The nineteenth century marks a period of major transition for the Ottoman Empire. The changes and transformations that took place during this century differed significantly from those in previous centuries … Continue reading Reading a Century of Change and Transformation through the ‘Ulamā
Jāmi‘ al-Riyāsatayn Shaykh al-Islām Hasan Fahmi Efendi
Jāmi‘ al-Riyāsatayn[1] Akşehirī Hasan Fahmi Efendi was born in 1796 in Ilgın, a district in Konya. He went to Konya to study at the important madrasas of the region and … Continue reading Jāmi‘ al-Riyāsatayn Shaykh al-Islām Hasan Fahmi Efendi
A Literary Bureaucrat Scholar and Shaykh al-Islām: Ahmad Ārif Hikmet Bey Efendi
Studies on the Ottoman Shaykh al-Islāms are largely focused on a few names, their fatwās, and their relations with the state. It is a fact that the fatwā constituted a … Continue reading A Literary Bureaucrat Scholar and Shaykh al-Islām: Ahmad Ārif Hikmet Bey Efendi
Ottoman Shaykh al-Islāms of the Nineteenth Century and their Intellectual Biographies
Foundational studies on Islamic legal history in the modern era have largely ignored Ottoman legal thought and experience. This approach, which dominated the historiography of Islamic law written in the … Continue reading Ottoman Shaykh al-Islāms of the Nineteenth Century and their Intellectual Biographies