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

102 honored by the glory of islam

torched the churches were brought before the grand vizier, reprimanded, and

treated harshly. The grand vizier then rendered the new churches permanent,

allowing these illegal structures to be rebuilt, a very different outcome from

that which followed the fi re in 1 660.

Commoners Follow the Rulers’ Example

The fi re of 1 660 served to exacerbate tensions between members of different

religious groups and compel Muslims to enjoin the good and forbid the wrong.

Everyone suffered from the fi re and plague, and interreligious tensions in the

city ran high following the great dislocations. While many of the Jews forced to

leave their former quarters settled in Jewish neighborhoods in Balat, Hasköy,

and Ortaköy, others tried to move into Muslim neighborhoods elsewhere in

Istanbul or Christian neighborhoods in Galata. But Christian and Muslim resi-

dents often resisted their encroachment and turned to legal authorities and the

court to banish Jews from their new residences. For example, the imam and

several muezzins of the neighborhood of Hamamcı Mühiyeddin in the Fener

district testifi ed in court against Avraham son of Isaac.^100 They accused this

Jewish innkeeper of renting his rooms out to Jews despite the fact that Mus-

lims had always inhabited the neighborhood. These Muslim men of learning

petitioned the representative of the grand vizier and received a decree ordering

the expulsion of Jews from the quarter. They displayed it to the magistrate, who

warned the owner of the inn to expel the Jewish tenants. In another example,

Armenian and Orthodox Christians complained to the magistrate of Galata

that Jews who had lost their homes in Istanbul settled on Christian properties

in Galata by deceitful means.^101 The Christian petitioners wanted their land

back and for the Jews who settled in this matter to be expelled by imperial de-

cree. Considering the interreligious tension after the fi re, it was logical to send

Jews from Eminönü to the predominantly Jewish village of Hasköy.^102

After the fi re Christians also attempted to settle where they previously

had not resided, to the discomfort of Muslims, who accused them of ruining

community morals. The billeting commander Hasan Agha from Hacer Kadın

neighborhood near Samatya Gate testifi ed that the neighborhood had previ-

ously been inhabited by Muslims.^103 Because many homes had recently been

sold to people who were not Muslim, Christians, Jews, and thieves became

dominant. Night and day “Gypsies” drank wine and spirits, played the horn,

listened to storytellers, and engaged in lewdness and debauchery, including

having sex with prostitutes. Muslims complained to the magistrate that be-

cause of the bawdy racket in their neighborhood they could pray neither in the