Vizier

The vizier was the most senior administrator of the state after the ruler in Islamic states, in the definition the Turkish encyclopaedia gives. ¹ In the Abbasid period the vizier of delegation acted as the caliph's deputy in what the caliph entrusted to him. ¹ In the Ottoman state the viziers were members of the imperial council, headed by the first vizier, the grand vizier. ¹ After the reforms of the nineteenth century the title became a protocol rank. ¹

The encyclopaedia says the origin of the word is disputed. Some scholars hold that it is Persian and was Arabicised, and others that it is Arabic, from a root meaning a refuge, a burden or strength. ¹ Those who hold the second view cite its appearance in the Qur'an in two places, its appearance in hadith, and the titles vizier given to Abu Bakr, to Mukhtar al-Thaqafi and to Ziyad ibn Abih. ¹

Most scholars hold that the institution has a Sasanian origin, and that Persian influence grew after the caliphate passed from the Umayyads to the Abbasids. ¹ Goitein holds that the vizierate may be seen as a continuation of the Arab tribal tradition. Duri holds that the duties of the first Abbasid vizier resembled those of the last Umayyad secretary, and that the office took shape gradually with the entry of the Persian element. ¹

There was no formal vizierate under the Umayyads. The caliphs took secretaries whom they consulted, and these were not given the title of vizier officially. ¹ Some men bore the title, among them Ziyad ibn Abih under Muawiya and Rawh ibn Zinba' al-Judhami under Abd al-Malik, but the encyclopaedia does not take this as evidence that the vizierate was an established institution. ¹

The encyclopaedia records that the first to bear the title of vizier among the Abbasids was Abu Salama al-Khallal, who served the first Abbasid caliph al-Saffah, and it reports this from early historians. ¹

Under al-Mahdi (775–785) the vizierate became an organised office headed by the vizier, and the encyclopaedia notes that al-Tabari first mentions the vizier in his reign. ¹ Under al-Saffah and al-Mansur, all but one of those who held the vizierate were sentenced to death. Al-Mansur wished to keep the whole administration in his own hands, and the entry counts this among the causes that held back the office at its start. ¹

At the time of Harun al-Rashid the vizier's powers reached their widest. Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki appointed and dismissed governors, fixed and collected the land tax, supervised state revenue, ran the chancery of letters and commanded the army. ¹ Most viziers of that time were of Persian origin, and the Barmakids were then severely punished for monopolising power and for the wealth they gathered. ¹

The viziers' influence declined once the Turks had served in the army from the time of al-Mansur, and then after the death of al-Wathiq in 232 AH (847), when the Turks took part in administration as commanders and governors. ¹ In the late third century AH the viziers regained influence. The Banu al-Furat and the Banu al-Jarrah competed for the office, and when one family took it the previous vizier's property was confiscated. ¹

In 324 AH (936) the office of amir al-umara appeared and took over the vizier's power to appoint and dismiss viziers. The vizierate then became mainly a ceremony, in which the vizier wore black, a sword and a belt at the palace. ¹ Under the Buyids (334–447 AH) and then the Seljuks (447–530 AH) the viziers held wide authority. ¹ In the sixth century AH strong viziers served several caliphs, among them Ibn Hubayra and Ibn al-Muslima, and Ibn al-Alqami was the last vizier of the caliphate. ¹

Al-Mawardi distinguished two kinds of vizier. The vizier of delegation had wide powers, ran the whole affairs of the state in the caliph's name and carried the caliph's seal as his deputy. The vizier of execution had limited powers and carried out what the caliph ordered within the field assigned to him. ¹ The encyclopaedia takes this distinction from al-Mawardi's al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya, citing pages 25–32 of it; the book itself was not read for this record. ¹

An Abbasid vizier was appointed with a set ceremony. The caliph sent him a letter. He went to the palace with the judges and the secretaries of composition, was given the robe, turban, sword and inkwell, and rode a decorated horse to his post, where the letter of appointment was read before the officials of the state and he began his work. ¹

The encyclopaedia says that Ottoman sources use paşa, sahip, âsaf, vekil, nâzır and lala as synonyms for vizier. ¹ The powers of the state were used directly and entirely by the first vizier, who received the sultan's seal, while the other viziers acted as his advisers. In theory, however, each vizier had authority close to that of the first. ¹

The sultan appointed a vizier by his own hand-letter (hatt-i humayun), and the choice took account of expertise in a particular field. ¹ In 857 AH (1453) Mehmed II ordered the arrest and execution of the grand vizier Çandarlı Halil, and men of military origin from the kul system were brought in his place, while viziers were also chosen after that from the secretarial and learned classes. ¹ The encyclopaedia says most viziers of the classical period (1453–1600) came from military origin. ¹

The second vizier was the closest candidate for the grand vizierate, and breaking this rule was rare. In the late sixteenth century, the entry says, it was often broken. ¹ The grand vizier Ibrahim Pasha was executed in 1536, and among the charges against him was neglect of consultation with the viziers. ¹

In the classical period the imperial council had four viziers. In the sixteenth century the number became seven, when governors of distant provinces such as Egypt, Baghdad, Habesh, Yemen and Buda were given vizier rank so they could act with independent authority. ¹ Two categories arose: the dome viziers in the council at Istanbul, and the outside viziers who served in the provinces. In 1578 the dome viziers were raised to nine and the outside viziers to sixteen. ¹

The encyclopaedia estimates a vizier's income in the sixteenth century at between sixteen and eighteen thousand gold ducats a year, and the grand vizier's at about twice that. ¹ On appointment a vizier received the inkwell, the symbol of the vizierate across the Islamic states, with robes and other gifts. ¹ The council met for four days from Saturday to Tuesday, and the days for presenting matters to the sultan were Tuesday and Saturday. ¹

In 1066 AH (1656) the palace chose to restore the vizier's authority and gave Köprülü Mehmed Pasha wide powers. The authority then stayed in his hands and those of his family for about half a century. ¹

After the Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 the origins of the viziers changed. In the eighteenth century the Ottomans chose most viziers from the chief secretaries, among them Râmi Mehmed Efendi, who became grand vizier in 1703. ¹ In 1795 the vizierate was reformed and confined to governors. ¹ In 1836 the ministries were set up, and the title of vizier and of pasha became for the ministers a mark of rank in protocol. The grand vizier lost much of his authority and took the title başvekil, the chief minister. ¹

The grand vizier (sadrazam), called in the Turkish sources vezîriâzam or sadrazam, was the first vizier, in whose hand the powers of the state were exercised directly. ¹ He presided over the imperial council in practice, and no vizier's report reached the sultan except through him. ¹ Complaints against the viziers were heard by a body made up of the grand vizier, the shaykh al-Islam and the two military judges. ¹

The encyclopaedia says the place of the vizierate changed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and that after the reforms the vizier was no longer more than a protocol title for ministers. ¹ In the Tanzimat period the government passed between Mustafa Reşid, Âli and Fuad Pasha, and the importance of the foreign-affairs officials grew. ¹

• Abu Salama al-Khallal, the first to bear the title among the Abbasids, in the encyclopaedia's account. ¹
• Yahya ibn Khalid al-Barmaki, who held the widest powers under Harun al-Rashid, in the encyclopaedia's account. ¹
• Kıbrıslı Mehmed Emin Pasha, grand vizier from 29 May to 23 November 1854, and again from 18 October 1859. ²
• Said Halim Pasha, given the rank of vizier and made deputy grand vizier on 11 June 1913, grand vizier the next day, who formed the government on 17 June 1913 and took the foreign ministry with it. ³

• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "VEZİR", Fatih Yahya Ayaz, Abdülkerim Özaydın, Osman Gazi Özgüdenli and Halil İnalcık, vol. 43, pp. 79–82. ¹
• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "MEHMED EMİN PAŞA, Kıbrıslı", Kemal Çiçek, vol. 28, pp. 463–464. ²
• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, "SAİD HALİM PAŞA", M. Hanefi Bostan, vol. 35, pp. 557–560. ³
• Works named in the entry's bibliography, not read for this record: al-Mawardi, al-Ahkam al-sultaniyya; Muhammad Qasim Zaman, "Wazīr", Encyclopaedia of Islam, second edition; Goitein, Studies in Islamic History and Institutions; Sourdel, Le vizirat abbaside; Dûrî, al-ʿAṣr al-ʿAbbasi al-awwal.