In the Ottomon Service: Khalil Muradi of Damascus (1765?-1791)

FAIN: FT-13673-78

Karl K. Barbir
Siena College (Loudonville, NY 12211-1462)

This work will explore the role of a group of urban aristocrats in the provinces of the Ottoman Empire between 1500 and 1800. These people were called "notables". This research will focus on one of these "notables", Muhammad Khalil al-Muradi of Damascus (1765?-1791) who was a scholar, Sufi, tax-collector, Mufti and friend of the powerful in Istanbul. A biography will result from this study; but not a conventional biography, rather it will treat Muradi in the wide, Ottoman setting in which he lived and will attempt to determine to what extent he participated in and contributed to political, religious and intellectual life in the Ottoman Empire. Through this study of one "notable" will illustrate the web of relationships which bound them.