Editing Osman I (section)

==Origin of the Ottoman Empire==
{{Further|Rise of the Ottoman Empire|Ghaza thesis}}

Almost nothing is known for certain about Osman's early activities, except that he controlled the region around the town of [[Söğüt]] and from there launched raids against the neighboring Byzantine Empire. The first datable event in Osman's life is the [[Battle of Bapheus]] in 1301 or 1302, in which he defeated a Byzantine force sent to counter him.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Colin|last=Imber|title=The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power|date=2009|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|edition=2nd|place=New York|page=8}}
* {{Cite book|first=Cemal|last=Kafadar|title=Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State|date=1995|page=129|quote=Of [military undertakings] we know nothing with certainty until the Battle of Bapheus, Osman's triumphant confrontation with a Byzantine force in 1301 (or 1302), which is the first datable incident in his life.}}</ref>

Osman appears to have followed the strategy of increasing his territories at the expense of the Byzantines while avoiding conflict with his more powerful Turkish neighbors.<ref name="Shaw-132"/> His first advances were through the passes which lead from the barren areas of northern Phrygia near modern [[Eskişehir]] into the more fertile plains of Bithynia; according to [[Stanford Shaw]], these conquests were achieved against the local Byzantine nobles, "some of whom were defeated in battle, others being absorbed peacefully by purchase contracts, marriage contracts, and the like."<ref name="Shaw-142">Shaw, ''Ottoman Empire'', p. 14</ref>

=== Ascendance to leadership ===
Osman became [[Emir]], or ''[[Bey]]'', upon his father's death around 1281.<ref name="shaw2"/> According to some historians, Osman's accession to power wasn't peaceful as he had to fight his relatives before he got hold of his clan's leadership. One of Osman's major rivals was his uncle [[Dündar Bey]], who might have plotted to kill his nephew or rebelled against him when the latter decided to attack a small Greek island. Dündar Bey saw that Osman's ambition as a threat that might put the whole clan in danger. However, Osman had to pull out his sword to kill his uncle for disobeying.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Sakaoğlu|first=Necdet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6WUMAQAAMAAJ&q=domani%C3%A7|title=Bu mülkün kadın sultanları: Vâlide sultanlar, hâtunlar, hasekiler, kadınefendiler, sultanefendiler|publisher=Oğlak Yayıncılık|year=2008|isbn=978-9-753-29623-6|location=Istanbul|pages=26|language=tr|trans-title=The Queen Women of the Sultanate: Vâlide sultans, wives, hasekis, women's children, sultan's children}}</ref>

In the ''[[w:tr:Velayetname|Vilayetname]]'', a book containing the narrations about [[Haji Bektash Veli]], Osman's younger uncle, was the one who became Bey after Ertuğrul's death. During that time, Osman and several other warriors started organizing raids on Byzantine lands adjacent to Söğüt, such as [[w:tr:Yarhisar, Yenişehir|Yarhisar]], [[Bilecik]], [[İnegöl]], and [[İznik]]. As a result, the Byzantine ''[[Tekfur]]'' (governor) of [[Bursa]] was provoked, and he sent envoys to the Seljuk Sultan [[Kayqubad III|Alâeddin Kayqubad III]], complaining about these constant assaults. Thus, the Sultan ordered Gündüz Alp to bring forth his young nephew to stand before him, and so Osman was arrested and sent to Konya. According to this narration, Sultan Kayqubad admired Osman's courage and deeds, and didn't wish to punish him, instead, Osman was sent to Ḥājī Baktāš Walī to consider his matter. Osman was warmly received by the Sufi mystic, who then ordered his release saying: "I have been waiting for someone like him for years". After that, Ḥājī Baktāš Walī wrapped Osman's head with the same [[Turban]] associated with Sufi sheikhs, and sent him back to Konya with a message to the sultan, asking that Osman to become the Kayı Emir. Thus, Osman became the clan's leader.<ref name="misbar">{{cite book|last1=Ibrāhīm|first1=Aḥmad Maḥmūd|url=http://almesbar.net/100/Ahmet-oct25.pdf|title=al-Islām al-muwāzī fī Turkiyā: al-Biktāshīyah wa-jadal al-taʼsīs|publisher=Al-Mesbar Studies and Research Center|year=2016|edition=1st|place=Dubai|page=4|language=ar|trans-title=Parallel Islam in Turkey: Bektashi Order and Janissary Supervision|chapter=ẓuhūr al-Biktāshīyah wa-al-ishrāf ʻalá al-Inkishariyya|access-date=20 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180920195452/http://almesbar.net/100/Ahmet-oct25.pdf|archive-date=20 September 2018}}</ref>

=== Importance of the Osmanic Beylik location ===
[[File:Osman I area map.PNG|thumb|left|Area of the Ottoman Beylik during the reign of Osman I]]

From a military point of view, the location of Osman's Beylik had a significant impact on his success as a conquering warrior. His capital Söğüt was located on a hill in a well-defended position, mediating the main road from [[Constantinople]] to Konya. The importance of this site emerged due to the political fragmentation of Anatolia that gave small states greater importance than they originally had.<ref name="taqqoush2">{{cite book|last1=Ṭaqqūsh|first1=Muḥammad Suhayl|url=https://archive.org/details/ottn_hist7|title=Tārīkh al-ʻuthmānīyīn min qiyām al-Dawlah ilá al-inqilāb ʻalá al-khilāfah|publisher=Dar al-Nafa'is|year=2013|isbn=9789953184432|edition=3rd|place=Beirut|pages=25–28|language=ar|trans-title=History of the Ottomans: from the rise of the Empire to the coup against the caliphate|access-date=28 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190428194857/https://archive.org/details/ottn_hist7|archive-date=28 April 2019}}</ref> Being an Emir to a [[Anatolian beyliks|beylik]] bordering Byzantine lands, Osman had the opportunity to direct all his efforts towards war and [[Jihad]] following the footsteps of the Seljuks with intentions to conquer all Byzantine territories, and absorb them into the [[Caliphate|Islamic Caliphate]]. Encouraged by the weakness of the ancient Empire and its ongoing wars in [[Europe]], Osman had the chance to expand towards western Anatolia crossing the [[Dardanelles]] to [[Southeast Europe|southeastern Europe]].<ref name="taqqoush2"/> Commenting on these actions, some historians argue that Osman's strategy of increasing his territories at the expense of the Byzantines was due to his intention to avoid conflicts with his more powerful Turkic neighbours.<ref name="shaw2"/>

Politically, Osman showed great skills forming and applying new administrative systems in his beylik. During his reign, the Ottomans made great strides towards transitioning from the [[Nomadic tribe system]] to settling down in permanent settlements. This helped them consolidate their position and rapidly develop into a major power. Moreover, the beylik's location in northwestern Anatolia, next to [[Christendom]], imposed a military policy on the Ottomans, which gave them better chances to grow and expand compared to the beyliaks of the interior.<ref name="taqqoush2"/> Osman's beylik was also relatively far from both the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol invasions]] and the influence of the powerful Turkoman beyliks in southern and southwestern Anatolia. Add to that, its proximity to the [[Silk Road]] linking Byzantine lands in the west to areas controlled by the Mongols in the east, gave it prominent strategic and economic characteristics. Also, the Osmanic beylik was the only Islamic base facing the yet unconquered Byzantine regions, which made it a magnet to many Turkomen farmers, warriors, and Dervishes fleeing the Mongols, and aspiring to conquer new lands for economic and religious reasons.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Collins|first1=Paul|url=https://archive.org/details/Book_195/page/n25/mode/2up|title=al-Uthmānīyūn fī Ūrūbbā|publisher=General Egyptian Book Organization|year=1993|place=Cairo|pages=26|language=ar|translator-last1=al-Shaykh|translator1-first=ʻAbd al-Raḥmān|trans-title=The Ottomans in Europe|access-date=30 March 2020}}</ref>

===Osman's Dream===
{{main|Osman's Dream}}
Osman I had a close relationship with a local religious leader of [[dervish]]es named Sheikh Edebali, whose daughter he married. A story emerged among later Ottoman writers to explain the relationship between the two men, in which Osman had a dream while staying in the Sheikh's house.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kermeli |first=Eugenia |editor-last=Ágoston |editor-first=Gábor |editor-first2=Bruce |editor-last2=Masters |title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire |chapter=Osman I |date=2009 |page=445 |quote=Apart from these chronicles, there are later sources that begin to establish Osman as a mythic figure. From the 16th century onward a number of dynastic myths are used by Ottoman and Western authors, endowing the founder of the dynasty with more exalted origins. Among these is recounted the famous "dream of Osman" which is supposed to have taken place while he was a guest in the house of a sheikh, Edebali. [...] This highly symbolic narrative should be understood, however, as an example of eschatological mythology required by the subsequent success of the Ottoman emirate to surround the founder of the dynasty with supernatural vision, providential success, and an illustrious genealogy.}}
* {{Cite journal|first=Colin|last=Imber|title=The Ottoman Dynastic Myth|date=1987|journal=Turcica|pages=7–27|volume=19 |doi=10.2143/TURC.19.0.2014268|quote=The attraction of Aşıkpasazade's story was not only that it furnished an episode proving that God had bestowed rulership on the Ottomans, but also that it provided, side by side with the physical descent from Oguz Khan, a spiritual descent. [...] Hence the physical union of Osman with a saint's daughter gave the dynasty a spiritual legitimacy and became, after the 1480s, an integral feature of dynastic mythology.}}
</ref> The story appears in the late-fifteenth-century chronicle of [[Aşıkpaşazade]] as follows:

{{blockquote|He saw that a moon arose from the holy man's breast and came to sink in his own breast. A tree then sprouted from his navel and its shade compassed the world. Beneath this shade there were mountains, and streams flowed forth from the foot of each mountain. Some people drank from these running waters, others watered gardens, while yet others caused fountains to flow. When Osman awoke he told the story to the holy man, who said 'Osman, my son, congratulations, for God has given the imperial office to you and your descendants and my daughter Malhun shall be your wife.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Caroline|last=Finkel|title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923|publisher=Basic Books |year=2005|page=2}}, citing {{Cite book|first=Rudi P.|last=Lindner|title=Nomads and Ottomans in Medieval Anatolia |publisher=Indiana University Press |place=Bloomington|date=1983|isbn=0-933070-12-8|page=37}}</ref>}}

The dream became an important foundational myth for the empire, imbuing the House of Osman with God-given authority over the earth and providing its fifteenth-century audience with an explanation for Ottoman success.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Caroline|last=Finkel|title=Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300–1923|date=2006|page=2|quote=First communicated in this form in the later fifteenth century, a century and a half after Osman's death in about 1323, this dream became one of the most resilient founding myths of the empire|publisher=Basic Books|isbn=978-0-465-02396-7}}</ref> The dream story may also have served as a form of compact: just as God promised to provide Osman and his descendants with sovereignty, it was also implicit that it was the duty of Osman to provide his subjects with prosperity.<ref>{{Cite book|first=Cemal|last=Kafadar|title=Between Two Worlds: The Construction of the Ottoman State |date=1995|pages=132–133}}</ref>

=== Political relations at the beginning of Osman's reign ===
[[File:Beylicats d%u2019Anatolie vers 1330-en.svg|thumb|A map of independent Turkic beyliks in Anatolia during the 14th century, showing the neighbouring Ottoman and Germiyanid beyliks]]

According to the [[Bektashi Order|Bektashi]] narration, whose accuracy cannot be confirmed since it was only mentioned in Bektashi sources, plus the fact that it did not enjoy much support from the majority of researchers, Ḥājī Baktāš Walī was one of the ''Wafā'īyyah tariqah'' dervishes, a [[Murid]] of [[w:tr:Baba İlyas|Bābā Eliyās al-Khorāsānī]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Gül|first1=Mehmet Zahir|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o80oDQAAQBAJ&q=%D8%A3%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84+%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%89&pg=PT378|title=al-Taḥawwulāt al-fikrīyah fī al-ʻālam al-Islāmī: aʻlām, wa-kutub wa-ḥarakāt wa-afkār, min al-qarn al-ʻāshir ilá al-thānī ʻashar al-Hijrī|publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought|year=2014|isbn=9781565646216|edition=1st|place=Herndon, Virginia|page=378|language=ar|trans-title=Intellectual transformations in the Islamic world: people, books, movements and ideas, from the tenth to the twelfth century AH|access-date=20 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200108144326/https://books.google.com.lb/books?id=o80oDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT378&lpg=PT378&dq=%D8%A3%D8%A8%D8%AF%D8%A7%D9%84+%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%89&source=bl&ots=bOjw-vh4N2&sig=RJTdWi-p8AmkaI5EugXa-wGhL7M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjLl_O21sndAhXRN8AKHdJTDf0Q6AEwAXoECAkQAQ|archive-date=8 January 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Once Bābā Eliyās died, both Ḥājī Baktāš Walī and Sheikh Edebali became among his 60 successors, and grandmasters of the Ahyan Rûm brotherhood of warriors and farmers, who enjoyed great influence among the people. When Osman married Sheikh Edebali's daughter, he secured his control over the brotherhood, and soon became their new grandmaster. As a result of this marriage, all the Ahyan sheikhs became under Ottoman control. This has a major impact on the establishment and development of the Osmanic beylik after Osman's death during the reign of his son [[Orhan]].<ref name="misbar"/> Some argue that Osman's marriage to sheikh Edebali's daughter was his first brilliant political undertake.<ref>{{cite book|author=Mantran, Robert|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00robe/page/298|title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Middle Ages: 1250–1520|publisher=Cambridge University Press|others=trans. Hanbury-Tenison, Sarah|year=1986|isbn=978-0-521-26646-8|editor=Fossier, Robert|volume=3|location=Cambridge, UK; New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/cambridgeillustr00robe/page/298 298]|chapter=A Turkish or Mongolian Islam}}</ref> On the other hand, Turkish historian Professor [[Cemal Kafadar]] considers that the intermarriage between the Osmanic and Edebali's houses, explains the hostilities that later rose between the Ottomans and the [[Germiyanids]], since the Germiyanid Turkoman house was rewarded lands and titles by the Seljuks because of their services in subjugating the [[Babai revolt|Bābā'ī revolt]] in 1240, and because Sheikh Edebali was considered by his followers a leader and successor to [[Baba Ishak|Bābā Ishāq]], they all became the focus of attention of the Germiyanids.<ref name="Cemal">{{Cite journal|last1=Kafadar|first1=Cemal|date=1999|title=Takawwun al-dawla al-Uthmānīya|trans-title=Formation of the Ottoman Empire|url=http://pulpit.alwatanvoice.com/articles/2011/03/10/222420.html|journal=Al-Ijtihād|language=Arabic|publisher=Dār al-Ijtihād lil-Abḥāth wa-al-Tarjamah wa-al-Nashr|volume=16|issue=41–42|pages=65–66|doi=|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170228082910/https://pulpit.alwatanvoice.com/articles/2011/03/10/222420.html|archive-date=2017-02-28|access-date=15 September 2015|translator-first1=ʻAbd al-Laṭīf|place=Beirut|translator-last1=al-Ḥarith}}</ref>

Kafadar adds that early in Osman's reign, the young Emir showed political ingenuity forming relations with his neighbours. Osman's alliances transcended tribal, ethnic, and religious lines, and he may have followed his instinct and the requirements of his political aspirations, not mistaking the future results of the family connections he created and secured for his son after him. Osman reconstituted the political culture of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm in line with the needs of his beylik. He was more creative than his Turkomen neighbours in combining Turkic, Islamic, and Byzantine traditions.

Additionally, the Emir also cooperated with the Byzantine ''Tekfurs'' of the neighbouring cities and villages. He forged an agreement, so his clan, whenever they move between grazing areas in the summer, leave their belongings in the Byzantine fortress of Bilecik, and upon their return, they give its governor a token of appreciation, in the form of cheese and butter made from sheep milk and preserved in animal skins, or a good carpet made from wool. This agreement reflects the coexistence between herders, farmers and urban dwellers, during Osman's reign.<ref name="Cemal"/> Osman's friendship with [[Köse Mihal]], governor of Chirmenkia (modern [[Harmanköy, İnhisar|Harmanköy]]), was the culmination of this coexistence between Muslims and Byzantines. As for his relations with other peoples, such as the Mongols, most of whom moved to the borders of western Anatolia, and the Germiyanid Turkomen, it was hostile. That is because the Turks, in general, despised the Mongols, and the Germiyanids were probably of non-Oghuz origin.<ref name="Cemal"/> Osman allied with the Ahyan Rûm brotherhood, they formed organized groups, members in each of which worked in a single trade. The brotherhood took the responsibility to preserve justice, prevent injustice, stop oppression, follow sharia law, dictate good morals, and carry out military duties if the need arises, to defend their rights and the rights of Muslims.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=al-Dūrī|first1=ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz |date=12 May 1952|title=al-aṣnāf wa-al-ḥiraf al-Islāmīyah|url= http://www.noormags.ir/view/ar/articlepage/531531/|journal=Al-Risālah
|volume=984 |publisher=Maʻhad al-Mursil|issue=984 |pages=520–523 |access-date=15 September 2015|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200224005730/http://www.noormags.ir/view/ar/articlepage/531531/|archive-date=2020-02-24|place=Beirut|language=Arabic}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=ibn Baṭūṭah|first1=Shams al-Dīn ʾAbū ʿAbd al-Lāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Lāh l-Lawātī ṭ-Ṭanǧī|title= Tuhfat al-nuẓẓār fī gharāʼib al-amṣār wa-ʻajāʼib al-asfār|edition= 1st|page= 134|year=1987|publisher=Dār Iḥyāʼ al-ʻulūm|place=Beirut|url= http://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-12009#page-240|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20190118123345/http://shamela.ws/browse.php/book-12009 | archive-date=18 January 2019|trans-title=A Gift to Those Who Contemplate the Wonders of Cities and the Marvels of Traveling|language=ar}}</ref>

The Emir also allied with newly arrived Turkomen clans to Anatolia. In general, the nomads have always had a strong militarized spirit compared to people installed in the cities. Thus, the clans were more active and effective than their city-dwelling kin. Soon enough, they become the beating heart of the Seljuk border provinces in total, and the Osmanic beylik in particular. Osman also enticed many Turkomen from the region of [[Paphlagonia]] to join his forces.<ref name="taqqoush2"/> These Turkomen were fine warriors, eager for jihad and conquest, each of them followed a ''[[Tariqah]]'' (an order of Sufism) and was supervised by a sheikh who taught them the meaning of jihad alongside many Islamic principles. However, another section of these Turkomen did not have close ties to Islam for various reasons, thus Osman entrusted them to several sheikhs and dervishes to be given proper Islamic education and be satiated with the values that glorify conquests aiming to [[Islamization|spread the word of Islam]]. In fact, these sheikhs and dervishes were very enthusiastic about promoting the ''Turuq'' of the Khorasani [[Walis]], and Osman's request gave them this chance.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Öztuna|first1=Yılmaz|url=https://archive.org/details/waq76579|title=Mawsūʻat tārīkh al-Imbarāṭūrīyah al-ʻUthmānīyah al-siyāsī wa-al-ʻaskarī wa-al-ḥaḍārī|publisher=Faisal Finance Institution|year=1988|edition=1st|volume=I|place=Istanbul|pages=88|language=ar|translator-last1=Salman|translator-first1=Adnan Mahmud|trans-title=Encyclopedia of the political, military and cultural history of the Ottoman Empire}}</ref>

As for the ruling hierarchy, Osman was firstly subordinate to the [[Chobanids (beylik)|Chobanid]] Emir in [[Kastamonu]], followed by the Seljuk Sultan through the Germiyanid Bey in [[Kütahya]], who was in turn subordinate to the Mongol Ilkhan in [[Tabriz]]. During this period, the Seljuk Sultans had lost their power over their local Emirs, and the Mongol Ilkhan practised his authority in Anatolia through his appointed Generals, where he requested that every local governor, including Osman, sends him soldiers whenever he requests so.<ref name="yilmaz23">{{Cite book|last1=Öztuna|first1=Yılmaz|url=https://archive.org/details/waq76579|title=Mawsūʻat tārīkh al-Imbarāṭūrīyah al-ʻUthmānīyah al-siyāsī wa-al-ʻaskarī wa-al-ḥaḍārī|publisher=Faisal Finance Institution|year=1988|edition=1st|volume=I|place=Istanbul|pages=91|language=ar|translator-last1=Salman|translator-first1=Adnan Mahmud|trans-title=Encyclopedia of the political, military and cultural history of the Ottoman Empire}}</ref> As for the hierarchy of name delivering in ''khuṭbah'', Imams used to pray for the guidance of the: [[List of Abbasid caliphs#Caliphs of Cairo (13 June 1261 – 22 January 1517)|Abbasid caliph in Egypt first]], the [[Ilkhanate#Ilkhans|Mongol Ilkhan]] in Tabriz, [[List of Seljuk sultans of Rûm|Seljuk Sultan in Konya]], and finally the local Bey or Emir.<ref name="yilmaz23"/>