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Sovereign State Of The Bektashi Order
The Sovereign State of the Bektashi Order (; ) is a proposed European microstate and city-state that would be enclaved entirely within Tirana, the capital of Albania, at the current World Headquarters of the Bektashi. If established, it would be smaller than the Vatican City and become the sovereign state with the smallest land area in the world, with a total land area of . Plans for the creation of the state have been discussed by Albanian prime minister Edi Rama and supported by the leader of the Bektashi Order, Baba Mondi, with the former stating that more details for the creation of the state will be revealed in the near future. Following the Vatican City model, the prospective state would grant citizenship solely to Bektashi clerics and government officials. Drafting of legislation to create the new state within Albania began in September 2024. The legislation would need approval from the Albanian Parliament via an amendment to the Constitution of Albania. History The ...
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City-state
A city-state is an independent sovereign city which serves as the center of political, economic, and cultural life over its contiguous territory. They have existed in many parts of the world throughout history, including cities such as Rome, Carthage, Athens and Sparta and the Italian city-states during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, such as Florence, Venice, Genoa and Milan. With the rise of nation states worldwide, there remains some disagreement on the number of modern city-states that still exist; Singapore, Monaco and Vatican City are the candidates most commonly discussed. Out of these, Singapore is the largest and most populous, and is generally considered to be the last real city-state left in the world, with full sovereignty, international borders, its own currency, a robust military, and substantial international influence in its own right. ''The Economist'' refers to it as the "world's only fully functioning city-state". Several non-sovereign cities enjoy a ...
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Constitution Of Albania
The present Constitution of the Albania, Republic of Albania () was adopted by the Parliament of Albania on 21 October 1998 and certified by presidential decree on 28 November 1998, following a public referendum which approved the new Constitution. It is split up over many different acts. The document succeeded the Constitution of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania, 1976 Constitution, originally adopted at the creation of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania on 28 December 1976 and heavily amended on 29 April 1991. The present Constitution defines Albania as a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary system, parliamentary constitutional republic. It has a unicameral legislature composed of 140 Legislator, members, who elect the President of Albania, President as the head of state, the Council of Ministers of Albania, Cabinet, which consists of the Prime Minister of Albania, Prime Minister as the head of government, Deputy Prime Minister of Albania, Deputy Prime Minister a ...
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Mahmud II
Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms. His disbandment of the conservative Janissary, Janissary Corps removed a major obstacle to his and his successors' reforms in the Empire, creating the foundations of the subsequent Tanzimat era. Mahmud's reign was also marked by further Ottoman military defeats and loss of territory as a result of nationalist uprisings and European intervention. Mahmud ascended the throne following an Ottoman coups of 1807–1808, 1808 coup that deposed his half-brother Mustafa IV. Early in his reign, the Ottoman Empire ceded Bessarabia to Russia at the end of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812), 1806–1812 Russo-Turkish War. Greece waged a Greek War of Independence, successful war of independence that started in 1821 with British, French and Russian su ...
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Muslims
Muslims () are people who adhere to Islam, a Monotheism, monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God in Abrahamic religions, God of Abraham (or ''Allah'') as it was revealed to Muhammad, the last Islamic prophet. Alongside the Quran, Muslims also believe in previous Islamic holy books, revelations, such as the Tawrat (Torah), the Zabur (Psalms), and the Injeel (Gospel). These earlier revelations are associated with Judaism and Christianity, which are regarded by Muslims as earlier versions of Islam. The majority of Muslims also follow the teachings and practices attributed to Muhammad (''sunnah'') as recorded in traditional accounts (hadith). With an estimated population of almost 2 billion followers, Muslims comprise around 26% of the world's total population. In descending order, the percentage of people who identify as Muslims on each ...
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Bid'ah
In Islam and sharia (Islamic law), ( , ) refers to innovation in religious matters. Linguistically, as an Arabic word, the term can be defined more broadly, as "innovation, novelty, heretical doctrine, heresy". It is the subject of many hadith commonly used in Muslim texts. The term is also found in the Qur'an, in Surah Al-Hadid as ابتدعوها. Different hadith narrating what Muhammad and early Muslims say about bidah — one of them being: "Avoid novelties for every novelty is an innovation and every innovation is an error"A hadith collected by Abu Dawud al-Sijistani attributed to Muhammad. — are often cited as evidence of Islam's opposition to innovation in religion. The term has been said (by Mehram Kamrava) to have acquired over time "a highly negative, even dreaded connotation" in the Islamic world, where attacks on bidah have resonated with the masses of Muslims. There are a number of disagreements within the Muslim community over interpretations of the concept. ...
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Shia Islam
Shia Islam is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political Succession to Muhammad, successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (Imamah (Shia doctrine), imam). However, his right is understood to have been usurped by a number of Companions of the Prophet, Muhammad's companions at the meeting of Saqifa where they appointed Abu Bakr () as caliph instead. As such, Sunni Muslims believe Abu Bakr, Umar (), Uthman () and Ali to be 'Rashidun, rightly-guided caliphs' whereas Shia Muslims only regard Ali as the legitimate successor. Shia Muslims assert imamate continued through Ali's sons Hasan ibn Ali, Hasan and Husayn ibn Ali, Husayn, after whom different Shia branches have their own imams. They revere the , the family of Muhammad, maintaining that they possess divine knowledge. Shia holy sites include the Imam Ali Shrine, shrine of Ali in Naj ...
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Millet (Ottoman Empire)
In the Ottoman Empire, a ''millet'' (; ) was an independent court of law pertaining to "personal law" under which a confessional community (a group abiding by the laws of Muslim sharia, Christian canon law, or Jewish halakha) was allowed to rule itself under its own laws. Despite frequently being referred to as a "system", before the nineteenth century the organization of what are now retrospectively called millets in the Ottoman Empire was not at all systematic. Rather, non-Muslims were simply given a significant degree of autonomy within their own community, without an overarching structure for the ''millet'' as a whole. The notion of distinct ''millets'' corresponding to different religious communities within the empire would not emerge until the eighteenth century. Subsequently, the ''millet'' system was justified through numerous foundation myths linking it back to the time of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1451–81), although it is now understood that no such system exis ...
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Sunni Islam
Sunni Islam is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam and the largest religious denomination in the world. It holds that Muhammad did not appoint any Succession to Muhammad, successor and that his closest companion Abu Bakr () rightfully succeeded him as the caliph of the Muslim community, being appointed at the meeting of Saqifa. This contrasts with the Succession of ʿAlī (Shia Islam), Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed Ali, Ali ibn Abi Talib () as his successor. Nevertheless, Sunnis revere Ali, along with Abu Bakr, Umar () and Uthman () as 'Rashidun, rightly-guided caliphs'. The term means those who observe the , the practices of Muhammad. The Quran, together with hadith (especially the Six Books) and (scholarly consensus), form the basis of all Fiqh, traditional jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. Sharia legal rulings are derived from these basic sources, in conjunction with Istislah, consideration of Maslaha, public welfare and Istihsan, jur ...
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Janissary
A janissary (, , ) was a member of the elite infantry units that formed the Ottoman sultan's household troops. They were the first modern standing army, and perhaps the first infantry force in the world to be equipped with firearms, adopted during the reign of Murad II (r. 1421–1444, 1446–1451). The corps was established under either Orhan or Murad I, and dismantled by Mahmud II in 1826. Janissaries began as elite corps made up through the ''devşirme'' system of Ghilman, child levy enslavement, by which Ethnic groups in Europe, indigenous European Christians, Christian boys, chiefly from the Balkans, were taken, levied, subjected to forced circumcision and Forced conversion#Islam, forced conversion to Islam, and incorporated into the Ottoman army in the 15th–19th centuries, Ottoman army. They became famed for internal cohesion cemented by strict discipline and order. Unlike typical History of slavery in the Muslim world, slaves, they were paid regular salaries. Forbidden ...
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Alevism
Alevism (; ; ) is a syncretic heterodox Islamic tradition, whose adherents follow the mystical Islamic teachings of Haji Bektash Veli, who taught the teachings of the Twelve Imams, whilst incorporating some traditions from shamanism. Differing from Sunni Islam and Usuli Twelver Shia Islam, Alevis have no binding religious dogmas, and teachings are passed on by a ''dede'' "spiritual leader" as with Sufi orders. They acknowledge the six articles of faith of Islam, but may differ regarding their interpretation. They have faced significant institutional stigma from the Ottoman and later Turkish state and academia, being described as heterodox to contrast them with the "orthodox" Sunni majority. The term “Alevi-Bektashi” is currently a widely and frequently used expression in the religious discourse of Turkey as an umbrella term for the two religious groups of Alevism and Bektashism. Adherents of Alevism are found primarily in Turkey and estimates of the percentage o ...
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Qizilbash
Qizilbash or Kizilbash (Latin script: ) ; ; (modern Iranian reading: ); were a diverse array of mainly Turkoman "The Qizilbash, composed mainly of Turkman tribesmen, were the military force introduced by the conquering Safavis to the Iranian domains in the sixteenth century." Shia militant groups that flourished in Azerbaijan, Anatolia, the Armenian highlands, the Caucasus from the late 15th century onwards, and contributed to the foundation of the Safavid dynasty in early modern Iran. Roger M. Savory: "''Kizil-Bash''. In ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'', Vol. 5, pp. 243–245. By the 18th-century, anyone involved with the Safavid state—militarily, diplomatically, or administratively—came to be broadly referred to as "Qizilbash". It was eventually applied to some inhabitants of Iran. In the early 19th-century, Shia Muslims from Iran could be referred as "Qizilbash", thus highlighting the influence of the distinctive traits of the Safavids, despite the Iranian shah (king) Fa ...
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Scarecrow Press
Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group is an American independent academic publishing company founded in 1949. Under several imprints, the company offers scholarly books for the academic market, as well as trade books. The company also owns the book distributing company National Book Network based in Lanham, Maryland. History The current company took shape when the University Press of America acquired Rowman & Littlefield in 1988 and took the Rowman & Littlefield name for the parent company. Since 2013, there has also been an affiliated company based in London called Rowman & Littlefield International. It is editorially independent and publishes only academic books in Philosophy, Politics & International Relations and Cultural Studies. The company sponsors the Rowman & Littlefield Award in Innovative Teaching, the only national teaching award in political science given in the United States. It is awarded annually by the American Political Science Association for people w ...
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