Problems Imams Faced in their Professional Life During Ottoman Period (XVIIIth Century Diyarbekir State Example)

OsmanlıDevleti’nde imamlar, Müslüman topluma hizmet veren kadrolar içerisinde en genişyeri tutmakla birlikte üstlendikleri dinî, toplumsal ve resmi görevlerleoldukça önemli bir konumdaydılar. Bu sebeple imamlık, Osmanlı İslam toplumununönde gelen kurumlarındandır ve geçirdiği değişim ve dönüşümlerle birliktegünümüzde de büyük bir ehemmiyeti haizdir. Mezkûr öneme istinaden bu çalışmada,şimdiye kadar herhangi bir araştırmaya konu edilmemiş olan Osmanlı toplumundaimamların mesleki hayatlarındakarşılaştıkları sorunlar ele alınmıştır. Araştırmanın amacı, 18. yüzyılDiyarbekir ahkâm defterleri ve yine Diyarbekir (Âmid) şer’iyye sicilleriçerçevesinde ilgili dönemde imamların mesleki hayatlarında karşılaştıklarısorunları ortaya koymaktır. Araştırma neticesinde ilgili dönemde imamlarınmesleki hayatlarında karşılaştıkları sorunların toplam 60 farklı belgeyeyansıdığı tespit edilmiştir. Yapılan tasnife göre bu sorunların en sıkrastlanılanı vakıflarla ilgilidir. Bunu sırasıyla usulsüz vergi tahsili meselesi,görevlerine yönelik usulsüz müdahaleler, nikâh kıyma ve gasil meseleleri vesosyal hayatta karşılaşılan az sayıdaki diğer bazı sorunlar takip etmektedir. Busorunlar içerisinde özellikle vakıflar, usulsüz imamlık beratları ve vergileredair meselelerin dikkate değer bir ciddiyette olduğu ve ilgili kurumlarınişleyişinde birtakım bozulmaların meydana geldiği gözlenmiştir.
Imams in Ottoman State were in quite an important position due to theirreligious, social and official duties since they occupied the largest placeamong the institutions serving the Muslim community. For this reason, theprofession of imam is the most prominent institution of Ottoman Islamcommunity; and it displays a great importance with the transformations andchanges it has experienced. Based on the abovementioned importance, theproblems that imams of Ottoman community faced in their professional life havebeen handled in this study, which has not been the subject of any studies sofar. The aim of the study is to reveal the problems that the imams faced intheir professional life in the related period within the context of XVIIIcentury Diyarbekir Ahkam Books and also Diyarbekir (Amid) Sharia RegistryBooks. As a result of the investigation, it was established that the problemsthat imams faced in their professional life were recorded in a total of 60different records. According to classification, one of the most frequentlyfaced problems was about foundations. Problems related to illegal taxcollection, improper interferences in imams due to their duties, performingmarriage contract and dead washing and few problems that are faced in sociallife are the subsequent problems.SummaryImams in Ottoman State were in quite an important position due to their religious,social and official duties since they occupied the largest place among theinstitutions serving the Muslim community. For this reason, the profession ofimam is the most prominent institution of Ottoman Islam community; and itdisplays a great importance with the transformations and changes it hasexperienced. Based on the abovementioned importance, the problems that imams ofOttoman community faced in their professional life have been handled in thisstudy, which has not been the subject of any studies so far. The aim of thestudy is to reveal the problems that the imams faced in their professional lifein the related period within the context of XVIII century Diyarbekir AhkamBooks and also Diyarbekir (Amid) Sharia Registry Books. As a result of theinvestigation, it was established that the problems that imams faced in theirprofessional life were recorded in a total of 60 different records. Accordingto classification, one of the most frequently faced problems was aboutfoundations. Problems related to illegal tax collection, improper interferencesin imams due to their duties, performing marriage contract and dead washing andfew problems that are faced in social life are the subsequent problems.The problems faced by the imams in their professional lives during therelevant period were reflected in 60 different documents. According to theclassification, the foundation related issues were found to be the most commonamong these problem with a rate of 33,3%. These have mainly arisen from the foundationmanagers or sometimes from the tenant of the foundations. Problems arising fromthe managers of the foundations were related to the facts that the imams didnot get their salaries or their salaries were cut without a legitimatejustification. Sometimes the mismanagement of the foundation causeddifficulties for the imams who received their salaries from the foundation. Theproblems related to the tenants were often caused by the desire of the tenantsto seize the property or by their attempts not to pay the rent. The problems ofthe imams in such cases arise due to the fact that the relevant foundationproperty itself or its income is allocated to the imam. The unlawful tax collection is the second biggest problem faced by theimams with a rate of 30 %. Generally, the village officers and some customarypeople, imposed pressure on the imams and demanded illegal taxes from them.Although it was clearly stated in the documents of that period that the imamsare “the leaders and guides of the society” and they were exempted from thetaxes, these people willingfully subjected the imams to oppression andharassment in this regard, probably due to their personal interests. With a remarkable rate of 21.6 %, the illegal interventions were thethird most common problem faced by the imams. These problems generally arosedue to the attempt to seizure the duties of the imams illegally while they wereprofessing. The persons who took place in such interventions were typically thecolleagues of the imams such as khadi and mufti and only sometimes civilians. Even illegally issued imamate certificates were found in the relevantperiod. These certificates issued by some state officials in an illegitimatemanner posed a problem to the imams who performed their duties legally. In this period, it was revealed that some people who did not have theauthority to intervene the duties of the imams caused difficult situations forthe imams when they intervened through the remedy of imamate. These peopleinvolving in the work of imams were generally the residents of the place wherethe imams performed their duties. With a rate of 11,6 % the fourth most common problems faced by the imams were the issuesof performing the marriage ceremony and the bathing of the deceased. It was revealedthat these problems generally occurred among the imams themselves and accordingto the document some tyrant imams put unlawfully pressure on the othercolleagues.Apart from some relatively simple violations such as intervening in thework of the imams, it can be said that the imams were rarely confronted. Inthis respect, the problems they faced with the society were simple issuesencountered in daily life generally and these happened very rarely. As a result of the research, the problems that were understood to haveoccurred in the relevant period and to have come to the forefront are thementioned issues. During this period, imams were confronted mostly with thevillage officers and civil servants or with the management and tenants of thefoundations or with the other imams. As it can be seen, the imams did not havemany problems. Especially the problems faced with the rayah were quite limitedand simple. No matter what, they were always able to communicate their problemseasily and directly to imperial council. The imperial council did not remainindifferent to the problems of the imams and tried to solve their problems withsome instructions. However, especially the foundations, illegal imamatecertifications and the problems related to taxes pointed out that the problemswere deep and the functioning of the related institutions were deteriorated.The problems that occurred within this scope and the commands sent continuouslyshowed that the mentioned problems could not be eliminated permanently.