Page 69 - Justice and Compassion in the Qur'an

67
HARUN YAHYA (ADNAN OKTAR)

Istanbul), confirmed that the churches in Galata would not be
confiscated or turned into mosques, and that the People of the
48
Book would not be forced to convert to Islam. Another
agreement made in the same period entitled the spiritual
leaders known as "metropolitans" to carry out their services as
usual. 49
Apart from the rights of Christians, Sultan Mehmed also
paid attention to the rights of Jews. They were also granted the
right to have their own synagogues and rabbis and to carry
out their religious services freely. Sultan Mehmed invited
Rabbi Moses Kapsali to the palace, the first rabbi of the
Ottoman period, complimented him and granted him an
imperial edict to judge cases involving Jews. 50
These developments that occurred following the conquest
of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmed also characterised the reigns of
the succeeding Ottoman sultans. The Ottoman army extended
its borders as far as Vienna. They conquered the Balkans
entirely. Serbia, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Wallachia and
Moldavia passed to the Ottoman Empire and Hungary was
taken under its protection. Ottoman influence was also felt in
lands bordering on the sea. The Black Sea became a Turkish
lake. Many Aegean islands such as the Mora Peninsula,
Rhodes, Crete and Chios, the Caucasus, and places such as
Baghdad, Tabriz, the Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Egypt,
Palestine, Jerusalem, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, eastern
Anatolia, the Spice Road, Poland and many other regions
were included within the territories of the Ottoman Empire.
People of different religions lived in these conquered lands in
peace. Nobody was oppressed because of his religion,
language or race.