History of the Ottoman Empire, page 450

I have been reading this book since Chris passed away in January. The book was in his backpack. Chris underlined passages in the book from time to time. There was an underlined passage on page 144. I did not see anymore. I thought maybe that was far as Chris had read. However, yesterday when I turned over page 450, there was an underlined passage. It was exciting to see it. I assume Chris had read the book that far. That is within a hundred pages of the end of the book.

In 1838 the Sultan issued the Gulhane Edict. The Sultan was buttering up to the West. The Edict was intended to give all citizens equal rights and proposed a new law code The author of the book, Caroline Finkel, made the following comment which Chris  had underlined,

The promise of equality for all before the law was not one to be easily assimilated in the Ottoman milieu, since Islam itself enshrines three significant inequalities: those of believer and unbeliever, master and slave, male and female.

Notice where Tripoli is located. Tripoli was in the Roman Empire, the Arabian Empire, and then the Ottoman Empire. I wish the city good luck.

4/14/11 240 50.1 130 62 85 97.4 1930 78 55 0