an area under the control of a Muslim ruler called a caliph
caravansary
an inn funded by the state or wealthy individuals where travelers could spend the night and store their goods securely
devshirme
the system of recruiting Christian boys from the Balkans to be enslaved, converted to Islam, and trained to serve the Ottoman sultan
dhimmi
a non-Muslim living under Muslim rule
hajj
the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca
millet system
the system through which non-Muslim religious communities were allowed to regulate their internal affairs according to their own religious laws
sharia
Islamic religious law
Sultanate of Women
the period between the tenure of Hurrem Sultan in the mid-fifteenth century and the late seventeenth century, during which wives and mothers of the sultan were able to exert political power and influence at court
Twelvers
members of a large Shia sect who believe the twelfth imam, Muhammad al-Mahdi, will return, along with Jesus, to defeat evil on earth
ulama
a class of religious clerics and scholars who act as the primary interpreters of Islamic law