popular vote respectively in the general elections of 1977 and 1982. Other parties were marginalized and forced to amalgamate and have their activities restricted. By 1973, Suharto directly appointed over twenty percent of the members of the House of Representatives. All Indonesia's public servants were required to join a Golkar-controlled association and were compelled to vote for Golkar at elections.
Under Suharto, Indonesia enjoyed a favorable international climate. His regime was applauded by the west for its "suppression of communism," a policy the United States covertly encouraged. It also won approval from Moscow, which had regarded the PKI's close links with China with alarm.
Over the following decade, United States oil companies invested more than $2 billion in Indonesia's petroleum industry, accounting for 90% of the country's total production. More than 1.5 million people were "transmigrated" from Java and Bali to relieve population pressure and colonize outlying islands.
Suharto gained his biggest reward for destroying the Indonesian left when he invaded East Timor in December 1975, only a day after the United States president, Gerald Ford, and his secretary of state, Henry Kissinger, had dined with him.
Proclaiming a "new order," Suharto confined domestic politics to setpiece elections contested by two federations of former parties and an army dominated body, Golkar, which had not party members but won 60% to 70% of the vote.
Suharto’s New Order was characterized by an emphasis on economic development and a relatively low profile in international affairs. Internally, Suharto stressed political stability and considerably restricted political party activity. He also sought to remove the basis for political conflict by insisting that all political organizations take the official national ideology, Pancasila, as their basic principle.
Suharto survived the growth of discontent through the ruthless use of an intelligence apparatus. Muslim militants were jailed and social protest suppressed. More subtly, the older politicians whom he had supplanted were allowed to form an ineffective "group of 50" in 1980.
Suharto's real talent lay in manipulating the military elite on which he relied and yet needed to divide and rule. Those he depended on most would find themselves discarded when they might threaten to become too powerful. However, the 1990s saw a revival of labor unrest. The biggest source of dissent was a huge growth in cronyism and the blatant pursuit of financial gain by the Suharto family.
Such nepotism was not essential for the Suharto regime -- it reflected his adoption of a ruling style increasingly akin to that of a traditional Javanese king. The village in which he had been born was graced with a palace, and it was ordained that he should be buried in the nearby family mausoleum echoing the royal custom of hilltop interment.
Following nationwide protests, he resigned in May 1998, having finally lost the confidence of even his own military clique. After a year's silence, the former president emerged to deny claims he had amassed a fortune, filing a suit against Time magazine for publishing detailed allegations. There were suggestions he had threatened to implicate other members of the Jakarta elite if the investigation proved too vigorous.
After suffering a stroke, his lawyers claimed he was too ill to be questioned by the attorney general. In April 2000, he was banned from leaving Jakarta. He was later ruled unfit to stand trial on physical and mental grounds.
In Suharto's later years, accusations of corruption and abuse of position were leveled against members of Suharto’s immediate family, especially his wife Hartinah (Tien). His son, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, served four years in prison for hiring a hitman to assassinate the judge who had convicted him of corruption.
Suharto died on January 27, 2008 from multiple organ failure. He was buried next to his wife at the family mausoleum near Solo in Central Java on January 28, 2008. He was survived by his six children Siti Hardiyanti Hastuti Rukmana, Sigit Harjojudanto, Bambang Trihatmodjo, Siti Hediati, Hutomo Mandala Putra and Siti Hutami Endang Adiningsih.
Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al- (Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi) (Shahāb ad-Dīn" Yahya ibn Habash as-Suhrawardī) (Sohrevardi) (Shihāb ad-Dīn Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabash ibn Amīrak as-Suhrawardī) (al-Maqtūl) (Shaykh al-Ishrāq) (Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash ibn Amirak Abul Futuh Suhrawardi) (b. c. 1153/1155, Suhraward, near Zanjān, Iran - d. 1191, Ḥalab, Syria). Mystic theologian and philosopher. His best known work is called Knowledge of Illumination, in which he develops the Neoplatonic theory of light, which serves as a symbol of emanation but at the same time is regarded as the fundamental reality of things. He was also the founder of a sect, called “the Illuminates”. Suspected of pantheism, he was put to death (in Arabic, al-maqtul) in Aleppo in 1191 by Saladin’s son al-Malik al-Zahir.
Suhrawardi, known as Shaikh al-Ishraq (“the master of illumination”) as well as al-Maqtul (“the Martyr”), was a Persian Muslim philosopher who founded the School of Illumination (ishraq). Because of his controversial ideas, at the age of thirty-eight he was put to death by the order of Salah al-Din Ayyubi, Saladin the Great, Syrian commander and sultan of Egypt.
Suhrawardi was born in a village near Zanjan, a northern Iranian city. His full name is Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash ibn Amirak Abul Futuh Suhrawardi.
At an early age, he went to the city of Maragheh, where he studied hikmat with Majd al-Din Jili, and he then traveled to Isfahan, where he studied philosophy with Zahir al-Din al-Farsi and the Observations (al-Basa’ir) of ‘Umar ibn Salah al-Sawi. He then set out upon a long journey through the Islamic lands to meet the Sufi masters, while practicing asceticism and withdrawing for long spiritual retreats. He tells us that he had looked for a companion with spiritual insight equal to his, but he failed to find one.
Since Suhrawardi persisted in advocating a type of wisdom which was inconsistent with the views of the orthodox jurists, the jurists finally asked Malik Zahir, son of Saladin, to put Suhrawardi to death for advocating heretical ideas. When Malik Zahir refused they signed a petition and sent it to Saladin, who ordered his son to have him killed. Malik Zahir reluctantly carried out his father’s order and Suhrawardi was killed in the year 1191.
In light of the above factors, one can view Suhrawardi as a Persian who inherited a rich culture with Zoroastrian elements in it, a philosopher well-versed in Peripatetic (Aristotelian) philosophy, and a mystic who tried to demonstrate that at the heart of all the divinely revealed traditions of wisdom there is one universal truth.
Suhrawardi lived at a time when the two schools of philosophy and mysticism were perceived to be irreconcilable. In fact, the influence of discursive philosophy had been somewhat curtailed following the conversion of al-Ghazali from a philosopher to a mystic. Suhrawardi argued that mysticism and philosophy are not irreconcilable and that the validity of the immutable principles of philosophy can be verified through the illumination of the intellect.
Suhrawardi argued that discursive reasoning is the necessary condition for the attainment of illumination. Toward this end, Suhrawardi composed many treatises commenting on a wide range of traditional topics pertaining to Peripatetic philosophy. On the whole, where he speaks as a philosopher, Suhrawardi is a Peripatetic whose opinion are similar to those of Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
As to the most important debate in Islamic philosophy, the distinction between existence (wujud) and essence (mahiyyah), Suhrawardi departs from the traditional Peripatetic understanding of them. Suhrawardi argues that the discussion concerning the principality of existence over essence neglects the fact that essence is a degree of existence.
Suhrawardi also criticizes Aristotle’s theory of hylomorphism, arguing that corporeal beings are combinations of form and matter. Suhrawardi defines matter as a simple substance that is capable of accepting the forms of species. He then reduces physical features into qualities which can be expressed in terms of their ontological status.
Finally, Suhrawardi rejects the existing theories of vision that were held in the Middle Ages and proposes his own. He maintains that vision can occur when an object is lit. The soul of the observer then surrounds the illuminated object, and the illumination (ishraq) of the soul (nafs) that then takes place through light emanated from the Light of Lights (nur al-anwar) is vision.
Suhrawardi criticizes the traditional Aristotelian notion of categories and reduces them to four. He then criticizes the Peripatetics’ concept of “definition” as that which provides us with the knowledge of what a thing is. He rejects the Peripatetics’ claim that there is an essential nature of the human being indicated by the definition of the human being as a rational animal. Suhrawardi argues that other attributes of the human being are as important as rationality. Since there is no definition that can adequately disclose all the attributes of the human being, the definition as such remains an inadequate means of understanding. Suhrawardi demonstrates that empiricism and rationalism also fail and that their applications in epistemology are limited.
How a human being comes to know is a mystery, which despite his meditations Suhrawardi could not resolve. In a dream vision Suhrawardi sees Aristotle, who resolves the mystery of how the self comes to know by telling Suhrawardi that to know anything one has to first know oneself.
Suhrawardi then argues that the fundamental principle of knowledge is that before the self is to know an object, it has to know itself. The self knows itself through a direct and immediate relationship known as “Knowledge by Presence” (‘Ilm al-huduri).
Suhrawardi departs from traditional Islamic ontology by arguing that the source of being is not simply being but light. Assuming that light is necessary since the cognition of everything else requires it, beings in the world are therefore defined in terms of their ontological status and the degree of their luminosity. The beings closer to the Light of Lights are more transparent and ontologically superior. Light, as an axiomatic truth and thereby self-evident, is made up of an infinite succession of contingent lights, and each light is the existential cause of the light below it. The ultimate light, which is the same as the Necessary Being (wajib al-wujud), is for Suhrawardi the Light of Lights, the ultimate cause of all things. As the ontological distance between the object and the Light of Lights grows, darkness prevails until the object in question becomes impenetrable to light. Suhrawardi identifies the world of such objects with the corporeal world in which we live.
For Suhrawardi, just as light has degrees of intensity, so does darkness. Although he classifies light in accordance with the extent to which light exists by necessity, his criterion for determining the ontological status of beings is whether they are conscious of themselves or not. Self-awareness is absent when a being is impenetrable to light.
Relying on his ontological system, Suhrawardi reduces quantity to quality. According to him, it is not the case that a two-foot stick of wood is “longer” than a one-foot stick. For Suhrawardi, this relation should be expressed in terms of “more” or “less.” Therefore, it is the case that a two-foot stick is “more” than the one-foot stick. This “more” or “less” becomes meaningful within the context of a hierarchical ontology. The closer a being is to the Light of Lights, the more it “is.” Some beings therefore “are” more than others, depending on the degree of their closeness to the Light of Light. Applying this concept to human beings, Suhrawardi argues that those who have mastered discursive philosophy and intellectual intuition and have practiced asceticism are more “luminous,” in the metaphysical sense of light, and are therefore closer to the Light of Lights.
Having used the symbolism of light and darkness, Suhrawardi goes on to develop an elaborate angelology based on a Zoroastrian theory of angels. Thereby, once again, he joined two religious universes, those of Islam and Zoroastrianism.
All beings, according to Suhrawardi, are the illuminations of the Light of Lights, which has left its vice-regent in each domain. The lordly light (nur ispahbad), which is the viceregent of the Light of Lights in the human soul, accounts for the joy of human beings when they see fire or the sun.
Between the Light of Lights and its opposite pole, the corporeal world, there are levels and degrees of light, which Suhrawardi identifies with the various levels of angelic order. Suhrawardi’s use of Zoroastrian symbolism is partly done in the spirit of his ecumenical philosophy in order to demonstrate that since the inner truth of all religions is the same, some concepts of a religious tradition can often be used to interpret and clarify the concepts of another tradition.
From the Light of Lights comes the “longitudinal” angelic order, which Suhrawardi identifies with a masculine aspect such as dominance, whereas contemplation and independence give rise to a “latitudinal” order. Suhrawardi identifies the latitudinal angelic order with Platonic ideas. From the feminine aspect of the longitudinal order comes into being the Heaven of fixed stars.
For Suhrawardi there exists a veil between each level of light, which acts as a “purgatory” or Barzakh and allows the passage of only a certain amount of light. The primordial, original, and all-encompassing nature of this system, through which Suhrawardi expresses a number of esoteric doctrines, is such that he calls it al-ummahat (“the mother”), since all that exists originates from this hierarchy and, therefore, contains within itself the “ideas” (a‘yan thabita) whose unfolding is the world.
Angelology in Suhrawardi’s philosophy is a two-fold concept: first, it is an attempt to map out the world. Second, through the use of angelic symbolism, the correspondence between the human being as the microcosm and the universe as the macrocosm is further demonstrated.
This new philosophy of angels changes the traditional view of angels as the sustainers of the universe. According to Suhrawardi, angels serve a number of functions, the most important of which is their intermediary role between the Light of Lights and humanity. For instance, the “lordly light” (al-nur al-isfahbodi) is defined by Suhrawardi as that wich is “within the soul of man.”
Suhrawardi relies heavily upon the psychology of Ibn Sina. In fact, his classification of the faculties of the soul is greatly influenced by Ibn Sina, as evidenced by Suhrawardi’s depiction of the soul as being divided into three parts, the vegetative soul (al-nafs al-nabatiyyah), the animal soul (al-nafs al-hayawaniyyah), and the intellectual soul (al-nafs natiqah).
Suhrawardi argues that, in addition to the five external senses, the human being possesses five internal senses that serve as a bridge between the physical and the spiritual world. The internal senses, according to Suhrawardi are: sensus communis, fantasy, apprehension, imagination, and memory.
In putting forth his views on physics, Suhrawardi begins with a discussion regarding the nature of the universe, which from his point of view is pure light. The views of the ‘Asharite atomists, who were one of the predominant intellectual schools of the time, were based on the principality of form and matter and, therefore, the study of physics for them became the study of matter. Suhrawardi argues against them by saying that since material bodies are constituted of light, the study of physics is the study of light.
Having defined the nature of things as light, Suhrawardi goes on to classify things according to the degree of their transparency. For example, all those objects that allow light to pass through them, such as air, are in a different ontological category from those that obstruct light, such as earth.
In explaining meteorological phenomena, Suhrawardi follows Ibn Sina and Aristotle, but he rejects their views concerning change within things. For example, whereas Aristotle argues that the boiling of water is caused by the atoms of fire coming into contact with water, Suhrawardi states that boiling depends on a quality in water such that when water comes close to fire the potentiality for boiling is actualized. He argues that when water boils in a jug of water placed over a fire, the fire does not come in contact with the water nor does the volume of water change. Suhrawardi draws the conclusion that there exists a special quality or attribute within water which is receptive to the influence of heat.
It is obvious that such a theory has implications not only for the field of physics but also as an esoteric doctrine that seeks to explain how the association of different things may create qualitative changes within beings. This principle is one of the crucial elements in the development of spiritual alchemy, which appears in Islamic esoteric writings.
Suhrawardi contends that the Peripatetic argument for the subsistence of the soul is weak and insufficient. Using his ontological scheme based on light and darkness, Suhrawardi argues that all souls, depending on the degree of their perfection, seek unity with their origin, the Light of Lights. The degree of one’s purification in this world determines the ontological status of the soul in the other world. According to Suhrawardi, the goal of the human being is to become illuminated and return to its origin in the other world. The other world is only a continuation of this one, and the status of the soul in the other world depends on the degree to which a person is purified here and now.
Suhrawardi identifies three groups of people according to the degree of their purity and illumination and establishes a causal connection between their purity and their ontological status in the other world. These three groups are:
1. Those who remain in the darkness of ignorance (‘Ashqiya’),
2. Those who purify themselves to some extent (Sudad), and
3. Those who purify themselves and reach illumination (muta ‘allihun).
Suhrawardi, who adhered to the notion of Philosophia Perennis, or what he called Hikmat al-Ladunniyah or Hikmat al-‘Atiqah, maintains that the eternal truth has existed always among the followers of divinely revealed religions. For Suhrawardi, philosophy is identified with Sophia Perennis, the perennial wisdom, rather than with rationalizing alone. From an Ishraqi point of view, Hermes (Prophet Idris, Enoch, or Khidr) is the father of wisdom who initiated Sophia Perennis. From him two chains of transmission branch off; one branch is preserved and transmitted through the Persian masters and the other one through Greco-Egyptian masters, until Suhrawardi, who considers himself to be the reviver of perennial wisdom.
For Suhrawardi there are four types of people within the hierarchy of knowledge:
1. The hakims, who have mastered both discursive philosophy and gnosis.
2. The class of philosophers who are masters of practical wisdom and do not involve themselves with discursive philosophy.
3. The philosophers who know discursive philosophy but are alien to gnosis, such as al-Farabi and Ibn Rushd.
4. The seekers of knowledge who have not mastered either of the two branches of wisdom, rationalist or practical philosophy.
Suhrawardi’s philosophy was a turning point in the history of Islamic philosophy in that it presents the first serious attempt at a rapprochement between mysticism and rationalist philosophy. Suhrawardi’s methodology of reconciling discursive reasoning with intellectual intuition remained the cornerstone of Islamic philosophy, especially in the eastern part of the Islamic world.
Suhrawardi’s philosophy gave rise to the School of Isfahan during the Safavid era in Persia when such notable masters of the ishraqi doctrine as Mulla Sadra, who propagated Suhrawardi’s doctrine with substantial modifications, established a philosophical paradigm on its foundations.
Ishraqi philosophy is a living a philosophical tradition in many parts of the Islamic world, in particular, in Iran, Pakistan, and India.
The primary concern of Suhrawardi’s entire philosophy is to demonstrate the complete journey of the human soul towards its original abode. Having mastered rationalist philosophy, one should then follow the teachings of a master who can direct the disciple through the maze of spiritual dangers. It is only through a combination of practical and theoretical wisdom that one reaches a state where spiritual knowledge can be obtained directly without mediation.
Suhrawardi elaborated the neo-Platonic idea of an independent intermediary world, the imaginal world (alam-e mithal). His views have exerted a powerful influence down to this day, particularly through Mulla Sadra’s combined peripatetic and illuminationist description of reality.
Suhrawardi's Illuminationist project was to have far-reaching consequences for Islamic philosophy in Shi'ite Iran. His teachings had a strong influence on subsequent esoteric Iranian thought and the idea of “Decisive Necessity” is believed to be one of the most important innovations of in the history of logical philosophical speculation, stressed by the majority of Muslim logicians and philosophers. In the seventeenth century it was to initiate an Illuminationist Zoroastrian revival in the figure of Azar Kayvan.
Suhrawardi left over 50 writings in Persian and Arabic. His Persian writings include:
* Partaw Nama ("Treatise on Illumination")
* Hayakal al-Nur
* Alwah-i imadi ("The tablets dedicated to Imad al-Din")
* Lughat-i Muran ("The language of Termites")
* Risalat al-Tayr ("The treatise of the Bird")
* Safir-i Simurgh ("The Calling of the Simurgh")
* Ruzi ba jama'at Sufiyaan ("A day with the community of Sufis")
* Fi halat al-tifulliyah ("Treatise on the state of the childhood")
* Awaz-i par-i Jebrail ("The Chant of the Wing of Gabriel")
* Aql-i Surkh ("The Red Intellect")
* Fi Haqiqat al-'Ishaq ("On the reality of love")
* Bustan al-Qolub ("The Garden of the Heart")
Suhrawardi's Arabic writings include:
* Kitab al-talwihat
* Kitab al-moqawamat
* Kitab al-mashari' wa'l-motarahat
* Kitab Hikmat al-ishraq
* Mantiq al-talwihat
* Kitab hikmat al-ishraq (The Philosophy of Illumination)
As-Suhrawardī wrote voluminously. The more than 50 separate works that were attributed to him were classified into two categories: doctrinal and philosophical accounts containing commentaries on the works of Aristotle and Plato, as well as his own contribution to the illuminationist school; and shorter treatises, generally written in Persian and of an esoteric nature, meant to illustrate the paths and journeys of a mystic before he could achieve ma ʿrifah (“gnosis,” or esoteric knowledge).
Influenced by Aristotelian philosophy and Zoroastrian doctrines, he attempted to reconcile traditional philosophy and mysticism. In his best-known work, Ḥikmat al-ishrāq (“The Wisdom of Illumination”), he said that essences are creations of the intellect, having no objective reality or existence. Concentrating on the concepts of being and non-being, he held that existence is a single continuum that culminates in a pure light that he called God. Other stages of being along this continuum are a mixture of light and dark.
As-Suhrawardī also founded a mystical order known as the Ishrāqīyah. The Nūrbakhshīyah order of dervishes (itinerant holy men) also traces its origins to him.
Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs 'Umar Suhrawardi see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Shahāb ad-Dīn" Yahya ibn Habash as-Suhrawardī see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Sohrevardi see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Shahab al-Din Yahya ibn Habash ibn Amirak Abul Futuh Suhrawardi. see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Shaykh al-Ishrāq see Suhrawardi, Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-
Suhrawardy, Hussain Shahid (Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy) (Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy) (b. September 8, 1892, Midnapore, Bengal Presidency, British India - d. December 5, 1963, Beirut, Lebanon). Talented and controversial leader of Bengal’s Muslims who played an important role in both pre- and post partition South Asia. He hailed from a distinguished Muslim family, was educated in Calcutta and Britain, where he was called to the bar, and returned to enter Bengal politics. Elected to the Bengal Legislative Council in 1921, he actively participated in its work and was also deputy mayor of Calcutta under the Swarajist leader Chittaranjan Das. After Das’s death in 1925, Bengal politics moved in a more communal direction. Suhrawardy worked at labor organizing and also within the legislative council. With the 1935 reforms, he was elected to the Bengal Legislative Assembly and became secretary of the Bengal Provincial Muslim League. A minister in Muslim League-dominated ministries from 1937 to 1941 and 1943 to 1945, he became chief minister of Bengal during 1946. Although he was against the partition of Bengal, he eventually moved to Pakistan in 1949 and founded the Awami Muslim League (later Awami League), a constituent of the United Front, which overwhelmed the Muslim League in 1954. In 1956, he became prime minister of Pakistan and served for more than a year until brought down by the turbulence of the nation’s politics.
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy was a politician from Bengal in undivided India, and later in East Bengal, who served as the fifth Prime Minister of Pakistan from 1956 until 1957. He was considered a favorite of Muhammad Ali Jinnah. He is also considered to be the first populist leader in Pakistan's history. He joined the East Pakistan Awami Muslim League that Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani formed and finally took over the leadership from the Maulana. Later renamed the Awami League, it was the first opposition party in Pakistan in those days launched against the Muslim League.
Suhrawardy was born on September 8, 1892, to a Muslim family in the town of Midnapore, now in West Bengal. He was the younger son of Justice Sir Zahid Suhrawardy, a prominent judge of the Calcutta High Court and of Khujastha Akhtar Banu (c. 1874–1919) a noted name in Urdu literature and scholar of Persian.
Suhrawardy completed his undergraduate studies at St. Xavier's College, and completed a masters degree at the University of Calcutta. Afterwards, he moved to the United Kingdom to attend St Catherine's College, Oxford University from where he obtained a BCL degree. On leaving Oxford, he was called to the bar at Gray's Inn. He then started his practice at Calcutta High Court.
In 1920, Suhrawardy married Begum Niaz Fatima, daughter of Sir Abdur Rahim, the then home minister of the Bengal Province of British India and later President of India's Central Legislative Assembly. Suhrawardy had two children from this marriage; Ahmed Shahab Suhrawardy and Begum Akhtar Sulaiman (née Akhtar Jahan Suhrawardy). Ahmed Suhrawardy died from pneumonia whilst he was a student in London in 1940. Begum Akhtar Sulaiman was married to Shah Ahmed Sulaiman (son of Justice Sir Shah Sulaiman) and had one child, Shahida Jamil (who later became the first female Pakistani Federal Minister for Law).
Begum Niaz Fatima died in 1922. In 1940 Suhrawardy married Vera Alexandrovna Tiscenko Calder Begum Noor Jahan, a Russian actress from the Moscow Art Theatre and protege of Olga Knipper. The couple divorced in 1951 and had one child, Rashid Suhrawardy (aka Robert Ashby), who is an actor living in London. Vera later settled in the United States.
Suhrawardy returned to the subcontinent in 1921 as a practicing barrister of the Calcutta High Court. He became involved in politics in Bengal. Initially, he joined the Swaraj Party, a group within the Indian National Congress, and became an ardent follower of Chittaranjan Das. He played a major role in signing the Bengal Pact in 1923.
Suhrawardy became the Deputy Mayor of the Calcutta Corporation at the age of 31 in 1924, and the Deputy Leader of the Swaraj Party in the Provincial Assembly. However, following the death of Chittaranjan Das in 1925, he began to disassociate himself with the Swaraj Party and eventually joined the Muslim League. He served as Minister of Labour, and Minister of Civil Supplies under Khawaja Nazimuddin among other positions. In the Bengal Muslim League, Suhrawardy and Abul Hashim led a progressive line against the conservative stream led by Nazimuddin and Akram Khan.
In 1946, Suhrawardy established and headed a Muslim League government in Bengal. It was the only Muslim League government in India at that time.
Sir Frederick Burrows declared August 16, 1946 to be a public holiday following the Direct Action Day called by Jinnah to protest against the Cabinet Mission plan for the independence of India. Suhrawardy, acting on the advice of R.L. Walker, the then chief secretary of Bengal, requested Governor Burrows to declare a public holiday on that day. Walker made this proposal with the hope that the risk of conflicts, especially those related to picketing, would be minimized if government offices, commercial houses and shops remained closed throughout Calcutta on the 16th.
The intensity of Direct Action Day was at its worst in the capital Calcutta. Suhrawardy was controversially blamed by Congress leaders for both orchestrating and not taking steps to prevent the carnage and for trying to suppress the news of the same from the media. However, commentators view the riots of Direct Action Day as being caused as a result of a combination of factors including a power vacuum created by the impending withdrawal of the British from Government that led to the lack of immediate and adequate army and police involvement in trying to control the riots. Political brinkmanship by both the Congress and Muslim League leadership played a major factor in stirring the passions of the supporters of both the Hindu and Muslim communities.
On the day, Suhrawardy put forth a great deal of effort to bring reluctant British officials around to calling the army in from Sealdah Rest Camp. Unfortunately, British officials did not send the army out until 1:45am on the 17th. Accordingly, a substantial number of lives were lost that could have been saved if the army had been deployed earlier.
In 1947, the balance of power in Bengal shifted from the Muslim League to the Indian National Congress, and Suhrawardy stepped down from the Chief Ministership. Unlike other Muslim League stalwarts of India, he did not leave his hometown immediately for the newly established Pakistan. Anticipating revenge of Hindus against Muslims in Calcutta after the transfer of power, Suhrawardy sought help from Gandhi. Gandhi was persuaded to stay and pacify tempers in Calcutta, but he agreed to do so on the condition that Suhrawardy share the same roof with him so that they could appeal to Muslims and Hindus alike to live in peace. "Adversity makes strange bed-fellows," Gandhi remarked in his prayer meeting.
Upon the formation of Pakistan, Suhrawardy maintained his work in politics, continuing to focus on East Pakistan as it became after partition. In 1949, he formed the Awami Muslim League, which would develop into the Awami League.
In the 1950s, Suhrawardy worked to consolidate political parties in East Pakistan to balance the politics of West Pakistan. He, along with other leading Bengali leaders A.K. Fazlul Huq and Maulana Abdul Hamid Khan Bhashani, formed a political alliance in the name of Jukta Front which won a landslide victory in the 1954 general election of East Pakistan. Under Muhammad Ali Bogra, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy would serve as Law Minister and later become the head of opposition parties.
In 1956, Suhrawardy was made Prime Minister by President of Pakistan Iskander Mirza after the resignation of Chaudhry Muhammad Ali. Suhrawardy inherited a political schism that was forming in Pakistan between the Muslim League and newer parties, such as the Republican party. The schism was fed by the attempt to consolidate the four provinces of West Pakistan into one province, so as to balance the fact that East Pakistan existed as only one province. The plan was opposed in West Pakistan, and the cause was taken up by the Muslim League and religious parties. Suhrawardy supported the plan, but the vast opposition to it stalled its progress.
In order to divert attention from the controversy over the "One Unit" plan as it was called, Suhrawardy tried to ease economic differences between East and West Pakistan. However, despite his intentions, these initiatives only led to more political frictions, and was worsened when Suhrawardy tried to give more financial allocations to East Pakistan than West Pakistan from aids and grants. Such moves led to a threat of dismissal looming over Suhrawardy's head, and he resigned in 1957.
Suhrawardy's contribution in formulating the 1956 constitution of Pakistan was substantial as he played a vital role in incorporating provisions for civil liberties and universal adult franchise in line with his adherence to parliamentary form of liberal democracy.
In the foreign policy arena, he was considered to be one of the pioneers of Pakistan's pro-United States stand. He was also the first Pakistani Prime Minister to visit China and establish an official diplomatic friendship between Pakistan and China (a friendship that Henry Kissinger would later use to make his now-famous secret trip to China in July 1971).
During the 1950s, Pakistan was suffering from severe energy crises. It was Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy's Prime Ministerial term when the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) was established by a Parliamentary Act of 1956. He also appointed Dr. Nazir Ahmad, a noted physicist and scientist, to be its first Chairman. Under Dr. Nazir Ahmad's direction, Pakistan started its civilian nuclear program. Prime Minister Suhrawardy also allotted PAEC to sat up its new pilot-nuclear labs. He played an important role in establishing of nuclear research institutes in West Pakistan. He also allowed PAEC to established the first nuclear power plant in Karachi. However, after his removal from office, the Nuclear Power Plant Project was undermined by a political turmoil in the country. The Pakistani Civilian Nuclear Program was also frozen by Ayub Khan's military regime for more than a decade.
Disqualified from politics under the military regime of Ayub Khan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy died in Lebanon in 1963. His death was officially due to complications from heart problems, though some have alleged he was poisoned or gassed in his bedroom. After a befitting funeral attended by a huge crowd, he was buried at Suhrawardy Udyan in Dhaka. Khayaban-e-Suhrawardy in Islamabad is named after him.
Hussain Shahid Suhrawardy see Suhrawardy, Hussain Shahid
Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy see Suhrawardy, Hussain Shahid
Sukarno (Soekarno) (Kusno Sosrodihardjo) (b. June 6, 1901, Blitar, Dutch East Indies - d. June 21, 1970, Jakarta, Indonesia). First president of the Republic of Indonesia, a position he held from August 17, 1945, the day on which he proclaimed Indonesia’s independence, until his formal deposition on March 27, 1968. Sukarno was one of the charismatic leaders of Afro-Asian nationalism. He could claim, with some justice, to be the founder of the Indonesian Republic, but his closing years were marked by controversy and ultimately, rejection.
Born in Surabaya, the son of a Javanese schoolteacher and a Balinese mother, Sukarno was educated in his father’s school in Mojokerto (East Java), the Dutch elementary school at Mojokerto, and the Dutch secondary school (HBS) in Surabaya. As a secondary student he boarded in the house of Umar Said Cokroaminoto, chairman of the mass Islamic organization Sarekat Islam, and he met many of the nationalist leaders of the time there. On graduation from HBS, Sukarno, unlike others of his generation who proceeded to tertiary education in the Netherlands, studied engineering and architecture at the Bandung Technical College.
In Bandung, he became involved in nationalist activity. He was chairman of the local branch of Jong Java and one of the founders of the General Study Club in 1926. His article “Nationalism, Islam and Marxism,” in the Study Club’s journal, Indonesia Muda, urged the unity of the major streams of nationalist thought in the interests of the common goal of independence. He also developed the idea of the Marhaen, the “little people” of Indonesia who were poor but who were not a proletariat.
In 1927, he assisted in the formation of the Indonesian Nationalist Party (PNI) and became its first chairman. Following the decline of Sarekat Islam and the destruction of the Indies Communist Party after the revolts of 1926-1927, the PNI became the main voice of Indonesian secular nationalism, and Sukarno’s skills of oratory drew large crowds to its meetings. Its success led, in December 1929, to Sukarno’s arrest, trial, and conviction for behavior calculated to disturb public order. His defense speech became a classic of nationalist literature. After his release from prison in December 1931, Sukarno joined Partindo (the PNI’s successor) and was arrested again in 1933. In spite of his resignation from Partindo and his promise to the authorities to abstain from political activity in the future, he was exiled first to Flores and then to Bengkulu.
With the Japanese invasion of the Indies in 1942, Sukarno returned to Jakarta where, within the Occupation regime, he served as chairman of its mass organizations and of a Central Advisory Committee. In those positions, he was able to soften some Japanese demands, and through acess to the radio provided in all villages he became the most widely known Indonesian leader. He claimed that his speeches, though necessarily supporting the Japanese, kept alive the idea of nationalism. In June 1945, he expounded his Pancasila: nationalism, internationalism, democracy, social prosperity, and belief in God.
In August 1945, Sukarno was accepted as the only person who could proclaim Indonesia’s independence and assume office as president. During the independence struggle that followed, he agreed to demands for a parliamentary, rather than a presidential, convention in forming governments. Giving up executive authority strengthened his independence and enabled him to be a symbol of unity against the Dutch, a mediator between rival Indonesian factions and the focus of resistance to such internal challenges to the republic as the Communist-led Madium Affair in 1948.
After the transfer of sovereignty, the provisional constitution of 1950 provided for a parliamentary system and encouraged the emergence of a large number of political parties. Sukarno, irked by the constitutional checks on his authority, did, on occasion, interfere in politics. Growing political instability and regional resistance to the central government eventually gave him an opportunity to intervene more directly. In 1957, after attacking the selfishness of political parties, he called for the replacement of “50 percent plus one” democracy by a system of Guided Democracy more suited to Indonesian methods of deliberation and consensus. In 1959, following the defeat of rebellion in Sumatra and Sulawesi, and with the support of the army, he reintroduced by decree the 1945, presidential type constitution and assumed executive authority.
Guided Democracy depended initially on a delicate balance between Sukarno and the army but with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) becoming more visible and powerful. Sukarno’s style had echoes of court politics, govenment by access, impulse, and display. Against a background of economic crisis and spiraling inflation, Sukarno, “President for Life,” expropriated Dutch property, embarked on grand building projects, played host to the Asian Games, and pursued an adventurist foreign policy. Dividing the world ideologically into “new emerging” and “old established” forces, he campaigned successfully for the recovery of West Irian; opposed, by “confrontation,” the formation of Malaysia; and withdrew from the United Nations. The frenetic character of his regime reflected, perhaps, an increasingly desperate attempt to balance opposing domestic forces, and it ended in October 1965 with an attempted coup involving PKI leaders. Swift military action under General Suharto suppressed the coup and led to the destruction of the PKI and of the balance on which Sukarno’s power had depended. In 1967, Suharto became acting president, and in 1968 Sukarno was formally deposed in his favor. He died two years later.
Sukarno died June 21, 1970, at the age of 69 of a chronic kidney ailment and numerous complications. Suharto decreed a quick and quiet funeral. Nevertheless, at least 500,000 persons, including virtually all of Jakarta’s important personages, turned out to pay their last respects. The next day another 200,000 assembled in Blitar, near Surabaja, for the official service followed by burial in a simple grave alongside that of his mother. The cult and ideology of Sukarnoism were proscribed until the late 1970s, when the government undertook a rehabilitation of Sukarno’s name. His autobiography, Sukarno, was published in 1965.
Sukarno was a complex figure, combining elements of Javanese tradition and modernity in his leadership. To some he was a catastrophic president, wasting resources on grandiose policies. To others, he remained the father of the nation. Politically resourceful, he was skilled in balancing rival factions, but with his mercurial style and his external appearance of confidence went signs of an inner vulnerability. At times, he could act decisively, as in forming the PNI in 1927, handling the Japanese in 1942-1945, and introducing Guided Democracy in 1957-1959. At other times, he appeared hesitant and uncertain. He posed as a revolutionary but recognized the fragility of the republic, and it could be argued that his revolutionary rhetoric disguised a desire to preserve the social status quo. Perhaps his greatest achievement was his projection of a vision of a unified Indonesian nation in an archipelago of great ethnic, religious, and geographical diversity.
Sukarno married Siti Utari circa 1920, and divorced her to marry Inggit Garnasih, who he divorced around 1931 to marry Fatmawati. Without divorcing, Sukarno also married Hartini, and around 1959 Dewi Sukarno. Other wives included Oetari, Kartini Manoppo, Ratna Sari, Haryati, Yurike Sanger, and Heldy Djafar.
Megawati Sukarnoputri, who served as the fifth president of Indonesia, is his daughter by his wife Fatmawati. Her younger brother Guruh Sukarnoputra (born 1953) has inherited Sukarno's artistic bent and is a choreographer and songwriter, who made a movie Untukmu, Indonesiaku (For You, My Indonesia) about Indonesian culture. He is also a member of the Indonesian People's Representative Council for Megawati's Indonesian Democratic Party – Struggle. His siblings Guntur Sukarnoputra, Rachmawati Sukarnoputri and Sukmawati Sukarnoputri have all been active in politics. Sukarno had a daughter named Kartika by Dewi Sukarno. In 2006 Kartika Sukarno married Frits Seegers, the Netherlands-born chief executive officer of the Barclays Global Retail and Commercial Bank. Other offspring include Taufan and Bayu by his wife Hartini, and a son named Toto Suryawan Soekarnoputra (born 1967, in Germany), by his wife Kartini Manoppo.
Kusno Sosrodihardjo see Sukarno
Sosrodihardjo, Kusno see Sukarno
Soekarno see Sukarno
Sukiman Wirjosandjojo (Soekiman Wirjosandjojo) (b. 1898, Surakarta, Central Java, Dutch East Indies - d. 1974). Indonesian politician and modernist Islamic leader. Briefly chairman of the nationalist party Perhimpunan Indonesia in Holland, Sukiman was active in the Partai Sarekat Islam Indonesia and later in his own Partai Islam Indonesia. He chaired the Masjumi on its formation in October 1945 and headed the group of modernists within the party who inclined toward radical nationalism rather than Islamic socialism. He was interior minister in the Hatta cabinet (January 1948-August 1949), and as prime minister from April 1951 to February 1952 he attempted unsuccessfully to suppress the Partai Komunis Indonesia. His cabinet fell over a secret aid agreement with the United States that committed Indonesia to defending the “free world.”
Wirjosandjojo, Sukiman see Sukiman Wirjosandjojo
Soekiman Wirjosandjojo see Sukiman Wirjosandjojo
Wirjosandjojo, Soekiman see Sukiman Wirjosandjojo
Sulayhids. Shi‘i dynasty which ruled over Yemen as nominal vassals of the Fatimids (1047-1138). It was founded by ‘Ali ibn Muhammad, who chased the Abyssinian slave dynasty of the Najahids from Zabid, fought the Zaydi Imam al-Qasim ibn ‘Ali and took San‘a’ in 1063, Zabid in 1064 and Aden in 1065. He restored order in Mecca and appointed Abu Hashim Muhammad (r.1063-1094) as Sharif. He was killed by the Najahid Sa‘id ibn Najah (d. 1088) in 1067. His son al-Mukarram (r. 1067-1091) again conquered Zabid from the Najahids and rescued his mother Asma’ bint Shihab (d. 1086). In the same year (1086) he instituted a new coinage called “Maliki Dinars,” but left state affairs to his wife al-Sayyida Arwa (b. 1052) who ruled from 1084 to 1138 and who transferred her residence from San‘a’ to Dhu Jibal in winter, making the castle of Ta‘kar, wher the treasures of the Sulayhids were stored, her residence in summer. In 1119, the Fatimid Caliph al-‘Amir sent Ibn Najib al-Dawla as an emissary to Yemen. He reduced the smaller principalities to obedience but Queen Arwa was able to resist his endeavors. At her death, the Sulayhid dynasty came to an end, and power passed to the Zuray‘ids, who were to hold it until the arrival of the Ayyubid Turan-Shah in 1174.
The Sulayhid dynasty was a Muslim dynasty nominally subject to the Fāṭimid caliph in Egypt, responsible for restoring the Ismāʿīliyyah (an extremist Islamic sect) in Yemen.
The Ṣulayḥid family was brought to power by ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad (reigned 1047–67), who, through his association with the Fāṭimid dāʿī (propagandist) in the area, established a state in the mountains of Yemen. Within 20 years he displaced the Najāḥids, north of Yemen in the Tihāmah coastlands; the Zaydī imams in Ṣanʿāʾ, north Yemen (1063); and the Maʿnids of Aden, southeast of Yemen (1064). In the Hejaz (northwest coast of Arabia), once the stronghold of the Mūsāwid sharifs (descendants of Muḥammad), ʿAlī set up the Hāshimid sharifs (1063), who were to rule Mecca until the 1920s. By the end of the 11th century, however, al-Mukarram Aḥmad (r. 1067–84), ʿAlī’s son, saw the Ṣulayḥid possessions begin to diminish. The Najāḥids reappeared in the north, while in the south Aden was given to the Zurayʿids, a related dynasty also of Ismāʿīlī persuasion. Late in his reign, Aḥmad transferred effective control of the principality to his wife, al-Sayyidah Arwā. The Fāṭimids recognized her as suzerain of the kings of Yemen until her death in 1138, when Yemen passed into Zurayʿid hands.
Sulayman (Suleyman) (d. 1360). Ruler of the Mali Empire (1341-1360). When the famous Mansa Musa died in 1337, Sulayman, the oldest surviving brother, was first in line for succession. Musa’s son, Magha, gained the throne instead. Magha ruled only four years, and may have been deposed by Sulayman. Sulayman’s reign was chronicled by three noted Arabic authors: al-‘Umari, Ibn Khaldun, and Ibn Battuta. They reported that Sulayman continued his brother’s policies of encouraging Islam, maintaining diplomatic relations with North Africa, and promoting trade. Ibn Khaldun noted that in 1353 a caravan of 12,000 loaded camels travelled from Cairo to Mali. Sulayman was a more frugal ruler than Musa ( one of the reasons why he was less popular than his brother). Ibn Battuta reported an unsuccessful coup attempt by the king’s senior wife and a prince. A war of succession broke out soon after his death in 1360.
Suleyman was mansa of the Mali Empire from 1341 to 1360. The brother of the powerful Kankan Musa I (Mansa Musa), he succeeded Musa's son Maghan (Magha) to the throne in 1341. His son Kassa briefly assumed the throne following his death in 1360, but was succeeded the same year by Maghan's son Mari Diata II.
Moroccan historian Ibn Battuta traveled to Timbuktu to visit Sulayman's court for a period of eight months in 1352–1353. While there, Ibn Battuta recorded a substantial description of life at the court, including complaints about Suleyman's miserliness, a sharp contrast to Sulayman's famously generous brother Kankan Musa.
Suleyman see Sulayman
Sulayman al-Mahri (Sulaiman al-Mahri) (Sulaiman Al Mahri ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman) (1480-1550/1553). Arab navigator and author of five Sailing Instructions. Besides all the various aspects of navigation, they contain some detailed itineraries which are remarkably accurate, like that from Diu to Malacca.
Sulaiman Al Mahri ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman was a 16th century Arab navigator. He was called "Al-Mahri," because he was a descendant of the Turkish tribe of Mahara. He was one of the most famous students of the philosopher and scientist Ibn Majid and lived during the reign of Ottoman Turks. He sailed across the Indian Ocean and wrote a book on the geography of the Indian Ocean and the islands of the Malay archipelago. He is best known for reducing Ibn Majids's list of stars for navigation from 70 to 15. Combinations of these lists of stars were used by Arab navigators and mariners up to the early 16th century.
The fifteenth-century Arabic book Kitab al-Fawa'id fi wal al-ilmi al bahri wa'l qawa'id (Book of Useful Information on the Principles and Rules of Navigation) was compiled by Ibn Majid and his student Sulaiman Al Mahri. In his journals, Al-Mahri noted the Islands off the west coast of Siam (Malaya). The most important destination covered by these navigational texts was Malaca, which had risen as the regions principle trading center for Arab navigators during the 15th century. Singapore, parts of Samarra, Jawa, China, the coasts of Burma and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were the fiscal points of his texts.
Al-Mahri grouped the shores of Malaya with Siam, and the mainland to the east with China as a single kingdom. Al-Mahri's division of Andaman and Nicobar Islands in to two parts helped Arab and Portuguese navigators. Even in the mid 16th century Sidi Ali Celeb translated Al Mahri's texts into Turkish and embroidered his work.
Sulaiman al-Mahri see Sulayman al-Mahri
Sulaiman Al Mahri ibn Ahmad ibn Sulayman see Sulayman al-Mahri
Mahri, Sulayman al- see Sulayman al-Mahri
Al-Mahri see Sulayman al-Mahri
Sulayman ibn ‘Abd al-Malik (Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik) (674/680-717). Umayyad Caliph (r. 715-717). He founded al-Ramla, where he continued to live after becoming caliph. In 715, Maslama ibn ‘Abd al-Malik besieged Constantinople.
Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik was an Umayyad caliph who ruled from 715 until 717. His father was Abd al-Malik, and he was a younger brother of the previous caliph, al-Walid I.
Under the rule of his brother al-Walid, Sulayman had been the governor of Palestine. In the tribal politics of the Near East at that time he allied himself to the Yamani grouping. When Yazid ibn al-Muhallab escaped from al-Hajjaj, he made his way to Sulayman in Palestine. Sulayman granted him refuge. Al-Hajjaj pressed al-Walid about this and the caliph commanded Sulayman to send him Yazid in chains. Sulayman had his own son chained to Yazid approach al-Walid and present Sulayman's forcefully written letter insisting on sanctuary for Yazid. Al-Walid accepted this and so informed al-Hajjaj.
Sulayman was hailed as caliph on February 23, 715, the day al-Walid died. He appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab governor of Mesopotamia (Iraq) and Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman financial administrator there. Salih was also instructed to arrest and execute the family of al-Hajjaj, one of two prominent leaders (the other was Qutaibah bin Muslim) who had supported the succession of al-Walid's son Yazid, rather than Sulayman. Al-Hajjaj had predeceased al-Walid, so he was no longer alive to pose a threat.
Qutaibah was considerably alarmed at the ascension of Sulayman to the throne. He first sent an envoy to the caliph with letters asserting his loyalty as he was loyal to previous caliphs, urging Sulayman not to replace Qutaibah as governor of Khurasan with Yazid ibn al-Muhallab and, finally, if the envoy saw Sulayman favoring Yazid, with Qutaibah's renunciation of allegiance to Sulayman. Sulayman sent the envoy back with a confirmation of Qutaibah's governorship. However, Qutaibah had already attempted to rebel. Qutaibah's troops rejected his appeal to revolt, killed him and sent his head to Sulayman.
Sulayman appointed Yazid ibn al-Muhallab governor of Khurasan. Yazid was happy to escape the financial strictness of Salih ibn Abd al-Rahman in Mesopotamia (Iraq).
As he remained close to the Yamanis, Sulayman did not move to Damascus on becoming Caliph, but rather he remained in Ramla in Palestine. His Khurasani governor Yazid continued expansion into mountainous parts of Iran such as Tabaristan. Sulayman also sent a large army under Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik to attack the Byzantine capital, Constantinople. This was a determined attack that lasted through the winter. The caliph's armies also advanced beyond Byzantine territory and took a Slavic stronghold. The siege of Constantinople occasioned hunger inside the city and among the besiegers. It ultimately proved to be unsuccessful. Sulayman was on his way to attack the Byzantine border when he died in 717.
On the domestic scene, Sulayman had wells built in Mecca for pilgrims, and organized enforcement of prayers. Suleiman was known for his exceptional oratory skills and was fondly remembered.
In 716-717. Sulayman named his son Ayyub heir to the throne. However, Ayyub died that same year. Sulayman considered naming a son to replace him. However, he received advice that it was uncertain the son fighting at Constantinople was still alive and others were too young. So, he passed these over, broke with tradition by not maintaining a hereditary dynasty and appointed Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz as his successor. Umar had a reputation as being one of the most wise, capable and pious persons of that era. This appointment was rare, although it technically fulfilled the Sunni Islamic method of appointing a successor, whereas hereditary succession did not.
Sulayman donned an impressive green robe and turban and seeing himself in the mirror commented on how he looked to be in the prime of life. A week later he was dead. He died on either September 22 or October 1, 717. Al-Tabari records the following anecdote: "According to 'Ali--Suhaym b. Hafs: A slave girl belonging to Sulayman looked at him one day, and he asked, "How do you like what you see?" She recited:
You are the best object of delight—if only you would last./ But man does not possess immortality.
I do not know of any blemish in you / that other people have, except that you will pass away.
Sulayman bin Abd al-Malik see Sulayman ibn ‘Abd al-Malik
Sulayman ibn Qutlumish (d. 1086). Ancestor of the Rum Saljuqs. He became chief of the Saljuqs after the death of his father in the battle against his relative Alp Arslan in 1064 and founded an independent kingdom. He defeated the Byzantine general Isaac Comnenos, weakened by a mutiny of his Norman mercenaries, and concluded a treaty with Emperor Michael VII. In 1081, he conquered Izniq (Nicaea) and made it his capital. He defeated the ‘Uqaylid Muslim ibn Quraysh in 1085.
Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza‘i (Yasar) (d.685). Early Shi‘a. Having adopted Islam in the time of the Prophet, he became an ardent supporter of al-Husayn ibn ‘Ali but did nothing to support him when he approached Kufa. Later he led the so-called “Penitents,” the people of Kufa who regretted not having supported al-Husayn. In the battle at ‘Ayn al-Warda against Husayn ibn al-Numayr al-Sakuni, Sulayman was killed and the Shi‘a cause routed.
Yasar see Sulayman ibn Surad al-Khuza‘i
Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad (Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad Sulayman) (Mulay Slimane) (Mulay Suleiman) (1760 – 1822). Sharifian Filali of Morocco (r.1792-1822). After many campaigns inside his country and against the Ottomans of Algiers, the learned and pious Sulayman was able to assure his authority by 1803. After several years of peace and prosperity, he had to take the field again, especially against the Berbers of the central Atlas.
Mulay Slimane was the Sultan of Morocco from 1792 to 1822. Slimane was one of five sons of Mohammed III who fought a civil war for control of the kingdom. Slimane emerged victorious in 1795, and the country remained largely passive for the subsequent decades of his rule. He was a member of the Alaouite dynasty.
Slimane continued his father's centralization and expansion of the kingdom, and most notably ended the piracy that had long operated from Morocco's coast. As part of Morocco's long running conflict with Spain and Portugal, Slimane halted all trade with Europe. However, he continued his father's policies of close relations with the United States.
Mulay Slimane is also the author of some literary works. Most famous is his Inayat Ula li al-Majd. It is dedicated to one of his teachers, Mohammed ibn Abd al-Salam al-Fasi and discusses the origins of the Fasi al-Fihris. Another famous essay is his Hawashi 'ala Sharh al-Kharshi a work on religion. Some of his other works are Taqayid fi Hukm al-Ghina and Risala fi Hukm al-Ghina (The latter was modeled after Ibn Taymiyya's Kitlb al-Sama' wa al-Raqs). Mulay Slimane is also the author of several letters.
Mawlay Abu'l-Rabi' ibn Sulayman see Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad
Mulay Slimane see Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad
Slimane, Mulay see Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad
Mulay Suleiman see Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad
Suleiman, Mulay see Sulayman, Mawlay Abu’l-Rabi’ ibn Muhammad
Sulaym ibn Mansur. Name of a powerful tribe belonging to the Banu Qays ‘Aylan. They commanded the road to Medina as well as the access to Najd and the Persian Gulf, possessing mineral wealth of gold and silver. At first hostile to the Prophet, they adopted Islam around 630. The Sulaymi Abu’l-A‘war was one of the lieutenants of the Umayyad Caliph Mu‘awiya I. They refused to recognize Marwan I ibn al-Hakan and supported the anti-caliph ‘Abd Allah ibn al-Zubayr. Later they took the side of the Carmathians. In 1052, the Fatimid Caliph al-Mustansir sent the Egyptian branch, together with the Banu Hilal, to conquer North Africa.
Suleiman Bal (d. c. 1776). Leader of the Tukolor Islamic revolution in Futa Toro. Upon returning from the pilgrimage to Mecca, he preached conversion to Islam throughout Futa Toro (around 1769). At the time, Futa Toro was subjected to invasions from the neighboring Berbers. Soule-Budu, the Futa Toro ruler of the Denianke dynasty, was unable to repel the attacks. Suleiman rallied disaffected soldiers, nobles, and Muslims to fight both the Berbers and the Denianke. The revolution triumphed in 1776, about the same time as the Futa Islamic revolution in Futa Jalon (Guinea). Suleiman declined to rule the new Islamic state, handing over power to Abdul Kader. He himself was killed in a campaign against the Berbers.
Bal, Suleiman see Suleiman Bal
Suleiman, Fadwa
Fadwa Suleiman or Fadwa Soliman (b. May 17, 1970, Aleppo, Syria – d. August 17, 2017, Paris, France) was a Syrian actress of an Alawite descent who led a Sunni-majority protest against Bashar al-Assad's government in Homs. She became one of the most recognized faces of the Syrian Civil War.
Born in Aleppo, Suleiman moved to the capital Damascus to pursue an acting career where she performed in numerous plays, Maria's Voice and Media, and in at least a dozen TV shows, including in The Diary of Abou Antar and Little Ladies. She also played an art teacher at an orphanage in Small Hearts, a television series that helped raise awareness about human organ trafficking and was broadcast by several Arab channels. She also acted in an Arabic adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House at the Qabbani theater in Damascus.
At the beginning of the Syrian uprising in 2011, Suleiman was one of the few outspoken actresses against Assad's government. Knowing her fate would be death or prison, Suleiman wanted to participate in the demonstration to dispel what she said was public perception that all in the Alawite community, which comprised around 10 per cent of the Syrian population, supported Assad's government. She also wanted to dismiss the government's narrative that those who participate in protests were either Islamists or armed terrorists. She appeared at rallies demanding Assad's removal, sharing the podium with soccer star Abdelbasset Sarout, one of a number of Syrian celebrities who backed the revolt.
Suleiman also delivered impassioned monologues to the camera, calling for peaceful protests to continue across the country until Assad was overthrown. In one video message in 2011, Suleiman said security forces were searching Homs neighborhoods for her, and beating people to force them to reveal her hiding place. She cut her hair short like a boy, and moved from house to house to evade capture. In 2012, she fled with her husband via Lebanon and moved to France, where they resided in Paris.
On August 17, 2017, Suleiman died of cancer while in exile in Paris, aged 47.
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| Suleiman I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 | |||||
| Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Padishah) | |||||
| Reign | 30 September 1520 – 6 September 1566 | ||||
| Predecessor | Selim I | ||||
| Successor | Selim II | ||||
| Ottoman caliph (Amir al-Mu'minin) | |||||
| Predecessor | Selim I | ||||
| Successor | Selim II | ||||
| Born | 6 November 1494[4]: 541 Trabzon, Trabzon Eyalet, Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Died | 6 September 1566 (aged 71)[4]: 545 Szigetvár, Kingdom of Hungary | ||||
| Burial |
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| Consorts | [5] Mahidevran Hatun | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| Dynasty | Ottoman | ||||
| Father | Selim I | ||||
| Mother | Hafsa Sultan | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
| Tughra |  | ||||
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Historians often classify Islamic history into what is known as the 'classical' and 'modern' periods. Two of the greatest empires of the classical period were the Umayyad and the Abbasid dynasties which collectively ruled the Muslim world for around six centuries without serious opposition. But this was far from being the case during the modern period, when the political situation shifted radically within the Muslim world following the emergence of a number of regional powers. Three of the most influential political powers of this period were the Ottomans, Safavids and the Mughals. Like the Safavid and Mughal dynasties, the Ottomans left a remarkable and enduring historical and cultural legacy. At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire extended across three continents, namely Europe, Africa, and Asia. Founded in 1300 by Uthman Bey, a Turkish chieftain, the Ottoman Empire became a formidable political and military superpower during the sixteenth century under the wise and able stewardship of Suleiman the Magnificent, the tenth ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
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Süleyman the Magnificent (born November 1494–April 1495—died September 5/6, 1566, near Szigetvár, Hungary) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 who not only undertook bold military campaigns that enlarged his realm but also oversaw the development of what came to be regarded as the most characteristic achievements of Ottoman civilization in the fields of law, literature, art, and architecture.
Early life and reign
Süleyman was the only son of Sultan Selim I. He became sancak beyi (governor) of Kaffa in Crimea during the reign of his grandfather Bayezid II and of Manisa in western Asia Minor in the reign of Selim I.
Süleyman succeeded his father as sultan in September 1520 and began his reign with campaigns against the Christian powers in central Europe and the Mediterranean. Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes, long under the rule of the Knights of St. John, in 1522–23. At Mohács, in August 1526, Süleyman broke the military strength of Hungary, the Hungarian king, Louis II, losing his life in the battle (see Battle of Mohács).
The vacant throne of Hungary was now claimed by Ferdinand I, the Habsburg archduke of Austria, and by John (János Zápolya), who was voivode (lord) of Transylvania, and the candidates of the “native” party opposed to the prospect of Habsburg rule. Süleyman agreed to recognize John as a vassal king of Hungary, and in 1529, hoping to remove at one blow all further intervention by the Habsburgs, he laid siege to Vienna. Difficulties of time and distance and of bad weather and lack of supplies, no less than the resistance of the Christians, forced the sultan to raise the siege.
The campaign was successful, however, in a more immediate sense, for John was to rule thereafter over most of Hungary until his death, in 1540. A second great campaign in 1532, notable for the brilliant Christian defense of Güns, ended as a mere foray into Austrian border territories. The sultan, preoccupied with affairs in the East and convinced that Austria was not to be overcome at one stroke, granted a truce to the archduke Ferdinand in 1533.
The death of John in 1540 and the prompt advance of Austrian forces once more into central Hungary drove Süleyman to modify profoundly the solution that he had imposed in the time of John. His campaigns of 1541 and 1543 led to the emergence of three distinct Hungarys—Habsburg Hungary in the extreme north and west; Ottoman Hungary along the middle Danube, a region under direct and permanent military occupation by the Ottomans and with its main centre at Buda; and Transylvania, a vassal state dependent on the Porte and in the hands of John Sigismund, the son of John Zápolya.
Between 1543 and 1562 the war in Hungary continued, broken by truces and with few notable changes on either side; the most important was the Ottoman capture of the Banat of Temesvár (Timișoara) in 1532. After long negotiations a peace recognizing the status quo in Hungary was signed in 1562.
The campaigns against Persia
Süleyman waged three major campaigns against Persia. The first (1534–35) gave the Ottomans control over the region of Erzurum in eastern Asia Minor and also witnessed the Ottoman conquest of Iraq, a success that rounded off the achievements of Selim I. The second campaign (1548–49) brought much of the area around Lake Van under Ottoman rule, but the third (1554–55) served rather as a warning to the Ottomans of the difficulty of subduing the Safavid state in Persia. The first formal peace between the Ottomans and the Safavids was signed in 1555, but it offered no clear solution to the problems confronting the Ottoman sultan on his eastern frontier.
The naval strength of the Ottomans became formidable in the reign of Süleyman. Khayr al-Dīn, known in the West as Barbarossa, became kapudan (admiral) of the Ottoman fleet and won a sea fight off Preveza, Greece (1538), against the combined fleets of Venice and Spain, which gave to the Ottomans the naval initiative in the Mediterranean until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Tripoli in North Africa fell to the Ottomans in 1551. A strong Spanish expedition against Tripoli was crushed at Jarbah (Djerba) in 1560, but the Ottomans failed to capture Malta from the Knights of St. John in 1565. Ottoman naval power was felt at this time even as far afield as India, where a fleet sent out from Egypt made an unsuccessful attempt in 1538 to take the town of Diu from the Portuguese.
The later years of Süleyman were troubled by conflict between his sons. Mustafa had become by 1553 a focus of disaffection in Asia Minor and was executed in that year on the order of the sultan. There followed during 1559–61 a conflict between the princes Selim and Bayezid over the succession to the throne, which ended with the defeat and execution of Bayezid. Süleyman himself died while besieging the fortress of Szigetvár in Hungary.
Domestic achievements
Süleyman surrounded himself with administrators and statesmen of unusual ability, men such as his grand viziers (chief ministers) İbrahim, Rüstem, and Mehmed Sokollu. ʿUlamāʾ (specialists in Islamic law), notably Abū al-Suʿūd (Hoca Çelebi) and Kemalpaşazade, made the period memorable, as did the great Turkish poet Bâkî and the architect Sinan. Süleyman built strong fortresses to defend the places he took from the Christians and adorned the cities of the Islamic world (including Mecca, Damascus, and Baghdad) with mosques, bridges, aqueducts, and other public works. In general, Süleyman completed the task of transforming the previously Byzantine city of Constantinople into Istanbul, a worthy centre for a great Turkish and Islamic empire.
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History shows that Suleiman was a veteran military commander who personally led no fewer than thirteen major military expeditions during his rule, ten of which were in Europe, and the other three in Asia. He developed and strengthened Ottoman military power and supremacy like never before. His fleet of warships became one of the world's largest naval powers under the stewardship of his gifted Admiral Khair al-Din Barbarossa, so that the Ottoman navy had complete supremacy of the seas. His vast army was also one of the most disciplined and professional combat forces of the time. In short, under Suleiman's able leadership, the Ottoman Empire became one of the world's great military superpowers.
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Suleiman I[a] (6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566.[4]: 541–545 The longest-reigning Ottoman sultan, his rule brought about a notable peak in the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power, and raised the number of the empire's subjects to at least 25 million people.
After succeeding his father Selim I on 30 September 1520, Suleiman began his reign by launching military campaigns against the Christian powers of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean; Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes in 1522–1523, and at Mohács in 1526, Suleiman broke the strength of the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary was subsequently divided, with much of it incorporated directly into the empire. However, his defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1529 prevented him from advancing further into Europe. Suleiman also fought for years against the Shia Muslim Safavid Empire of Persia and annexed Mesopotamia. In North Africa, Ottoman Tripolitania was established and the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and into the Persian Gulf.[7]: 61
Suleiman personally instituted major judicial changes pertaining to society, education, taxation, and criminal law. His reforms, carried out in conjunction with the Ottoman chief judicial official Ebussuud Efendi, brought together the two forms of Ottoman law: sultanic (Kanun) and Islamic (Sharia).[8] He was also a distinguished poet and goldsmith; and a great patron of fine culture, overseeing the "Golden Age" of the Ottoman Empire which was at the height of its artistic, literary, and architectural development.[9]
In 1534, Suleiman broke with Ottoman tradition by marrying Hürrem (well known in Europe as Roxelana), an influential woman from his Imperial Harem who helped usher in the "Sultanate of Women" period in Ottoman history. Upon Suleiman's death in 1566, he was succeeded by his and Hürrem's son Selim II. The death of Suleiman marks a watershed moment in Ottoman history, although scholars typically regard the period after his death to be one of crisis and adaptation rather than of simple decline.[10][11][12] In the following decades, the Ottoman Empire began to experience significant political, institutional, and economic changes, a period often referred to as the Era of Transformation.[13]: 11 [14]
Alternative names and titles
Suleiman the Magnificent (محتشم سلیمان Muḥteşem Süleymân), as he was known in the West, was also called Suleiman the First (سلطان سلیمان اول Sulṭān Süleymān-ı Evvel), and Suleiman the Lawgiver (قانونی سلطان سلیمان Ḳânûnî Sulṭân Süleymân) for his reform of the Ottoman legal system.[15]
It is unclear when exactly the term Kanunî (the Lawgiver) first came to be used as an epithet for Suleiman. It is entirely absent from sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman sources and may date from the early 18th century.[16]
There is a tradition of Western origin, according to which Suleiman the Magnificent was "Suleiman II", but that tradition has been based on an erroneous assumption that Süleyman Çelebi was to be recognised as a legitimate sultan.[17]
Early life
Suleiman was born in Trabzon on the southern coast of the Black Sea to Şehzade Selim (later Selim I), probably on 6 November 1494, although this date is not known with absolute certainty or evidence.[18] His mother was Hafsa Sultan, a concubine convert to Islam of unknown origins, who died in 1534.[19]: 9 At the age of seven, Suleiman began studies of science, history, literature, theology and military tactics in the schools of the imperial Topkapı Palace in Constantinople. As a young man, he befriended Pargalı Ibrahim, a Greek slave who later became one of his most trusted advisers (but who was later executed on Suleiman's orders).[20] At age seventeen, he was appointed as the governor of first Kaffa (Theodosia), then Manisa, with a brief tenure at Edirne.
Accession
Upon the death of his father, Selim I (r. 1512–1520), Suleiman entered Constantinople and ascended to the throne as the tenth Ottoman sultan. An early description of Suleiman, a few weeks following his accession, was provided by the Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini:
Military campaigns
Conquests in Europe
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Upon succeeding his father, Suleiman began a series of military conquests, eventually leading to a revolt led by the Ottoman-appointed governor of Damascus in 1521. Suleiman soon made preparations for the conquest of Belgrade from the Kingdom of Hungary—something his great-grandfather Mehmed II had failed to achieve because of John Hunyadi's strong defense in the region. Its capture was vital in removing the Hungarians and Croats who, following the defeats of the Albanians, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Byzantines and the Serbs, remained the only formidable force who could block further Ottoman gains in Europe. Suleiman encircled Belgrade on 28 August 1521, with 250,000 Turkish soldiers and over 100 ships. and began a series of heavy bombardments from an island in the Danube.[21] Belgrade was made the seat of the Pashalik of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), and quickly became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by Constantinople.[22]
The road to Hungary and Austria lay open, but Suleiman turned his attention instead to the Eastern Mediterranean island of Rhodes, the home base of the Knights Hospitaller. Suleiman built a large fortification, Marmaris Castle, that served as a base for the Ottoman Navy. Following a five-month siege, Rhodes capitulated and Suleiman allowed the Knights of Rhodes to depart.[23] The conquest of the island cost the Ottomans 50,000[24][25] to 60,000[25] dead from battle and sickness (Christian claims went as high as 64,000 Ottoman battle deaths and 50,000 disease deaths).[25]
As relations between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire deteriorated, Suleiman resumed his campaign in Central Europe, and on 29 August 1526 he defeated Louis II of Hungary (1506–1526) at the Battle of Mohács. The Hungarian army, encouraged by the nobility to engage prematurely, launched a frontal assault that collapsed under coordinated Ottoman counterattacks. King Louis and much of the Hungarian aristocracy were killed, resulting in the destruction of the royal army and the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Hungary and Bohemia. The aftermath saw the partition of Hungary between the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Principality of Transylvania. The battle marked the beginning of sustained Ottoman–Habsburg wars and the decline of Hungary as an independent power. Upon encountering the lifeless body of King Louis, Suleiman is said to have lamented: "I came indeed in arms against him; but it was not my wish that he should be thus cut off before he scarcely tasted the sweets of life and royalty."[26] While Suleiman was campaigning in Hungary, Turkmen tribes in central Anatolia (in Cilicia) revolted under the leadership of Kalender Çelebi.[27]
Some Hungarian nobles proposed that Ferdinand, who was the ruler of neighboring Austria and tied to Louis II's family by marriage, be King of Hungary, citing previous agreements that the Habsburgs would take the Hungarian throne if Louis died without heirs.[21]: 52 However, other nobles turned to the nobleman John Zápolya, whom Suleiman supported. Under Charles V and his brother Ferdinand I, the Habsburgs reoccupied Buda and took possession of Hungary. Reacting in 1529, Suleiman marched through the valley of the Danube and regained control of Buda; in the following autumn, his forces laid siege to Vienna. This was to be the Ottoman Empire's most ambitious expedition and the apogee of its drive to the West. With a reinforced garrison of 16,000 men,[28] the Austrians inflicted the first defeat on Suleiman, sowing the seeds of a bitter Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry that lasted until the 20th century. His second attempt to conquer Vienna failed in 1532, as Ottoman forces were delayed by the siege of Güns and failed to reach Vienna. In both cases, the Ottoman army was plagued by bad weather, forcing them to leave behind essential siege equipment, and was hobbled by overstretched supply lines.[29]: 444 In 1533 the Treaty of Constantinople was signed by Ferdinand I, in which he acknowledged Ottoman suzerainty and recognised Suleiman as his "father and suzerain", he also agreed to pay an annual tribute and accepted the Ottoman grand vizier as his brother and equal in rank.[30][31][32][33][34]
By the 1540s, a renewal of the conflict in Hungary presented Suleiman with the opportunity to avenge the defeat suffered at Vienna. In 1541, the Habsburgs attempted to lay siege to Buda but were repulsed, and more Habsburg fortresses were captured by the Ottomans in two consecutive campaigns in 1541 and 1544 as a result,[21] In 1542, after Ferdinand's repeated sieges of Buda and Pest, Suleiman went to Edirne on 17 November 1542 to prepare for a new campaign and stayed there for a while. On 23 April 1543, he set out on another campaign against Hungary. On 8 August, after a two-week siege, Esztergom was captured by the Ottoman Empire. Within a few weeks, the cities of Siklós, Székesfehérvár and Szeged were also taken. Ferdinand and Charles were forced to conclude a humiliating five-year treaty with Suleiman. Ferdinand renounced his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary and was forced to pay a fixed yearly sum to the Sultan for the Hungarian lands he continued to control. Of more symbolic importance, the treaty referred to Charles V not as "Emperor" but as the "King of Spain", leading Suleiman to identify as the true "Caesar".[21]: 54 In 1552, Suleiman's forces laid siege to Eger, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the defenders led by István Dobó repelled the attacks and defended the Eger Castle.[35]
Suleiman, set out on his 13th expedition, Siege of Szigetvár on 1 May 1566, at the age of 72, after an absence of approximately 13 years. The Ottoman army, which arrived in Belgrade on 27 June and was joined by Sigismund Zapolya's forces, arrived in Szigetvár on 2 August. Suleiman arrived at the siege on 5 August and settled in his tent on a hill from which the siege could be seen. On 6 September, Suleiman died in his tent, one day before the fall of Szigetvár. His death was kept secret with great effort, with only the Sultan's innermost circle knowing of his demise. This was because the Ottomans feared that their soldiers would give up the battle if they knew that their leader had died, so his death was kept secret for 48 days. A courier was dispatched from the camp with a message for Suleiman's successor, Selim II.
Ottoman–Safavid War
Suleiman's father had made war with Persia a high priority. At first, Suleiman shifted attention to Europe and was content to contain Persia, which was preoccupied by its own enemies to its east. After Suleiman stabilized his European frontiers, he now turned his attention to Persia, the base for the rival Shia Muslim faction. The Safavid dynasty became the main enemy after two episodes. First, Shah Tahmasp killed the Baghdad governor loyal to Suleiman, and put his own man in. Second, the governor of Bitlis had defected and sworn allegiance to the Safavids.[21]: 51 As a result, in 1533, Suleiman ordered his Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha to lead an army into eastern Asia Minor where he retook Bitlis and occupied Tabriz without resistance. Suleiman joined Ibrahim in 1534. They made a push towards Persia, only to find the Shah sacrificing territory instead of facing a pitched battle, resorting to harassment of the Ottoman army as it proceeded along the harsh interior.[36] In 1535 Suleiman made a grand entrance into Baghdad. He enhanced his local support by restoring the tomb of Abu Hanifa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic law to which the Ottomans adhered.[37]
Attempting to defeat the Shah once and for all, Suleiman embarked upon a second campaign in 1548–1549. As in the previous attempt, Tahmasp avoided confrontation with the Ottoman army and instead chose to retreat, using scorched earth tactics in the process and exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the Caucasus.[36] Suleiman abandoned the campaign with temporary Ottoman gains in Tabriz and the Urmia region, a lasting presence in the province of Van, control of the western half of Azerbaijan and some forts in Georgia.[38]
In 1553, Suleiman began his third and final campaign against the Shah. Having initially lost territories in Erzurum to the Shah's son, Suleiman retaliated by recapturing Erzurum, crossing the Upper Euphrates and laying waste to parts of Persia. The Shah's army continued its strategy of avoiding the Ottomans, leading to a stalemate from which neither army made any significant gain. In 1555, a settlement known as the Peace of Amasya was signed, which defined the borders of the two empires. By this treaty, Armenia and Georgia were divided equally between the two, with Western Armenia, western Kurdistan, and western Georgia (incl. western Samtskhe) falling in Ottoman hands while Eastern Armenia, eastern Kurdistan, and eastern Georgia (incl. eastern Samtskhe) stayed in Safavid hands.[39] The Ottoman Empire obtained most of Iraq, including Baghdad, which gave them access to the Persian Gulf, while the Persians retained their former capital Tabriz and all their other northwestern territories in the Caucasus and as they were prior to the wars, such as Dagestan and all of what is now Azerbaijan.[40][41]
Campaigns in the Indian Ocean
Ottoman ships had been sailing in the Indian Ocean since the year 1518. Ottoman admirals such as Hadim Suleiman Pasha, Seydi Ali Reis[42] and Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis are known to have voyaged to the Mughal imperial ports of Thatta, Surat and Janjira. The Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great himself is known to have exchanged six documents with Suleiman the Magnificent.[42][43][44]
Suleiman led several naval campaigns against the Portuguese in an attempt to remove them and reestablish trade with the Mughal Empire. Aden in Yemen was captured by the Ottomans in 1538, in order to provide an Ottoman base for raids against Portuguese possessions on the western coast of the Mughal Empire.[45] Sailing on, the Ottomans failed against the Portuguese at the siege of Diu in September 1538, but then returned to Aden, where they fortified the city with 100 pieces of artillery.[45][46] From this base, Sulayman Pasha managed to take control of the whole country of Yemen, also taking Sanaa.[45]
With its strong control of the Red Sea, Suleiman successfully managed to dispute control of the trade routes to the Portuguese and maintained a significant level of trade with the Mughal Empire throughout the 16th century.[47]
From 1526 until 1543, Suleiman stationed over 900 Turkish soldiers to fight alongside the Somali Adal Sultanate led by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during the Conquest of Abyssinia.[48] After the first Ajuran-Portuguese war, the Ottoman Empire would in 1559 absorb the weakened Adal Sultanate into its domain. This expansion furthered Ottoman rule in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. This also increased its influence in the Indian Ocean to compete with the Portuguese Empire with its close ally, the Ajuran Empire.[49]
In 1564, Suleiman received an embassy from Aceh (a sultanate on Sumatra, in modern Indonesia), requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese. As a result, an Ottoman expedition to Aceh was launched, which was able to provide extensive military support to the Acehnese.[50]
The discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Ocean throughout the 16th century. The Ajuran Sultanate allied with the Ottomans defied the Portuguese economic monopoly in the Indian Ocean by employing a new coinage which followed the Ottoman pattern, thus proclaiming an attitude of economic independence in regard to the Portuguese.[51]
Mediterranean and North Africa
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Having consolidated his conquests on land, Suleiman was greeted with the news that the fortress of Koroni in Morea (the modern Peloponnese, peninsular Greece) had been lost to Charles V's admiral, Andrea Doria. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Suleiman, who saw it as an early indication of Charles V's intention to rival Ottoman dominance in the region. Recognizing the need to reassert naval preeminence in the Mediterranean, Suleiman appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of Khair ad Din, known to Europeans as Barbarossa. Once appointed admiral-in-chief, Barbarossa was charged with rebuilding the Ottoman fleet.
In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 26,700 soldiers (10,000 Spaniards, 8,000 Italians, 8,000 Germans, and 700 Knights of St. John)[25] to victory against the Ottomans at Tunis, which together with the war against Venice the following year, led Suleiman to accept proposals from Francis I of France to form an alliance against Charles.[21]: 51 Huge Muslim territories in North Africa were annexed. The piracy carried on thereafter by the Barbary pirates of North Africa can be seen in the context of the wars against Spain.
In 1541, the Spaniards led an unsuccessful expedition to Algiers. In 1542, facing a common Habsburg enemy during the Italian Wars, Francis I sought to renew the Franco-Ottoman alliance. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of the alliance, with the Ottoman Empire promising to send 60,000 troops against the territories of the German king Ferdinand, as well as 150 galleys against Charles, while France promised to attack Flanders, harass the coasts of Spain with a naval force, and send 40 galleys to assist the Turks for operations in the Levant.[52]
In August 1551, Ottoman naval commander Turgut Reis attacked and captured Tripoli, which had been a possession of the Knights of Malta since 1530. In 1553, Turgut Reis was nominated commander of Tripoli by Suleiman, making the city an important center for piratical raids in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of Tripolitania.[53] In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the Battle of Djerba.[54]
Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, when the Knights Hospitallers were re-established as the Knights of Malta in 1530, their actions against Muslim navies quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who assembled another massive army in order to dislodge the Knights from Malta. The Ottomans invaded Malta in 1565, undertaking the Great Siege of Malta, which began on 18 May and lasted until 8 September, and is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George. At first, it seemed that this would be a repeat of the battle on Rhodes, with most of Malta's cities destroyed and half the Knights killed in battle; but a relief force from Spain entered the battle, resulting in the loss of 10,000 Ottoman troops and the victory of the local Maltese citizenry.[55]
Legal and political reforms
While Sultan Suleiman was known as "the Magnificent" in the West, he was always Kanuni Suleiman or "The Lawgiver" (قانونی) to his Ottoman subjects. The overriding law of the empire was the Shari'ah, or Sacred Law, which as the divine law of Islam was outside of the Sultan's powers to change. Yet an area of distinct law known as the Kanuns (قانون, canonical legislation) was dependent on Suleiman's will alone, covering areas such as criminal law, land tenure and taxation.[21]: 244 He collected all the judgments that had been issued by the nine Ottoman Sultans who preceded him. After eliminating duplications and choosing between contradictory statements, he issued a single legal code, all the while being careful not to violate the basic laws of Islam.[56]: 20
It was within this framework that Suleiman, supported by his Grand Mufti Ebussuud, sought to reform the legislation to adapt to a rapidly changing empire. When the Kanun laws attained their final form, the code of laws became known as the kanun‐i Osmani (قانون عثمانی), or the "Ottoman laws". Suleiman's legal code was to last more than three hundred years.[56]: 21
The Sultan also played a role in protecting the Jewish subjects of his empire for centuries to come. In late 1553 or 1554, on the suggestion of his favorite doctor and dentist, the Spanish Jew Moses Hamon, the Sultan issued a firman (فرمان) formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.[7]: 124 Furthermore, Suleiman enacted new criminal and police legislation, prescribing a set of fines for specific offenses, as well as reducing the instances requiring death or mutilation. In the area of taxation, taxes were levied on various goods and produce, including animals, mines, profits of trade, and import-export duties.
Higher medreses provided education of university status, whose graduates became imams (امام) or teachers. Educational centers were often one of many buildings surrounding the courtyards of mosques, others included libraries, baths, soup kitchens, residences and hospitals for the benefit of the public.[57]
The arts under Suleiman
Under Suleiman's patronage, the Ottoman Empire entered the golden age of its cultural development. Hundreds of imperial artistic societies (called the اهل حرف Ehl-i Hiref, "Community of the Craftsmen") were administered at the Imperial seat, the Topkapı Palace. After an apprenticeship, artists and craftsmen could advance in rank within their field and were paid commensurate wages in quarterly annual installments. Payroll registers that survive testify to the breadth of Suleiman's patronage of the arts, the earliest of the documents dating from 1526 list 40 societies with over 600 members. The Ehl-i Hiref attracted the empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and from the recently conquered territories in Europe, resulting in a blend of Arabic, Turkish and European cultures.[9] Artisans in service of the court included painters, book binders, furriers, jewellers and goldsmiths. Whereas previous rulers had been influenced by Persian culture (Suleiman's father, Selim I, wrote poetry in Persian), Suleiman's patronage of the arts saw the Ottoman Empire assert its own artistic legacy.[7]: 70
The long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent is also recognized as the apogee of Ottoman political and cultural development, with extensive patronage in art and architecture by the sultan, his family, and his high-ranking officials.[58] The master architect of the classical period, Mimar Sinan, served as the chief court architect (mimarbaşi) from 1538 until his death in 1588.[59] Sinan credited himself with the design of over 300 buildings,[60] though another estimate of his works puts it at nearly 500.[61] He is credited with designing buildings as far as Buda (present-day Budapest) and Mecca.[62] Sinan was probably not present to directly supervise projects far from the capital, so in these cases his designs were most likely executed by his assistants or by local architects.[63][64] This also demonstrates the ability of the central Ottoman state to commission and plan building projects across its vast territory at the time, a practice that also helped to establish Ottoman sovereignty in these provinces through the construction of monuments in a visibly Ottoman style.[63] Architects in the capital were able to draw plans and delegate them to other architects who carried them out locally, while the imperial administration developed a set of standards for planning and construction and was able to coordinate the procurement and transportation of the necessary materials.[63]
Suleiman himself was an accomplished poet, writing in Persian and Turkish under the takhallus (nom de plume) Muhibbi (محبی, "Lover"). Some of Suleiman's verses have become Turkish proverbs, such as the well-known Everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story[citation needed]. When his young son Mehmed died in 1543, he composed a moving chronogram to commemorate the year: Peerless among princes, my Sultan Mehmed.[65] In Turkish the chronogram reads شهزادهلر گزیدهسی سلطان محمدم (Şehzadeler güzidesi Sultan Muhammed'üm), in which the Arabic Abjad numerals total 955, the equivalent in the Islamic calendar of 1543 AD. In addition to Suleiman's own work, many great talents enlivened the literary world during Suleiman's rule, including Fuzûlî and Bâkî. The literary historian Elias John Wilkinson Gibb observed that "at no time, even in Turkey, was greater encouragement given to poetry than during the reign of this Sultan".[66] Suleiman's most famous verse is:
The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate,
But in this world a spell of health is the best state.
What men call sovereignty is a worldly strife and constant war;
Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates.[7]: 84
Suleiman is credited with large-scale cultivation of the tulip and it is thought that the tulips spread throughout Europe because of Suleiman.[67] It is thought that diplomats who visited him were gifted the flowers while visiting his court.[67][68] Some of the nobles in the court had seen the tulip and they also began growing their own.[69] Soon images of the tulip were woven into rugs and fired into ceramics.[70]
Artistic developments
Among the leading poets who emerged during the reign of Suleiman I are Fuzûlî , Bâki , Pir Sultan Abdal and Bağdatlı Ruhi . Matrakçı Nasuh was one of the important painters, historians and miniature artists of the period. Also living in this period and writing the Suleimanname , Shahnameh Arifî, Nakkaş Nigarî and calligrapher Ahmed Karahisari are among the leading artists of the period.
During the reign of Sultan Suleiman, the Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha also brought mythological statues known as the Three Beauties from Buda to Istanbul after the Battle of Mohács and erected them in his palace in the At Meydanı. Although these statues attracted attention, they were not permanent because they were seen as idols by some circles and were not welcomed. In addition to these statues, works by some Eastern and Western thinkers were brought from Buda to Istanbul and a library was established. These works were obtained as war booty from the large library established by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. In this respect, Suleiman takes his place as an influential and important sultan in the Ottoman library culture. At the same time, in 1532, during the Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry, Suleiman the Magnificent wanted to show his superiority in every field, so he had a four-tiered crown made by Venetian merchants for 115,000 ducats through the Italian chief treasurer Alvise Gritti and with the encouragement of Makbul İbrahim Pasha . The four layers of the crown represent the four continents known at the time, and it is also known that it was made as a reference to the famous three-tiered crown of the Pope. Although it is thought that the crown was melted down after Süleyman, its legend in Europe did not end, and it was frequently depicted by European painters on the heads of Ottoman Sultans such as Mehmed IV and Ahmed I.[71][72]
Suleiman also became renowned for sponsoring a series of monumental architectural developments within his empire. The Sultan sought to turn Constantinople into the center of Islamic civilization by a series of projects, including bridges, mosques, palaces and various charitable and social establishments. The greatest of these were built by the Sultan's chief architect, Mimar Sinan, under whom Ottoman architecture reached its zenith. Sinan became responsible for over three hundred monuments throughout the empire, including his two masterpieces, the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques—the latter built in Adrianople (now Edirne) in the reign of Suleiman's son Selim II. Suleiman also restored the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Walls of Jerusalem (which are the current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem), renovated the Kaaba in Mecca, and constructed a complex in Damascus.[73]
Şehzade Mosque complex, commissioned by Suleiman was dedicated to Şehzade Mehmed, his son who died in 1543.[74] The mosque complex was built between 1545 and 1548.[75] Like all imperial külliyes, it included multiple buildings, of which the mosque was the most prominent element. The mosque has a rectangular floor plan divided into two equal squares, with one square occupied by the courtyard and the other occupied by the prayer hall. Two minarets stand on either side at the junction of these two squares.[75]
In 1550, through Mimar Sinan, Suleiman began construction for the Süleymaniye complex, a monumental religious and charitable complex dedicated to him. Construction finished in 1557. Following the example of the earlier Fatih complex, it consists of many buildings arranged around the main mosque in the center, on a planned site occupying the summit of a hill in Istanbul. The buildings included the mosque itself, four general madrasas, a madrasa specialized for medicine, a madrasa specialized for hadiths (darülhadis), a mektep, a darüşşifa, a caravanserai, a tabhane, an imaret, a hammam, rows of shops, and a cemetery with two mausoleums.[76][77] The site was formerly occupied by the grounds of the Old Palace (Eski Saray) built by Mehmet II, which had been damaged by fire.[76] By this point, Suleiman had also moved his own residence and the royal family to Topkapı Palace.[78] In order to adapt the hilltop site, Sinan had to begin by laying solid foundations and retaining walls to form a wide terrace. The overall layout of buildings is less rigidly symmetrical than the Fatih complex, as Sinan opted to integrate it more flexibly into the existing urban fabric.[76] Thanks to its refined architecture, its scale, its dominant position on the city skyline, and its role as a symbol of Suleiman's powerful reign, the Süleymaniye Mosque complex is one of the most important symbols of Ottoman architecture and is often considered by scholars to be the most magnificent mosque in Istanbul.[79][80][81]
The prayer hall consists of a central dome surrounded by semi-domes on four sides, with smaller domes occupying the corners. Smaller semi-domes also fill the space between the corner domes and the main semi-domes. This design represents the culmination of the previous domed and semi-domed buildings in Ottoman architecture, bringing complete symmetry to the dome layout.[82] An early version of this design, on a smaller scale, had been used before Sinan as early as 1520 or 1523 in the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir.[83][84] While a cross-like layout had symbolic meaning in Christian architecture, in Ottoman architecture this was purely focused on heightening and emphasizing the central dome.[85]
Under his reign, The Topkapı Palace was greatly expanded with the permanent addition of the Imperial Harem to the Palace. From the reign of Suleiman, Topkapi not only served as the administrative center of the Empire, but also as the Imperial Residence of all succeeding Ottoman Sultans and the entire Ottoman Royal family until the 19th century.
Personal life
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Consorts
Suleiman had two known consorts:
- Mahidevran Hatun, a Circassian or Albanian or Montenegrin concubine,[87][88] she entered in Süleyman's harem when he was prince in Manisa, mother of his eldest surviving Şehzade Mustafa, who was executed in 1553.[89]
- Hürrem Sultan, known in West as Roxelana (m. 1533), Suleiman's only favorite concubine during his reign, and later his legal wife and first Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire, first Ottoman woman to get involved in the state affairs and the administration of the empire, mother of most of his children, including his successor Selim II, and the only woman with whom he had monogamous relationship during his entire reign. Her influence and authority over the Ottoman empire started an era known as Sultanate of Women, where the Imperial women would exercise unimaginable levels of power and influence throughout the empire. She was possibly a daughter of a Ruthenian Orthodox priest.[88]
Sons
Suleiman I had at least eight sons:
- Şehzade Mahmud (c. 1513, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 29 October 1520, Old Palace, Istanbul, and buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);[90]
- Şehzade Murad (c. 1515, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 19 October 1520, Old Palace, and Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);[90]
- Şehzade Mustafa (c. 1515, Manisa Palace, Manisa – executed, by the order of his father, 6 October 1553, Konya, buried in Muradiye Complex, Bursa), with Mahidevran;[91]
- Şehzade Mehmed (1521, Old Palace, Istanbul – 6 November 1543, Manisa Palace, Manisa, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), with Hürrem;
- Sultan Selim II (30 May 1524, Old Palace, Istanbul – 15 December 1574, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Selim II Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), with Hürrem;
- Şehzade Abdullah (c. 1525, Old Palace, Istanbul – c. 1528, Old Palace, Istanbul, and buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque),[90] with Hürrem;[89][92]
- Şehzade Bayezid (1527, Old Palace, Istanbul – executed by agents of his father on 25 September 1561, Qazvin, Safavid Empire, buried in Melik-i Acem Türbe, Sivas), with Hürrem;[92]
- Şehzade Cihangir (1531, Old Palace, Istanbul – 27 November 1553, Konya, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), with Hürrem;
Daughters
Suleiman had two daughters:
- Raziye Sultan (c. 1519 – c. 1520, and buried in Yahya Efendi mausoleum);[93]
- Mihrimah Sultan (September/November 1522,[94] Old Palace, Istanbul – 25 January 1578, Old Palace, Istanbul, buried in Suleiman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque), with Hürrem, married Rüstem Pasha in 1539;[89][95][96]
Relationship with Hurrem Sultan
Suleiman fell in love with Hurrem Sultan, a harem girl from Ruthenia, then part of Poland. Western diplomats, taking notice of the palace gossip about her, called her "Russelazie" or "Roxelana", referring to her Ruthenian origins.[97] The daughter of an Orthodox priest, she was captured by Tatars from Crimea, sold as a slave in Constantinople, and eventually rose through the ranks of the Harem to become Suleiman's favorite. Hurrem, a former concubine, became the legal wife of the Sultan, much to the astonishment of the observers in the palace and the city.[7]: 86 He also allowed Hurrem Sultan to remain with him at court for the rest of her life, breaking another tradition—that when imperial heirs came of age, they would be sent along with the imperial concubine who bore them to govern remote provinces of the Empire, never to return unless their progeny succeeded to the throne.[21]: 90
Hurrem was the first Ottoman woman to directly take part in state affairs of the Ottoman Empire and she acted as an advisor to Suleiman in taking decisions. She used to sign documents in his absence, attended Imperial council meetings, held meetings with Grand Viziers and ministers to discuss regarding state affairs, controlled the appointments and even removal of ministers, grand vizier and even the Sheikh-ul-Islam from office and corresponded with ambassadors and Foreign rulers, particularly with Sigismund II Augustus. She played a major role in the creation of the Polish-Ottoman alliance.[98] Suleiman not only declared her as his legal wife, but also created an Institutionalized title and position for her as the Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire, making her as the second most powerful person in the empire after Suleiman. Suleiman was completely loyal towards her for rest of his life, and his love for her and his decisions to grant her more powers, made rumors throughout the Ottoman court that the sultan had been bewitched.[99]
Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hurrem Sultan:
Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful ...
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf ...
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this room ...
My Istanbul, my Karaman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of misery ...
I'll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.[100]
Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha
Before his downfall, Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha was an inseparable friend and possible lover of Suleiman. In fact, he is referred to by his chroniclers as "the favourite" (Maḳbūl) along with "the executed" (Maḳtūl).[101][102] Historians state that Suleiman I is remembered for "his passion for two of his slaves: for his beloved Ibrahim when the sultan was a hot-blooded youth, and for his beloved Hurrem when he was mature."[102]
Ibrahim was originally a Christian from Parga (in Epirus), who was captured in a raid during the 1499–1503 Ottoman–Venetian War, and was given as a slave to Suleiman most likely in 1514.[103] Ibrahim converted to Islam and Suleiman made him the royal falconer, then promoted him to first officer of the Royal Bedchamber.[7]: 87 It was reported that they slept together in the same bed.[102][104] The sultan also built Ibrahim a lavish palace on the ancient Hippodrome, Istanbul's main forum outside the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace. Despite his following marriage and his new sumptuous residence, Ibrahim sometimes spent the night with Suleiman I at Topkapı Palace. In turn, the sultan occasionally slept at Ibrahim's lodgings.[102] Ibrahim Pasha rose to Grand Vizier in 1523 and commander-in-chief of all the armies. Suleiman also conferred upon Ibrahim Pasha the honor of beylerbey of Rumelia (first-ranking military governor-general), granting Ibrahim authority over all Ottoman territories in Europe, as well as command of troops residing within them in times of war. At the time, Ibrahim was only about thirty years old and lacked any actual military expertise; it is said that 'tongues wagged' at this unprecedented promotion straight from palace service to the two highest offices of the empire.[102]
During his thirteen years as Grand Vizier, his rapid rise to power and vast accumulation of wealth had made Ibrahim many enemies at the Sultan's court. Suleiman's suspicion of Ibrahim was worsened by a quarrel between the latter and the finance secretary (defterdar) İskender Çelebi. The dispute ended in the disgrace of Çelebi on charges of intrigue, with Ibrahim convincing Suleiman to sentence the defterdar to death. Ibrahim also supported Şehzade Mustafa as the successor of Suleiman. This caused disputes between him and Hurrem Sultan, who wanted her sons to succeed to the throne. Ibrahim eventually fell from grace with the Sultan and his wife. Suleiman consulted his Qadi, who suggested that Ibrahim be put to death. The Sultan recruited assassins and ordered them to strangle Ibrahim in his sleep.[105]
Succession
Sultan Suleiman's two known consorts (Hurrem and Mahidevran) had borne him six sons, four of whom survived past the 1550s. They were Mustafa, Selim, Bayezid, and Cihangir. The eldest was Mahidevran's son, while Selim, Bayezid, and Cihangir were born to Hurrem. Hurrem is usually held at least partly responsible for the intrigues in nominating a successor, though there is no evidence to support this.[89] Although she was Suleiman's wife, she exercised no official public role. This did not, however, prevent Hurrem from wielding powerful political influence. Until the reign of Ahmed I (1603–1617), the Empire had no formal means of nominating a successor, so successions usually involved the death of competing princes in order to avert civil unrest and rebellions.
By 1552, when the campaign against Persia had begun with Rüstem appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition, intrigues against Mustafa began. Rüstem sent one of Suleiman's most trusted men to report that since Suleiman was not at the head of the army, the soldiers thought the time had come to put a younger prince on the throne; at the same time, he spread rumours that Mustafa had proved receptive to the idea. Angered by what he came to believe were Mustafa's plans to claim the throne, the following summer upon return from his campaign in Persia, Suleiman summoned him to his tent in the Ereğli valley.[106] When Mustafa entered his father's tent to meet with him, Suleiman's eunuchs attacked Mustafa, and after a long struggle the mutes killed him using a bow-string.
Cihangir is said to have died of grief a few months after the news of his half-brother's murder.[7]: 89 The two surviving brothers, Selim and Bayezid, were given command in different parts of the empire. Within a few years, however, civil war broke out between the brothers, each supported by his loyal forces. With the aid of his father's army, Selim defeated Bayezid in Konya in 1559, leading the latter to seek refuge with the Safavids along with his four sons. Following diplomatic exchanges, the Sultan demanded from the Safavid Shah that Bayezid be either extradited or executed. In return for large amounts of gold, the Shah allowed a Turkish executioner to strangle Bayezid and his four sons in 1561,[7]: 89 clearing the path for Selim's succession to the throne five years later.
Death
On 6 September 1566, Suleiman, who had set out from Constantinople to command an expedition to Hungary, died before an Ottoman victory at the siege of Szigetvár in Hungary at the age of 71[4]: 545 and his Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha kept his death secret during the retreat for the enthronement of Selim II. The sultan's body was taken back to Istanbul to be buried, while his heart, liver, and some other organs were buried in Turbék, outside Szigetvár. A mausoleum constructed above the burial site came to be regarded as a holy place and pilgrimage site. Within a decade a mosque and Sufi hospice were built near it, and the site was protected by a salaried garrison of several dozen men.[107]
Legacy
The formation of Suleiman's legacy began even before his death. Throughout his reign literary works were commissioned praising Suleiman and constructing an image of him as an ideal ruler, most significantly by Celalzade Mustafa, chancellor of the empire from 1534 to 1557.[13]: 4–5, 250 Later Ottoman writers applied this idealised image of Suleiman to the Near Eastern literary genre of advice literature named naṣīḥatnāme, urging sultans to conform to his model of rulership and to maintain the empire's institutions in their sixteenth-century form. Such writers were pushing back against the political and institutional transformation of the empire after the middle of the sixteenth century, and portrayed deviation from the norm as it had existed under Suleiman as evidence of the decline of the empire.[108]: 54–55, 64 Western historians, failing to recognise that these 'decline writers' were working within an established literary genre and often had deeply personal reasons for criticizing the empire, long took their claims at face value and consequently adopted the idea that the empire entered a period of decline after the death of Suleiman.[108]: 73–77 Since the 1980s this view has been thoroughly reexamined, and modern scholars have come to overwhelmingly reject the idea of decline, labelling it an "untrue myth".[10]
Suleiman's conquests had brought under the control of the Empire major Muslim cities (such as Baghdad), many Balkan provinces (reaching present day Croatia and Hungary), and most of North Africa. His expansion into Europe had given the Ottoman Turks a powerful presence in the European balance of power. Indeed, such was the perceived threat of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleiman that Austria's ambassador Busbecq warned of Europe's imminent conquest: "On [the Turks'] side are the resources of a mighty empire, strength unimpaired, habituation to victory, endurance of toil, unity, discipline, frugality and watchfulness ... Can we doubt what the result will be? ... When the Turks have settled with Persia, they will fly at our throats supported by the might of the whole East; how unprepared we are I dare not say."[109] Suleiman's legacy was not, however, merely in the military field. The French traveler Jean de Thévenot bears witness a century later to the "strong agricultural base of the country, the well being of the peasantry, the abundance of staple foods and the pre-eminence of organization in Suleiman's government".[110]
Even thirty years after his death, "Sultan Solyman" was quoted by the English playwright William Shakespeare as a military prodigy in The Merchant of Venice, where the Prince of Morocco boasts about his prowess by saying that he defeated Suleiman in three battles (Act 2, Scene 1).[111][112]
Through the distribution of court patronage, Suleiman also presided over a golden age in Ottoman arts, witnessing immense achievement in the realms of architecture, literature, art, theology and philosophy.[9][113] Today the skyline of the Bosphorus and of many cities in modern Turkey and the former Ottoman provinces, are still adorned with the architectural works of Mimar Sinan. One of these, the Süleymaniye Mosque, is the final resting place of Suleiman: he is buried in a domed mausoleum attached to the mosque.
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Nevertheless, assessments of Suleiman's reign have frequently fallen into the trap of the Great Man theory of history. The administrative, cultural, and military achievements of the age were a product not of Suleiman alone, but also of the many talented figures who served him, such as grand viziers Ibrahim Pasha and Rüstem Pasha, the Grand Mufti Ebussuud Efendi, who played a major role in legal reform, and chancellor and chronicler Celalzade Mustafa, who played a major role in bureaucratic expansion and in constructing Suleiman's legacy.[4]: 542
In an inscription dating from 1537 on the citadel of Bender, Moldova, Suleiman the Magnificent gave expression to his power:[114]
Suleiman, as sculpted by Joseph Kiselewski, is present on one of the 23 relief portraits over the gallery doors of the House Chamber of the United States Capitol that depicts historical figures noted for their work in establishing the principles that underlie American law.[115]
See also
- List of revolts during Suleiman's reign
- Muhteşem Yüzyıl, TV series based on his life
Notes
- (Ottoman Turkish: سلیمان اول, romanized: Süleymân-ı Evvel; Modern Turkish: I. Süleyman, IPA: [biɾinˈdʒi sylejˈman]; 6 November 1494
Citations
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That the Ottomans might have had a different view was demonstrated by Sultan Sulaymān the Magnificent, who called himself the shah of Baghdad in 'Iraq (Shah-i Bagdād-i 'Irāq), the Caesar of Rome (qayṣar-i Rūm), and the sultan in Egypt (Miṣra (i.e. Mısıra) Sulṭān) in the inscription in the fortress of Bender (Bendery, Tighina) in Moldova, AH 945 (29 May 1538–18 May 1539). The title qayṣar-i Rūm (Caesar of Rome) was a traditional designation of the Byzantine emperor in Persian and Ottoman sources (from the Arabic al-qayṣar al-Rūm).
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historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation
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the conventional narrative of Ottoman history – that in the late sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire entered a prolonged period of decline marked by steadily increasing military decay and institutional corruption – has been discarded.
- Woodhead, Christine (2011). "Introduction". In Woodhead, Christine (ed.). The Ottoman World. p. 5.
Ottomanist historians have largely jettisoned the notion of a post-1600 'decline'
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Further reading
- Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02396-7.
- İnalcık, Halil; Cemal Kafadar, eds. (1993). Süleyman the Second and His Time. Istanbul: The Isis Press. ISBN 975-428-052-5.; deals with Suleiman 1494–1566
- Lamb, Harold. Suleiman the Magnificent Sultan of the East (1951) online
- Necipoğlu, Gülru (2005). The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691123264. OCLC 1204337149.
- Parry, V. J. "The Ottoman Empire, 1520–1566." in The New Cambridge Modern History II: The Reformation 1520–1559 (2nd ed 1990): 570–594 online
- Yermolenko, Galina I., ed. Roxolana in European literature, history and culture Archived 26 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine (Routledge, 2016) ISBN 9780754667612
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As a profoundly cultured and enlightened sovereign, and an accomplished poet and devout Muslim, Sulaiman showered his subjects with money, wealth and gifts at a time when his European counterparts were busy oppressing, looting and humiliating their people. According to the historians of the time, the European visitors to Istanbul returned to their native countries to relate stories about Sulaiman's sense of justice, fair play, tolerance and civility. Indeed, the Europeans not only considered him to be an exemplary ruler, they also rated his achievements very highly and wished their own rulers were as just, civilized and enlightened as Suleiman was. That is why Suleiman became known throughout Europe as "el magnifico" -- "the Magnificent."
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Suleyman I (Qanuni) (Suleyman the Magnificent) (Süleyman the Lawgiver) (Süleyman Muhteşem) (Kanuni) (b. November 6, 1494–April 1495 — d. September 5/6, 1566, near Szigetvár, Hungary). Greatest of the Ottoman sultans. Peace loving by nature, he took part in thirteen great campaigns in Europe and Asia. In 1521, he conquered Belgrade and the next year the island of Rhodes. In 1526, the Hungarians were defeated at Mohacs and Buda was temporarily occupied. 1529 saw the siege of Vienna, which was however raised soon. The various embassies to Austria had no success, and in 1532 Suleyman started upon what the Turkish sources call “the German campaign against the king of Spain.” However, in 1533, an armistice was concluded with Austria.
Suleyman’s next campaign was directed against Persia, which avoided the battle. In 1534, the sultan made his ceremonial entrance in Baghdad, where he stayed for four months and built the mausoleum of Abu Hanifa. He also visited Najaf, Kufa and Karbala’. In 1541 and 1543, he was again in Hungary, where Turkish administration was introduced. The war against Persia was resumed in 1548 but without success, and in 1555 a treaty was concluded at Amasia, where Suleyman received the Austrian embassy under Ogier Giselin de Busbecq. It could only obtain an armistice. The sultan died during the siege of Szigeth.
Suleyman was a pious man, and must have been a born ruler. As a poet, he used the pen-name of Muhibbi. Following the principles of his predecessors, he elaborated the system of state institutions by promulgating the “Canon,” which deals mainly with the organization of the army, the laws of landed property, the police and the feudal code. During his reign, the Ottoman Empire established its place in international affairs. The Christian states had lost all hope of driving the Turks out of Europe, and King Francis concluded an alliance with the Ottoman sultan. The Turkish fleet began to be active in the Mediterranean, in the Red Sea and in the Indian Ocean. The possession of Aden and Yemen was secured for the empire.
Under Suleyman, Ottoman civilization gained its own special character in the field of literature and especially in that of architecture with the works of Sinan in Istanbul, Baghdad, Konya, Jerusalem and Mecca.
A chronology of Suleyman’s life reads as follows:
Suleyman was born in November of 1494 as the only son of Sultan Selim I.
Early in the sixteenth century, Suleyman became sacak beyi, the governor of Kaffa in the Crimea.
Around 1512, Suleyman moved to Anatolia, where he became governor in Manisa.
In 1520, following the death of his father, Suleyman became the new sultan. He immediately set out on campaigns against the Christian powers in Europe.
In 1521, Belgrade (today’s Serbia) fell to the Ottomans.
In 1522, the island of Rhodes fell to the Ottomans. This meant the end of the rule of the Knights of St. John.
In 1526, Suleyman struck a final defeat on the Hungarians at the battle of Mohacs. Their king was killed, and Suleyman supported the new king John. John became the vassal king under the Ottomans.
In 1529, Suleyman started a short-lived and unsuccessful siege to Vienna.
In 1532, there was an important victory against Austria, where Ottoman forces looted large parts of the country. However, Austria still was not put under direct Ottoman rule, as the sultan was mainly occupied with his Asian neighbors at this time.
In 1534, a campaign was launched against Persia.
In 1535, both Iraq and the region of Erzurum was conquered after the defeat of the Persians.
In 1538, the Ottomans won the sea battle off Preveza under the leadership of Khayr ud-Din, known in Europe as Barbarossa. This made the Ottomans the leading power in the Mediterranean Sea.
From 1541 to 1562, there was a war in Hungary that led to few changes in the situation with regards to Ottoman dominance.
In 1548, a second campaign was launched against Persia.
In 1549, the region around Van Lake came under Ottoman control.
In 1551, Tripoli fell to the Ottomans, giving the empire control over all of the eastern Mediterranean coast from today’s Macedonia to southern Tunisia (including today’s Greece (EU), Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Libya.)
In 1553, Suleyman’s son, Mustafa, rebelled against his father’s rule and received many supporters in Anatolia. Suleyman’s reaction was to have Mustafa executed.
In 1554, a third campaign was launched against Persia.
In 1555, a formal peace was signed between the Safavids of Persia and the Ottomans, without substantial changes in the borders between the states.
In 1559, two other sons of Suleyman, Selim and Bayazid, began fighting over the succession to the sultanate.
In 1560, a strong Spanish campaign against Jerba was crushed by Ottoman troops. Suleyman’s son Bayazid was executed, leaving Selim heir of the sultanate.
In 1565, the Ottomans do not succeed in capturing Malta from the Knights of St. John.
On September 5, 1566, Suleyman died near Szigetvar in Hungary.
Süleyman I, as the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566, not only undertook bold military campaigns that enlarged his realm, he also oversaw the development of what came to be regarded as the most characteristic achievements of Ottoman civilization in the fields of law, literature, art, and architecture.
Süleyman was the only son of Sultan Selim I. He became sancak beyi (governor) of Kaffa in the Crimea during the reign of his grandfather Bayezid II and of Manisa in western Asia Minor in the reign of Selim I.
Süleyman succeeded his father as sultan in September 1520 and began his reign with campaigns against the Christian powers in central Europe and the Mediterranean. Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes, long under the rule of the Knights of St. John, in 1522. At Mohács, in August 1526, Süleyman broke the military strength of Hungary, and the Hungarian king, Louis II, lost his life in the battle.
The vacant throne of Hungary was claimed by Ferdinand I, the Habsburg archduke of Austria, and by John (János Zápolya), who was voivode (lord) of Transylvania, and the candidates of the “native” party opposed to the prospect of Habsburg rule. Süleyman agreed to recognize John as a vassal king of Hungary, and in 1529, hoping to remove at one blow all further intervention by the Habsburgs, he laid siege to Vienna. Difficulties of time and distance and of bad weather and lack of supplies, no less than the resistance of the Christians, forced the sultan to raise the siege.
The campaign was successful, however, in a more immediate sense, for John was to rule thereafter over most of Hungary until his death, in 1540. A second great campaign in 1532, notable for the brilliant Christian defense of Güns, ended as a mere foray into Austrian border territories. The sultan, preoccupied with affairs in the East and convinced that Austria was not to be overcome at one stroke, granted a truce to the archduke Ferdinand in 1533.
The death of John in 1540 and the prompt advance of Austrian forces once more into central Hungary drove Süleyman to modify profoundly the solution that he had imposed in the time of John. His campaigns of 1541 and 1543 led to the emergence of three distinct Hungarys—Habsburg Hungary in the extreme north and west; Ottoman Hungary along the middle Danube, a region under direct and permanent military occupation by the Ottomans and with its main center at Buda; and Transylvania, a vassal state dependent on the Porte and in the hands of John Sigismund, the son of John Zápolya.
Between 1543 and 1562 the war in Hungary continued, broken by truces and with few notable changes on either side. The most important was the Ottoman capture of the Banat of Temesvár (Timişoara) in 1532. After long negotiations a peace recognizing the status quo in Hungary was signed in 1562.
Süleyman waged three major campaigns against Persia. The first (1534–35) gave the Ottomans control over the region of Erzurum in eastern Asia Minor and also witnessed the Ottoman conquest of Iraq, a success that rounded off the achievements of Selim I. The second campaign (1548–49) brought much of the area around Lake Van under Ottoman rule, but the third (1554–55) served rather as a warning to the Ottomans of the difficulty of subduing the Ṣafavid state in Persia. The first formal peace between the Ottomans and the Ṣafavids was signed in 1555, but it offered no clear solution to the problems confronting the Ottoman sultan on his eastern frontier.
The naval strength of the Ottomans became formidable in the reign of Süleyman. Khayr al-Dīn, known in the West as Barbarossa, became kapudan (admiral) of the Ottoman fleet and won a sea fight off Preveza, Greece (1538), against the combined fleets of Venice and Spain, which gave to the Ottomans the naval initiative in the Mediterranean until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Tripoli in North Africa fell to the Ottomans in 1551. A strong Spanish expedition against Tripoli was crushed at Jarbah (Djerba) in 1560, but the Ottomans failed to capture Malta from the Knights of St. John in 1565. Ottoman naval power was felt at this time even as far afield as India, where a fleet sent out from Egypt made an unsuccessful attempt in 1538 to take the town of Diu from the Portuguese.
The later years of Süleyman were troubled by conflict between his sons. Mustafa had become by 1553 a focus of disaffection in Asia Minor and was executed in that year on the order of the sultan. There followed during 1559–61 a conflict between the princes Selim and Bayezid over the succession to the throne, which ended with the defeat and execution of Bayezid. Süleyman himself died while besieging the fortress of Szigetvár in Hungary.
Süleyman surrounded himself with administrators and statesmen of unusual ability, men such as his grand viziers (chief ministers) İbrahim, Rüstem, and Mehmed Sokollu. ʿUlamāʾ (specialists in Islamic law), notably Abū al-Suʿūd (Hoca Çelebi) and Kemalpaşazade, made the period memorable, as did the great Turkish poet Bâkî and the architect Sinan. Süleyman built strong fortresses to defend the places he took from the Christians and adorned the cities of the Islamic world (including Mecca, Damascus, and Baghdad) with mosques, bridges, aqueducts, and other public works. In general, Süleyman completed the task of transforming the previously Byzantine city of Constantinople into Istanbul, a worthy center for a great Turkish and Islamic empire.
Suleyman’s regime was marked by strong territorial advances in North Africa, central Europe, Bessarabia and Iraq. However, he also oversaw great advances in fields like law, literature, art and architecture. His nickname, Kanuni, is best translated into “the Lawgiver,” indicating his importance in these fields.
Suleyman put strong emphasis on building strong fortresses to defend captured Christian cities, and he improved the infrastructure of many cities in the Muslim world, like Mecca, Damascus and Baghdad. However, most remarkable was that during his time, Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, was fully transformed into a Muslim city through its new organization, architecture and institutions.
At the time of Suleyman's death the Ottoman Empire, with its unrivaled military strength, economic riches and territorial extent, was the world's foremost power. Suleyman's conquests had brought under the control of the Empire the major Muslim cities (Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, and Baghdad), many Balkan provinces (reaching present day Croatia and Austria), and most of North Africa. His expansion into Europe had given the Ottoman Turks a powerful presence in the European balance of power. Indeed, such was the perceived threat of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleyman that many believed that the Ottoman conquest of Europe was imminent.
Even thirty years after his death "Sultan Solyman" was quoted by the English author William Shakespeare as a military prodigy in The Merchant of Venice (Act 2, Scene 1).
Suleyman's legacy was not, however, merely in the military field. The administrative and legal reforms which earned Suleyman the name Law Giver ensured the Empire's survival long after his death, an achievement which took many generations of decadent heirs to undo.
Through his personal patronage, Suleiman also presided over the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire, representing the pinnacle of the Ottoman Turks' cultural achievement in the realm of architecture, literature, art, theology and philosophy. Today, the skyline of the Bosphorus, and of many cities in modern Turkey and the former Ottoman provinces, are still adorned with the architectural works of Mimar Sinan. One of these, the Süleymaniye Mosque, is the final resting place of Suleyman and Herenzaltan. They are buried in separate domed mausoleums attached to the mosque.
Qanuni see Suleyman I
Suleyman the Magnificent see Suleyman I
Suleyman the Lawgiver see Suleyman I
Suleyman Muhtesem see Suleyman I
Kanuni see Suleyman I
Suleyman II (Suleiman II) (Suleyman-i sani) (Suleyman Ibrahim II) (April 15, 1642, Istanbul, Ottoman Empire - June 22/23, 1691, Edirne, Ottoman Empire). Ottoman sultan (r. November 8, 1687 - June 22, 1691).
Suleiman II (Süleymān-i sānī) was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1687 to 1691. The younger brother of Mehmed IV (1648–87), Suleiman II was born at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul and spent most of his life in the kafes (cage), a kind of luxurious prison for princes of the blood within the Topkapı Palace (it was designed to ensure that none could organize a rebellion). His mother was Saliha Dilâşub Sultan, a Valide Sultan of Serbian descent.
When he was approached to accept the throne after his brother's deposition in 1687, Suleiman II assumed that the delegation had come to kill him and it was only with the greatest persuasion that he could be tempted out of the palace to be ceremonially girded with the Sword of Osman.
Hardly able to take control of events himself, Suleiman II nevertheless made a shrewd choice by appointing Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha as his Grand Vizier. Under Köprülü's leadership the Turks halted an Austrian advance into Serbia and crushed an uprising in Bulgaria. Suleiman II died at Edirne Palace in 1691. He married Khadija, without issue.
Despite only four years in power, Suleyman was able to strengthren structures and administration in the Ottoman Empire, as well as reconquer territory lost under the last years of the preceding sultans (his brother’s) regime.
The army mutiny that brought Süleyman to the throne and deposed his brother continued violently through the early part of his reign, and the Ottomans suffered a series of military defeats in the Balkans. In 1689, however, a member of the Köprülü family, which earlier in the century had given Turkey two outstanding viziers (ministers), came to power. Fazıl Mustafa Paşa became grand vizier, re-established order, drove the Austrians out of Bulgaria and Transylvania, and retook Belgrade and Niš in 1690. Süleyman, allowing Fazıl Mustafa Paşa a free hand in the government, succeeded in introducing reforms to lighten the tax burden and to improve the condition of his Christian subjects.
Suleiman II see Suleyman II
Suleyman-i sani see Suleyman II
Suleyman Ibrahim II see Suleyman II
Suleyman Celebi (Suleyman Dede) (d.1421/1429, Bursa, Ottoman Empire). Ottoman poet from Bursa. He is the earliest Ottoman poet of whom an original poem written in Turkish has survived. It is the Hymn on the Prophet’s nativity, often recited at religious ceremonies, in particular at the festival of the Prophet’s birthday (in Arabic, mawlid).
Suleyman Celebi was one of the most famous early poets of Anatolia. Süleyman appears to have been the son of an Ottoman minister, Ahmed Paşa, who served in the court of Sultan Murad I. Süleyman became a leader of the Khalwatīyah dervish order and then imam (religious leader) to the court of the Ottoman sultan Bayezid I (1389–1402). After Bayezid’s death, Süleyman took the position of imam in a mosque in Bursa.
Süleyman’s most famous and only surviving work is the great religious poem Mevlûd-i Nebi, or Mevlûd-i Peygamberi (“Hymn on the Prophet’s Nativity").
The Mevlûd, as it is more commonly called, tells the story of the Prophet Muḥammad’s birth, life, and death; his miracles; and his journey to heaven. Written in simple 15th-century Ottoman Turkish style, it is a work inspired with religious fervor and is often recited at religious ceremonies, particularly funerals in present Turkey. It is chanted during the celebrations of the Prophet’s birthday.
Celebi, Suleyman see Suleyman Celebi
Suleyman Dede see Suleyman Celebi
Dede, Suleyman see Suleyman Celebi
Suleyman Pasha (1316-1357/1359). Eldest son of the Ottoman sultan Orkhan. He was the first to cross to the European shore of the Dardanelles with permanent results by taking Gallipoli and the whole of Rumelia. He was buried in Bulayr, a symbol of the firm resolve never again to abandon the new won ground. His tomb became a place of national pilgrimage.
Suleyman Pasha struck a bold blow to the weakened Byzantine Empire on behalf of the Turkish people, which gave the Turks a permanent establishment on the European side of the Hellespont. This event took place in 1354.
The Ottoman writers pass over in silence the previous incursions of the Turks into Europe, which gained no conquest and led to no definite advantage, but they dwell fully on this expedition of Suleyman, and adorn it with poetic legends of the vision that appeared to the young chieftain as he mused on the sea-shore near the ruins of Cyzicus. They tell how the crescent of the moon rose before him as the emblem of his race, and united the continents of Europe and Asia with a chain of silver light, while temples and palaces floated up out of the great deep, and mysterious voices blended with the sounding sea, exciting in his heart a yearning for predestined enterprise, and a sense of supernatural summons. The dream may have been both the effect of previous schemes, and the immediate stimulant that "made Suleyman put his scheming into act".
With only thirty-nine of his chosen warriors, he embarked at night in a Genoese bark on the Asiatic side of the Hellespont, and surprised the Castle of Tzympe (Cinbi), on the opposite coast. Reinforcements soon pushed across to the adventurers, and in three days Tzympe was garrisoned by three thousand Ottoman troops.
At this crisis, Cantacuzene was so severely pressed by his rival Palaeologus, that, instead of trying to dislodge the invaders from Tzympe, or even remonstrating against their occupation of that fortress, he implored the help of Orhan against his domestic enemy. Orhan gave up his brother-in-law's cause, and provided assistance to the old emperor. But he ordered that assistance to be administered by Suleyman, the conqueror of Tzympe, an axillary the most formidable to those with whom he was to operate. Ten thousand more Turks were sent across to Suleyman, who defeated the Slavonic forces which Palaeologus had brought to the empire, but the victors never left the continent on which they hid conquered. Cantacuzene offered Suleyman ten thousand ducats to retire from Tzympe. The sum was agreed on, but before the ransom was paid, a terrible earthquake shook the whole district of Thrace, and threw down the walls of its fenced cities.
The Greeks trembled at this visitation of Providence, and the Turks saw it as the hand of God acting in their favor. They thought He was smoothing the path for their conquest of the Promised Land. Two of Suleyman's captains, Adjé Bey, and Ghas Fasil, instantly occupied the important town of Gallipoli, marching in over the walls which the earthquake had shattered, meeting no resistance by the awe-struck inhabitants. The fields in the neighborhood still are named after Adjé; and the tombs of these two captains of the Osmanli host are still to be seen in Gallipoli. They were buried on the scene of their great exploit. Turkish pilgrims gather there in veneration of the warriors, who gave to the Turkish people the strong city, the key of the Hellespont, the gate to easy passage into Europe.
Suleyman, on hearing that his troops had occupied Gallipoli, refused to give up Tzympe. He threw large colonies of Turks and Arabs across the straits, which he planted in the territory, which had been thus acquired. The fortifications of Gallipoli were repaired, and that important post was strongly garrisoned. Suleyman took possession of other places in the Thracian Chersonese, which he strengthened with new walls and secured with detachments of his best troops.
The Greek Emperor made a formal complaint of these aggressions to Orhan, who replied that it was not the force of arms that had opened the Greek cities to his son, but the will of God, manifested in the earthquake. The Emperor rejoined that the question was not how the Turks had marched into the cities, but whether they had any right to retain them. Orhan asked for time to think, and afterward made proposals for negotiating the restoration of the cities, but he had firmly resolved to take full advantage of the opportunities for expanding the Ottoman power.
The Ottoman power was now the basis for operations in Europe which had been acquired, and was afforded by the perpetual dissensions that raged between Cantacuzene and his son-in-law Palaeologus – each of whom was continually soliciting Orhan's aid against the other, and obtaining that aid according to what seemed best for the interests of the Turkish sovereign, who was the real enemy of them both.
Suleyman, in whom Orhan Gazi saw grand prospects of further success for the house of Ottoman, died before his father. An accidental fall from his horse, while he was engaged in the favorite Turkish sport of falconry, caused his death. Suleyman was not buried at Bursa, but, by Orhan's order, a tomb was built for him on the shore of the Hellespont, over which he had led the Turkish people to a second empire.
Suleyman Pasha (Khadim -- “the eunuch”) (d.1548). Ottoman general and Grand Vizier. From 1524 until 1534, he was governor of Egypt, and the first to send the yearly revenue, the so-called Egyptian treasure, to Istanbul. In reply to the appeal to Bahadur, the sultan of Gujarat (r.1526-1537), he was ordered by Sultan Suleyman II to equip a fleet to strengthen Turkish power in the Red Sea and to drive the Portuguese out of India. On his way out, he conquered Aden and Yemen, but failed in India for lack of support.
Khadim see Suleyman Pasha
The Eunuch see Suleyman Pasha
Suli, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al- (Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli) (al-Suli) (c.880-946). Chess-player, historian and man of letters of Turkish origin. At the court of the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Muktafi bi-‘llah he defeated the leading chess-player of his time al-Mawardi. He wrote a history of the ‘Abbasids, a handbook for clerks in the chancelleries, and compiled a collection from ‘Abbasid poets. Criticized for his plagiarism and vanity, his compilations nevertheless had influence on later literature.
Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Yahya al-Suli was a nadim (boon companion) of successive Abbasid caliphs. He was noted for his poetry and scholarship and wrote a chronicle called Akhbar al-Radi wa'l-Muttaqi, detailing the reigns of the caliphs al-Radi and al-Muttaqi. He was a legendary shatranj (an ancestor of chess) player, still remembered to this day.
Upon the death of al-Radi in 940, al-Suli fell into disfavor with the new ruler due to his sympathies towards Shi'a Islam and as a result had to go into exile at Basra, where he spent the rest of his life in poverty. Al-Suli's great-grandfather was the Turkish prince Sul-takin and his uncle the poet Ibrahim ibn al-'Abbas as-Suli.
Al-Suli's chronicle has long been in the shadow of more famous chronicles such as those of al-Mas'udi and Miskawayh, perhaps because al-Suli was seen as a nadim and not a serious scholar. However, the account is significant for offering an eyewitness account of the transition to Buyid rule. It was during al-Radi's caliphate in 936 that the position of "amir al-umara" was created, which allowed for the transfer of executive power from the caliph to an "amir", a position that the Buyids later used to establish a new dynasty alongside the Abbasids. After this point, the Abbasids never regained their full power. However, al-Suli's account makes it clear that not all power was transferred to the amirs. He treats the period as a time of crisis, but not the end of the Abbasid caliphate.
Al-Suli came to prominence as a shatranj player sometime in between 902 and 908 when he beat al-Mawardi, the court shatranj champion of al-Muktafi, the Caliph of Baghdad. Al-Mawardi was so thoroughly beaten he fell from favor, and was replaced by al-Suli. After al-Muktafi's death, al-Suli remained in the favor of the succeeding ruler, al-Muqtadir and in turn ar-Radi.
Al-Suli's shatranj-playing ability became legendary and he is still considered one of the best Arab players of all time. His biographer ben Khalliken, who died in 1282, said that even in his lifetime great shatranj players were said to play like al-Suli. Documentary evidence from his lifetime is limited, but the endgames of some of the matches he played are still in existence. His skill in blindfold chess was also mentioned by contemporaries. Al-Suli also taught shatranj. His most well known pupil is al-Lajlaj ("the stammerer").
One of his most prominent achievements is his book, Kitab Ash-Shatranj (Book of Chess), which was the first scientific book ever written on chess strategy. It contained information on common chess openings, standard problems in middle game, and annotated end games. It also contains the first known description of the knight's tour problem. Many later European writers based their work on modern chess on al-Suli's work. Apart from his chess book he also wrote several historical books.
Al-Suli created a shatranj problem called "al-Suli's Diamond" that went unsolved for over a thousand years. David Hooper and Ken Whyld studied this problem in the mid-1980s but were unable to crack it. It was finally solved by Russian Grandmaster Yuri Averbakh.
As this is a shatranj, the "queen" (counsellor) is a very weak piece, able to move only a single square diagonally. It is also possible to win in shatranj by capturing all pieces except the king.
Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-Suli see Suli, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-
Suli, al- see Suli, Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya al-
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| Suleiman I | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (Padishah) | |||||
| Reign | 30 September 1520 – 6 September 1566 | ||||
| Predecessor | Selim I | ||||
| Successor | Selim II | ||||
| Ottoman caliph (Amir al-Mu'minin) | |||||
| Predecessor | Selim I | ||||
| Successor | Selim II | ||||
| Born | 6 November 1494[4]: 541 Trabzon, Trabzon Eyalet, Ottoman Empire | ||||
| Died | 6 September 1566 (aged 71)[4]: 545 Szigetvár, Kingdom of Hungary | ||||
| Burial |
| ||||
| Consorts | [5] Mahidevran Hatun | ||||
| Issue | |||||
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| Dynasty | Ottoman | ||||
| Father | Selim I | ||||
| Mother | Hafsa Sultan | ||||
| Religion | Sunni Islam | ||||
| Tughra | | ||||
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Historians often classify Islamic history into what is known as the 'classical' and 'modern' periods. Two of the greatest empires of the classical period were the Umayyad and the Abbasid dynasties which collectively ruled the Muslim world for around six centuries without serious opposition. But this was far from being the case during the modern period, when the political situation shifted radically within the Muslim world following the emergence of a number of regional powers. Three of the most influential political powers of this period were the Ottomans, Safavids and the Mughals. Like the Safavid and Mughal dynasties, the Ottomans left a remarkable and enduring historical and cultural legacy. At the height of its power, the Ottoman Empire extended across three continents, namely Europe, Africa, and Asia. Founded in 1300 by Uthman Bey, a Turkish chieftain, the Ottoman Empire became a formidable political and military superpower during the sixteenth century under the wise and able stewardship of Suleiman the Magnificent, the tenth ruler of the Ottoman Empire.
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Süleyman the Magnificent (born November 1494–April 1495—died September 5/6, 1566, near Szigetvár, Hungary) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 who not only undertook bold military campaigns that enlarged his realm but also oversaw the development of what came to be regarded as the most characteristic achievements of Ottoman civilization in the fields of law, literature, art, and architecture.
Early life and reign
Süleyman was the only son of Sultan Selim I. He became sancak beyi (governor) of Kaffa in Crimea during the reign of his grandfather Bayezid II and of Manisa in western Asia Minor in the reign of Selim I.
Süleyman succeeded his father as sultan in September 1520 and began his reign with campaigns against the Christian powers in central Europe and the Mediterranean. Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes, long under the rule of the Knights of St. John, in 1522–23. At Mohács, in August 1526, Süleyman broke the military strength of Hungary, the Hungarian king, Louis II, losing his life in the battle (see Battle of Mohács).
The vacant throne of Hungary was now claimed by Ferdinand I, the Habsburg archduke of Austria, and by John (János Zápolya), who was voivode (lord) of Transylvania, and the candidates of the “native” party opposed to the prospect of Habsburg rule. Süleyman agreed to recognize John as a vassal king of Hungary, and in 1529, hoping to remove at one blow all further intervention by the Habsburgs, he laid siege to Vienna. Difficulties of time and distance and of bad weather and lack of supplies, no less than the resistance of the Christians, forced the sultan to raise the siege.
The campaign was successful, however, in a more immediate sense, for John was to rule thereafter over most of Hungary until his death, in 1540. A second great campaign in 1532, notable for the brilliant Christian defense of Güns, ended as a mere foray into Austrian border territories. The sultan, preoccupied with affairs in the East and convinced that Austria was not to be overcome at one stroke, granted a truce to the archduke Ferdinand in 1533.
The death of John in 1540 and the prompt advance of Austrian forces once more into central Hungary drove Süleyman to modify profoundly the solution that he had imposed in the time of John. His campaigns of 1541 and 1543 led to the emergence of three distinct Hungarys—Habsburg Hungary in the extreme north and west; Ottoman Hungary along the middle Danube, a region under direct and permanent military occupation by the Ottomans and with its main centre at Buda; and Transylvania, a vassal state dependent on the Porte and in the hands of John Sigismund, the son of John Zápolya.
Between 1543 and 1562 the war in Hungary continued, broken by truces and with few notable changes on either side; the most important was the Ottoman capture of the Banat of Temesvár (Timișoara) in 1532. After long negotiations a peace recognizing the status quo in Hungary was signed in 1562.
The campaigns against Persia
Süleyman waged three major campaigns against Persia. The first (1534–35) gave the Ottomans control over the region of Erzurum in eastern Asia Minor and also witnessed the Ottoman conquest of Iraq, a success that rounded off the achievements of Selim I. The second campaign (1548–49) brought much of the area around Lake Van under Ottoman rule, but the third (1554–55) served rather as a warning to the Ottomans of the difficulty of subduing the Safavid state in Persia. The first formal peace between the Ottomans and the Safavids was signed in 1555, but it offered no clear solution to the problems confronting the Ottoman sultan on his eastern frontier.
The naval strength of the Ottomans became formidable in the reign of Süleyman. Khayr al-Dīn, known in the West as Barbarossa, became kapudan (admiral) of the Ottoman fleet and won a sea fight off Preveza, Greece (1538), against the combined fleets of Venice and Spain, which gave to the Ottomans the naval initiative in the Mediterranean until the Battle of Lepanto in 1571. Tripoli in North Africa fell to the Ottomans in 1551. A strong Spanish expedition against Tripoli was crushed at Jarbah (Djerba) in 1560, but the Ottomans failed to capture Malta from the Knights of St. John in 1565. Ottoman naval power was felt at this time even as far afield as India, where a fleet sent out from Egypt made an unsuccessful attempt in 1538 to take the town of Diu from the Portuguese.
The later years of Süleyman were troubled by conflict between his sons. Mustafa had become by 1553 a focus of disaffection in Asia Minor and was executed in that year on the order of the sultan. There followed during 1559–61 a conflict between the princes Selim and Bayezid over the succession to the throne, which ended with the defeat and execution of Bayezid. Süleyman himself died while besieging the fortress of Szigetvár in Hungary.
Domestic achievements
Süleyman surrounded himself with administrators and statesmen of unusual ability, men such as his grand viziers (chief ministers) İbrahim, Rüstem, and Mehmed Sokollu. ʿUlamāʾ (specialists in Islamic law), notably Abū al-Suʿūd (Hoca Çelebi) and Kemalpaşazade, made the period memorable, as did the great Turkish poet Bâkî and the architect Sinan. Süleyman built strong fortresses to defend the places he took from the Christians and adorned the cities of the Islamic world (including Mecca, Damascus, and Baghdad) with mosques, bridges, aqueducts, and other public works. In general, Süleyman completed the task of transforming the previously Byzantine city of Constantinople into Istanbul, a worthy centre for a great Turkish and Islamic empire.
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History shows that Suleiman was a veteran military commander who personally led no fewer than thirteen major military expeditions during his rule, ten of which were in Europe, and the other three in Asia. He developed and strengthened Ottoman military power and supremacy like never before. His fleet of warships became one of the world's largest naval powers under the stewardship of his gifted Admiral Khair al-Din Barbarossa, so that the Ottoman navy had complete supremacy of the seas. His vast army was also one of the most disciplined and professional combat forces of the time. In short, under Suleiman's able leadership, the Ottoman Empire became one of the world's great military superpowers.
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Suleiman I[a] (6 November 1494 – 6 September 1566), commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent, was the Ottoman sultan from 1520 to 1566.[4]: 541–545 The longest-reigning Ottoman sultan, his rule brought about a notable peak in the Ottoman Empire's economic, military and political power, and raised the number of the empire's subjects to at least 25 million people.
After succeeding his father Selim I on 30 September 1520, Suleiman began his reign by launching military campaigns against the Christian powers of Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean; Belgrade fell to him in 1521 and Rhodes in 1522–1523, and at Mohács in 1526, Suleiman broke the strength of the Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary was subsequently divided, with much of it incorporated directly into the empire. However, his defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1529 prevented him from advancing further into Europe. Suleiman also fought for years against the Shia Muslim Safavid Empire of Persia and annexed Mesopotamia. In North Africa, Ottoman Tripolitania was established and the Ottoman fleet dominated the seas from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and into the Persian Gulf.[7]: 61
Suleiman personally instituted major judicial changes pertaining to society, education, taxation, and criminal law. His reforms, carried out in conjunction with the Ottoman chief judicial official Ebussuud Efendi, brought together the two forms of Ottoman law: sultanic (Kanun) and Islamic (Sharia).[8] He was also a distinguished poet and goldsmith; and a great patron of fine culture, overseeing the "Golden Age" of the Ottoman Empire which was at the height of its artistic, literary, and architectural development.[9]
In 1534, Suleiman broke with Ottoman tradition by marrying Hürrem (well known in Europe as Roxelana), an influential woman from his Imperial Harem who helped usher in the "Sultanate of Women" period in Ottoman history. Upon Suleiman's death in 1566, he was succeeded by his and Hürrem's son Selim II. The death of Suleiman marks a watershed moment in Ottoman history, although scholars typically regard the period after his death to be one of crisis and adaptation rather than of simple decline.[10][11][12] In the following decades, the Ottoman Empire began to experience significant political, institutional, and economic changes, a period often referred to as the Era of Transformation.[13]: 11 [14]
Alternative names and titles
Suleiman the Magnificent (محتشم سلیمان Muḥteşem Süleymân), as he was known in the West, was also called Suleiman the First (سلطان سلیمان اول Sulṭān Süleymān-ı Evvel), and Suleiman the Lawgiver (قانونی سلطان سلیمان Ḳânûnî Sulṭân Süleymân) for his reform of the Ottoman legal system.[15]
It is unclear when exactly the term Kanunî (the Lawgiver) first came to be used as an epithet for Suleiman. It is entirely absent from sixteenth and seventeenth-century Ottoman sources and may date from the early 18th century.[16]
There is a tradition of Western origin, according to which Suleiman the Magnificent was "Suleiman II", but that tradition has been based on an erroneous assumption that Süleyman Çelebi was to be recognised as a legitimate sultan.[17]
Early life
Suleiman was born in Trabzon on the southern coast of the Black Sea to Şehzade Selim (later Selim I), probably on 6 November 1494, although this date is not known with absolute certainty or evidence.[18] His mother was Hafsa Sultan, a concubine convert to Islam of unknown origins, who died in 1534.[19]: 9 At the age of seven, Suleiman began studies of science, history, literature, theology and military tactics in the schools of the imperial Topkapı Palace in Constantinople. As a young man, he befriended Pargalı Ibrahim, a Greek slave who later became one of his most trusted advisers (but who was later executed on Suleiman's orders).[20] At age seventeen, he was appointed as the governor of first Kaffa (Theodosia), then Manisa, with a brief tenure at Edirne.
Accession
Upon the death of his father, Selim I (r. 1512–1520), Suleiman entered Constantinople and ascended to the throne as the tenth Ottoman sultan. An early description of Suleiman, a few weeks following his accession, was provided by the Venetian envoy Bartolomeo Contarini:
Military campaigns
Conquests in Europe
Upon succeeding his father, Suleiman began a series of military conquests, eventually leading to a revolt led by the Ottoman-appointed governor of Damascus in 1521. Suleiman soon made preparations for the conquest of Belgrade from the Kingdom of Hungary—something his great-grandfather Mehmed II had failed to achieve because of John Hunyadi's strong defense in the region. Its capture was vital in removing the Hungarians and Croats who, following the defeats of the Albanians, Bosniaks, Bulgarians, Byzantines and the Serbs, remained the only formidable force who could block further Ottoman gains in Europe. Suleiman encircled Belgrade on 28 August 1521, with 250,000 Turkish soldiers and over 100 ships. and began a series of heavy bombardments from an island in the Danube.[21] Belgrade was made the seat of the Pashalik of Belgrade (also known as the Sanjak of Smederevo), and quickly became the second largest Ottoman town in Europe at over 100,000 people, surpassed only by Constantinople.[22]
The road to Hungary and Austria lay open, but Suleiman turned his attention instead to the Eastern Mediterranean island of Rhodes, the home base of the Knights Hospitaller. Suleiman built a large fortification, Marmaris Castle, that served as a base for the Ottoman Navy. Following a five-month siege, Rhodes capitulated and Suleiman allowed the Knights of Rhodes to depart.[23] The conquest of the island cost the Ottomans 50,000[24][25] to 60,000[25] dead from battle and sickness (Christian claims went as high as 64,000 Ottoman battle deaths and 50,000 disease deaths).[25]
As relations between Hungary and the Ottoman Empire deteriorated, Suleiman resumed his campaign in Central Europe, and on 29 August 1526 he defeated Louis II of Hungary (1506–1526) at the Battle of Mohács. The Hungarian army, encouraged by the nobility to engage prematurely, launched a frontal assault that collapsed under coordinated Ottoman counterattacks. King Louis and much of the Hungarian aristocracy were killed, resulting in the destruction of the royal army and the end of the Jagiellonian dynasty in Hungary and Bohemia. The aftermath saw the partition of Hungary between the Ottoman Empire, the Habsburg monarchy, and the Principality of Transylvania. The battle marked the beginning of sustained Ottoman–Habsburg wars and the decline of Hungary as an independent power. Upon encountering the lifeless body of King Louis, Suleiman is said to have lamented: "I came indeed in arms against him; but it was not my wish that he should be thus cut off before he scarcely tasted the sweets of life and royalty."[26] While Suleiman was campaigning in Hungary, Turkmen tribes in central Anatolia (in Cilicia) revolted under the leadership of Kalender Çelebi.[27]
Some Hungarian nobles proposed that Ferdinand, who was the ruler of neighboring Austria and tied to Louis II's family by marriage, be King of Hungary, citing previous agreements that the Habsburgs would take the Hungarian throne if Louis died without heirs.[21]: 52 However, other nobles turned to the nobleman John Zápolya, whom Suleiman supported. Under Charles V and his brother Ferdinand I, the Habsburgs reoccupied Buda and took possession of Hungary. Reacting in 1529, Suleiman marched through the valley of the Danube and regained control of Buda; in the following autumn, his forces laid siege to Vienna. This was to be the Ottoman Empire's most ambitious expedition and the apogee of its drive to the West. With a reinforced garrison of 16,000 men,[28] the Austrians inflicted the first defeat on Suleiman, sowing the seeds of a bitter Ottoman–Habsburg rivalry that lasted until the 20th century. His second attempt to conquer Vienna failed in 1532, as Ottoman forces were delayed by the siege of Güns and failed to reach Vienna. In both cases, the Ottoman army was plagued by bad weather, forcing them to leave behind essential siege equipment, and was hobbled by overstretched supply lines.[29]: 444 In 1533 the Treaty of Constantinople was signed by Ferdinand I, in which he acknowledged Ottoman suzerainty and recognised Suleiman as his "father and suzerain", he also agreed to pay an annual tribute and accepted the Ottoman grand vizier as his brother and equal in rank.[30][31][32][33][34]
By the 1540s, a renewal of the conflict in Hungary presented Suleiman with the opportunity to avenge the defeat suffered at Vienna. In 1541, the Habsburgs attempted to lay siege to Buda but were repulsed, and more Habsburg fortresses were captured by the Ottomans in two consecutive campaigns in 1541 and 1544 as a result,[21] In 1542, after Ferdinand's repeated sieges of Buda and Pest, Suleiman went to Edirne on 17 November 1542 to prepare for a new campaign and stayed there for a while. On 23 April 1543, he set out on another campaign against Hungary. On 8 August, after a two-week siege, Esztergom was captured by the Ottoman Empire. Within a few weeks, the cities of Siklós, Székesfehérvár and Szeged were also taken. Ferdinand and Charles were forced to conclude a humiliating five-year treaty with Suleiman. Ferdinand renounced his claim to the Kingdom of Hungary and was forced to pay a fixed yearly sum to the Sultan for the Hungarian lands he continued to control. Of more symbolic importance, the treaty referred to Charles V not as "Emperor" but as the "King of Spain", leading Suleiman to identify as the true "Caesar".[21]: 54 In 1552, Suleiman's forces laid siege to Eger, located in the northern part of the Kingdom of Hungary, but the defenders led by István Dobó repelled the attacks and defended the Eger Castle.[35]
Suleiman, set out on his 13th expedition, Siege of Szigetvár on 1 May 1566, at the age of 72, after an absence of approximately 13 years. The Ottoman army, which arrived in Belgrade on 27 June and was joined by Sigismund Zapolya's forces, arrived in Szigetvár on 2 August. Suleiman arrived at the siege on 5 August and settled in his tent on a hill from which the siege could be seen. On 6 September, Suleiman died in his tent, one day before the fall of Szigetvár. His death was kept secret with great effort, with only the Sultan's innermost circle knowing of his demise. This was because the Ottomans feared that their soldiers would give up the battle if they knew that their leader had died, so his death was kept secret for 48 days. A courier was dispatched from the camp with a message for Suleiman's successor, Selim II.
Ottoman–Safavid War
Suleiman's father had made war with Persia a high priority. At first, Suleiman shifted attention to Europe and was content to contain Persia, which was preoccupied by its own enemies to its east. After Suleiman stabilized his European frontiers, he now turned his attention to Persia, the base for the rival Shia Muslim faction. The Safavid dynasty became the main enemy after two episodes. First, Shah Tahmasp killed the Baghdad governor loyal to Suleiman, and put his own man in. Second, the governor of Bitlis had defected and sworn allegiance to the Safavids.[21]: 51 As a result, in 1533, Suleiman ordered his Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha to lead an army into eastern Asia Minor where he retook Bitlis and occupied Tabriz without resistance. Suleiman joined Ibrahim in 1534. They made a push towards Persia, only to find the Shah sacrificing territory instead of facing a pitched battle, resorting to harassment of the Ottoman army as it proceeded along the harsh interior.[36] In 1535 Suleiman made a grand entrance into Baghdad. He enhanced his local support by restoring the tomb of Abu Hanifa, the founder of the Hanafi school of Islamic law to which the Ottomans adhered.[37]
Attempting to defeat the Shah once and for all, Suleiman embarked upon a second campaign in 1548–1549. As in the previous attempt, Tahmasp avoided confrontation with the Ottoman army and instead chose to retreat, using scorched earth tactics in the process and exposing the Ottoman army to the harsh winter of the Caucasus.[36] Suleiman abandoned the campaign with temporary Ottoman gains in Tabriz and the Urmia region, a lasting presence in the province of Van, control of the western half of Azerbaijan and some forts in Georgia.[38]
In 1553, Suleiman began his third and final campaign against the Shah. Having initially lost territories in Erzurum to the Shah's son, Suleiman retaliated by recapturing Erzurum, crossing the Upper Euphrates and laying waste to parts of Persia. The Shah's army continued its strategy of avoiding the Ottomans, leading to a stalemate from which neither army made any significant gain. In 1555, a settlement known as the Peace of Amasya was signed, which defined the borders of the two empires. By this treaty, Armenia and Georgia were divided equally between the two, with Western Armenia, western Kurdistan, and western Georgia (incl. western Samtskhe) falling in Ottoman hands while Eastern Armenia, eastern Kurdistan, and eastern Georgia (incl. eastern Samtskhe) stayed in Safavid hands.[39] The Ottoman Empire obtained most of Iraq, including Baghdad, which gave them access to the Persian Gulf, while the Persians retained their former capital Tabriz and all their other northwestern territories in the Caucasus and as they were prior to the wars, such as Dagestan and all of what is now Azerbaijan.[40][41]
Campaigns in the Indian Ocean
Ottoman ships had been sailing in the Indian Ocean since the year 1518. Ottoman admirals such as Hadim Suleiman Pasha, Seydi Ali Reis[42] and Kurtoğlu Hızır Reis are known to have voyaged to the Mughal imperial ports of Thatta, Surat and Janjira. The Mughal Emperor Akbar the Great himself is known to have exchanged six documents with Suleiman the Magnificent.[42][43][44]
Suleiman led several naval campaigns against the Portuguese in an attempt to remove them and reestablish trade with the Mughal Empire. Aden in Yemen was captured by the Ottomans in 1538, in order to provide an Ottoman base for raids against Portuguese possessions on the western coast of the Mughal Empire.[45] Sailing on, the Ottomans failed against the Portuguese at the siege of Diu in September 1538, but then returned to Aden, where they fortified the city with 100 pieces of artillery.[45][46] From this base, Sulayman Pasha managed to take control of the whole country of Yemen, also taking Sanaa.[45]
With its strong control of the Red Sea, Suleiman successfully managed to dispute control of the trade routes to the Portuguese and maintained a significant level of trade with the Mughal Empire throughout the 16th century.[47]
From 1526 until 1543, Suleiman stationed over 900 Turkish soldiers to fight alongside the Somali Adal Sultanate led by Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi during the Conquest of Abyssinia.[48] After the first Ajuran-Portuguese war, the Ottoman Empire would in 1559 absorb the weakened Adal Sultanate into its domain. This expansion furthered Ottoman rule in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. This also increased its influence in the Indian Ocean to compete with the Portuguese Empire with its close ally, the Ajuran Empire.[49]
In 1564, Suleiman received an embassy from Aceh (a sultanate on Sumatra, in modern Indonesia), requesting Ottoman support against the Portuguese. As a result, an Ottoman expedition to Aceh was launched, which was able to provide extensive military support to the Acehnese.[50]
The discovery of new maritime trade routes by Western European states allowed them to avoid the Ottoman trade monopoly. The Portuguese discovery of the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 initiated a series of Ottoman-Portuguese naval wars in the Ocean throughout the 16th century. The Ajuran Sultanate allied with the Ottomans defied the Portuguese economic monopoly in the Indian Ocean by employing a new coinage which followed the Ottoman pattern, thus proclaiming an attitude of economic independence in regard to the Portuguese.[51]
Mediterranean and North Africa
Having consolidated his conquests on land, Suleiman was greeted with the news that the fortress of Koroni in Morea (the modern Peloponnese, peninsular Greece) had been lost to Charles V's admiral, Andrea Doria. The presence of the Spanish in the Eastern Mediterranean concerned Suleiman, who saw it as an early indication of Charles V's intention to rival Ottoman dominance in the region. Recognizing the need to reassert naval preeminence in the Mediterranean, Suleiman appointed an exceptional naval commander in the form of Khair ad Din, known to Europeans as Barbarossa. Once appointed admiral-in-chief, Barbarossa was charged with rebuilding the Ottoman fleet.
In 1535, Charles V led a Holy League of 26,700 soldiers (10,000 Spaniards, 8,000 Italians, 8,000 Germans, and 700 Knights of St. John)[25] to victory against the Ottomans at Tunis, which together with the war against Venice the following year, led Suleiman to accept proposals from Francis I of France to form an alliance against Charles.[21]: 51 Huge Muslim territories in North Africa were annexed. The piracy carried on thereafter by the Barbary pirates of North Africa can be seen in the context of the wars against Spain.
In 1541, the Spaniards led an unsuccessful expedition to Algiers. In 1542, facing a common Habsburg enemy during the Italian Wars, Francis I sought to renew the Franco-Ottoman alliance. In early 1542, Polin successfully negotiated the details of the alliance, with the Ottoman Empire promising to send 60,000 troops against the territories of the German king Ferdinand, as well as 150 galleys against Charles, while France promised to attack Flanders, harass the coasts of Spain with a naval force, and send 40 galleys to assist the Turks for operations in the Levant.[52]
In August 1551, Ottoman naval commander Turgut Reis attacked and captured Tripoli, which had been a possession of the Knights of Malta since 1530. In 1553, Turgut Reis was nominated commander of Tripoli by Suleiman, making the city an important center for piratical raids in the Mediterranean and the capital of the Ottoman province of Tripolitania.[53] In 1560, a powerful naval force was sent to recapture Tripoli, but that force was defeated in the Battle of Djerba.[54]
Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, when the Knights Hospitallers were re-established as the Knights of Malta in 1530, their actions against Muslim navies quickly drew the ire of the Ottomans, who assembled another massive army in order to dislodge the Knights from Malta. The Ottomans invaded Malta in 1565, undertaking the Great Siege of Malta, which began on 18 May and lasted until 8 September, and is portrayed vividly in the frescoes of Matteo Perez d'Aleccio in the Hall of St. Michael and St. George. At first, it seemed that this would be a repeat of the battle on Rhodes, with most of Malta's cities destroyed and half the Knights killed in battle; but a relief force from Spain entered the battle, resulting in the loss of 10,000 Ottoman troops and the victory of the local Maltese citizenry.[55]
Legal and political reforms
While Sultan Suleiman was known as "the Magnificent" in the West, he was always Kanuni Suleiman or "The Lawgiver" (قانونی) to his Ottoman subjects. The overriding law of the empire was the Shari'ah, or Sacred Law, which as the divine law of Islam was outside of the Sultan's powers to change. Yet an area of distinct law known as the Kanuns (قانون, canonical legislation) was dependent on Suleiman's will alone, covering areas such as criminal law, land tenure and taxation.[21]: 244 He collected all the judgments that had been issued by the nine Ottoman Sultans who preceded him. After eliminating duplications and choosing between contradictory statements, he issued a single legal code, all the while being careful not to violate the basic laws of Islam.[56]: 20
It was within this framework that Suleiman, supported by his Grand Mufti Ebussuud, sought to reform the legislation to adapt to a rapidly changing empire. When the Kanun laws attained their final form, the code of laws became known as the kanun‐i Osmani (قانون عثمانی), or the "Ottoman laws". Suleiman's legal code was to last more than three hundred years.[56]: 21
The Sultan also played a role in protecting the Jewish subjects of his empire for centuries to come. In late 1553 or 1554, on the suggestion of his favorite doctor and dentist, the Spanish Jew Moses Hamon, the Sultan issued a firman (فرمان) formally denouncing blood libels against the Jews.[7]: 124 Furthermore, Suleiman enacted new criminal and police legislation, prescribing a set of fines for specific offenses, as well as reducing the instances requiring death or mutilation. In the area of taxation, taxes were levied on various goods and produce, including animals, mines, profits of trade, and import-export duties.
Higher medreses provided education of university status, whose graduates became imams (امام) or teachers. Educational centers were often one of many buildings surrounding the courtyards of mosques, others included libraries, baths, soup kitchens, residences and hospitals for the benefit of the public.[57]
The arts under Suleiman
Under Suleiman's patronage, the Ottoman Empire entered the golden age of its cultural development. Hundreds of imperial artistic societies (called the اهل حرف Ehl-i Hiref, "Community of the Craftsmen") were administered at the Imperial seat, the Topkapı Palace. After an apprenticeship, artists and craftsmen could advance in rank within their field and were paid commensurate wages in quarterly annual installments. Payroll registers that survive testify to the breadth of Suleiman's patronage of the arts, the earliest of the documents dating from 1526 list 40 societies with over 600 members. The Ehl-i Hiref attracted the empire's most talented artisans to the Sultan's court, both from the Islamic world and from the recently conquered territories in Europe, resulting in a blend of Arabic, Turkish and European cultures.[9] Artisans in service of the court included painters, book binders, furriers, jewellers and goldsmiths. Whereas previous rulers had been influenced by Persian culture (Suleiman's father, Selim I, wrote poetry in Persian), Suleiman's patronage of the arts saw the Ottoman Empire assert its own artistic legacy.[7]: 70
The long reign of Suleiman the Magnificent is also recognized as the apogee of Ottoman political and cultural development, with extensive patronage in art and architecture by the sultan, his family, and his high-ranking officials.[58] The master architect of the classical period, Mimar Sinan, served as the chief court architect (mimarbaşi) from 1538 until his death in 1588.[59] Sinan credited himself with the design of over 300 buildings,[60] though another estimate of his works puts it at nearly 500.[61] He is credited with designing buildings as far as Buda (present-day Budapest) and Mecca.[62] Sinan was probably not present to directly supervise projects far from the capital, so in these cases his designs were most likely executed by his assistants or by local architects.[63][64] This also demonstrates the ability of the central Ottoman state to commission and plan building projects across its vast territory at the time, a practice that also helped to establish Ottoman sovereignty in these provinces through the construction of monuments in a visibly Ottoman style.[63] Architects in the capital were able to draw plans and delegate them to other architects who carried them out locally, while the imperial administration developed a set of standards for planning and construction and was able to coordinate the procurement and transportation of the necessary materials.[63]
Suleiman himself was an accomplished poet, writing in Persian and Turkish under the takhallus (nom de plume) Muhibbi (محبی, "Lover"). Some of Suleiman's verses have become Turkish proverbs, such as the well-known Everyone aims at the same meaning, but many are the versions of the story[citation needed]. When his young son Mehmed died in 1543, he composed a moving chronogram to commemorate the year: Peerless among princes, my Sultan Mehmed.[65] In Turkish the chronogram reads شهزادهلر گزیدهسی سلطان محمدم (Şehzadeler güzidesi Sultan Muhammed'üm), in which the Arabic Abjad numerals total 955, the equivalent in the Islamic calendar of 1543 AD. In addition to Suleiman's own work, many great talents enlivened the literary world during Suleiman's rule, including Fuzûlî and Bâkî. The literary historian Elias John Wilkinson Gibb observed that "at no time, even in Turkey, was greater encouragement given to poetry than during the reign of this Sultan".[66] Suleiman's most famous verse is:
The people think of wealth and power as the greatest fate,
But in this world a spell of health is the best state.
What men call sovereignty is a worldly strife and constant war;
Worship of God is the highest throne, the happiest of all estates.[7]: 84
Suleiman is credited with large-scale cultivation of the tulip and it is thought that the tulips spread throughout Europe because of Suleiman.[67] It is thought that diplomats who visited him were gifted the flowers while visiting his court.[67][68] Some of the nobles in the court had seen the tulip and they also began growing their own.[69] Soon images of the tulip were woven into rugs and fired into ceramics.[70]
Artistic developments
Among the leading poets who emerged during the reign of Suleiman I are Fuzûlî , Bâki , Pir Sultan Abdal and Bağdatlı Ruhi . Matrakçı Nasuh was one of the important painters, historians and miniature artists of the period. Also living in this period and writing the Suleimanname , Shahnameh Arifî, Nakkaş Nigarî and calligrapher Ahmed Karahisari are among the leading artists of the period.
During the reign of Sultan Suleiman, the Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha also brought mythological statues known as the Three Beauties from Buda to Istanbul after the Battle of Mohács and erected them in his palace in the At Meydanı. Although these statues attracted attention, they were not permanent because they were seen as idols by some circles and were not welcomed. In addition to these statues, works by some Eastern and Western thinkers were brought from Buda to Istanbul and a library was established. These works were obtained as war booty from the large library established by the Hungarian king Matthias Corvinus. In this respect, Suleiman takes his place as an influential and important sultan in the Ottoman library culture. At the same time, in 1532, during the Ottoman-Habsburg rivalry, Suleiman the Magnificent wanted to show his superiority in every field, so he had a four-tiered crown made by Venetian merchants for 115,000 ducats through the Italian chief treasurer Alvise Gritti and with the encouragement of Makbul İbrahim Pasha . The four layers of the crown represent the four continents known at the time, and it is also known that it was made as a reference to the famous three-tiered crown of the Pope. Although it is thought that the crown was melted down after Süleyman, its legend in Europe did not end, and it was frequently depicted by European painters on the heads of Ottoman Sultans such as Mehmed IV and Ahmed I.[71][72]
Suleiman also became renowned for sponsoring a series of monumental architectural developments within his empire. The Sultan sought to turn Constantinople into the center of Islamic civilization by a series of projects, including bridges, mosques, palaces and various charitable and social establishments. The greatest of these were built by the Sultan's chief architect, Mimar Sinan, under whom Ottoman architecture reached its zenith. Sinan became responsible for over three hundred monuments throughout the empire, including his two masterpieces, the Süleymaniye and Selimiye mosques—the latter built in Adrianople (now Edirne) in the reign of Suleiman's son Selim II. Suleiman also restored the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem and the Walls of Jerusalem (which are the current walls of the Old City of Jerusalem), renovated the Kaaba in Mecca, and constructed a complex in Damascus.[73]
Şehzade Mosque complex, commissioned by Suleiman was dedicated to Şehzade Mehmed, his son who died in 1543.[74] The mosque complex was built between 1545 and 1548.[75] Like all imperial külliyes, it included multiple buildings, of which the mosque was the most prominent element. The mosque has a rectangular floor plan divided into two equal squares, with one square occupied by the courtyard and the other occupied by the prayer hall. Two minarets stand on either side at the junction of these two squares.[75]
In 1550, through Mimar Sinan, Suleiman began construction for the Süleymaniye complex, a monumental religious and charitable complex dedicated to him. Construction finished in 1557. Following the example of the earlier Fatih complex, it consists of many buildings arranged around the main mosque in the center, on a planned site occupying the summit of a hill in Istanbul. The buildings included the mosque itself, four general madrasas, a madrasa specialized for medicine, a madrasa specialized for hadiths (darülhadis), a mektep, a darüşşifa, a caravanserai, a tabhane, an imaret, a hammam, rows of shops, and a cemetery with two mausoleums.[76][77] The site was formerly occupied by the grounds of the Old Palace (Eski Saray) built by Mehmet II, which had been damaged by fire.[76] By this point, Suleiman had also moved his own residence and the royal family to Topkapı Palace.[78] In order to adapt the hilltop site, Sinan had to begin by laying solid foundations and retaining walls to form a wide terrace. The overall layout of buildings is less rigidly symmetrical than the Fatih complex, as Sinan opted to integrate it more flexibly into the existing urban fabric.[76] Thanks to its refined architecture, its scale, its dominant position on the city skyline, and its role as a symbol of Suleiman's powerful reign, the Süleymaniye Mosque complex is one of the most important symbols of Ottoman architecture and is often considered by scholars to be the most magnificent mosque in Istanbul.[79][80][81]
The prayer hall consists of a central dome surrounded by semi-domes on four sides, with smaller domes occupying the corners. Smaller semi-domes also fill the space between the corner domes and the main semi-domes. This design represents the culmination of the previous domed and semi-domed buildings in Ottoman architecture, bringing complete symmetry to the dome layout.[82] An early version of this design, on a smaller scale, had been used before Sinan as early as 1520 or 1523 in the Fatih Pasha Mosque in Diyarbakir.[83][84] While a cross-like layout had symbolic meaning in Christian architecture, in Ottoman architecture this was purely focused on heightening and emphasizing the central dome.[85]
Under his reign, The Topkapı Palace was greatly expanded with the permanent addition of the Imperial Harem to the Palace. From the reign of Suleiman, Topkapi not only served as the administrative center of the Empire, but also as the Imperial Residence of all succeeding Ottoman Sultans and the entire Ottoman Royal family until the 19th century.
Personal life
Consorts
Suleiman had two known consorts:
- Mahidevran Hatun, a Circassian or Albanian or Montenegrin concubine,[87][88] she entered in Süleyman's harem when he was prince in Manisa, mother of his eldest surviving Şehzade Mustafa, who was executed in 1553.[89]
- Hürrem Sultan, known in West as Roxelana (m. 1533), Suleiman's only favorite concubine during his reign, and later his legal wife and first Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire, first Ottoman woman to get involved in the state affairs and the administration of the empire, mother of most of his children, including his successor Selim II, and the only woman with whom he had monogamous relationship during his entire reign. Her influence and authority over the Ottoman empire started an era known as Sultanate of Women, where the Imperial women would exercise unimaginable levels of power and influence throughout the empire. She was possibly a daughter of a Ruthenian Orthodox priest.[88]
Sons
Suleiman I had at least eight sons:
- Şehzade Mahmud (c. 1513, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 29 October 1520, Old Palace, Istanbul, and buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);[90]
- Şehzade Murad (c. 1515, Manisa Palace, Manisa – 19 October 1520, Old Palace, and Istanbul, buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque);[90]
- Şehzade Mustafa (c. 1515, Manisa Palace, Manisa – executed, by the order of his father, 6 October 1553, Konya, buried in Muradiye Complex, Bursa), with Mahidevran;[91]
- Şehzade Mehmed (1521, Old Palace, Istanbul – 6 November 1543, Manisa Palace, Manisa, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), with Hürrem;
- Sultan Selim II (30 May 1524, Old Palace, Istanbul – 15 December 1574, Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, buried in Selim II Mausoleum, Hagia Sophia Mosque), with Hürrem;
- Şehzade Abdullah (c. 1525, Old Palace, Istanbul – c. 1528, Old Palace, Istanbul, and buried in Yavuz Selim Mosque),[90] with Hürrem;[89][92]
- Şehzade Bayezid (1527, Old Palace, Istanbul – executed by agents of his father on 25 September 1561, Qazvin, Safavid Empire, buried in Melik-i Acem Türbe, Sivas), with Hürrem;[92]
- Şehzade Cihangir (1531, Old Palace, Istanbul – 27 November 1553, Konya, buried in Şehzade Mosque, Istanbul), with Hürrem;
Daughters
Suleiman had two daughters:
- Raziye Sultan (c. 1519 – c. 1520, and buried in Yahya Efendi mausoleum);[93]
- Mihrimah Sultan (September/November 1522,[94] Old Palace, Istanbul – 25 January 1578, Old Palace, Istanbul, buried in Suleiman I Mausoleum, Süleymaniye Mosque), with Hürrem, married Rüstem Pasha in 1539;[89][95][96]
Relationship with Hurrem Sultan
Suleiman fell in love with Hurrem Sultan, a harem girl from Ruthenia, then part of Poland. Western diplomats, taking notice of the palace gossip about her, called her "Russelazie" or "Roxelana", referring to her Ruthenian origins.[97] The daughter of an Orthodox priest, she was captured by Tatars from Crimea, sold as a slave in Constantinople, and eventually rose through the ranks of the Harem to become Suleiman's favorite. Hurrem, a former concubine, became the legal wife of the Sultan, much to the astonishment of the observers in the palace and the city.[7]: 86 He also allowed Hurrem Sultan to remain with him at court for the rest of her life, breaking another tradition—that when imperial heirs came of age, they would be sent along with the imperial concubine who bore them to govern remote provinces of the Empire, never to return unless their progeny succeeded to the throne.[21]: 90
Hurrem was the first Ottoman woman to directly take part in state affairs of the Ottoman Empire and she acted as an advisor to Suleiman in taking decisions. She used to sign documents in his absence, attended Imperial council meetings, held meetings with Grand Viziers and ministers to discuss regarding state affairs, controlled the appointments and even removal of ministers, grand vizier and even the Sheikh-ul-Islam from office and corresponded with ambassadors and Foreign rulers, particularly with Sigismund II Augustus. She played a major role in the creation of the Polish-Ottoman alliance.[98] Suleiman not only declared her as his legal wife, but also created an Institutionalized title and position for her as the Haseki sultan of the Ottoman Empire, making her as the second most powerful person in the empire after Suleiman. Suleiman was completely loyal towards her for rest of his life, and his love for her and his decisions to grant her more powers, made rumors throughout the Ottoman court that the sultan had been bewitched.[99]
Under his pen name, Muhibbi, Sultan Suleiman composed this poem for Hurrem Sultan:
Throne of my lonely niche, my wealth, my love, my moonlight.
My most sincere friend, my confidant, my very existence, my Sultan, my one and only love.
The most beautiful among the beautiful ...
My springtime, my merry faced love, my daytime, my sweetheart, laughing leaf ...
My plants, my sweet, my rose, the one only who does not distress me in this room ...
My Istanbul, my Karaman, the earth of my Anatolia
My Badakhshan, my Baghdad and Khorasan
My woman of the beautiful hair, my love of the slanted brow, my love of eyes full of misery ...
I'll sing your praises always
I, lover of the tormented heart, Muhibbi of the eyes full of tears, I am happy.[100]
Grand Vizier Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha
Before his downfall, Pargalı Ibrahim Pasha was an inseparable friend and possible lover of Suleiman. In fact, he is referred to by his chroniclers as "the favourite" (Maḳbūl) along with "the executed" (Maḳtūl).[101][102] Historians state that Suleiman I is remembered for "his passion for two of his slaves: for his beloved Ibrahim when the sultan was a hot-blooded youth, and for his beloved Hurrem when he was mature."[102]
Ibrahim was originally a Christian from Parga (in Epirus), who was captured in a raid during the 1499–1503 Ottoman–Venetian War, and was given as a slave to Suleiman most likely in 1514.[103] Ibrahim converted to Islam and Suleiman made him the royal falconer, then promoted him to first officer of the Royal Bedchamber.[7]: 87 It was reported that they slept together in the same bed.[102][104] The sultan also built Ibrahim a lavish palace on the ancient Hippodrome, Istanbul's main forum outside the Hagia Sophia and Topkapı Palace. Despite his following marriage and his new sumptuous residence, Ibrahim sometimes spent the night with Suleiman I at Topkapı Palace. In turn, the sultan occasionally slept at Ibrahim's lodgings.[102] Ibrahim Pasha rose to Grand Vizier in 1523 and commander-in-chief of all the armies. Suleiman also conferred upon Ibrahim Pasha the honor of beylerbey of Rumelia (first-ranking military governor-general), granting Ibrahim authority over all Ottoman territories in Europe, as well as command of troops residing within them in times of war. At the time, Ibrahim was only about thirty years old and lacked any actual military expertise; it is said that 'tongues wagged' at this unprecedented promotion straight from palace service to the two highest offices of the empire.[102]
During his thirteen years as Grand Vizier, his rapid rise to power and vast accumulation of wealth had made Ibrahim many enemies at the Sultan's court. Suleiman's suspicion of Ibrahim was worsened by a quarrel between the latter and the finance secretary (defterdar) İskender Çelebi. The dispute ended in the disgrace of Çelebi on charges of intrigue, with Ibrahim convincing Suleiman to sentence the defterdar to death. Ibrahim also supported Şehzade Mustafa as the successor of Suleiman. This caused disputes between him and Hurrem Sultan, who wanted her sons to succeed to the throne. Ibrahim eventually fell from grace with the Sultan and his wife. Suleiman consulted his Qadi, who suggested that Ibrahim be put to death. The Sultan recruited assassins and ordered them to strangle Ibrahim in his sleep.[105]
Succession
Sultan Suleiman's two known consorts (Hurrem and Mahidevran) had borne him six sons, four of whom survived past the 1550s. They were Mustafa, Selim, Bayezid, and Cihangir. The eldest was Mahidevran's son, while Selim, Bayezid, and Cihangir were born to Hurrem. Hurrem is usually held at least partly responsible for the intrigues in nominating a successor, though there is no evidence to support this.[89] Although she was Suleiman's wife, she exercised no official public role. This did not, however, prevent Hurrem from wielding powerful political influence. Until the reign of Ahmed I (1603–1617), the Empire had no formal means of nominating a successor, so successions usually involved the death of competing princes in order to avert civil unrest and rebellions.
By 1552, when the campaign against Persia had begun with Rüstem appointed commander-in-chief of the expedition, intrigues against Mustafa began. Rüstem sent one of Suleiman's most trusted men to report that since Suleiman was not at the head of the army, the soldiers thought the time had come to put a younger prince on the throne; at the same time, he spread rumours that Mustafa had proved receptive to the idea. Angered by what he came to believe were Mustafa's plans to claim the throne, the following summer upon return from his campaign in Persia, Suleiman summoned him to his tent in the Ereğli valley.[106] When Mustafa entered his father's tent to meet with him, Suleiman's eunuchs attacked Mustafa, and after a long struggle the mutes killed him using a bow-string.
Cihangir is said to have died of grief a few months after the news of his half-brother's murder.[7]: 89 The two surviving brothers, Selim and Bayezid, were given command in different parts of the empire. Within a few years, however, civil war broke out between the brothers, each supported by his loyal forces. With the aid of his father's army, Selim defeated Bayezid in Konya in 1559, leading the latter to seek refuge with the Safavids along with his four sons. Following diplomatic exchanges, the Sultan demanded from the Safavid Shah that Bayezid be either extradited or executed. In return for large amounts of gold, the Shah allowed a Turkish executioner to strangle Bayezid and his four sons in 1561,[7]: 89 clearing the path for Selim's succession to the throne five years later.
Death
On 6 September 1566, Suleiman, who had set out from Constantinople to command an expedition to Hungary, died before an Ottoman victory at the siege of Szigetvár in Hungary at the age of 71[4]: 545 and his Grand Vizier Sokollu Mehmed Pasha kept his death secret during the retreat for the enthronement of Selim II. The sultan's body was taken back to Istanbul to be buried, while his heart, liver, and some other organs were buried in Turbék, outside Szigetvár. A mausoleum constructed above the burial site came to be regarded as a holy place and pilgrimage site. Within a decade a mosque and Sufi hospice were built near it, and the site was protected by a salaried garrison of several dozen men.[107]
Legacy
The formation of Suleiman's legacy began even before his death. Throughout his reign literary works were commissioned praising Suleiman and constructing an image of him as an ideal ruler, most significantly by Celalzade Mustafa, chancellor of the empire from 1534 to 1557.[13]: 4–5, 250 Later Ottoman writers applied this idealised image of Suleiman to the Near Eastern literary genre of advice literature named naṣīḥatnāme, urging sultans to conform to his model of rulership and to maintain the empire's institutions in their sixteenth-century form. Such writers were pushing back against the political and institutional transformation of the empire after the middle of the sixteenth century, and portrayed deviation from the norm as it had existed under Suleiman as evidence of the decline of the empire.[108]: 54–55, 64 Western historians, failing to recognise that these 'decline writers' were working within an established literary genre and often had deeply personal reasons for criticizing the empire, long took their claims at face value and consequently adopted the idea that the empire entered a period of decline after the death of Suleiman.[108]: 73–77 Since the 1980s this view has been thoroughly reexamined, and modern scholars have come to overwhelmingly reject the idea of decline, labelling it an "untrue myth".[10]
Suleiman's conquests had brought under the control of the Empire major Muslim cities (such as Baghdad), many Balkan provinces (reaching present day Croatia and Hungary), and most of North Africa. His expansion into Europe had given the Ottoman Turks a powerful presence in the European balance of power. Indeed, such was the perceived threat of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleiman that Austria's ambassador Busbecq warned of Europe's imminent conquest: "On [the Turks'] side are the resources of a mighty empire, strength unimpaired, habituation to victory, endurance of toil, unity, discipline, frugality and watchfulness ... Can we doubt what the result will be? ... When the Turks have settled with Persia, they will fly at our throats supported by the might of the whole East; how unprepared we are I dare not say."[109] Suleiman's legacy was not, however, merely in the military field. The French traveler Jean de Thévenot bears witness a century later to the "strong agricultural base of the country, the well being of the peasantry, the abundance of staple foods and the pre-eminence of organization in Suleiman's government".[110]
Even thirty years after his death, "Sultan Solyman" was quoted by the English playwright William Shakespeare as a military prodigy in The Merchant of Venice, where the Prince of Morocco boasts about his prowess by saying that he defeated Suleiman in three battles (Act 2, Scene 1).[111][112]
Through the distribution of court patronage, Suleiman also presided over a golden age in Ottoman arts, witnessing immense achievement in the realms of architecture, literature, art, theology and philosophy.[9][113] Today the skyline of the Bosphorus and of many cities in modern Turkey and the former Ottoman provinces, are still adorned with the architectural works of Mimar Sinan. One of these, the Süleymaniye Mosque, is the final resting place of Suleiman: he is buried in a domed mausoleum attached to the mosque.
Nevertheless, assessments of Suleiman's reign have frequently fallen into the trap of the Great Man theory of history. The administrative, cultural, and military achievements of the age were a product not of Suleiman alone, but also of the many talented figures who served him, such as grand viziers Ibrahim Pasha and Rüstem Pasha, the Grand Mufti Ebussuud Efendi, who played a major role in legal reform, and chancellor and chronicler Celalzade Mustafa, who played a major role in bureaucratic expansion and in constructing Suleiman's legacy.[4]: 542
In an inscription dating from 1537 on the citadel of Bender, Moldova, Suleiman the Magnificent gave expression to his power:[114]
Suleiman, as sculpted by Joseph Kiselewski, is present on one of the 23 relief portraits over the gallery doors of the House Chamber of the United States Capitol that depicts historical figures noted for their work in establishing the principles that underlie American law.[115]
See also
- List of revolts during Suleiman's reign
- Muhteşem Yüzyıl, TV series based on his life
Notes
- (Ottoman Turkish: سلیمان اول, romanized: Süleymân-ı Evvel; Modern Turkish: I. Süleyman, IPA: [biɾinˈdʒi sylejˈman]; 6 November 1494
Citations
- Dimitri Korobeinikov (2021). "These are the narratives of bygone years: Conquest of a Fortress as a Source of Legitimacy". medieval worlds comparative & interdisciplinary studies (PDF). Vol. 14. Austrian Academy of Sciences Press. p. 180.
That the Ottomans might have had a different view was demonstrated by Sultan Sulaymān the Magnificent, who called himself the shah of Baghdad in 'Iraq (Shah-i Bagdād-i 'Irāq), the Caesar of Rome (qayṣar-i Rūm), and the sultan in Egypt (Miṣra (i.e. Mısıra) Sulṭān) in the inscription in the fortress of Bender (Bendery, Tighina) in Moldova, AH 945 (29 May 1538–18 May 1539). The title qayṣar-i Rūm (Caesar of Rome) was a traditional designation of the Byzantine emperor in Persian and Ottoman sources (from the Arabic al-qayṣar al-Rūm).
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historians of the Ottoman Empire have rejected the narrative of decline in favor of one of crisis and adaptation
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the conventional narrative of Ottoman history – that in the late sixteenth century the Ottoman Empire entered a prolonged period of decline marked by steadily increasing military decay and institutional corruption – has been discarded.
- Woodhead, Christine (2011). "Introduction". In Woodhead, Christine (ed.). The Ottoman World. p. 5.
Ottomanist historians have largely jettisoned the notion of a post-1600 'decline'
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References
Printed sources
- Ágoston, Gábor (1991). "Muslim Cultural Enclaves in Hungary under Ottoman Rule". Acta Orientalia Scientiarum Hungaricae. 45: 181–204.
- Ahmed, Syed Z (2001). The Zenith of an Empire : The Glory of the Suleiman the Magnificent and the Law Giver. A.E.R. Publications. ISBN 978-0-9715873-0-4.
- Arsan, Esra; Yldrm, Yasemin (2014). "Reflections of neo-Ottomanist discourse in Turkish news media: The case of The Magnificent Century". Journal of Applied Journalism & Media Studies. 3 (3): 315–334. doi:10.1386/ajms.3.3.315_1.
- Atıl, Esin (1987). The Age of Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art. ISBN 978-0-89468-098-4.
- Barber, Noel (1976). Lords of the Golden Horn : From Suleiman the Magnificent to Kamal Ataturk. London: Pan Books. ISBN 978-0-330-24735-1.
- Blair, Sheila S.; Bloom, Jonathan M. (1995). The Art and Architecture of Islam 1250-1800. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300064650.
- Clot, André. Suleiman the magnificent (Saqi, 2012).
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- Kuban, Doğan (2010). Ottoman Architecture. Translated by Mill, Adair. Antique Collectors' Club. ISBN 9781851496044.
- Levey, Michael (1975). The World of Ottoman Art. Thames & Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27065-1.
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Further reading
- Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-02396-7.
- İnalcık, Halil; Cemal Kafadar, eds. (1993). Süleyman the Second and His Time. Istanbul: The Isis Press. ISBN 975-428-052-5.; deals with Suleiman 1494–1566
- Lamb, Harold. Suleiman the Magnificent Sultan of the East (1951) online
- Necipoğlu, Gülru (2005). The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691123264. OCLC 1204337149.
- Parry, V. J. "The Ottoman Empire, 1520–1566." in The New Cambridge Modern History II: The Reformation 1520–1559 (2nd ed 1990): 570–594 online
- Yermolenko, Galina I., ed. Roxolana in European literature, history and culture Archived 26 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine (Routledge, 2016) ISBN 9780754667612
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As a profoundly cultured and enlightened sovereign, and an accomplished poet and devout Muslim, Sulaiman showered his subjects with money, wealth and gifts at a time when his European counterparts were busy oppressing, looting and humiliating their people. According to the historians of the time, the European visitors to Istanbul returned to their native countries to relate stories about Sulaiman's sense of justice, fair play, tolerance and civility. Indeed, the Europeans not only considered him to be an exemplary ruler, they also rated his achievements very highly and wished their own rulers were as just, civilized and enlightened as Suleiman was. That is why Suleiman became known throughout Europe as "el magnifico" -- "the Magnificent."
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