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The way these many cases combine a remarkable consistency in contents with a variety of contexts makes it unlikely that these are no more than literary motifs. Thus, there seems to have been a common practice, when visiting a religious master, to bring along some simple but tasty food items such as fruits or ‫ۊ‬alwâɆ.  In any case, these foods were meant for immediate consumption, and after the master tasted them, they could be distributed among the people in attendance: One day, one of the beloved friends [dervish followers of Rumi] brought a fig to our master [Rumi] from the orchards of the brothers.

There was, however, an observable unease in the writings of Ottoman Turkish litterateurs, as the Eurocentric narrative not only had no room for the Ottomans but commonly referred to Muslim scientists as Arabs. After the 1850s, it became common to assert that Muslims’ contributions constituted the common legacy for all Ottoman Muslims. Furthermore, even authors who espoused the Muslims’ contribution 14 | Living in the Ottoman Realm discourse felt the need to note that not all Muslim scientists were Arabs.

Aflâkî, in Manâqib al-ɇÂrifîn, suggests on numerous occasions the existence of conflict that surrounded the early decades of the Mavlâvî order, which might have something to do with the latter’s fasting habits.  14–15.  Changing Perceptions along the Frontiers The Moving Frontier with Rum in Late Medieval Anatolian Frontier Narratives Zeynep Aydoğan When Humayun [Hümayun Şah of India, d. 1556] asked him [Seydi Ali Reis] a tricky question as to which country was bigger, the country of Rum (vilayet-i Rum) or Hindustan, he had boldly answered: “If, by Rum, one means Rum, strictly speaking, that is, the province of Sivas (called Rum in Ottoman administrative division), then Hindustan is bigger.