𝗢𝘁𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝗦𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺 & 𝗧𝗼𝗹𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲! "The Ottoman millet system until it was undermined in the 19th century, functioned extremely well. It gave a role to Christians and Jewish populations. They played very important role in the overall economy. It lead to the articulation of Orthodox Christian worship. Anyone who goes up the Mount ethos or sees the monastery of Sumera outside of Trabzon today could see a continuing tradition of paintings and the rich whole art of the Orthodox Church which was allowed to flourish under the Ottoman government. Jewish thinkers continued to write commanteries on the torah and there was a very very rich intellectual life of Judaism in the Ottoman state. But all of that was only possible because they had accepted their role within the Ottoman state. And the Ottoman Sultan-Caliph as dispenser of Shariah, took very seriously his role that he should protect his non Muslims subjects and so for centuries an absolute impeccable Sunni Muslim ruler was able to rule over 5 million subjects who religiously were quite at odds with his own personal beliefs." Quote source: The Ottoman Empire video lectures by Professor Kenneth W Harl (Phd Byzantine history from Yale university 🇺🇸 ) available on the Great Courses Plus. #Ottoman #Millet #tolerance #statecraft #caliph #shariah #Jews #Christianity