In 1839, the sultan, Abdul Majid succeeded Mahmud II. This is the beginning of a period known in Ottoman history as the Tanzimat. The reorganization, or the reforms of the empire, was from now on that reforms were engaged in officially guided by official policy statements, and this went on for decades. The goals of the Tanzimat, the reforms. Were set out in two reforming edicts. The one, the first, was called the Hatt-i Sherif of Gulhane, issued in 1839. That is the Noble Edict of the Rose Garden of the Sultan's Palace, as the edict is known. And the second edict proclaiming more or less the same reforms but in greater detail, was issued in 1856 and is known as the Hatt-i Humayun, the Imperial Edict. One should add to these, the Ottoman constitution of 1876. If the reforms were meant to create a more liberal form of government, they failed. The Ottoman Empire as a result of the reforms did not become a more liberal or democratic entity. But if they were designed to strengthen the central government. And prolong the life of the Empire, they succeeded. And the Empire lasted for another 80 more years. And no small achievement. The first priority with these reforms, as in the previous reforms, was the army. Between one-half and two-thirds of all expenditure on the reforms went to the building of various military forces. And money to pay for the army required a change in the method of taxation. The method of taxation was therefore modernized and change form the old form of tax farming. Tax farming known as Iltizam, in Turkish, was a way in which notables were given the right to collect taxes from the citizenry. And in most cases, they pocketed much or most of the taxes for themselves, and this became a very corrupt and ineffective system. There was a need for wide-scale administrative reform, in order to carry out the reforms of the empire. This led to the development of a modern system of education to supply a much needed skilled manpower for the army and the administration. This was a classic example of modernization led by the needs of military reform. Administrative reform was the necessary partner for any reform of the army. One had to remodel the system of provincial government. And this was done by the passing of a new administrative provincial law, the Vilayet Law of 1864, which established a much more centralized government, run from Istanbul. Which allowed for a more effective collection of taxation, and a more effective administration of the government from the center to the provinces. There was a need to tie the provinces more directly to the center. And this was indeed achieved to at least a certain degree as a result of the Tanzimat. The Vilayets, the provinces, were placed under a governor and a structured system of subdistricts under the governor. And all of these run by appointees from Istanbul. Local councils were also created in the various parts of the provinces. And in these local councils, there were some appointed officials, some elected members, and these operated alongside the governors in a form of representation of local opinion, along with a greater measure of government centralization. In 1847, the Ministry of Education was established. This, of course, removed education from the control of the religious establishment where it had been until then. Therefore weakening evermore, the status and the stature of the Ullman in the Ottoman Empire. The established of the Ministry of Education and the creation of these new schools was in recognition of the need for the acquisition of skills for this world. For the advancement of the empire in this world, and the recognition of religion was valuable much more for the next world than it was for this one. And there was, of course, a need to keep up with the advances that were taking place not only in Europe. But in the Christian schools inside the Ottoman empire itself. Now during the Tanzimat, one must confess that education was not entirely revolutionized. It was much more difficult to change schools and education, in the villages, then it was in the towns and the cities. But what was true, was that the Tanzimat did succeed in creating a number of excellent high schools that were created in the main cities of Turkey. And were indeed established to reduce the bureaucrats who would carry on with the reform until the very end of the empire. Reforms in administration in the military eventually, of course, led to reform in the legal system. And indeed the reforms in the legal system were the most revolutionary of all. Why were the reforms in the legal system the most revolutionary? Because in the legal system meant undermining religious law. It meant undermining the weight and the status of the Sharia, it meant changing collective identity. There was nothing that weakened the hold of Islam on society more than the reform of law. And perhaps the most important legal reform of all. Was the decision to grant all subjects of the empire equality before the law. This was not the case until the Tanzimat. Religious minorities, like Jews and Christians, enjoyed religious autonomy in the empire. But they were not equal before the law. Islam was a superior civilization and a superior legal system in the eyes of the believers. Equality before the law essentially meant that Muslims, Jews, and Christians were now all equal before the law, which could no longer be the Sharia. Just by granting equality before the law, one had to erode one of the very basic principles of the Sharia, which preferred Muslims to the Jews and the Christians and other minorities. Equality before the law was a revolutionary change in the sense that now, as opposed to the past when law applied to different communities, the Muslims had their law and the Christians and the Jews were governed by their own legal authorities. Equality before the law meant that the same law applied to all subjects of the Ottoman Empire. That is what we can call the territorialization of the legal system. For the first time ever, there is one legal system. That applies to all subjects of the empire. No longer communities enjoying their particular legal orders, but individuals equal before the law. For all the subjects of the Ottoman Empire. This was a great step towards territorial nationalism. Because if the law applies territorially, to all subjects of the empire and not communities as communities. This is a great step towards the territorialization of identity. Territorial nationalism. This required new laws, obviously, that would grant equality to all. It required the training of lawyers and judges to apply the law. The Edict of 1839, in which this equality before the law was proclaimed, was explained and justified as a need to correct the deviation from the Sharia of the last 150 years. And the argument that countries who do not follow the Sharia cannot survive. So, in fact, this erosion of the Sharia, was explained and justified as if it were an upholding of the Sharia. Which in fact, of course it was not. This deviation from the Sharia of the last 150 years that had to be corrected according to the edict of the Sultan had to be fixed by new legislation. But what is new legislation? New legislation is an indication that the Sharia is no longer sufficient. That it is new legislation that must be taken from other bodies, external bodies of law. The 1839 edict introduced principles such as the security of life and property. The abolition of tax farming, the organized and proper enlistment to the army, and of course, justice and equality for all subjects, regardless of their religion. This is a radical deviation from the Sharia. And why new legislation? New legislation obviously because the Sharia is no longer sufficient. God's law was not good enough. This is the secularization of law taken from European sources. And again, a most serious blow to the religious establishment and their authority.
