Diversity in Islam

in which ways do the three primary Islamic empires tolerate diversity and in which ways do they seek to eradicate or stifle diversity? And is there a qualitative difference between religious and ethnic tolerance?

Ottoman Empire: In a part of the Ottoman Empire, also known as Balka, there were 19 percent were following the Islamic religion and 81 percent were Christians. The diversity of religion was a way to unify Empires in the 16th century. They tolerated Christianity even though they were an Islamic empire, so that is why there were so many Christians living in an Islamic community. I think that there was a large amount of diversity in the Islamic empire of Ottoman because since there were a majority of Christians in the Balka, there must have been many whites. Since the Christians came from the Roman Catholic Churches, they were mostly European and not Muslim.

Mughal Empire: In the Mughal Empire there was a large amount of religious diversity. 20 percent of the population were Muslims and the rest mostly practiced some other form of Hinduism. Emperor Akbar, who ruled from 1556-1605, imposed a policy of toleration, deliberately restaining the more Islamic and religious scholars. Also, he removed the special tax on non-Muslims also known as jizya. Akbar and his successors downplayed an Islamic identity for the Mughal Empire in favor of the Indian-Persian-Turkic culture. The Mughal, like the Ottoman had a very diverse empire with various cultures and religions.

Safavid Empire: For the Safavid Empire, like the previous Empires, they were Muslim and had a political and religious ruler. They also mixed ethnicities in their society. Even though they mixed religions, they still tried to convert everyone to the Shiite faith to unify people in their empire. They were intolerate towards non-muslims. For exammple, many were killed for practicing separate religions beside Islam.