Alcohol, Adultery and Prostitution in the Ottoman Period: Konya Example (1650-1750)

It is possible to mention crimes and criminals wherever people dwell. Definition of offence may vary according to societies in accordance with the influences of culture and religion. In Ottoman Law which has its roots in ecclesiastical and customary sources, it is observed that crimes are categorized in three groups as the ones requiring boundary, ones requiring retaliation and finally the ones requiring corporal punishment and political ban. Demonstration, prescription, jurisdiction and penalisation processes of these offences are all defined by ecclesiastical and customary law. While the ecclesiastical law is characteristically precise with regards to the jurisdiction and penalisation of offences, customary law adopted more practical solutions on these. In case of discrepancy, predicaments were overcome by bringing Islamic scholars’ views into action. In Ottoman law, adultery and prostitution which are regarded in boundary offences and drinking alcohol which was regarded in corporal law are observed to constitute integrity both as they cause liability to each other and are all related with recreation. In addition to being the actions banned by Islamic Law, they also drew the reaction of the society. In this reaction, individuals’ fear of being seen to be keeping quiet about these offences committed in the neighbourhood as well as the religious and moral worries played important roles. On adultery, prostitution and consuming alcohol, there are complementary judgements in both ecclesiastical and customary law with regards to occurrence, proving and punishment. When these judgements and court registries are compared, it is observable that not always is this theory valid and did the course proceed in the same way. Accordingly, sometimes inhabitants are observed to change the direction of prosecution process directly with their statements and moreover they are also seen to get involved in the process as a direct source of law. In this study, incidents of adultery, prostitution and alcohol incidents devolved to the court of Konya is going to be analyzed based upon the Konya Şer’iyye Registers generated in between 1650 and 1750 years. In this process, questions about how and where these incidents took place, which section of the society the criminals were from, how they were taken to the court, how the prosecution process went on, what the punishments were and what the reactions of the society were to these incidents are all going to be answered.