The role of ‘sacreds’ in the political agenda of the ‘Reformist’ Ottoman Sultan Selim III (r. 1789-1807)

Abstract

Selim III was enthroned at a time when the central authority and image of the sultan was gradually weakening due to the Ottoman-Russian wars during most of the second half of the eighteenth century (1768-74, 1787-92) that emotionally and financially strained the empire. The number of military and political setbacks during his reign, brought about the questioning of both the extensive new order that was trying to be implimented as well as the legitimacy of the sultan himself. The escalating turmoil in the Arabian peninsula caused by the continued expansion of the Wahhabi-Saudi state after 1790’s, especially their disruption of the annual hajj and occupying Mecca in 1803, also effected Selim’s prestige as the defender of Islam and “the servant of the two noble sanctuaries” (hadim ul-haremeyn ül-şerifeyn) [Mecca&Medina]. This paper aims to examine the efforts of Selim III - who is commonly known with his reforms in areas such as the military, economy, trade, politics, and diplomacy- to counteract the weakening image of his religious leadership in the eyes of Istanbul residents through a case study of the reconstruction of the Eyüp Sultan Mosque.