FINDINGS AND PROPOSALS ON THE CORRUPTION OF THE OTTOMAN İLMIYYE TEŞKILTI (LEARNED HIERARCHY) BY THE XVIIth CENTURY ULEMA. |
| Assis.
Prof. Dr. Kayhan ATİK |
By the mid-XVI. century, the Ottoman Empire accessed into crisis situation. This drew the ulema (scholar)- statesman and İlmiye Sınıfı (learned class) attention to find necessary solutions. They warned authorities, among whom comes primarily sultan himself with their written works, lâyihas and siyaset-nâmes. Beginning with the XVIth century and going on throughout XVIIth and XVIIIth centuries, these reports generally dealt with political, social, economic and military problems of the time and sought to bring definite solutions. Among the three classes, ilmiyye, kalemiyye and seyfiyye, the ilmiyye took the first place, since the leading figures of the state hierarchy came from İlmiyye Sınıfı. Şeyhülislams, kadıaskers, defterdars, nişancıs, kadıs, müftis and müderrises, being the members of the ilmiyye teşkilâtı executed the most crucial state affairs. For this reason, corruption in the İlmiyye Sınıfı probably caused deep effects into the Ottoman Empire. These reports on the corruption of the İlmiyye Sınıfı and their solutions generally concerned with the following subjects; bribery, giving offices to unabled man, fondness of the fame and luxury, greedy, economic difficulty, moral and scientific corruption and educational disorder. Those problems, began in the XVIth century, continued through the XVIIth century and after. |
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