The origin of the millet system in the Ottoman empire: legal pluralism in a heterogeneous society

The article is devoted to the study of the origin of the millet system in the Ottoman Empire. The author analyzes the doctrinal foundations of Islamic law in terms of regulating the life of non-Muslim communities under the rule of the Muslim majority, combining the study of the letter of Muslim law with the historical context. Comparative analysis of Islamic theoretical and legal material together with socio-political processes that influenced the status of non-Islamic communities, first at the early stages of the formation of the Muslim legal system, and then - on the example of the formation of the millet system in the Ottoman Porte. In addition to the Islamic legal model of coexistence of people of other faiths within the same society, the prerequisites for a possible discrepancy between the initial requirements of doctrinal Islam and the socio-political realities of individual Muslim countries, including the Ottoman Empire, are explored, which forced the legislator to creatively rethink the legal doctrine, applying it in practice. The relevance of the study of the legal aspects of regulating the lives of non-Muslims in accordance with Islamic law is shown as one of the possible models of development and harmonious existence of complex multi-ethnic heterogeneous societies.