HISTORY & SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TITLE

SHAYKH AL-ISLAM is one of the honourific titles which first appeared in the second half of the fourth century A.H. The title of Shaykh al-Islam has always been reserved for 'Ulama and Masha'ikh-e-Tasawwuf. Of all the titles only that of Shaykh al-Islam has been extensively used in Islamic History. Thus in the fifth century the head of the Shafi'iy theologians in Khurasan, Isma'il bin 'Abd al-Rahman, was by Sunnis acclaimed the Shaykh al-Islam par excellence, while at the same period the followers of the Sufi Master Abu Isma'il al-Ansari [396-481 AH / 1006-1088 CE] claimed this title for him. [al-Subki, Imam Taj ud-Din in his Tabaqat also Jami, Mulla in his Nafahat ul-Uns]. In the sixth century Fakhr ud-Din al-Razi was called Shaykh al-Islam. Other examples in subsequent centuries include the Sufi Master Shaykh Safi al-Din of Ardabil and the theologian Imam al-Taftazani. In Syria and in Egypt, however, had become a title of honour [but not an official one] which could only be given to jurists and more particularly to those who by their fatwa's had attained a certain fame or the approval of a great body of jurists, especially at the beginning of the Mamluk period. When Ibn Taymiya's, 'alayhi ma 'alayhi, followers began to address him with the title the Ahl as-Sunnah w'al-Jama'ah rightly refused to acknowledge the title. Towards 700/1300 the title Shaykh ul-Islam had become a title which each mufti qualified of ijtihad could claim for himself. Mahmud bin Sulayman al-Kafawi [d. 990/1582] in his biographies of Hanafi Fuqaha': Jurists, al-A'lam al-akhyar min fuqaha' madhhab al-N'uman al-Mukhtar, says that among the mufti's who are called Shaykh al-Islam are those who settle differences and decide questions of general discipline [according to 'Ali Emiri in 'Ilmiye Salnamesi, p. 306]. We thus find that in Egypt and in Russia down to the present day and in Turkey till the end of the Ottoman Empire [Ewliya Celebi, Siyahatnama] mufti's of any importance may be given this title.

The title however gained its greatest lustre after it had become applied more particularly to the Mufti of Constantinople [present day Istanbul], whose office in the Empire of the Ottoman Sultans in time acquired a religious and political importance without parallel in other Muslim countries. In the early centuries of the Ottoman Empire the influence of the 'Ulama' had been greatly surpassed by that of the Sufi Masha'ikh. Sultan Muhammad II after the taking of Constantinople gave the official title of Shaykh al-Islam to the Mufti of the new capital, Khidr Beg Celebi. It is in the reign of Sultan Sulayman that the Mufti of Constantinople first seems to have acquired undisputed authority over all the 'Ulama' of the Empire, including all grades of judges; Qadi.

The political function of the Shaykh al-Islam was formally confined to his power of issuing fatwa's. It was also the custom to consult the Shaykh al-Islam on all political matters of any importance.

The great Hafiz Shams ud-Din Muhammad ibn `Abd al-Rahman al-Sakhawi [831-902 H] student of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar al-`Asqalani [773/1372-852/1449], the last of the great huffaz [Hadith Masters]. The following is taken from Imam Hafiz al-Sakhawi's introduction to his biography of Ibn Hajar entitled 'al-Jawahir wa al-Durar fi Tarjamat Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar [al-`Asqalani]' [Pearls and Diamonds: the Biography of Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Hajar of `Asqalan], [Cairo: Wizarat al-Awqaf, al-Majlis al-Aa`la li al-Shu'un al-Islamiyya, Lajnah Ihya' al-Turath al-Islami, 1986].