Education in the Ottoman Rule

Ozan Yakar
Physics Department, Bilkent University
(Dated: May 30, 2017)

The educational system of Ottoman Empire changed over the course of the Empire. Considering
the effects of the Islam in the early periods of Empire, the educational system changed and
educational institutions diversified and divided into parts that would fulfill different purposes.
In this paper, those parts and their roles in education as well as how the education system
was throughout the history of the Ottomans, how it started while being affected by the Islam
religion, how it got affected from the western countries, change and develop in time, will be discussed.

I. INTRODUCTION position to teach. These first believers had been educat-

When talking about an empire which conquered a huge
area for hundreds of years, it is impossible to expect that
the educational system of that empire to come to a dead-
lock. From the beginning of the Ottoman rule to the
end, the educational systems kept changing and develop-
ing over the years. In order to inspect the educational
system that the Ottoman Empire had, i think it is im-
perative to inspect the educational system before them,
which they based their system onto. After that, the edu-
cation in early periods of Ottoman rule will be discussed
by giving information about ulema and madrasas.
By taking into account that why these schools needed
diversity and how they are diversified. We will consider
before the Tanzimat reform and after.
II. EDUCATION IN THE OTTOMAN RULE
ing the people around them about religion in a verbal
way. In the early periods, the education is consisted of
memorizing Quran, collecting hadis and interpret the
information that has been gathered. People have not
yet reached to the mental maturity to come up with
their own philosophical understanding of matters[1].
Starting from this point, the teachings that will take
place in the future are located inside or at least, next
the mosques. This not only affected the location of
the teaching facilities, but also other teachings apart
from the religious ones[2]. The other scientific studies
that would follow the religious ones would be affected
from the religion. This consideration of mosques as
schools would continue to the Emevi, Abbasi, Seluklu
and Ottoman periods. We can even see the effects of
this until the 20th century[3]. Like the effects of the
church on the people in the social aspects, the mosques
had similar affects.

A. Pre-Ottoman Period
In order to understand the educational system in the
ottoman empire in the early period, it is imperative to
inspect the educational foundations which has been used
since the Prophet Muhammad.
Educational activities have been practiced in the
mosques since the foundation of Islam. Since the
principles of the religious practices needed to be taught,
Prophet Muhammad and the first believers, were in a
ozan.yakar@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
From the middle of the 10th century, the madrasas
located apart from the mosques and which are not re-
lated to the government started to form. In the second
part of the 11th century,opening of Nizamiye madrasa
in Baghdad by Selcuklus, had been follow by the other
madrasas such as merv, herat, isfihan, belh, basra, musul,
am ul, taberistan had[4]. This way, the teaching insti-
tutions which are being formed by the hand of govern-
ment, started to form their own traditions. Since the
main teachers were the alims,teaching had been based
on predetermined textbooks which are following strictly
the religious foundations[5]. This situation continued in
the medreses and ulemas in the Ottoman period because
the tradition and the understanding of teaching had been

carried to the Ottoman empire from the Islamic basis.
This understanding in Ottoman empire had lasted for
hundreds of years[6]. Even the books that was being
taught did not vary over the years. It was determined
in the studies that the most of the books that was being
taught in the medreses, with a couple of exceptions, were
also being taught outside of the Ottoman Empire such
as Iraq, Syria, Egypt in which the Sunni Islam had been
influential[5].
B. Early Ottoman Period
In the early ottoman period, the madrasas can be
considered as institutions continuing the educational
tradition of the Pre-Ottoman period. As mentioned
above, the madrasa system was inherited from the
Seluklu Turks. the tradition of building the madrasas
close to the mosques continued in the Ottoman period
in early Ottoman times, these medreses was providing
the society with the religious, scientific needs and also
trained administrative and legal personnel for the state
administration. This ensured that the administration
was well founded and strong[7].
Historical sources show that the first Ottoman
madrasa was founded in 1330-1331 in Iznik. The lectur-
ers were coming from the medreses from close cities and
gave lectures. The medreses in the cities such as Bursa,
Edirne etc. followed. These medreses are founded by
the Sultans themselves. New madrasas were built and
new institutions in the fields of education and judiciary
had been established during the reign of Murat I and
Yildirim Beyazid.
Madrasas are one of the most important information
production center of the Ottoman empire. Starting
from the illiteracy and Quran education, followed by
the trade and the cultural education. According to
the skills of the students, they were sent to different
madrasas which suits their abilities. Even though
teaching positive sciences was not the first priority of the
madrasas and the education was mainly around religion,
there were also madrasas which educates on the subjects
of mathematics, medicine, psycho-therapy etc. These
were the madrasas which were mainly built into the big
cities at that time. However, the majority of madrasas
2
were the ones which supported the community with
quality personnel using elementary education. Those
were regional entities[8].
While explaining the education in the Ottoman
empire, we have to mention the term ulema. Ulema
is a word which is widely used in the Islamic world.
It is mentioned in Holy Quran twice. Ulema is the
plural version of the alim, which means scholar in
Arabic. In time, the term gained a special meaning
and started to be used for a specific section of the
community which are considered to be intellectual and
partially aristocratic[9]. They were individual whom
completed their education in the madrasas and took
responsibilities in law, education, primary religious
services and occasionally in bureaucracy and in ev-
ery period of the Ottoman history, Ulemas were
in the leading role in the community and put under
various evaluations as for their role in the community[10].
In his will, Osman Gazi wanted his successor son
Orhan to consult with Ulema [11] Most of the important
decisions had been made by the Sultans after discussing
it with the ulemas. The Divan as vizier, grand vizier,
kadiasker, defterdar and these important positions
in the bureaucracy were filled with ulemas as the
Sultans were to appoint them.[12]
Between the years 1331 and 1451, although the higher
education was not developed enough, 82 madrasas were
founded in this period. This shows that how fast the
scientific and educational basics reach to the Ottoman
society. As a result of this, the need for a distinction
between these schools rose. A new period had started
and the madrasas was restructured. After this point,
madrasas served for higher education, the enderun
schools, which is controlled by the court, to educate
administrators and civil servants. There were also ahi
associations, the tekkes and the mosques which are
participating in the educational system[13].
One of the schools was Enderun Mektebi. The main
aim of this school is to raise individuals who will serve
in the treasury, military, political and administrative
areas. The students of these schools were non-Muslim.
They were given an elite education. These schools tried
to assimilate the foreign students into being Muslim

and Turkish. Creating the sense of nationalism and
the culture of the Ottoman, the students were given an
education which even included literature, history, music
and art. The students who graduated from these school
may climb up the ladder to the most important roles in
not only military personnel or civil bureaucrat, but also
as a musician, historian and fields of art[14].
One of the other schools was Sbyan Mektebi. These
schools as mentioned above, starting from the first times
of Islam, were giving the students the education that they
need in the religious area. Afterwards, they utilized by
the Ottoman Empire for not only giving religious teach-
ings, but also for the primary education[15]. However,
until tanzimat, the teachings were mainly religious. After
the tanzimat they have turned into ptidai Mektepler.
C. Before Tanzimat Period
An important function of political culture in Europe in
the Middle Age and also in the Ottoman Empire was to
legitimize the power. However, ideological character and
function of education became more visible and important
in modern times. Likewise, after the proclamation of
the Tanzimat, education became an important ideo-
logical tool for the ruling elite in the Ottoman Empire[16]
Until the 17th century, the Ulema kept gaining power,
however, after this point the perspective of the com-
munity changed towards the ulemas. A competition
started between the military commanders, viziers, influ-
ential palace circles and ulema. Official organizations
tried to reform and improve the ulema profession. In the
17th century, with the reform attempts, ulema has been
supporting the reform and taking heavy responsibilities
in restructuring of the state. However, starting in the
19th century, since the most of the responsibilities that
the ulema has, had been moved to other professions
such as education, legal responsibilities and financial
responsibilities to the various groups and distributed
them between various professions[9].
Ulema also did trips for academic purposes and gave
lectures about science. In the Islamic wold, this became
a tradition. Although the transportation conditions were
pretty hard, madrasa teachers and students visited big
3
science centers periodically such as Cairo, Semerkant,
Buhara, Mavaraunnehir, Baghdad and Damascus. This
helped the students prepare for the academic life[9].
Before the 18th century, Ottoman education did not
mainly consisted of religious schools anymore. The
educational institution known as Court School at the
Topkap Palace (Enderun Mektebi) or training center
for Janissary novices (Acemi Ogullar Mektebi) or the
government bureaus that trained novices in the art of
literary style (Kitabet) and also Primary schools known
as Sbyan Mektebi[17].
In the first half of the 18th century, Humbarac
Ocag is considered as the first military school attempt.
In 1727, 300 men has been gathered from the Bostanc
Ocag in order to establish the first modern educated
military unit[18]. However in 1730, during the Patrona
Halil riot, this unit has been disbanded and all of the
soldiers have been killed. Between 1730-1754 years the
Mahmut I. had additional attempts to create the change
in the military education. The first school that can
be considered as organized educational institution in
the military field, Hendesane, which is away from the
traditional ulema, is founded in 1734. In hendesane, they
mainly gave importance to the mathematics education
while in humbarhane, they gave more importance to the
gunnery.
After the first half of the 18th century they have tried
to change the perspective of the citizens. Changing
the type of the citizen they have, they tried the create
the sense of a nation. Since the Ottoman empire was
consisted of many nationalities, Ottoman statesman
thought that it would be a good idea to create a nation.
This was the beginning of the end for the traditional
madrasa understanding that has been going on for
centuries. As a result of this, after the first attempt on
the military education, Humabarac Ocag, not only
Muslims from Europe, played an important role in these
institutions, but also non-Muslims played an important
role as well[19].
At the end of the 18th century, first organized institu-
tion in order to raise qualified officer for the military was
M uhendishane-i Bahri-i h umayun. This institution
was founded at 1770 when the Ottoman navy got an

heavy defeat. The aim was to raise officers who do
not lack the knowledge on geometry,geography, map
and ship construction. It was founded in the name of
Hendesehane as the naval academy, the name after
changed into M uhendishane-i Bahr-i H umayun in Ottoman period, have transformed from the Sbyan
1889[20].
After the treaty that has been signed between the
Austria and Russia, Selim III, decided to spread the
military educational advancements to the land. One
of his attempts was to open up a different school
M uhendishane-i Berri-i H
umay un, which is founded in
1796. Starting off with a narrow teaching staff and only
40 student, they have been divided into 4 groups and
had been educated on the fields of geometry, painting,
calligraphy, algebra, Arabic, French and Quran[21].
Another reform that Sultan Mahmut II. had done
was to establish the first school of medicine which will
provide the modern medical education in 1827. After
this, in the same year, another medical school which
is named Tphane-i Amire, was founded in Istanbul.
Many of the medicine schools had followed the ones
which are mentioned above in the course of 30 years[22].
In the technical military education area, the last
school is Mekteb-i Ulum- Harbiye which has been
founded in 1834 in the period of Mahmut II. The first
teachers of this school were consisted of the graduates
from the M uhendishane, the military officers and the
foreigners[23]. First students of this school was con-
sisted of the students which were transferred from the
M uhendishane. Some of the graduate students have
been sent to the Europe in order to get an advanced
level of education.
D. After The Tanzimat Period
Before the tanzimat the military education institutions
had a great share of the modern educational system in
the Ottoman empire. After the tanzimat, apart from the
higher educational military technical schools, the schools
that supplied them the quality students that it need had
been established. These schools also raised students to
deal with bureaucracy, administrative personnel for rural
areas and various professional careers. In the following
4
paragraphs, various types of schools that have been
established after the Tanzimat period will be discussed.
btidai Mektepler as it was mentioned in the early
Mektepleri. The reason for this transformation was
that in the Mahmut II. period, these schools did not
seem to be able to raise students that would be able
to continue to the military and technical-professional
schools Therefore Mahmut II. thought a fundamental
change in the basic education system was necessary[24].
Mahmut II. had realized although there was a need
for a change in the education, a radical way of doing
it would get a great reaction. In order for this to not
happen, he left the control of the primary education to
the ilmiye and opened up new schools which are more
modern and secular. These school were called R ustiye
Mektebi. First two of these schools are Mekteb-i
Maarif-i Adliye and Mekteb-i Ulum- Edebiye,
opened in 1838 an 1839 years[25]. Following these, many
of other schools had opened giving the education that
would be needed for courts, translators, government
officers, positive sciences, literature. They had different
kinds as Harbiye, M uhendishane, Tbbiye. They
gave a modern education however, they could not reach
the desired numbers for these institutions. There were
403 of these institutions in total.
In 1845 Idadi was established. These were the
educational institutions preparing students for graduate
schools for technical and military schools in the level of
secondary education. After the tanzimat, even though
the R ustiye Mektepleri spread around quickly, these
educational institutions did not. First civil idadi has
been established in 1873, Istanbul. The reason for that
was that the education civil idadi gives have not been
considered as important as the military idadi by the
administration. Since they gave more importance to
the military ones, they did not open as many civil ones.
Idadis overall, have been spread around commonly
as late as 1884, after the special education tax. In
order to achieve the reforms in the education system,
the empire put a tax to a education and this tax actu-
ally helped the educational system in the empire a lot[26].
Sultani was the middle school which fills the gap

between the R ustiye and higher education institutes
which served as a kind of high school. Muslims and
non-Muslims were benefiting these schools equally. The
first one of its kind is Galatasaray Sultanisi, which
was giving an education parallel to the high schools
in Europe and following the curriculum of the French
schools, gave its education both Turkish and French.
Earlier times, the Muslims did not feel eager about
these schools. However with the encouragement of the
administration, the upper class of the society started
sending their children to these schools[25]
In classical ottoman educational system, they never
had any special education in order to raise teachers.
They were graduates of different levels of madrasa
and started to give lectures in various institutions.
However, since the idea of modernizing the education
gained importance, the teachers in accordance with
this thought should had been raised. In order to
fulfill this, the administration established schools which
are called Dar ulmuallimin in 1848. These schools
were specifically designed to raise the future teachers.
The education that was given there was depended on
the secular thought and modern scientific educational
methods.
The government agencies had been advancing, how-
ever the qualified personnel to work in the administrative
subjects were not enough. In order to raise the ad-
ministrative and judicial personnel mostly in urban
areas, they had established the M ulkiye Mektebi in
1859. The importance of this institution, apart from
the modern military and technical higher education
schools, this institution is accepted as the first civil
institution[23].
The education in the medicine area in the Ottoman
empire did not have any separate institution until
the opening of the first military medicine school in
1827. The graduates who finished these madreses were
[1] F. Rahman, Islam and modernity: Transformation of an
intellectual tradition, vol. 15. University of Chicago Press,
1984.
[2] J. Petersen, Mescid, vol. 32. Studia Islamica, 1979.
5
practicing medicine in hospitals, military, or as a free-
lancer. First civil medicine school in Ottoman empire is
established in 1866. At first, this school also served as
the military medicine school. However, after a while it
separated from the military and became the first civil
medicine school which gave its first graduates at 1874[25].
Apart from all these schools that we have mentioned
above, there were law schools which has been established
in 1860, there were separate schools to educate their stu-
dents in the area of military and technical studies, there
were schools that kept giving the religious education af-
ter the restructure of the madrasas, and there were also
schools that raised children in the aim of giving them a
profession.
III. CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, starting from the pre-Ottoman pe-
riod, we have discussed that how the Islamic point of view
dominated the education in the early periods of Ottoman
Empire. Starting to realize that they needed a change in
the educational systems before the reforms, the Ottoman
Empire tried to diversify and multiply the madrasas that
they had. As the years go by, considering the huge area
that the Ottoman Empire is conquered, they have de-
cided that they are in a need to create a nation and
started to make their education more unifying than sep-
arating from the foreigner and non-Muslims etc. A while
later, sharing the educational understandings back and
forth with the countries in Europe, they have opened up
many kinds of different schools before Tanzimat After
the Tanzimat, they have focused the schools into more
specific areas such as medicine school, law school, sci-
ence school etc. It can be said that over the 600 years
that the Ottoman Empire existed, the educational sys-
tem has adapted worlds education system and changed
drastically.
Word count on this paper is 4859.
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