Honored by the Glory of Islam. Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe

islamizing istanbul 99

and survey. It was narrated and recorded on the twentieth day of the

blessed month of Ramadan in the year one thousand seventy two

[May 9, 1 662].^86

One of the privy architects, Frenk Ali, was likely a western European convert

to Islam who oversaw the conversion of Christian places in his adopted city. In

May and June 1 662, authorities seized twelve of these eighteen church proper-

ties. The imperial decree states the not surprising fact that Christians had re-

built their churches in the guise of residences and warehouses and used them

to celebrate Christian rites.^87

While the signifi cance of undertaking such an action during Ramadan

cannot be overlooked, a larger political context may also have contributed to the

apparent about-face concerning Christian houses of worship. In the fall of 1661

an imperial decree caused all present to cry with joy when it was announced

that Fazıl Ahmed Pasha would lead a ghaza to Hungary. The aim was to take

revenge on the Habsburgs, who had seized Ottoman citadels, converted mas-

jids to churches, and taken Muslims captive; the effort was considered “battling

infi dels on behalf of the community of Muhammad” by the author who wrote

to preserve for posterity Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s military exploits. Several weeks

prior to the imperial decree concerning the razing of churches in the imperial

capital, the black banner of Muhammad was taken out and the grand vizier led

the army of Islam against the “infi dels who have no religion.”^88 On the battle-

fi eld the soldiers of Islam faced mud up to their knees in the pouring rain,

yet an Ottoman historian wrote, “The mud of jihad on the path of God is the

musk of paradise.” After the citadel was conquered, two large churches inside

it were made into mosques for the sovereign, “purifi ed of idols” and “marks of

infi delity,” and Friday prayers were rendered.^89 Fazıl Ahmed Pasha’s panegyrist

made the connection between making Christians, whether in central Europe

or “Islambol,” obey the law and previous agreements, and the conversion of

sacred spaces.^90

Scribes at the Shariah court expressed what they considered divine ap-

proval for the Islamization of Christian places. One wrote a Hadith in Arabic

in the margin of an entry recording the appropriation of Christian property:

“God builds a home in Paradise for the one who builds a mosque for God on

earth.”

Religious authorities also gave backing to these decisions. Legal opin-

ions of Sheikhulislam Yahya Efendi Minkarizade (sheikhulislam 1 662–73;

d. 1 677) reason that a new church or synagogue should be demolished if it had

been built within a municipality whose inhabitants included Muslims who

possessed a mosque. If a church already existed, it could be repaired so long