as-salaamu ‘alaikum Stain. I spoke to Yursil about this particular question and he pointed me to a 1570 correspondence between the Ottoman Sultan, Selim II and Islamic Jurist Ebu-s-Sud where he writes the Sultan saying,

“If it so happens that, although his lordship, the monarch, refuge of the faith, has time after time ordered the prohibition of coffeehouses, they are still not prohibited and some people of the hooligan sort, in order to make a living, keep coffeehouses, take on beardless apprentice boys in order to warm their gathering, organizer and setup entertainment and amusements such as chess and backgammon, gather those of the city who are addicted to love together with youth of pure shining faces and evil deeds, eat electuaries of hersh, opimium, and hashish and, on top of this drink coffee, occupy themselves with duplicitous arts, and also neglect the prescribed prayers, what is the canonical thing to do to the kadi who is in a position to prohibit and eradicate the aforementioned merchants and coffee drinkers?”

The response from the Sultan implies to take immediate action against this kind of behavior when he replies saying,

“Those who engage in or abet the aforementioned unseemly activities should be prohibited and restrained by means of severe punishment and long imprisonment. Kadis who go easy in their chiding of these must be dismissed from their posts”

It was for this reason that the coffee houses were temporarily banned. I hope this answers your question.

-Saifuddin

wa ‘alaikum as-salaam, Stain you wrote,

“Now I am looking for his written documents about reasons for this deccission. If you find it, please write it.”

Perhaps you can talk to Yursil Kidwai, he knows quite a bit about the Ottomans and may be able to help you there.

Someday you’ll have to come to my blog and tell me what the other thing you agreed with was

In any case, happy Eid, Christmas, Chanukka and Yule! I’m going back to my Tanzanian Peaberry!

Jonolan,
I’ve read like two things by you I’ve agreed with ever, and that’s one of them. Amen.

All this fear went away when I quit, and it was a book that inspired me to do it called The Truth About Caffeine by Marina Kushner. There are five things I liked about this book:

1) It details–thoroughly–the ways in which caffeine may damage your health.

2) It reveals the damage that coffee does to the environment. Specifically, coffee was once grown in the shade, so that trees were left in place. Then sun coffee was introduced, allowing greater yields but contributing to the destruction of rain forests. I haven’t seen this mentioned anywhere else.

3) It explains how best to go off coffee. This is important. If you try cold turkey, as most people probably do, the withdrawal symptoms will likely drive you right back to coffee.

4) Helped me find a great resource for the latest studies at CaffeineAwareness.org

5) Also, if you drink decaf you won’t want to miss this special free report on the dangers of decaf available at http://www.soyfee.com

as-salaamu ‘alaikum. jonolan, I wasn’t offended. The post was made available for private views only for other reasons. Don’t sweat it, I have a response that I will send to you off-line, inshaAllah (God willing).