Cihanşümul Akademi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi

Abstract

In recent years, the number of academic studies on the institution and history of Shaykh al-Islam has been increasing. One of these studies is titled "The History of the Buildings of Shaykh al-Islam Office in the Light of the Documents of the Meshihat Archives (1826-1924)" written by Dr. Esra Yıldız. The Ottoman Empire needed an institution for the execution of religious transactions as it entered the process of institutionalization from the moment it appeared on the stage of history. In order to answer the questions of the people on religious issues, it organized the office of Shaykh al-Islam, which it inherited from the Islamic states before it, and turned it into an institution. Bureaucracy, one of the main phenomena of Ottoman modernization, was effective in the institutionalization of the office of Shaykh al-Islam by becoming an institution. The process of the Shaykh al-Islam office becoming an institution and taking its place within the bureaucratic organization started with the Tanzimat and continued with the abolition of the Janissary Quarry and the allocation of an independent place for the Shaykh al-Islam office. The office of Shaykh al-Islam completed its institutionalization by renewing its units, establishing independent units, or transferring pre-existing units to the Bab al-Meshihat. In the study, which was prepared with a rich academic literature by using basic sources such as archive books and documents, especially the archive of the office of Shaykh al-Islam, the subjects were handled in a concise manner, and the history of the office of Shaykh al-Islam and the buildings of the office of Shaykh al-Islam were examined from an academic perspective in various aspects.