ified by the concept of gaza or jihad, holy war against infidels. But with the extension of the sultans' rule over most of Islam Ottoman legitimacy needed further justification.
Imber has detailed the development of the Ottoman dynastic myth that provided the basis of this legitimacy. The earliest Ottoman leaders had considered themselves warriors working for the cause of Islam. Shari'ah, or Holy Law, "makes jihad against non-Muslims an obligation on the Islamic community" (Imber 8). As Mehmed II said, "the gaza is our basic duty, as it was in the case of our fathers" (quoted in Inalcik, Rise 295). In his view the task was one that was begun by the earliest Ottomans and would be continued after his own term. In this tradition, though infidels must be offered the opportunity to convert, if they refused to do so or refused to pay the taxes levied on them as infidels, war against them became a religious duty. It was, therefore, the fulfillment of God's command by waging these holy wars that provided legitimacy for the rule of the early Ottomans
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