Position of women in the Classical Era Ottoman Inheritance Law

At first, some information has been given about the conceptual frameworks of the Islamic law of inheritance and the customary law of inheritance. In an attempt to understand the place of Ottoman woman within the law of inheritance, heritage registers and fatwa samples have been transferred into particular formats. It has been observed that majority of the portions of inheritance, which were analyzed in the heritage registers, were compatible with the proportions indicated in fiqh books. . Our comment on the portions of inheritance, which were incompatible with the Islamic law of inheritance, was that inheritors had shared inheritance through 'consensual partition'. Some of these portions of inheritance take place in favour of women while some other take place to the detriment of them. For understanding the general situation in the customary law of inheritance, demesne and periodic variations which occurred during the succession of waqfs (charitable foundations) subjected to the customary law of inheritance have been closely scrutinized. Besides, in several foundation-certificate charters, it has been seen that adopted children who founded foundations could determine the procedure of benefiting from foundation property in a way that changes the provisions of Islam inheritance law. Non-Moslem women take a share in a stable manner with regards to time and place according to the principles of Islamic law of inheritance. For women, there is no rayah (reaya)-soldier class classification in terms of being deceased and inheritor. In the Ottoman Empire, the right of woman's vela (ownership of slaves) inheritance was also accepted. In the event that there have been different views among the religious scholars, it has been seen that the view which has been chosen has always been applied. If any unlawful interference occurs against the purparty of woman, the right of woman is protected by the state. Key Words: Islamic inheritance law, Ottoman law, the legal status of women.