Hadži Mustafa Pasha

Hadži Mustafa Pasha, Hadži Mustafa Paşa, Hajji Mustafa Pasha nicknamed Mama Srpski (d.1802), was a Serbian Muslim soldier and Vizier of Sanjak of Smederevo (Serbia). Hadži Mustafa Pasha was known to have carried out a pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, he was also a member of the Bektashi Order. He was among the notable Ottomans that had fought during the Austro-Turkish War (1787–1791) and the Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774).

In the year 1791 he became Vizier of Serbia, in the year 1793 and 1796 Selim III proclaimed firmans in which gave more rights to Serbs. Among other things, taxes were to be collected by local Serbian rulers called knezes ("local dukes"), freedom of trade and religion were granted and ordinary Serbs began to live in peace. Among his most loyal men included upright Serbian Muslim officials such as Hadži Prodan Gligorijević.

Selim III also decreed that some unpopular Janissaries were to leave the Belgrade Pashaluk as he saw them as a threat to central authority of Hadži Mustafa Pasha. Many of those Janissaries were employed by or found refuge with Osman Pazvantoğlu, a renegade opponent of Sultan Selim III in Bulgaria. Fearing the dissolution of the Janissary command in Sanjak of Smederevo, Osman Pazvantoğlu launched a series of raids against Serbian brigands without the permission of Sultan Selim III causing much volatility and fear in the region.[1]

However, on January 30, 1799, the Sultan Selim III court allowed the Janissaries to return, referring to them as local Muslims from the Sanjak of Smederevo. Initially the Janisaries accepted the authority of the Belgrade Pasha under Hadži Mustafa Pasha. Until a Janissary in Šabac, named Bego Novljanin, demanded from a Serb a surcharge and murdered the Serb when he refused to pay. Fearing the worst Hadži Mustafa Pasha, marched on Šabac with a force of 600 to ensure that the Janissary was brought to justice and order was restored. Hadži Mustafa Pasha was assissanited by a band of Janissary rebels known as the Dahis in Šabac in the year 1802.

See also

Reference

  1. ^ History of Servia and the Servian Revolution (Europe 1815-1945 Series), Da Capo Pr, 1973, ISBN 978-0306700514