How did the Ottoman Empire respond to non-Muslims?

Answer 1

Answer 1

• They were treated with respect
• They exercised full citizenship rights and obligations
• they were allowed to practice all their ritual worships without any restriction
• They were entitled for enjoying all social and medical benefits
• As they were exempted from sharing Muslims in military service and in defending their lands, they were required to pay what is called in Arabic "Jezia" which is a special tax to be paid by only who are adults, males, and in age range of being able to perform military service but exempted from it. This tax does not apply to children, females, old people, and those who are medically incapable. Currently, this tax is not lawful as people of all religions are sharing the military service.

Answer 2

They enjoyed a great deal of religious tolerance but were forced to pay higher taxes.

Answer 3

Non-Muslims who lived in the Ottoman Empire were called Dhimmi, or second-class citizens. They lacked a number of fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of settlement, access to all occupations, and additional taxation because they were Non-Muslim. Each Dhimmi group, like the Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and so forth were organized into Millets which were community representative groups. Each Millet would report to a centralized Millet representative in Istanbul who would have direct dealing with the Imperial Palace. This would allow the Millets to air their grievances, but was more often used as a method to control the Millets and make them less resistant to Ottoman Occupation.

Admittedly, life under the Ottomans was far superior to most contemporaneous Empires. Spain was by far a more religiously and culturally intolerant place during this period as were France and England.

Finally, the Ottomans' most egregious crime was the policy of devşirme, where Christian families in the Balkans region had to submit to Ottoman soldiers stealing their children to bring to them to Istanbul where they would have no contact with their parents for years and be trained to be the elite Janissary Core and be converted to Islam. No Muslim was even allowed to join the Janissaries, because the devşirme system was so effective in producing recruits loyal only to the Emperor because they feared him.

Answer 2

The question as posed is incomplete. In order for there to be a response, something has to actually happen. "Non-Muslims" is a noun. Presumably, the response has to do with something the Non-Muslims did, such as: living within the empire, trying to climb the political ladder, protests/riots, religious challenges, etc. Please resubmit the question clarifying your view.