The fiqh thought of Catalcali Ali Efendi (1631-1692) –one of the Shaikh al-Islams in 17th century- in the light of his book "Fatawa"

Catalcali Ali Efendi, an outstanding Shaikh al-Islam, who lived in the 17th century, is a prominent name both with his work for thirteen years and his highly respected fatwas. This study that is based on the book "Fatawa Ali Efendi", which consists of his fatwas, is divided into the parts of an introduction, three sections in the main body and a conclusion. In the first part, the study covers a comprehensive biography of Catalcali Ali Efendi and puts forward the compilation process of his Fatawa. Through a literature review, scholarly sources have been studied to find existing knowledge about his work. The second part is an overview of the fatwas of Catalcali Ali Efendi, as well as his language and style used in fatwas, the geographic elements related to the fatwas, and the people who asked for fatwas. An analysis of the Ottoman society in the 17th century has also been carried out. In the third and the last part, the fatwas of Catalcali Ali Efendi were handled in detail in terms of Islamic fiqh. His expressions of the views that were chosen about some controversial issues of fiqh, the concepts of categoric juristic propositions that are used in his fatwas, his explanations of fiqh terms, his views about certain issues that were discussed in the Ottoman empire, as well as his attitude towards practicing other mazhab opinions and the legal principles in his fatwas have been studied in order to understand his fiqh thought. Finally, the technical information of ninety Fatawa Ali Efendi manuscripts that I personally reviewed and the critical whole text of Kitab al-Waqf can be found in the Attachments section.