The appointment mechanism of the ulema to the Ilmiye posts

Abstract

The new, developing bureaucratic procedures in the nineteenth century had wide-ranging influence over the Ottoman ulema in such areas as professionalization, performance evaluations, examinations for graduation, appointments, and promotions. The central government by increasing its direct control over the Ilmiye members incorporated them into the centralized state system and they became more and more intertwined with state service. During this period, they adapted to the new rules of the current bureaucratized system of the centralized state with their official identities in the education, judicial, and religious affairs of the state bureaucracy. In this respect, this article aims to show that the institutionalization of the Şeyhülislam Office through the Tanzimat process introduced the appointment mechanism of the ulema to the Ilmiye posts in the nineteenth century.