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Let's say Osman I's Greek and originally Orthodox friend Köse Mihal ends up at the top of the tiny Ottoman polity in the early fourteenth century. Mihal is a fairly firm believer in Islam and a fluent speaker of Greek and Turkish alike, and the prestige later attached to the House of Osman was nonexistent at this early stage, so there shouldn't be that many issues with Mihal and his descendants maintaining control over their portion of Bithynia at least in the short term.

A few questions:
  • Would a Mihalid empire eventually end up using Greek or Turkish as their administrative language?
  • Would a Greek-speaking Islamic empire be less, equally, or more successful in Europe than the Ottomans?
  • Would a Greek-speaking Islamic empire be less, equally, or more successful in the Middle East than the Ottomans?
  • How would Renaissance scholarship be affected in a Greek-speaking Islamic empire?
  • How would a Greek-speaking Islamic empire look back at its pagan and Byzantine past?
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