Diversity is an important part of all empires because I believe diversity is one thing that helps an empire become successfull. Modern Day empires like McDonalds are all throughout the world.
Similarly, each of the Muslim empires allowed Diversity, but in their own way.
Ottoman: The Ottoman empire allowed people to not be Muslim, but taxing those who were not Muslim and refused to convert. I believe this is a firm but fair policy because it was a Muslim Empire, basically saying, "We'll allow you to be whatever you want but we'd prefer that you are Muslim because we are after all a Muslim empire."
Safavid: I think that the Safavids did the worst job of all the Muslim empires because they forced everyone to convert to Shi'a Islam. A lot of people weren't even Muslim and even if they were, they'd probably be Sunni because it is the dominant group. I think forcing everyone to be the same religion leads to the most rebellion therefore leading to a faster downfall of the empire. Even though they allowed all ethnicities, religion and ethnicity are very connected because most people with the same ethnicity tend to be the same religion, which many people do not want to give up. However, if they banned a certain ethnicity rather than religion, it would have been a lot worse because religion is something that can be changed but your ethnicity is always the same. More people would rebel and the Safavid Empire would be a lot more short lived than it already was.
Mughal: The Mughal empire, in my opinion, did the best job in unifying a diverse group of people. As you know today, Hindus and Muslims in SE Asia, tend to not get along. The Mughals created a blend of Hinduism and Islam bringing out the best in both worlds. Most people in India were Hindu, but the Mughals were Muslim, so they found a way to unify everyone well. This leads to the best chance of avoiding a rebellion.
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The Safavid Empire's religious policy may have successfully united the empire's population because everyone shared a common religion. This system could work out in this time period because religion played a much more immense role in society and everyday life. Having a common religion decreases the chance for conflict and often promises social harmony, and those who don't want to convert to Shia Islam can flee and reside in the neighboring Ottoman Empire.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with your comment that taxing Christians for not being Muslim is "fair." Although it is perhaps to be expected considering the time period, I do not think it could be called just. As you so aptly pointed out, ethnicity and religion are in many ways tied. We do not believe that it was OK for African Americans to be enslaved because of the color of their skin. We did not even think it was OK for them to have different rights than those of light skin. Why is it fine for people to be treated differently because of their religion if it is not OK to treat them differently for race or ethnicity? Perhaps that was not what you meant exactly, but I disagree with the sentiment that you expressed.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you though that the dissent concerning religious practices is most likely what led to the Safavid empire's early fall. Repressed people do not WANT to fit to form and so will not as eagerly obey the demands of the law. Rebellions are fomented and begin to bring an Empire down. Unhappiness is a weapon against organized government.
The Mughals did do the best job of unifying a diverse group under the leadership of Akbar. Akbar did a good job of using religion to seduce both the Hindu's and Muslim's into keeping the same faith. The Mughals did not do a good job of unifying a diverse public under Aurangzeb; who recreated the Mughal's outlook on diversity and made it's official religion a strict interpretation of Islam.
ReplyDeleteMost people in the Safavid Empire were Muslim. Also, you make the Sunni Islam sound like a better type of Islam by saying it's the "dominant group." There are just more Sunnis than Shiites. Also, in Persia there were more Shiites than Sunnis because most Sunnis lived in the Ottoman Empire so there probably wasn't much conflict.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that the Mughals were the most unified diverse group, I'll agree that under Akbar it was but when Aurangzeb became the Emperor all of the unity went away and was basically eradicated because he tried to force the Hindu's out of the Mughal Empire so it would become an Islamic only Empire.
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