Conversion to Islam in the Balkans—Kisve Bahas Petitions and Ottoman Social Life, 1670-1730

Of all topics in Ottoman history, says Minkov, perhaps conversion to Islam is seen most differently by native and outside scholars. Having grown up in the native tradition and spent his academic career in the outside tradition, he feels he has a breadth of perception on the matter unavailable to most scholars. He draws largely on petitions submitted to the sultan of the day by new Muslims requesting that they be rewarded for accepting the new faith, most often with an amount of money called kisve bahasi . He looks at conversion to Islam before the Ottomans; conversion and demographic processes in the Balkans; forms, factors, and motives; petitions as sources of information; the institutionalization of conversion; and the collective image of new Muslims. Annotation c2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anton Minkov, Ph.D. (2000) in Islamic Studies, McGill University, is a part-time professor of Middle Eastern Studies at University of Ottawa. He is a contributor to Turkish Sources of Bulgarian History, vol. 8 (Sofia, 2001) and Balkan Identities (Sofia, 2003).