Tarikh Islam

The contents of the present essay have been drawn from one of the chapters of Qais Jawad al-©Azzawi's book, ``The Ottoman Empire; a New Perception of the Factors behind the Decline of the Ottoman Empire''. Azzawi, the author of the book, got his PhD in the field of the Ottoman studies from the Sorbonne University in France in 1993. He is the managing editor of ``The Journal of Eastern Studies'' and the author of many books and essays on the Ottoman studies. Previously an essay based on the introduction of the above mentioned book appeared in the issue No.4 of this journal. It was translated into Farsi by Mr. Ali Gholami Dahqi. The present issue inclndes the translation of another chapter of this book. It points out one of the important factors of the decline of the Ottoman government . The author holds that due to the Ottoman government's lack of far-sightedness and inattention, it entrusted to the European countries the responsibility of the guardianship of the religious minorities who were within the limit of the Ottoman authority. This gave the European countries an excuse to interfere in the political, social and cultural affairs of the Ottoman government and to take control of the important governmental institutions. The author considers that this act of the Ottomans was one of the main causes which led to the decline of the Ottoman government.