Selim I

Selim I appears briefly in the book’s account of printing: in 1515 he reinforced Bayezid II’s prohibition on Muslims printing in Arabic. That measure extended an existing restriction on a technology that was spreading rapidly across Europe, and the account places it within the long delay before a press was finally permitted in Ottoman lands.

Reinforcing the Prohibition

The first restriction had come in 1485, when Bayezid II expressly forbade Muslims from printing in Arabic. Selim I reinforced that rule in 1515. The book identifies no separate terms or enforcement measures associated with Selim’s action; its significance lies in the continuation of the earlier ban.

Printing and Ottoman Delay

The prohibition forms a contrast with printing’s swift spread in Western Europe. Presses had reached cities across the continent by the late fifteenth century, while the first press in Ottoman lands was not authorized until 1727, when Ahmed III granted İbrahim Müteferrika permission to establish one. Even then, printed works had to be vetted by religious and legal scholars. Selim’s role in the account is therefore specific but consequential: he reinforced a restriction that belonged to a broader pattern of delayed and closely controlled printing.