Okay, I'm not exactly sure where to pin the level or extent of Ottoman Muslim observance in the conquered Balkan lands. I was always under the impression that the Ottoman leadership was not terribly religious. Rather, their "devotion" to Islam was for the most part driven by the desire to collect tax from the dhimmi. It seems that the Ottomans couldn't care less what religion you practiced, foods you ate, or what you drank, to so long as taxes were paid up and (in the Balkans) the government could procure janissaries.
But this leaves a lot of questions. First, there must have been varying levels of observance among the leadership and the people. Perhaps modern day Turkey holds a small reflection of this: cosmopolitan Turks often are non-observant Muslims, while rural Turks tend to practice Islam more.
Second, was dhimmi conversion to Islam ever motivated by a sincere devotion to Islam? The mass conversion of certain populations to Islam appears to reinforce the notion that Ottomans merely viewed Islam as a political tool for social control and revenue generation. I wonder how observant these converted populations were -- the liberality of modern Muslim Bosnians suggests that conversion to Islam was essentially a liberation from dhimmi oppression, and not a sudden and sincere conviction in the Qur'an.
Third, I suspect that many in Ottomans in the Balkans did not observe Muslim dietary laws or customs, i.e. Islam's prohibition on drinking. If this is true, would drinking constitute a barometer of Muslim observance? In other words, was there a direct correlation between disregard of Muslim laws and the social class of Ottoman populations in the Balkans?
But this leaves a lot of questions. First, there must have been varying levels of observance among the leadership and the people. Perhaps modern day Turkey holds a small reflection of this: cosmopolitan Turks often are non-observant Muslims, while rural Turks tend to practice Islam more.
Second, was dhimmi conversion to Islam ever motivated by a sincere devotion to Islam? The mass conversion of certain populations to Islam appears to reinforce the notion that Ottomans merely viewed Islam as a political tool for social control and revenue generation. I wonder how observant these converted populations were -- the liberality of modern Muslim Bosnians suggests that conversion to Islam was essentially a liberation from dhimmi oppression, and not a sudden and sincere conviction in the Qur'an.
Third, I suspect that many in Ottomans in the Balkans did not observe Muslim dietary laws or customs, i.e. Islam's prohibition on drinking. If this is true, would drinking constitute a barometer of Muslim observance? In other words, was there a direct correlation between disregard of Muslim laws and the social class of Ottoman populations in the Balkans?
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