Three big Muslim empires, the Ottoman, the Mughal and the Persian Empires Arose from 1500 to 1639

Map of the Ottoman Empire

By the time that Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-66) succeeded to the throne, the Ottoman empire was one of the world’s leading power, comparable with Ming China or Charles V’s empire in the west, but now two other empires arose to share pre-eminence in the Muslim world. The one was the Mughal empire founded by Babur in 1526 and consolidated by his grandson Akbar 1556-1605). The other was Persia which had been in a state of chaos ever since it was overrun by Timur. Here in 1500 a fanatical Shi’a sect, Ismail Safavi, seized Tabriz crown himself as Shah Ismail I and quickly reunited the country. Safavid Persia reached its peak under Abbas I (1587-1629) by which time the three Muslim empires controlled a whole belt of territory from the frontiers of Austria and Morocco to the borders of China, the foothills of Himalayas and the Bay of Bengal. But their divisions rivalries particularly the clash between Sunnite Turkey and Shi’ite Persia drove a wedge into the Muslim world, comparable to the conflict between the Catholics and Protestants in western Europe. Shi’ism had originated centuries earlier over the question of the true succession to the Prophet Mohammad, but wider issues of political and religious nature were also involved.

In Persia a resurgent nationalism certainly played a part. The Safavids were the first native Persian dynasty since Sasanian times and Ismail I’s decision to make Shi’ism the Persia’s state religion was a challenge to the orthodox Turkish sultan. The Ottoman reaction was swift. In 1514 Ismail’s armies were defeated near Tabriz. In 1516 to prevent the heresy from spreading, Syria and Egypt were taken over. These successes enabled Suleiman to resume his advance in Europe. After the battle of Muh’acs in 1526, Hungary was overrun and Vienna was besieged in 1529. But Persia remained a thorn in the Ottoman side. The long wars against the Safavids between 1534 and 1619 were not the only reason for the Muslim decline which became apparent after 1560, but they certainly hastened it. This was a great age of Islamic art and architecture, particularly in Persia and India. But in a changing world Islam remained static. All three Muslim empires were essentially land-based whereas now hegemony was passed to the sea; and to the people s on the fringe-the Dutch, the French, the English- who knew how to master and exploit the sea power.