Marife Turkish Journal of Religious Studies

Abstract

One of the institutions inherited from the Ottoman period in the Balkans was the mufti institution. In this geography, while some of the mufti offices continued their existence after the Ottoman Empire, some of them disappeared. This article is about the Mufti of Lofça in Bulgaria, which managed to survive for 47 years until 1934 after the Ottoman rule. The study was conducted within the scope of Ottoman archive documents covering the issues related to Lofça Muftiate between the years 1834-1934. In this study, the history of Lofça, the status of Muftiate of Lofça during the Ottoman and Bulgarian administration period, Lofça muftis, deputies of the mufti, actions of the mufti against Bulgarianization and Christianization policies, religious education and religious education of the mufti, and Lofça mosques. The article is of particular importance since it sheds light on the history of the Mufti of Lofça, the religious life and religious structures of the Muslims in Lofça. The presence of the Ottoman written archive documents about the Muftiate of Lofça until 1934 makes the subject intriguing. The article is also significant being the first scientific examination and evaluation of a specific family archive written in Ottoman Turkish in this topic, which was given to Dr. Neval Konuk Halaçoğlu by this family immigrated to Turkey from Lofça and then sent to us via this person.
Lofça, now called Lovech (Ловеч), is a city in present-day Bulgaria. It is 150 km from the capital Sofia. The city of Lofça, which was conquered by the Ottomans in 1393 during the reign of Sultan Yıldırım Bayezid, remained under Ottoman rule until 1877. The Lofça Mufti institution, which existed in the Ottoman period, remained as the Lofça Deputy Muftü Office until 1934 after the Bulgarian administration. After 1934, religious services in Lofça were carried out by a clerk affiliated to the Pleven Mufti. During the Ottoman period, Lofça muftis/deputies provided fatwa services and provided consultancy and guidance to the Muslims in the region on religious issues. They continued their fatwa services during the Bulgarian administration as well. In addition to fatwa services, muftis also provided education services by giving religious lessons in local madrasas in Lofça.
Lofça Muftis became the principal members of the Lofça Administrative Council during the Ottoman period. After the district governor and deputy, they took charge in the local administration of the city as the highest bureaucrats of the city. The muftis of Lofça were responsible to the district governor, who was the highest administrator of the district, and to the sheikh al-Islam, to which all the muftis were affiliated. Lofça muftis/deputies carried out important services in many areas such as protecting the Ottoman mosques and foundation artifacts that were usurped, plundered, and destroyed after Lofça came under Bulgarian rule after the Ottoman Empire, preserving the religious and national identities of Muslims, resisting the forced Christianization, and meeting the needs of Muslims in religious worship and Shari'a matters. Lofça muftis paid a heavy price for this cause. For example, Lofça Mufti Hasan Zühdü Efendi, who resisted the assimilation and destruction of the Bulgarians, and tried to prevent the Christianization of the Muslim Pomaks, was sentenced to life imprisonmen. Moreover, his daughter was sentenced to 15 years in prison, and Ali bin Hasan, who helped him in this matter, was sentenced to death.
Muftis of Lofça provided various services to the people of the region in religiously-engaged matters such as marriage, divorce, testament, inheritance, guardianship and alimony. In addition to these, they also performed some duties related to the management of eytam properties. The Muftiate of Lofça tried to maintain its commitment to its historical and national values by continuing to write the permits and certificates of marriage in Ottoman alphabet until 1934. Such documents written in the Ottoman alphabet in Lofça continued to exist until 1944. Some documents related to the marriage records of Muslims in Lofça were found in the private archive of a family who migrated from Lofça to Turkey. In this context, three marriage certificates called "shahadetname" prepared by Imam Rıfat Ali in Lofça and various marriage permit documents issued under the names of "izinname", "izinname-i seyyib" and "izinname-i bikr" are examined in this study.