Silsile-i Ulemâ Mecmuası

The documents in the work containing sequential and summarized information on the careers of members of the Ottoman ilmiye organization, known under the title Silsile-i Ulemâ, were first introduced to the scholarly world by İsmail Hakkı Uzunçarşılı in 1965. From that date to the present, the work, of which the only surviving copy is held in the Esad Efendi Collection of the Süleymâniye Library, has been consulted only to a limited extent, primarily for the purpose of conveying basic information. No serious, methodical, and comprehensive undertaking had been made in this regard until now. In this study and analytical examination, Prof. Dr. İhsanoğlu first identified the title of the work and determined its genre, and then sought to outline its nature and contents analytically and to determine why, how, and by whom the silsiles found in the manuscript were compiled. The lists in the work provide, in chronological order, the Shaikh-al Islams, kazaskers, various kadılıks, müderrisliks, and medreses. Among the work's prominent features is the exceptionally clear recording of the views, criticisms, and qualities of the ranked members of the ulema with regard to one another.