The three Great Islamic Empires

I think there was a strong link between these empires and it was the Persian language!

I couldnt get how much reliable the Persian language was as a link btw the three empires. We all know that the mothertongue of both Ottoman and Safavid rulers was Turkish. Persian was the second language for literature for Ottomans, altough the language for literature was also Turkish and Persian within the Safavid rulers. Only Mughals had Persian as their official language.

BTW, the most important link btw all these empires, is that all have Turkic dynasties. Moghul dynasty was also originally Turkic commanders from the Mongol Empire...

 

then before the persian being the link there are others like Islam even there were the shia sunna differences but still all of them called themselves muslims and i guess knew how to speak arabic

Originally posted by azimuth   then before the persian being the link there are others like Islam even there were the shia sunna differences but still all of them called themselves muslims and i guess knew how to speak arabic

I think religion was the major difference between Ottomans and Safavids, in fact religion was one of major reasons that they were fighting against each other!

could it be that maybe there is nothing that linked these empires?? other than being muslim....

Ottomans did use Persian in administration. I do not say they only used Persian. But they used Persian.

On the contrary, Early Safavids never used Persian.

Hmmm, I thought the second language in the Ottoman Empire was arabic, even at the administration level (because of Islam and the vast Arab territories). Greek was the native tongue of most dragomans of the Porte, right?

Of course, this must depend on the different periods through which the Empire lived. Later on, french must be included as well, at least for educated people in Istanbul.

There were many Persian words in the Ottoman language but this doesn't mean that the language was Persian. On the other hand, education in the madrasas was in Arabic. Dragomans were Greek. In Anatolia Turkish was dominant. Also, many of the Anatolian Armenians and Greeks spoke Turkish as their mother tongue. They were writing Turkish in Greek and Armenian alphabets. Some of them could spoke their own languages and many of them couldn't.

It's true but I'm not sure if studying Persian was compulsory or not...

Turkish was the main language, used for administration and military affairs, but also for other things such as art. Official Ottoman Turkish had huge influence from Arabic and Farsi. Arabic was the language of religion, learning and law. Farsi was considered a refined language, was used for diplomacy, art and letter-writing.

Farsi was not 'compulsory' in schools. Ottomans had no central authority for education to decide the curriculum, to the very end. This came with the republic. Before that all communities had their own schools and they taught whatever they liked.

Originally posted by Maziar But the official language of Ottoman Empire was always Turkish.

It was multiethnical, but still it was a turkish empire.