Islamic jurisprudence, the state, and the sultanate: the Ottoman Empire and the making of Islamic jurisprudence by Dr. Sami Abdullah Ayoub

The establishment of the Ottoman State and its transformation into a great empire was a decisive turning point in the history of Islamic legislation in general, and in its relationship with state authority in particular; because this legislation experienced, within the Ottoman sultans, a series of profound transformations that recent researchers have begun to seriously examine and give due attention to for study and scrutiny. The Ottomans' view of the idea of the madhhab and their way of dealing with it represent the most prominent and most dangerous of these transformations; as they believed — contrary to what had been the case in the past — that they had the right to intervene in organizing and constructing the madhhab. To this end, they took a series of measures and procedures that led to the emergence of what can be called the "official madhhab," culminating in the appearance of the "Journal of Judicial Rulings." The central thesis of this book revolves around the relationship between the Ottoman state, with its imperial character, and the Hanafi madhhab, discussing the legislative role undertaken by the Ottoman sultans, whose effects appeared clearly in the books of Hanafi jurisprudence written by later Hanafi scholars. It also takes the authority conferred by these late scholars on laws and sultanic orders as evidence of the nature of the role played by the state in matters of legislation and legal jurisprudence.