Lawmaking in an Ottoman frontier province at the turn of the sixteenth century: The mufti of Akkirman, his fatwas and authority

Official URL: https://risc01.sabanciuniv.edu/record=b2740432

Fatwas played a major role in the formation of Ottoman legal norms. However, to date, Ottoman historians have largely limited their examination of these sources to the fatwas of the chief muftis (şeyhülislam). The role of provincial muftis (kenar müftüsü) and their fatwas remains neglected. What role did these muftis play in the formation of legal norms at the edge of the empire? How did they engage with the central authority and local officers? What functions did their fatwas perform? And what was their authority and role in the legal process? In this paper, I address these questions through an analysis of the fatwas of Ali Akkirmani, an Ottoman imperial man, a scholar-bureaucrat, who received his education at Valide Sultan Madrasa in Istanbul before taking up a post as professor and mufti in his hometown, the frontier city of Akkirman, in 1591-92. He kept the post for about thirty years, until his death in 1618. As mufti, he issued fatwas on questions of various types posed to him by common people, notables, officers, judges, etc., which were collected posthumously in 1630 under the title Fetâvâ-yı Akkirmani. Focusing on examples drawn from that work’s chapter on international law (Kitâbu’s-Siyer), I explore how Akkirmani interpreted and adapted the learned sharia law and imperial law to augment his own juristic, imperial, and socio-political authority and to position himself as a critical player in the formation of legal norms on the Ottoman frontier.