WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Officially the Ottoman Empire was an Islamic Caliphate ruled by a Sultan, Mehmed V, although it also contained Christians, Jews and other religious minorities.

Detailed explanation-2: -An empire of nations Islam did play a big part in the empire, however. The Ottoman state based its authority on religion. The first warrior-sultans expanded the empire in the name of Islam. Sultans claimed the title of caliph, or successor to the Islamic Prophet Muhammad.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Turks began converting to Islam after the Muslim conquest of Transoxiana through the efforts of missionaries, Sufis, and merchants. Although initiated by the Arabs, the conversion of the Turks to Islam was filtered through Persian and Central Asian culture.

Detailed explanation-4: -In the Ottoman Empire, non-Muslims did not have equal rights. For example, the Ottoman Empire had sharia law, which was Islamic. This meant, for instance, that in court, the testimony of a non-Muslim was only equivalent in value to half that of a Muslim’s testimony.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Ottoman Empire began its expansion into Europe by taking the European portions of the Byzantine Empire in the 14th and 15th centuries up until the 1453 capture of Constantinople, establishing Islam as the state religion in the region.