Bosnia at the beginning of 19th century according to Mehmed Emin İseviç

In the world of Islam, Muslim scholars have written numerous siyasetnâmes about how the ideal state, the relationship between the ruler and the subjects and the social order should be. Ottoman scholars and writers who inherited this tradition took a step further it by concerning how the present can be idealized rather than a timeless idealism, and contrary to the siyasetnâmes of past period, they focused on actual events in their works. Mehmed Emin İsevic's Ahvâl-i Bosna, which is the subject of our study, resembles the Ottoman ıslahatnâmes in terms of its form and concepts. However, it differs from the others in that it deals with matters concerning only one province of the empire and explains the degradation in the institutions by giving personal names. Mehmed Emin İsevic was born in a distinguished scholarly family, and after completing his education in madrasah, he worked as a kadi in Bosnia. A series of events in Bosnia at the beginning of the 19th century resulted in the exile of Isevic to Lemnos Island in 1809. During this exile, he wrote a tractate on the causes of disorder and chaos prevailing in the province, giving the names of the people who caused them, and sent it directly to the sultan. A few years later, İsevic who had the rank of muderris of Edirne, was forgiven and then awarded with cadre of Bosnian army sheikh. Mehmed Emin İsevic, died in 1816, gave a lot of information about the corruptions in Bosnia in topics from ilmiye to the military by his Ahvâl-i Bosna, and he could be the voice of those who were oppressed among the wheels of the system. In this thesis, in the light of Ahvâl-i Bosna, found in Library of Rare Collection in İstanbul University with index number 6647, the situation in Bosnia at the beginning of the 19th century was examined and the transcription of the text was presented.