Course for 2010-2011, University of Erfurt

Im Reich des „Roten Sultans“: Die spätosmanische Ära des Abdülhamid II. (1876-1909)

In the Empire of the "Red Sultan": The Late Ottoman Period under Abdülhamid II. (1876-1909)

Lehrstuhl für Geschichte Westasiens, Do/Thu 10:00-12:00, D07

Das Seminar befasst sich mit der Ära des Sultan Abdülhamids II., der einerseits von Opponenten als Despot gebrandmarkt und für den Tod von vielen Andersdenkenden und Minderheiten verantwortlich gemacht wird und andererseits als fähiger Herrscher gesehen wird, der es schaffte das Osmanische Reich trotz imperialistischer Eingriffe noch zusammenzuhalten und die Modernisierung vorantrieb.

The course deals with the controversial figure of Sultan Abdülhamid II, on the one hand stigmatised by opponents as a despot who was responsible for the deaths of dissidents and minorities, and on the other hand is regarded as a capable ruler who prevented the collapse of the Ottoman Empire despite imperialist intervention and promoted modernization.

Forthcoming Talk

“'Appropri­ate objects of christian benevolenc­e?' Protestant­ Missionari­es, the Nusayris and the Ottomans”

Where: World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies, Barcelona/Spain
Panel: Late Ottoman/Post-Ottoman Heterodox Communities (299)
Panel Dates: 19th July 2010 - 24th April 2010
Time of Panel: 22nd July 2010, 9am - 11am
Link: http://wocmes.iemed.org/en/preorg-lateottoman

This paper elaborates on the intricate connections between Protestant Missionaries, the Nusayris and the Ottoman state in the 19th century.
Knowledge of the Nusayris and similar groups began with Western travellers and orientalists, including American Protestant missionaries, from the early 19th century. These people studied heterodox groups for learned purposes but also to find ways how to exploit them against the Ottomans politically and to bring them into the fold of Christianity. The fear of infiltration of the Muslim subjects, whether mainstream or deviant, by foreigners, pressed the Ottoman government to endorse a more orthodox form of the official Hanefi-Sunni school. We will look into the Ottoman attitude toward the Nusayris and examine topics such as assimilation, resistance, integration and conversion. How did Protestant missionaries integrate the Nusayris into their millenarian belief in a new social order? And how did the Nusayris respond to the civilizing efforts of the Christian Missionaries and the Ottoman state?

Course for Summer 2010, University of Erfurt

Lehrstuhl für Geschichte Westasiens
>Do 12:00-14:00, LG 4/D05


Das Spätosmanische Reich: Reformen und Reformer


Im Osmanischen Reich des späten 19. und frühen 20. Jahrhunderts war die Schlüsselfrage, die die politische Führung konfrotierte, wie der Staat gerettet werden konnte. Die Lösung hing von der Sichtweise der Reformer ab, allerdings wurden der Despotismus des Sultans, der Übergriff der Großen Mächte, der Verlust der islamischen Basis, das Scheitern der Modernisierung u.ä. als die Hauptursachen identifiziert.


The Late Ottoman Empire: Reforms and Reformers


In the Ottoman Empire of the late 19th and early 20th centuries the key question that confronted the political élite was, how the state could be saved. What the Ottoman state needed rescuing from depended on one's point of view, but the chief culprits were identified as the despotism of Sultanic rule, Great Power encroachment, abandonment of the Empire's Islamic basis, a failure to modernize, etc.

Course for 2009-2010, University of Erfurt

Universität Erfurt, Lehrstuhl für Westasiatische Geschichte
Mi/Wd 12:00-14:00, LG 4/D07

Das Osmanische Reich im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert: Minderheiten und religiöse Bewegungen

Der Kurs befasst sich mit den Entwicklungen im Osmanischen Reich vom Ende des 18. bis zum Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, angesichts des Übergangs von einem multiethnischen/religiösen Reich zu einem säkularen Staat. Hauptaugenmerk sind hierbei die Reformen bezüglich Minderheiten und religiösen Bewegungen, die offizielle Haltung ihnen gegenüber und deren Beitrag zu den Veränderungen in dieser Zeitperiode.

The Ottoman Empire in the 19th and 20th century: Minorities and Religious Movements

The course deals with developments in the Ottoman Empire from the end of the 18th until the beginning of the 20th century in the light of the transition from a multi-ethnic/religious empire to a secular state. Specific attention will be given to reforms concerning minorities and religious movements, the official attitude towards them and their contribution in the changes in this period.



Photo: Necati Alkan©

Publication of revised PhD thesis

DISSENT AND HETERODOXY IN THE LATE OTTOMAN EMPIRE: REFORMERS, BABIS AND BAHA'IS

Necati ALKAN

Table of Contents

Illustrations

Acknowledgements

A Note on the Transliteration

Foreword

Introduction

1. Reforms in the Late Ottoman Empire

Westernising reforms and the role of the ulema at the turn of the 19th century

Sultan Abdülmecid

The Tanzimat Period

2. Early Babis in the Ottoman Empire

The Rule of Necib Pasha in Iraq and the Relationship with Iran

The Rise of the Babi Movement

Combined Sunni-Shi‘i Opposition: The Trial of Mulla ‘Ali Bastami

The Bab’s Epistle to Sultan Abdülmecid

Sultan Abdülmecid and Tahira

3. The Babis, Iran and the Ottoman Reform Elite

The Exile of Baha’u’llah in Baghdad and Iran’s Intervention

Forced Residence of Baha’u’llah in Istanbul

Baha’u’llah in Edirne: the Deterioration of the Babi-Ottoman Relations

Final Exile in ‘Akka: Baha’u’llah’s Letters to Âli Pasha and Fuad Pasha

4. The Baha’is and the ‘Fathers’ of Ottoman Constitutionalism

Young Ottomans and the Baha’is

Midhat Pasha and ‘Abdu’l-Baha

5. Iranian Reformers, Young Turks and the ‘Babis’ in 19th

Century Istanbul

Sayyid Jamalu’d-Din ‘al-Afghani’

Al-Afghani, the Babis and the Baha’is

The ‘Babi Leader’ al-Afghani and the Young Turks

Mirza Malkum Khan, the Babis and the Baha’is

The Reformist Baha’i Qajar Prince Shaykhu’r-Ra’is

6. ‘Abdu’l-Baha and the Ottomans, 1890s – 1910s

Ottoman Intellectuals on ‘Abdu’l-Baha

‘Abdu’l-Baha, Abdülhamid II and the Young Turks

‘Abdu’l-Baha and the Young Turks after 1908

7. From Empire to Republic: State and Religion in the Era of

Kemalist reform

The Young Turks and Kemalist Westernism: the Role of Abdullah Cevdet

Abdullah Cevdet, Islam and the Baha’i Religion

Atatürk’s Secularist Reforms and the Baha’i Response

Baha’is under the Scrutiny of the Kemalist State

Atatürk and the Baha’i Religion

Conclusions

Appendices

Bibliography

---------------------

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Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations

15 September 2008 - 15 June 2009: research about the Nusayris in the late Ottoman Empire


FINAL PRESENTATION:

"Continuity and Change in the Late Ottoman World", 22 May 2009

Discussants:
Asst. Prof. Cengiz Kırlı, Asst. Prof. Ahmet Ersoy, Boğaziçi University

Papers/Presenters:

The Nusayris in the Late Ottoman Empire
Necati Alkan, Hebrew University

European Theories, Ottoman Context: Durkheimian Influence on Some Late Ottoman Thinkers
Sait Özervarlı, İSAM

‘We Want Roads’: The Trabzon-Erzurum-Bayezid Road as the Success or Failure of the Modern Ottoman State?”
Fulya Özkan, SUNY Binghamton

Reflections of Historicism: Teaching and Writing histoires universelles in Ottoman Turkish
Meltem Toksöz, Boğaziçi University

Building the Tanzimat: Generating a Fuller Picture of the Many Faces of the Armenian-Ottoman Architects the Balyan family and Their Working Milieu in 19th Century Istanbul
Alyson Wharton, SOAS, University of London

http://rcac.ku.edu.tr/

Courses for 2007-2008, The Hebrew University

The Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran
This course will provide the students with political, social and religious aspects of the Ottoman Empire and Qajar Iran (1797-1925) and examine the relations between the two Islamic states.

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