An Ottoman merchant visiting Vienna
There were many differences between the Christian and Islamic communities and some would have been more evident as people interacted with other persons from outside of their own community. An Ottoman merchant visiting Vienna would have been better prepared if he knew of the following aspects of everyday life in Vienna.
It would have been beneficial to know that Vienna was a highly sophisticated and developed city. It was a bustling commercial hub, anchored strategically along the trade route between Africa, Asia and Europe. Thus, the city benefited greatly from a wide variety of products being bought and sold on its streets (Carboni). Although it was similar to Damascus and Cairo as each specific trade in Vienna was assigned to a designated street (Rodriguez, 234), Vienna was much more technologically advanced than the Islamic World. Perhaps this was a consequence of the trade embargo that restricted Christians from selling iron and steel to Muslims (Rodriguez, 218). Vienna manufactured clocks locally and even had the skills to set them up to make sounds to differentiate between daytime and nighttime (Dankoff, 232-233). The Ottoman merchant would not be fooled if he was aware that Vienna was so advanced in technology they successfully created robots equipped with mechanical movements capable of doing automated work (Dankoff, 234). This technology was not traded with the Islamic World as one Muslim diplomat thought that the robots were real people.
Also, an Ottoman merchant would have found it advantageous to know that Vienna had a very religious Christian community, much like the Muslim population. However, a Muslim visitor to Vienna must be aware that Christians used statues of their God and his disciples in the Christian religion. This could be somewhat of a shock to an Ottoman merchant since the use of statues depicting Allah and the Prophet Muhammad are strictly prohibited in the religion of Islam and were never used inside nor outside of mosques. In Vienna, religious statues were an integral part and used extensively in the designs of Christian places of worship. In addition, if an Ottoman merchant knew to expect the richly decorated interiors of churches and monasteries, he would not be affronted by the display of wealth. For instance, the church floors were made of colored stones, marble and alabaster with elaborately carvings etched on chairs, while in the mosques, rugs were used on the floors and chairs were not available for seating (Dankoff, 238). It would have helped the merchant also if he was aware of the musical instruments that were used in the Christian places of worship. These sounds would have been a stark contrast to Muslims praying and quietly reciting the Quran.
Another noteworthy aspect was the behavior of women in Venice versus those in the Islamic World. Women in Venice were allowed to socialize in public with men and mingle with those from outside their community (Dankoff, 231). This behavior was unlike the norms of the Islamic World where the women were restricted to staying close to male relatives. It would probably have surprised any Ottoman merchant to see women mingling freely with the opposite sex as well as hearing loud noises coming from places of worship.
References
Carboni, Stefano, and Trinita Kennedy. “Venice’s Principal Muslim Trading Partners: the Mamluks, the Ottomans, and the Safavids.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/vmos/hd_vmos.htm (March 2007).
Carboni, Stefano, and Trinita Kennedy, and Elizabeth Marwell. “Commercial Exchange, Diplomacy, and Religious Difference between Venice and the Islamic World.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/cedr/hd_cedr.htm (March 2007).
Dankoff, Robert, An Ottoman Traveller: Selections from the Book of Travels of Evliya Celebi. London: Eland Books, 2011.
Rodriguez, Jarbel. Muslim and Christian Contact in the Middle Ages. New York: University of Toronto Press, 2015.