Historians agree that the three greatest Muslim Empires had to be the Ottoman, Persian, and Indian. All three of these shared some common aspects, and also had many differences. For instance, they were all founded by the descendents of Turkish and Mongol horsemen. Also, all of their political and economic systems had common qualities, but also contained many differences.
The Ottoman Empire, like the other two Muslim empires, had one central ruler with many different bureaucrats that worked underneath him. The main difference here is that all the people that worked below the ruler were not selected because of their social status or because of their family, but solely on their merit and their ability to do the job how it needed to be done. It seemed that in the Indian and Persian territories, that more people were selected for their position based on their social status.
They way that any of these empires expanded their power was through warfare.
English: Map showing the territories of the Ottoma...
Ottoman Empire
Tashrih al-aqvam, an account of origins and occupa...To the Ottomans, the military, which was usually controlled by the bureaucracy, was very important for their political power. A large part of the Ottoman army was the Janissaries, which was basically a slave army. They also used cavalry and other units to help fight the wars, but one of the most unique ideas was that all of the men were treated equal. The Persians seemed to not treat everyone as equals and relied more on the idea that everyone was in a different class. This was also the case for the Indian Empire, they tended to treat everyone according to how and in what social standing they were born.
The economic system for all three of these great empires, revolved mainly around trade. Due to the location of these empires, most were in prime positions to set up trade routes with many other countries. The Ottomans saw merchants as a not so honorable position. However, they still began to trade between the surrounding lands, but predominantly stayed self-contained. Trading was very important to the Persian economy. They looked upon merchants with great respect and this title was only given to men who trade in foreign countries. It was thought that Persians traded their goods all over Europe. The Indian empire, while also relaying on trading, most of their exports came from manufactured goods. They predominantly fulfilled a need for cotton cloth in Europe and many other parts of the world. The only problem that arose while dealing with India was the fact that the merchants only took silver or gold for payment, which could be hard to come by for some people.
Overall, these three great Muslim empires left an everlasting impact on the world today. Although they all shared some similar characteristics, their many differences is what separated them from each other, and the rest of the world.
Ottoman Janissaries and the defending Knights of S...
Neu-eröffnete Welt-Galleria. ..., Nürnberg 1703....
The music band of the Janissaries called mehterhan...