Developments in Islamic obligations law and interest ban in the context of Ottoman modernization

Financial transactions, which were carried out under the control of the Shari'a courts in the classical period, became operational with purely secular legislation about a hundred years after the Edict. The separation of istikraz cases from the shar'i system formed the basis of the law of independent obligations. This meant that the legal mechanism abandoned or reinterpreted many fiqh principles. Since classical law was based on Hanafi fiqh, the prohibition of riba was meticulously reflected in the daily practices of the courts. The contract theory was based on the prohibition of riba. Riba was defined as the illegitimate result of cash and forward transactions, which meant the gratuitous possession of someone else's property. During the modernization period, the theory of interest, imported from the West, gradually spread to every layer of law. Although TK did not define a clear interest, it offered interest to compensate the damages caused by receivables that could not be collected on time or the use of illegal authority on the property, causing a radical drift in the legal mechanism. Ten years later, the TK annex, declared interest as the standard compensation for monetary receivables, and approved interest contracts that met certain conditions, even if compounded. After the TK, the legislation regulating financial law had to bring provisions that are compatible with and complementary to the TK. Murabaha Regulations, Mecelle, procedural laws, bank organization regulations, texts of various credit funds were prepared under the shadow of the TK. Even the Evkaf Bank and Eytam Funds, which were organized under the control of Meşihat, had their share of the settlement of interest in law. Devr-i shar'i has always remained the standard procedure for credit transactions in traditional institutions, but at the end of the day, collection procedures have become similar to standard banks. While all these developments were taking place, fiqh articles emphasizing that interest should not be counted as riba appeared in the press. Today, a part of the society is still convinced of the legitimacy of modern banking and interest-bearing practices. Today's discourses that distinguish interest from riba and modernization period writings are fed by the same vein. Although interest is perceived as a mere fatwa issue, in reality it is a legal issue that is embedded in the daily relations of the Muslim community with laws. This study follows the story of the modernization period of interest through law texts, economics, law textbooks, mandates of decision councils, Mecelle commentaries and texts regulating credit institutions, and examines the break in the Muslim society's perception of riba from a fiqh point of view, but as a matter of legal history. Keywords: Ottoman law of obligations, commercial law, debt, interest, riba, Mejelle, bank, usury, Mashhad