36. The Ottomans’ Ruthless Solution to Avoiding Sibling Rivalry
As seen above, royal sibling rivalries could wreck a realm. The Ottoman Turks came up with a ruthless solution for that problem: no siblings, no rivalry. As soon as a new Ottoman Sultan ascended the throne, he immediately executed all his brothers. The chances of deadly rivalries and civil wars were thus eliminated by eliminating all potential claimants to the throne.
Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror (1432 – 1481) is credited with coming up with that solution. He enacted a Law of Governance that stated in relevant part: “Any of my sons who ascends the throne, it is acceptable for him to kill his brothers for the common benefit of the people. The majority of the ulema [Muslim scholars] approve this; let action be taken accordingly“.