The Regional Caliphates — Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal Empires
Safavid Empire
This empire started in 1501 and lasted until 1772. It is the background for Islam in modern Iran. It was predominantly the Shi’ite split, while the Ottoman Empire was more the Sunni side of things. It covered Iran, parts of eastern Turkey, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. It even spread unto central Asia. Its headquarter was Esfahan, in Iran. It is still the religious capital in Iran.
Even though this was a caliphate, it was more of a theocracy. This is where Iran is today. This is the Shi’ite form of government. It must have a theocracy with a supreme counsel
The Safavid empire controlled a lot of trade routes because of its location. It was the trade link between the east and the west.
It functioned parallel to the Ottoman Empire for a good part of its existence. The language of this empire was Farsi, not Arabic.
Ottoman Empire
This empire took over the Byzantine Empire. This is modern day Turkey. The Ottoman Empire conquered the Safavid Empire and expanded all the way to Arabia. It probably controlled more land than any caliphate in Islamic history.
The Ottoman Empire tried to enter Europe again from the east. The first siege was against Vienna in 1529. The final battle for Vienna was in 1683. During this period there were constant attacks on this front. The battle of 1683 was the second major defeat, remember the first was in 732, in France.
Today Islam is taking over Western Europe, not by the sword, but by migration. They are using immigration, refugees, and a high birth rate to conquer Europe.
The date of the last day of this battle is significant. It was September 11, 1683. The date 9/11, is a very significant date in Islamic history. It was not an accident that this date was used as a launching pad against the West. In America, we say, Remember the Alamo, not because of a victory, but because of a defeat. The battle of Vienna was an important defeat to the Islamic world.
Another important fact about the Ottoman Empire is that, under Suleiman the Magnificent, they controlled the Mediterranean. They lost this and he went to Israel and tried to control Jerusalem. He is the one who built the walls that are there today. The later Crusades were fought at that time against the Turks.
This area of Islamic history is whitewashed in our textbooks. They teach that the Muslims were the defenders being attacked by the Christians. They teach that the Catholic Church was the oppressor. True history shows that it is the exact opposite.
Ever since Muhammad’s move to Medina, Islam has been a conquering army. For the most part, not in every case, the Crusades were to gain back ground lost to the Muslim attackers, and to rescue Jerusalem.
It was the defeat at Vienna that contained the Ottoman Empire until its fall in 1922. The end really started with defeats around 1913.
When the Turks, the Ottoman Empire, took over the Byzantine Empire, Istanbul was Constantinople, which was the headquarters for the eastern Catholic Church. The Sofia church still stands today. It has 4 minarets around it and it is the Sofia mosque.
In Islam, everything comes back to the sword. We, in the West, are the only ones who call Islam a religion of peace. Muslims call it the religion of the sword because this is what it was under Muhammad, and what it has been for its 1,400 year history.
The Ottoman Empire came to an end after WWI. The British were given the mandate by the League of Nations to divide up the land. You hear Muslims say the sins of the west were the Crusades and colonialism. They say this is when the British colonized Muslim countries. Their mandate was really to restore states back to the Arabs.
Although the Crusades and the “colonialism” was not always done right, it was usually pushing back against the aggression of the Muslims. If we go back to Muhammad, we see that Islam was almost always the aggressor. Muhammad was involved in 66 military campaigns, and in all but 2 he was the aggressor.
We can give over 580 battles in the 1,400 year history of Islam, and if we count the deaths of African slaves, Christians, Jews, Buddhist, and Hindus, we would find a death toll of over 270,000,000 people. You could put every genocide, every dictator, etc. together and it would not equal the bloodshed of Islam. The goal of Islam is the destruction of Christians and Jew because that is what is taught in the Qur’an and the other Islamic scriptures.
The Ottoman Empire was responsible for the genocide of the Armenian people in Turkey. Turkey is considered a secular country, but Turkey’s secular history is very short. Turkey has only been a secular country for about 70-80 years. Compare this with its Islamic background of some 400 years. The Muslim Brotherhood came from the fall of the Ottoman Empire.
Today Islam is trans-national. Instead of focusing on regional caliphates, it is now focused on being trans-national, and working throughout the world to destroy non-Muslim nations from within. The Muslim Brotherhood, the largest Muslim organization in the world, is a major player in this.
The Muslim Brotherhood is out of Egypt, but there is also Wahhabism movement in Saudi Arabia, and the Islamic movement in Iran. Islam is alive and well in these three major players. There is also ISIS, which is now in more than 30 countries.
There you have a summary of the 1,400 years of Islamic history. Let’s be forewarned so we can be forearmed.
