Political use of conversion in the nineteenth century Ottoman context: Some cases from Salonica

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to shed light on a period of time in Ottoman history when conversion policies and practices, influenced by the changes of times and, resulted in unprecedented socio-political directions. in order to do that, some conversion cases from the Ottoman society in Salanica will be presented. Conversion to Islam is of central importance in explaining the rise of empire and its formation in many scholary studies. It was usually presented as an official policy of Ottoman administration throughout the centuries. The devshirme system and Sufi preaching were considered to be the major instruments of mass conversion to Islam. On the contrary, I propose to look at the conversion issue in the nineteenth century context from a different angle.