The era of "Suleiman the Lawgiver" was worse than the era of his father, the butcher "Selim".. "Selim" had governors who feared him and reckoned with him a thousand times over.. and he appreciated courage in his enemy.. whereas "Suleiman the Lawgiver" was in a terrible stupor.. while the Ottoman sultanate was being run by his wife "Sultana Hurrem".. or the Jewish concubine "Roxelana" as she was before.

And in Egypt a new rebellion and a new guerrilla war had emerged.. against the Ottoman state.. led by two men.. "Janem al-Sayfi" and "Inal al-Sayfi".. and these two openly mocked the Ottoman Sultan.. and nicknamed him the "child" and "mama's boy".. and they invoked the history of "Ertugrul" and "Osman" and nicknamed him "ibn al-nas".. and this was an insult in the Mamluk era.. "ibn nas" means nobody knows his family or his origins.. and this talk was reaching the ears of the governor of Egypt, "Mustafa Pasha".

And then "Inal" and "Janem" marched on Sharqia with a small army.. and defeated the Ottoman detachments there.. so "Mustafa Pasha" sent to "Suleiman the Lawgiver" to inform him of the situation.. but "Suleiman" never answered him at all.

"Roxelana" had decided to bear a child from "Suleiman".. and for her son to be the crown prince.. and she did succeed in that and bore him "Selim" and "Mehmed".. and the first of these never sobered up from wine.. night or day.. so they called him "Selim the Drunkard".. and that is why her first bet was on her son "Mehmed".. that he become crown prince.. but there was an obstacle in the way.. namely the crown prince "Mustafa".. "Suleiman's" son by his original wife.. who had borne him "Mustafa" and "Bayezid".

And while "Janem" and "Inal" and "Mustafa Pasha" were fighting in Cairo.. "Roxelana" was whispering in "Suleiman's" ear.. that "Mustafa", his son, was preparing to rise against him.. and she wove dozens of intrigues and plots.. to set them against one another.

And here "Suleiman" decides to kill his son.. so he orders a group of palace slaves.. they enter his chamber.. and they set upon him.. and strangle him with a silk cord.. until he breathes his last. The Ottoman historian "Ibrahim Peçevi" mentioned this incident in detail in his book "Tarih-i Peçevi".. and so did the Ottoman historian and statesman "Mustafa Ali" in his book "Künhü'l-Ahbar".. and "Mustafa Ali" in particular.. was an eyewitness.

And the Ottoman governor "Mustafa Pasha" sends other letters from Egypt.. about the resistance of "Janem" and "Inal".. but at the same time "Roxelana" was allying with the commander of the Algerian fleet.. and Algeria was under Ottoman occupation as well.. "Khair al-Din Barbarossa".. to try to fulfil her dream of taking revenge on the Catholic Church.. which had persecuted her and her family long ago.. so again no one answered "Mustafa Pasha".. who discovered that he had to deal with the matter of "Inal" and "Janem" on his own.

And the two had encamped in Sharqia.. and the Bedouin tribes living there had joined them.. so "Mustafa Pasha" marched against them with the Ottoman army in the year 1524.. and as soon as the Bedouins who were in the army of "Inal" and "Janem" saw the vanguard of the Ottoman army.. they said to him "we have no power against these numbers nor these fires".. and they withdrew from his vicinity.

"Mustafa Pasha" begins the fighting at once.. and he attacks and "Inal" and "Janem" attack him with the men who remained with them.. and despite the difference in numbers.. "Janem" nearly killed "Mustafa Pasha" in fact.. but "Janem's" horse suddenly stumbles on the rocky ground.. and falls with him.. so the Ottomans pounce on him.. and sever his head from his body at once.

And "Inal" was lighter and less bold than "Janem".. so when he saw "Janem's" severed head.. panic seized him.. and he issued an order to withdraw in disorder.. and fled.. while the Ottomans took "Janem's" head and hung it on Bab Zuweila.

It was said that "Inal" fled to Gaza.. and the truth is that he vanished and all trace of him was completely lost.. but whenever one of the Ottomans was ambushed and killed.. people would whisper that "Inal" was the one who did it... to the point that the common folk and the ignorant decided with confidence.. that "Inal" had a special turban or cap.. when he put it on his head.. he would disappear from sight.. and this was the beginning of the spread of what we know in folk heritage as the "cap of invisibility".

With the killing of "Janem" and the disappearance of "Inal".. the Janissaries go back to spreading corruption in the streets.. and raping women openly in broad daylight under the threat of rifles.. until one time.. a group of Janissaries follows two girls at night.. one of them wrapped in an abaya.. and the other revealing her face in an inviting smile.. and they follow them into one of Cairo's quiet alleys.. and they enter behind them an old abandoned house.. only to be surprised by a masked man.. at the head of a number of other men.. who seize the Janissary troops and slaughter them completely.

And this incident is repeated dozens of times without anyone knowing who the perpetrator is.. so "Mustafa Pasha" orders that women not be molested because they have become an "ambush".. and he begins to pursue the unknown perpetrator.. while people whisper the name of a Mamluk knight called "Hassan Ras al-Ghoul".

And at the same time.. "Hurrem" was ordering "Khair al-Din Barbarossa".. to press the fleet into service to smuggle out the Jewish communities.. who had been squeezed by the Church's inquisitions.. and she brought thousands of them and granted them the city of "Ottoman Salonica.. as a temporary residence for them.. and "Suleiman's" personal physician became one of them.. and through this physician she mediated and brought him a Jewish political adviser named "Joseph Nasi".

And "Joseph" began to pursue a new goal.. regarding his own people.. and he asked "Roxelana" to strive to obtain for them a firman to settle them in another place.

In Palestine.

And at the same time a message reaches "Suleiman".. from "Mustafa Pasha".. that he has crushed the rebellion of "Inal" and "Janem al-Sayfi".. so "Roxelana" tells him that this means "Mustafa Pasha" is a strong man.. and that his presence in his post governing Egypt is a danger.. so "Suleiman" orders his dismissal and arrest.. and appoints in his place a man named "Ahmed Pasha".

Meaning if he fails to crush the rebellion then he is a failure and gets arrested.. and if he succeeds then he is strong and a source of danger! This was "Hurrem's" bizarre logic.. to which "Suleiman" could say nothing but "amen".

But the problem was that "Ahmed Pasha" did not covet the rule of Egypt.. he coveted becoming grand vizier.. but the post went to "Hurrem's" own personal "friend" "Ibrahim Pasha".. so "Ahmed Pasha" decides to rebel.

And upon his arrival in Egypt.. and before a month had passed over its throne.. he begins granting safe conduct to the scattered Ottoman Mamluk forces.. and gathering them around him.. and trying to form his own army.. and he makes an alliance in Sharqia with the Arab sheikh there "Abd al-Da'im ibn Baqr".. but he rushes the matter.. and orders the people, less than a week later, to invoke his name from the pulpits as Sultan of Egypt.. and he installed himself as a "sultan" independent of the Ottoman state in fact.. so the Janissaries refused obedience to him.. and during one of his tours.. they fortified themselves in the citadel.. and shut its gates.. and refused to allow him to enter.. so he laid siege to the citadel.. until the Janissaries died of hunger.

And the provisions in the citadel were not ready to withstand a siege.. so the Janissaries found that they really would die of hunger.. so their commander came out to him to negotiate.. but "Ahmed Pasha" kills him.

And here the Janissaries find no escape.. so they search the citadel well.. until they find an old forgotten secret passage.. they use it to escape.. and from Egypt they report their flight to Istanbul.

And "Roxelana" learns that he has decided to secede.. and since she was not free to fight him.. she begins attacking him with a new weapon.

The weapon of rumours.

Ottoman rumours spread in Cairo that "Ahmed Pasha" is allying with the Safavids.. and that he wants to turn Egypt from Ottoman occupation to Safavid occupation.. and that these Safavids are infidel Shia etc.. and suddenly.. without warning.. one of the Ottoman princes in Cairo turns against him.. and tries to depose him from power.

And the country falls into civil war.. between the occupier.. and the occupier.

The truth is that Egypt, under Ottoman rule, saw one of its darkest and blackest eras.

And the people of Egypt could tolerate neither "Ahmed Pasha" nor those who turned against him.. nor "Suleiman the Lawgiver" nor any Ottoman at all.. so they mass one day.. and attack "Ahmed Pasha" while he is in the bathhouse.. but he manages to escape.. and takes refuge with Sheikh Abd al-Da'im in Sharqia.. and there he begins to form an army.. and part of the Ottoman army in Egypt joins him.. along with a group of Ottoman Mamluks.. and he tries to win over the Bedouin tribes.. but he had no money.. so he promises them exemption from taxes for 3 years if they fight with him.. and he promises them that when they enter Cairo.. he will allow them to plunder it as they wish.. so they join his ranks.

And the Ottoman state had appointed "al-Hamzawi Pasha" in his place and made him commander of the citadel.. so this man makes contact with the Arab sheikh "Abd al-Da'im" and his sons.. and tells them that this is not about promises.. "Ahmed Pasha" promised them and he might be defeated and they would lose everything.. but his money is at hand.. so Sheikh "Abd al-Da'im" accepts the offer.. and withdraws from the vicinity of "Ahmed Pasha", against whom a firman was issued branding him "Ahmed Pasha the Traitor".

And indeed on 6 March of the same year.. 1524.. the Ottoman state defeats its renegade governor "Ahmed Pasha".. and cuts off his head.. and hangs it on Bab Zuweila.

Darkness and injustice continue in Cairo for long years.. and history becomes mixed with folk heritage in the story of "Hassan Ras al-Ghoul".. whom the Ottomans betrayed.. and killed.. and a new resistance appears on the scene.. people repeated that he was the son of the chieftain "Hassan" by his wife "Fatima al-Fayoumiya".. and his name is "Ali".. the one we know as "Ali al-Zibaq".

A very complex region in which real history intertwines with folk heritage, legends and grandmothers' tales.

The year 1541 AD comes.. and "Roxelana" gives an order.. so her son "Mehmed" is appointed prince of the "sanjak" of Manisa.. "sanjak" is an Ottoman administrative division meaning "province".. and whoever holds this province becomes the crown prince.. "Suleiman", in order to appoint "Mehmed" to Manisa.. removed his other son "Bayezid" from the province.. and transferred him to Amasya.

And "Bayezid" receives the news calmly.. and submits to his father's order.. but only two years later.. in 1543.. they find "Mehmed" dead in his bed for an unknown reason.. it was said to be poison.. and it was said to be a mysterious illness.

And it was a crushing blow to "Roxelana".. but she does not allow everything to be lost.. so she orders "Suleiman".... and while "Bayezid" was smiling in relief.. he is surprised that his father is appointing his drunken son "Selim" to the province of Manisa.. as crown prince.

And "Bayezid" suppresses his rage with difficulty.. because he did not want to revolt against "Roxelana" openly.. because she was very strong.. and controlled the armies of the entire sultanate.. so he decides to wait for his moment.

"Roxelana" does not hold out long after the assassination of her son "Mehmed".. and she begins to sink into drinking wine.. and leaves the affairs of the palace in the hands of "Joseph Nasi", the Sultan's Jewish adviser.. and a kind of paranoid madness strikes her.. mixed with a strange rancour and an odd hatred toward everyone.. and then she dies of a horrific liver failure from excessive alcohol.. on 17 April 1558 AD.

With the death of "Roxelana".. "Bayezid" takes heart.. and decides to attack his brother "Selim II" and depose him and depose his father.. and rule the Ottoman state.

"Suleiman the Lawgiver" and "Selim II" on one side.. and "Bayezid" on the other.. and each one with an army and weapons and equipment.. and in the year 1559.. one year after the death of "Roxelana".. they meet at the "Battle of Konya".

And "Bayezid" is defeated and flees.. he flees and goes to the Safavids.. throws himself into their arms.. and the Safavid Shah "Tahmasp" pledges to protect him and his sons.

But "Suleiman the Lawgiver" corresponds with the Shah.. and concludes a deal with him.. under which he sends the Shah.. 50 thousand gold lira for each head of his son "Bayezid" and his sons.. so the Shah collects a quarter of a million gold lira in fact.. and sends him the bodies of "Bayezid" and his four sons.

And "Roxelana's" goal is achieved after her death.

And two years after the Battle of Konya.. her efforts are crowned with dazzling success.

"Joseph Nasi" wrests from "Suleiman the Lawgiver" a firman in 1561.. stipulating the allocation of Tiberias, and seven villages around it in Palestine.. as a homeland for Jews only.

And "Joseph Nasi" sets off there.. and begins corresponding with Jewish communities.. in all corners of the earth.. to come and settle their new homeland.. so the Catholic Church directs the "Knights of Malta".. and they attack these ships, drowning many of them and capturing many. But the Ottoman state's money.. in the hands of "Joseph Nasi".. was ready to pay their ransom and free them.

And in Tiberias.. "Joseph Nasi" begins buying more land around it from the people of Palestine.. and expands further.. his project met with opposition from the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of Palestine, and it is historically established that they tried to complain to the Sublime Porte.. and they met the Grand Vizier, who of course paid them no heed.. so they staged a strike and refused to work with "Joseph Nasi" and his men.. so "Joseph" sent to the Sublime Porte.. so the Ottomans came and arrested two of the leaders of the strike.. and executed them.. and no one could stand against "Joseph Nasi" anymore.

And the disaster grew greater.. while "Suleiman".. in the year 1566.. decides on a strange decision.. also at the instruction of "Joseph Nasi".. and "Suleiman" was in his seventies.. so he decided to invade the fortress of "Szigetvar".. in order to attack Austria.. and this fortress was on his way.

And this matter alarmed all of Europe.. and made it turn away from the stories of "Joseph Nasi" in Palestine.. and his settlement, which it did not like.. and on 6 August of the year 1566.. the Ottoman army besieges "Szigetvar" under the command of "Suleiman the Lawgiver".

"Suleiman" is unable to storm the fortress.. and the battles continue for more than a month.. until on 7 September of the same year.. they find "Suleiman" dead in his tent after he had been struck by amoebic dysentery and violent diarrhoea.. so they decide to break off the siege and return.

But before breaking off the siege, the Grand Vizier "Mehmed Pasha Sokollu", or as they call him "Sokollu Mehmed Pasha", was afraid to announce the Sultan's death.. for the Janissaries would revolt as usual.. so they opened his belly and emptied out his entrails and buried them in the ground beneath the tent.. and then they opened wounds with a knife in his neck, his thighs and under his armpits.. to drain out his blood.. and then they stuffed him with salt and straw.

And then they stitch up all these wounds.. and announce that the Sultan is ill and sleeping.. and must be carried on his bed just as he is.. and indeed they bring him back in this way, stuffed with straw and stitched up.. after they had turned him from "Suleiman the Lawgiver" into "Suleiman Frankenstein".

After "Suleiman", his crown prince "Selim" sits on the throne.. and al-Andalus, which was groaning under the pincers and spikes and presses and stakes of the Spanish Inquisition, appealed to him for help.. but "Selim" decides to invade Cyprus.. because "it presses the best wine in the world"........!! Historians say that as soon as "Joseph" told "Selim" of the splendour, purity and greatness of Cypriot wine.. "Selim II" cried out in eagerness: "Then I shall be king over Cyprus".

And indeed "Selim II" invades Cyprus.. and enjoys its wine.. which was the cause of his death.. because he entered his bath one day in the Topkapi palace.. completely drunk, unable to see in front of him.. so he stumbled in the bath and fell.. and wounded his head and lost consciousness.. while his blood flowed slowly through the wound in his head.. until he bled to death in January of the year 1595.. and his son "Murad III" succeeded him.

And "Murad" was a tender, compassionate man.. he would not deprive his father's wives.. the mothers of his five half-brothers.. of their sons and bury them alive or kill them secretly.. so he summons each brother with his mother.. and slaughters him before her.. and then gives her his head to keep or bury.. as she likes.

And "Murad" followed the path of his grandfather the Lawgiver.. so he left matters after that to "Mama".. Sultana "Nurbanu Sultan".. and his wife "Safiye" wanted some influence for herself.. so they let him live in the harem among the concubines, where there is bliss and pampering.. and "Safiye" began to struggle with "Nurbanu" over the rule of the palace and consequently the Ottoman state.

But there was a third power on the scene not to be underestimated.

"Mehmed Pasha Sokollu".. the Grand Vizier.. to whom the Janissaries owed complete loyalty.. and who, when he found "Murad" isolated among the concubines and in a stupor from all the sherbet he was gulping down.. began to act as though he were the actual Sultan.

And here a new phase of the struggle begins.. which would take long to talk about.. so we will continue our talk later.

And the talk.. has a remainder.

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- Previous posts in the first comment.

- The painting is of "Suleiman the Lawgiver" secluded behind the actual ruler "Hurrem Sultan" or "Roxelana".

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#The_Ottoman_Caliphate 25