In the first half of the sixteenth century a dissident approach to religious issues of Ottoman society: A study on Shaykh al-Islam Ciwi-Cade Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi and his views

As a remarkable figure of Ottoman ulama during the sixteenth CenturyCıwızade Shaykh Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi has found himself within ascientific circle since he was born. Naturally, being influenced with this circle,he tended towards this ılmiye line. On this line he made progress with severalhierarchies such as studentship, professorship, and judgeship and achievedto work in top offices in Ilmiye organization of the Ottoman Empire such asKadıasker of Anadolu, Kadıasker of Rumeli, and Mufti. He appended hissignatures on very important decisions in these offices. His decisionsgenerally had the characteristics to dissent to the ongoing valid Ottomantradition at the time. Due to his scientific mentality, he strayed to a certainextent from the governing mentality and approach in Ottoman scientifictradition. More clearly, he had a static school of thought in judicial issues asa scientist strictly adhered to the Doctrine of Imitation, whereas most of theother Ottoman scientists during his time adopted dynamic and resilientapproaches to the same issues. Also, on the subject of sufistic tradition ofthought, which argued for ?Wahdet-? Wujud,? he assumed a harsh, negativeattitude apart from the most of the other Ottoman scientists. Owing to hissuch approaches deriving from his scientific mentality, Cıwızade appeared tobe a different Ottoman scientist figure during the first half of the sixteenthcentury.