The Edict of Toleration 1844 takes place…
November 1840 CE
Tanzimat is an Ottoman reform process that seeks equal protections under the law in Ottoman lands for all people; however, it does not address matters of religious freedom.
A particular incident in 1843 with an Armenian Ottoman subject had sparked an incident in August that gained international entanglements, then a Greek national in November, both of whom were put to death—the process of which becomes the Edict of March 23, 1844.
In February 1844 there was a question on the status of Jew apostates from Islam (who, it was claimed, must pass through being Christian on the way to Islam in the first place) and in March 21, 1844 appears (in translation):
It is the special and constant intention of His Highness the Sultan that his cordial relations with the High Powers be preserved, and that a perfect reciprocal friendship be maintained and increased.
The Sublime Porte engage to take effectual measures to prevent henceforward the execution and putting to death of the Christian who is an apostate.
According to Muslim Islamic scholar Cyril Glassé, death for Apostasy in Islam was "not in practice enforced" in later times in the Muslim world, and was "completely abolished" by "a decree of the Ottoman government in 1260AH/1844AD."
This short edict will be advanced in the wider Ottoman Reform Edict of 1856.
The Edict will be seen by some among the religious as a specific sign leading towards the fulfillment of prophecy.
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