How were Christians converted to Islam in the Ottoman Empire?

Answer 1

It depends on where the conversion took place in the Ottoman Empire and the individual converting. Of course, there are the Islamic claims that hold that Christians discovered that Islam was the correct religion and desirable for society, leading to conversion However, there are reasons for conversion from Christianity to Islam away from the merits.

Forcible Conversion
In the Ottoman Empire there was the practice of Devshirme, ripping innocent Christian boys and girls away from their families to serve the Sultan and be forcibly converted Islam. The parents would have no choice as to whether their children would be deprived from them at the tender age of five years. It was a tax. The women would grow up to be part of the Sultan's harem. While they served the Sultan, each woman could hope that her son would be chosen as the Crown Prince and she could have court rights, but she could never hope to have rights to her own body. The men were educated in the arts of war and diplomacy. The ones of who were more physically capable would become the feared shock-troops of the Ottoman Empire: the Janissaries. Those more skilled in diplomacy would be the ministers of the Sultan's court. Aside from a serious incident of forcible conversion, the practice of Devshirme is a clear violation of a person's inalienable right to family.

To Escape Dhimmi Status
Non-Muslims who lived in the Ottoman Empire were called Dhimmi, or second-class citizens. They lacked a number of fundamental rights such as freedom of movement, freedom of settlement, access to all occupations, and additional taxation because they were Non-Muslim. Each Dhimmi group, like the Armenians, Greeks, Jews, and so forth were organized into Millets which were community representative groups. Each Millet would report to a centralized Millet representative in Istanbul who would have direct dealing with the Imperial Palace. This would allow the Millets to air their grievances, but was more often used as a method to control the Millets and make them less resistive to Ottoman Occupation.

Admittedly, life under the Ottomans was far superior to most contemporaneous Empires. Spain was by far a more religiously and culturally intolerant place during this period as were France and England.

However, if such a person converted to Islam, all of these inequalities would drop away. Islamic States have historically created a set of benefits that only Muslims could partake, making a choice to be Muslim tied to choices about economic viability (which trades you could work - especially in government) or tied to choices of social standing. These would strongly weight the choice and produce a steady stream of converts by their very nature.

Leadership
Most positions in the Ottoman political leadership were restricted to Muslims only. This encouraged conversion as a method of gaining more prestigious government offices.