THE DECLINE OF THE OTTOMAN STATE AND ULEMA OF MAKKAH

The decline of the Ottoman Empire is a controversial issue, yet what must be accepted is that the Ottomans lost their supremacy against Europe, especially after the industrial revolution. That the state was defeated by its enemies over and over again and hence lost large parts of the land after the second Siege of Vienna was the first sign of it’s losing the previous glory. The Ottoman statesmen sought solutions to end the bad progress. The first ideas that saw the revival of the state in the return to the old laws can be observed in the reform reports. However, in the 19th century, Ottoman statesmen and intellectuals began to come up with various views for the revival of the state, seeing that the world had changed and that return to the old laws would no longer be a solution. In this process, the Ottoman ulema group also put forward various ideas for the purpose of stopping the bad situation of the state. Part of the ulema attributed the collapse to the religious degeneration. Thus, the only way to save the state from the worst situation was seen in the restoration of religion. For this purpose, the ulema section which expressed its views in various ways conveyed their thoughts to the sultans too as in in the case of letter sent to Abdulhamid II. In this article, firstly, the views of the ulema and intellectuals in Istanbul will be discussed and then the view of the Ulema of Makkah towards the decline of the Ottoman Empire will be examined. The evaluation of the subject will be given in the conclusion