Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

Economic Development
Muhammad developed the economic life of his empire to provide a pool of wealth that could be taxed to finance his military and political activities. Encouragement was given to the expansion of native industry by Muslim Turks as well as the Greek and Armenian subjects of the sultan, with the cotton industry rising in western Anatolia, mohair cloth in Ankara and Kastamonu, silk in Bursa and Istanbul, woolen cioth in Salonica and Istanbul, and footwear in Edirne. Muhammad also worked to expand international trade to and through his dominions, ending the privileged economic position given Europeans under the B}zantines so that native Ottoman merchants would be able to gain a share in this trade. During Muhammad’s reign, Istanbul, Bursa, and Edirne resumed their former places as industrial and trade centers ail contributing to the general prosperity.
Economic development alone, however was not sufficient to provide Muhammad with all the money needed to pay for the army, the building, and the new structure of government that he was creating. He resorted to increasing!} radical economic measures to secure the funds, achieving his immediate objectives but in the process disturbing the economic expansion that he had sought to stimulate. He debased the coinage, withdrawing all outstanding coined on five different occasions and reissuing them with increased alloys of base metals. Basic and essential commodities such as salt, soap, and candles were made into monopolies and fanned out at high prices to private merchants, who
’ Dr. Amir Hassan Siddiqui, Heroes of Islam. Part II, P. 63.

820
Political and Cultural History of Islam

increased the retail prices to compensate their costs and secure high profits at the expense of the masses. Muhammad also enforced his right to ownership of all wealth-producing property in the empire as part of his attributes of sovereignty. Lands and other property that had originally belonged to the state and were later transferred to private ownership or to foundations were now confiscated; property titles were investigated to ensure that only the most valid ones were left out of state control. Most of the lands secured for the state in this way were divided into timar fiefs and assigned to members of the Sipahi cavalry later in Muhammad’s reign to restore at least partly some of the power of the Turkish aristocracy and thus counterbalance the growing power of the devsirme.