On Tuesday, February 2, 2016 at 9:00:02 PM UTC+2, David Amicus wrote:
These were boys from Christian families. I was wondering what
happened if a boy refused to convert to Islam. What happened to him?
Probably something very bad.
They had slave status and not much rights, particularly
during training.
It is illegal under Islamic law to coerce the People of the Book
under the protection of the Muslim State to convert or for that
matter to enslave them. How this Ottoman practice was justified
is one of the mysteries of Ottoman studies.
The practice of forced conscription and conversion was
gradually abandoned. Sons of Janissaries and other Turks
fileld the corps.
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)