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Abstract
The Ottoman dynasty had a special relation to the Prophet Muḥammad. Other dyn-asties claimed descent from the Prophet, such as the Fāṭimids in Egypt, the sharīfs of Morocco, or the Hashemites of Jordan, but the Ottomans adopted the Prophet as a kind of patron saint in the course of the sixteenth century. They patronised new forms of visual representation of the Prophet; they made the commemoration of his birthday an imperial celebration; and they acquired a unique collection of objects connected to his life, most prominently his mantle, his sword, and his banner, around which important dynastic and public rituals were formed. In this chapter, the author proposes to call this set of connections between the Prophet and the House of Osman “pietas Ottomanica”, drawing attention to the implicit theology of this cult of the Prophet and its significance for the sultan and his household, and for his subjects. Concepts of charisma, piety, authority, and salvation are all bound up in the “pietas Ottomanica” that deserves to be analysed not simply as serving Otto-man legitimacy, but as a historically contingent and specific form of Islam.