Ottoman Architecture is the first modern history of Ottoman architecture written by Ottomans themselves, yet it is little known outside the field of late Ottoman studies. This magnificently-illustrated volume codifies the empire’s architectural history into a series of preliminary stages culminating in the efflorescence of the Ottoman classical tradition in the sixteenth-century.

This volume explores the emergence of discourses of orthodoxy and orthopraxy in the Ottoman Empire between the 15th and 18th centuries, through empirical studies on confessional dynamics in early modern Muslim, Christian and Jewish sources.

An analysis of the connection between Islamic law (sharīʿa) and custom (ʿurf), identifying the ways in which personal and social issues are treated within contemporary Saudi and Iranian legal approaches. Approaches adopted by Saudi-Ḥanbalī and Iranian-Jaʿfarī scholars towards the sharʿī status of ʿurf in three particular categories are examined; the methodological perspective (classic and contemporary), the sharʿī opinions of scholars (fatwā) and the court verdicts of judges (aḥkām). The interaction between custom and textual authority is emphasised, developing an analytical framework of shar‘ī rules that pertain to social relations in general and marital issues in particular.