A Peace Country

The OTTOMAN PALESTINE

فلسطين في العهد العثماني

Palestine History
تاريخ فلسطين

Ottoman Jerusalem

Ottoman Sultan Selim captured peacefully Jerusalem on 28 December 1516 from Mamluks, and they possessed the Holy City until 9 December 1917 more than 400 years. Palestine was a peace country during this ages.. Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace together in this holy lands under the Muslim Government.

Ottomans built the Walls and Citadel of Jerusalem and they decorated the Muslim holy Aqsa Mosque and the Qubbat as-Sakhra (Dome of the Rock) with tiles. The Mawlawi and Naqshibandi dervishes from Turkey and Central Asia built their lodges. These are all visible proof that there was a Ottoman Jerusalem.

Ottoman Jerusalem

Famous Turkish world traveller Evliya Çelebi describes this event as follows:

"All the Ulama and pious men went out to meet Selim Shah. They handed him the keys of the Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock. He then made presents to all the notable people, exempted them from the onerous taxes and confirmed them Sultan Selim prostrated himself and exclaimed “Alhamdulillah I am the possessor of the first Qiblah”.

This cry of Selim the possessor of the first Qiblah (praying direction) is characteristic of the relation between the Turkish Sultans and Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a holy city for all, and therefore the people were exempted from taxes and received subventions (Surra) from Istanbul every year. The Ottoman Sultan was servant of the holy places of Mecca and Medina and also of the 3rd Haram and the first Qiblah (Jerusalem).

The relation between the High Porte (as Istanbul was called) and Jerusalem was also important because Jerusalem was not only a Holy city for the Muslims (like Mecca and Medina) but it was also the Holy city of Christians and Jews. This multi-Holiness made otherwise strategically unimportant city very important for Turkish Rulers,.

Despite this importance only one Ottoman Sultan, Sultan Selim visited Jerusalem. But this was not uncommon. Because of power balances Sultans could not leave the capital. Even Sultan Selim did not visit the other two holy cities of Mecca and Medina. So it was only Jerusalem that was honoured with a Royal Visit of Turkish Sultan.

The First and only royal visit after Sultan Selim was by a Westerner and that was Kaiser Wilhelm II from Germany who visited it in 1898.

Until 9 December 1917 for more 400 years the city and Palestine lived peacefully under Pax Ottomana. Despite this 400 year long rule of Turks in Jerusalem there are not many visible Turkish Architectural Works. No slender minarets or Royal Mosque as in Balkans was build. The reason for this was respect for the local traditions and because there was a congregational Mosque of Masjid el-Aqsa. No other Mosque could be built that could surpass the holy shrine. Never the less, the City of Jerusalem has still a visible Turkish Presence.

Ottoman Jerusalem

One of the best methods to mark a ruler’s sovereignty over a city is by putting inscription on places where people gather. Inscription is a visible stamp of the ruler. There are also many inscriptions in the city’s strategic and prominent places.

Preservation of old City of Jerusalem as it survives today is the work of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent as called by Westerners and Kanuni by Turks. He undertook great infrastructural works to make the city more secure. Most important of his works is the rebuilding of the walls of the city. Jerusalem had in Mamluk times no walls. Suleiman the Magnificent remade the citadel and also he undertook efforts to bring water to the city where 6 Sabils are still witness of this. He decorated his infrastructural works with inscriptions. There are/were 35 inscriptions in Jerusalem bearing the name of Sultan Suleiman. That is abundant compared to other cities even to the capital Istanbul, Jerusalem comes in the first place for containing so many well-preserved inscriptions of Sultan Suleiman.

Ottoman Jerusalem

Suleiman had a special relationship with Jerusalem. Evliya Çelebi describes Sultan Suleiman’s special relationship with Jerusalem as follows:

"In the year 926/1520 Sultan Suleiman acceded to the throne and conquered the fortress of Belgrade 927/1521 and later on the island of Rhodes 928/1522 and accumulated thereby intense wealth. The Prophet Muhammed (s.a.w) appeared to him in a blessed night and told him: “O Suleiman you will make many conquests You should spend these spoils on embellishing Mecca and Medina, and for the fortification of the citadel of Jerusalem in order to repulse the unbelievers, when they attempt to take possession during the reign of your followers. You should also embellish its sanctuary with a water basin and offer annual money gift to the dervishes there, and also embellish the Rock of Allah and rebuild Jerusalem.”

"Such being the order of the prophet Suleiman sends from his spoils one thousand purses to Medina and another thousand purses to Jerusalem. Together with required material he dispatched the master architect Koca Sinan and transferred Lala Mustafa Pasha from the governorship of Egypt to that of Syria, this latter having been ordered to carry out the restoration of Jerusalem, gathered all the master builders, architects and sculptors available in Cairo, Damascus and Aleppo and send them to Jerusalem to rebuild it and to embellish the Holy Rock."

Ottoman Gaza, Muslims Reading Quran

Suleiman never visited the city but the works he implemented in the city and the inscriptions set on his behalf are proof of this relationship. Thanks to his imperial patronage the city has preserved its character and integrity. It is still a living city. Old City of Jerusalem could be without any doubt called his city, Suleiman city.

After these immense works of Sultan Suleiman, the city became less of a point of interest for the later Sultans. In the 18th and 19th. century when the western (mainly) christian powers showed interest in Jerusalem the city attracted again the attention of Ottoman Sultans.

To call a few examples of later works: There is the restoration of the Citadel by Sultan Mahmud I., and Abdülhamid II., renovation of Tile works of the Dome of The Rock in 1874 by Sultan Abdülaziz. In later times Sultan Abdülhamid II was active in modernizing the Arab provinces and trying to integrate the holy cities to the capital Istanbul; by building railways, and telegraph lines. His 25th year of accession was overall celebrated with building of clock towers in ottoman cities. The British demolished the Jerusalem Clock tower and sabil in 1922. In 9 December 1917 Turkish army withdraw from the city which became a scene of change, violence, war and struggle that it never had seen in the thousand years before. When one nowadays walks in the streets of Jerusalem one can hear the voice of the city desiring for the peaceful times of Pax Ottomana.

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The Ottomans and Sacred Places in Jerusalem