MUFTI  , a consulting

canon-lawyer in Islam, who, upon application, gives fatwas (fetvas) or legal opinions on points of canon law (see MAHOMMEDAN LAW) . These are asked and given in strictly impersonal form, but the cadi, or judge, then applies them to the case and decides in accordance with them . In theory, any learned man whose opinion is respected and whose advice is sought can give fatwas . But generally in a Muslim state there are muftis specifically appointed by the government, one for each school of canon law in each place . Each of these renders opinions in accordance with the law-books of his school; 2 The use of the word for plain or civilian clothes worn instead of uniform is originally Anglo-Indian . It may have been suggested by the loose flowing robes of the stage " mufti," and thus Implied any easy dress worn by an officer when out of uniform . he has no scope for free interpretation; everything is fixed there, and he must follow the precedents of the elders . In Turkey there is a chief mufti, called the Sheikh al-Islam, whose office was created by the Ottoman sultan, Mahommed IL, in 1453, after the capture of Constantinople . He is, in a sense, the head of the ecclesiastical side of the state, that controlled by canon law; while the grand vizier is at the head of secular matters . Although his powers are delegated by the sultan-caliph, and he is appointed and can be dismissed by him, yet in his fatwa-issuing power he is independent . The sultan may dismiss him before he has a chance to issue a fatwa; but if he once issues it the result is legally automatic, even though it means the deposition of the sultan himself . Thus it was by a fatwa of the Sheikh al-Islam that the sultan Abdul Hamid was deposed .

See Juynboll, De mohammedaansche Wet., 40 sqq.; De Slane's trans. of

Ibn Khaldun's Prolegomenes, I. lxxviii . 447 seq.; Turkey in Europe, by " Odysseus," 131 seq . ; Young, Corps de droit ottoman, I . X., 285, 289 . (D . B .