the three empires and the islamic phoenix 297crushed with confiscation, al-Sha"rànìwas highly critical. In his bit-
terness he contrasted the miserable lot of the peasantry under the
Turkish regime with their comparative prosperity under the Mamlùks
(Nicholson 1993). But al-Sha"rànìwas not a regular paid qadhinor
was he a member of the government corp. He was a simple mys-
tic flùfìwho lived on very little and did not give serious attention
to materialistic matters. But this resentment was not to be let con-
tinue. By conspiracy or otherwise, al-Sha"rànìwas to be tried by the
official Ulama"for claiming to have spoken to God and angels.
As the Ulama"were curbed and religious studies were marginal-
ized in preference of secularization, it was not surprising that the
Ulama"felt alienated, grew resentful to the changes that were brought
under the band of modernisation.
How much each factor of the above had contributed to the neg-
ligence of work on literature activities in general and socio-economic
issues in particular, is difficult to tell. But it would not be exagger-
ated to say that, on the whole, these factors did not help provide
the right environment for a work of this nature. After three cen-
turies or so the intellectual life burst into flames again in what became
known as reform movements as we will see later. On the bright side,
it could be said, in reconciliation, that the Ottomans, as military
rulers, paid considerable attention to law and order. This could have
helped the growth of the spirit of capitalism had the socio-economic
conditions been favourable.
The Fall of the Ottoman Empire
After a few centuries of military success, the Ottoman Empire began
to undergo some decay. This could be related to several factors: eco-
nomic decay resulting from the decentralization of government to
province rulers who later exploited the weakening of the government,
the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, and the Western com-
mercial and political penetration. These are highlighted below.
The Economic Decline
The economic decay in the Ottoman Empire could be attributed to
two main factors: the maladministration of the Turkish provinces
and the shift of trade route from land to sea after the discovery of
the Cape of Good Hope.