The Shaykh al-Islam in Medieval Khurasan

Abstract

The shaykh al-Islam emerged in early Islamic Khurasan. A shaykh al-Islam's social-political roles developed organically, and his duties were exogenous to state bureaucracies. The Seljuq vizier, Niẓām al-Mulk, struck upon a “brilliant and original” scheme, to use the shaykh al-Islam to shape Islamic curricula and control lecturers. He officialized the position by appointing his “own lieutenant” as the shaykh al-Islam of Nishapur. Shāh-Rukh restarted the Seljuq initiative by appointing the shaykh al-Islam of Herat. The Timurid initiative was continued by the Safavids. The Ottoman şeyhülislam became the Empire's most formidable religious official. He presided over its educational system (ilmiye). There are two classes of shaykhs al-Islam: urban and rural. A city's shaykh al-Islam was the chief of its educational network of seminaries, hospices, teachers, and students; he examined the qualifications of lecturers, arbitrated disputes, and harmonized conflicts of law. A rural shaykh al-Islam was a local lord: major landholder, administrator, and magistrate. Typically, he was the custodian of a prominent Sufi shrine. The shaykh al-Islam's/shrine custodian's standing, and the influence and affluence of his institution within its catchment area, were enhanced by the Ilkhanids, Kartids, and Timurids when they tasked him with managing hydrological systems and agricultural production.