How did the Western world view Ottoman leaders? Were their ideas about the sultans' rule correct or misguided?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A. Western view of Ottoman leaders
1. sultan seemed a model of despotism
a. made and unmade laws, both religious and secular, at will
b. subjects had no rights against his anger
2. sultans had no need of a religious Reformation to curb the power of
clergy
a. unfamiliar because unlike Christian rulers in the West
3. they controlled the power structure of Sunni Islam themselves
4. regarded Ottoman government as disturbingly alien
B. Misguided views
1. Ottoman jurist Ebu us-Suud produced a justification of the ruler's power
a. revealed a thorough command of Roman law
b. similar to Jean Bodin's near-contemporary theory of
sovereignty in France
2. administrators were not the sultan's slaves
a. lesser officials and provincial governors were drawn from every
class and every part of the empire
b. trained as pages in the sultan's household before taking
provincial commands
c. they were maintained by revenues from designated areas
d. rose through the administrative ranks of the provinces to which
they were assigned