nöbet üçer dörder yüz fetva te v zi ider...
’’Hezârfenn: 137b.Ali Himmet Berki mentions a practice carried out at the beginning o f the 20"" century in the fetvahane. According to Berki fetva emini after determining the rulings put the fatwas into two difterent bags, one is in green, the other is in red. The fatwas put in the green bag were to be affirmed those in the red beg were to be negated. The müftí without reading the fatwas used to put his signature after writing the short ruling. Berki. (1970): 424-5.
Miiftls frequently used to travel with Sultans in their campaigns or in their journeys to Edime. We can recall that the müflis were at the same time the personal advisors o f the sultans. In this respect, for instance in Edime, near the Old Palace, a special suit was arranged for the mUftls. In a IS"* century text it was said that the chief müfti Yenişehirli ‘Abdullah Efendi used to stay in a special residence arranged for the miiftls “şadr-i fetva olanlara mahşûş hanede.” Râşid: vol. 4, p. 394; Uzımçarşılı. (1988): 195, note 3; Koca. (1994): 497.
45 46
Hezarfenn: f 137b. Uzuncarsili (1988); 196;
not benefit any profit from the legal consultation.'^^ The m oney dem anded in th e O ttom an practice m ust have been perceived as the expense for the bureaucratic process involve in the fatw i-issuance.“** In order to elaborate the process o f th e fatw a-m aking in th e fatw a departm ent, it would be useful to examine Ebussu*^ud’s treatise w ritten for the fetva em ini and th e scribes in the departm ent.
2.2. Ebussif ud's instructions for fatwa-waking
One im portant page in Ottom an fa tw i is Ebussu‘^ûd’s treatise.
Fetva eminlerine
[or
kâtiblerine\ tenbîhler,
composed in order to give linguistic and stylistic instructions on how to form ulate appropriate fatwa text instructions for th e scribes o f the fatw a department.'*^ Although the text is not dated, since it m entions Şâh Çelebi,'^*^ ŞeyhîAl-Nawawl in his
Adâb a!-fatwi wa’l-muill wa’I-mustafli
(Damascus, 1988) states that a mufti should not be paid for his fatwis, rather it is congruous for them to be financed by the pious foundations (waqf) like mudarris: (p. 41.).According to Hezirfenn 7 akças were shared among the personnel, 5 akças for the mübeyyiz and 2 akças for the müsevvid (Hezârfenn; f. 137b-138a). According to a kânûnnâme
{Kavmin-i
‘^OsminT ve Rabita-i Asitânâ)
used by Uzunçarşıh, two akças for fetvi emini, and the rest five akças to be distributed among the personnel. Uzunçarşıh. (1988): 197.There are a number o f copies o f the text in Istanbul libraries. The most condensed o f those is the one housed in Siileymaniye Kütüphanesi, Hacı Beşir Ağa 656: ίΤ. 240a-b. For an incomplete copy, see: Süleymaniye Kütüphanesi, Esad Efendi 1017: ff. 95b-96a. For a copy transcribed in the margins of the codex see: Siileymaniye Kütüphanesi, Fatih 5427: f. 19b. The copy housed in Siileymaniye Kütüphanesi, Yazma Bağışlar 1009: 205b-207b seems a different version o f the text with the same title.
Şâh Mehmed b. Hiirrem was the son-in-law of Ebussu'ûd’s son. He was the kadi od Istanbul between Receb 976 /December 1568 and Receb 977/December 1569. He died in 978/1570.
Çelebi^' and Ma'^lülzide^^ as kadis o f Istanbul, Bursa and Dam ascus, th e text must have been com posed betw een Receb 976 and M uharrem 977, i.e. in th e first h a lf o f 1569.^^ In other words Ebussu'^ud had passed 24 years as a ch ief miifti w hen he com posed the treatise.
The text begins w ith the notifications for the correct spelling o f a num ber o f words. He handles the usage o f
tâ ’-marbüta
as a fem inine suffix and exam ines the related common m istakes especially those o f technical w o rd s.^ L ater Ebussu'^hd"Ata’I: 137, Heyd(1969): 50.
®Abdulkadir el-mii’ebbedi known as Şeyhi Çelebi, who is a disciple and them mülâzım of Ebussu'iid and later şeyh ül-İslim. He was the kadi of Bursa between Receb 976/December
1568 and Receb 977/ December 1568. He died in Şevval 1002/1594. 'A t i ’i: 327; Heyd. (1969a); 50.
Se)^id Mehmed b. Mehmed en-Naklb known as Ma'lulzide Mehmed, Ebussu'ud’s mülâzım and then son-in-law, later Şeyh ül-İslâm. He was the kadi o f Damascus between Zilhicce 974/1566-Muharrem 977/ca June 1569. He died in 989/1581. ‘^Atâl: 281.
f. 240 b; Heyd states that the text must have been composed between Receb 976 and Receb 977 ([1969a]: 50). However 'Atâ’i records that Ma'^lûlzâde was dismissed from the kada’ o f Damascus in Muharrem 977 (®Atâl: 281). Thus more accurate date for composition might be between Receb 977 and Muharrem 977.
^ He handles “zevc” (one of a pair, wife or husband) and discusses the usage of
tâ ’-marbüta
as the feminine suffix. He opposes the addition o ftâ ’-marbüta
and the usage o f for females. According to Ebussu'iid is to be used for both genders: “‘Zeyd'iö zevci Hiad’ diyecek
mahalde ya ^Amr’ıS zevci Zeyneb’i ’ diyecek m evzide ‘Zeyd’in zevcesi Hiad’ veya ^Amr’ın
zevcesi Zeyneb’ dimek hatâ-i faildir. Zirâ ‘^avrata dahi ‘zevç’ deailür. ‘Zevce’ denilmez, tâ
lazım dtğildiri
f. 240a.analyses the morphology o f different words and gives correct spellings/^ He especially examines the phonetic harm ony o f the words having different suffixes.^^ He also gives the technical synonyms o f some popular words and phrases which were highly distorted in the fatwa-m aking. He suggests
al-işbâf
(after the proof) instead o f“b^ad es-
şubüt"
and“havale^
(assignm ent) instead o f^'sâlyâne."
A fter this morphological analysis Ebussu‘^üd warns the scribes to be careful in using the technical words in the text and alludes that the accurate technical usage o f the legal term inology was different57
from the ordinary usage o f common people.
Ebussu*^ûd continues his exam ination w ith the precise form ulations o f the legal expressions in the fa tw i question. He opposes the construction
^'...talebe kadir olur mi?"
(can he dem and...?) and suggests an accurate one,
“...taleb idiib almağa kadir oİurmı ?"
(can he collect as he demands...?). He justifies his falsification o f the first formulation saying that there is no restriction against dem anding
(...zira taiebe menyokdur...)
thus th e question is incom plete and perhaps vulnerable to distortions. Ebussu'ud tried to give a perfect expression o f the question to m inim ise any m isunderstanding and any tw isting. He also dismisses the construction^\..kenJseye vakf."
(...w aqf for the churches...) since the w aq f for churches is invalid(batii).
The w aq f can be devoted to the people o f the(f. 240a, continues at the end of the text, f 240b)...