Osmanlı Devleti’nde imamlar, Müslüman topluma hizmet veren kadrolar içerisinde en geniş yeri tutmakla birlikte üstlendikleri dinî, toplumsal ve resmi görevlerle oldukça önemli bir konumdaydılar. Bu sebeple imamlık, Osmanlı İslam toplumunun önde gelen kurumlarındandır ve geçirdiği değişim ve dönüşümlerle birlikte günümüzde de büyük bir ehemmiyeti haizdir. Mezkûr öneme istinaden bu çalışmada, şimdiye kadar herhangi bir araştırmaya konu edilmemiş olan Osmanlı toplumunda imamların mesleki hayatlarında karşılaştıkları sorunlar ele alınmıştır. Araştırmanın amacı, 18. yüzyıl Diyarbekir ahkâm defterleri ve yine Diyarbekir (Âmid) şer’iyye sicilleri çerçevesinde ilgili dönemde imamların mesleki hayatlarında karşılaştıkları sorunları ortaya koymaktır. Araştırma neticesinde ilgili dönemde imamların mesleki hayatlarında karşılaştıkları sorunların toplam 60 farklı belgeye yansıdığı tespit edilmiştir. Yapılan tasnife göre bu sorunların en sık rastlanılanı vakıflarla ilgilidir. Bunu sırasıyla usulsüz vergi tahsili meselesi, görevlerine yönelik usulsüz müdahaleler, nikâh kıyma ve gasil meseleleri ve sosyal hayatta karşılaşılan az sayıdaki diğer bazı sorunlar takip etmektedir. Bu sorunlar içerisinde özellikle vakıflar, usulsüz imamlık beratları ve vergilere dair meselelerin dikkate değer bir ciddiyette olduğu ve ilgili kurumların işleyişinde birtakım bozulmaların meydana geldiği gözlenmiştir.

Abstract Imams in Ottoman State were in quite an important position due to their religious, social and official duties since they occupied the largest place among the institutions serving the Muslim community. For this reason, the profession of imam is the most prominent institution of Ottoman Islam community; and it displays a great importance with the transformations and changes it has experienced. Based on the abovementioned importance, the problems that imams of Ottoman community faced in their professional life have been handled in this study, which has not been the subject of any studies so far. The aim of the study is to reveal the problems that the imams faced in their professional life in the related period within the context of XVIII century Diyarbekir Ahkam Books and also Diyarbekir (Amid) Sharia Registry Books. As a result of the investigation, it was established that the problems that imams faced in their professional life were recorded in a total of 60 different records. According to classification, one of the most frequently faced problems was about foundations. Problems related to illegal tax collection, improper interferences in imams due to their duties, performing marriage contract and dead washing and few problems that are faced in social life are the subsequent problems.SummaryImams in Ottoman State were in quite an important position due to their religious, social and official duties since they occupied the largest place among the institutions serving the Muslim community. For this reason, the profession of imam is the most prominent institution of Ottoman Islam community; and it displays a great importance with the transformations and changes it has experienced. Based on the abovementioned importance, the problems that imams of Ottoman community faced in their professional life have been handled in this study, which has not been the subject of any studies so far. The aim of the study is to reveal the problems that the imams faced in their professional life in the related period within the context of XVIII century Diyarbekir Ahkam Books and also Diyarbekir (Amid) Sharia Registry Books. As a result of the investigation, it was established that the problems that imams faced in their professional life were recorded in a total of 60 different records. According to classification, one of the most frequently faced problems was about foundations. Problems related to illegal tax collection, improper interferences in imams due to their duties, performing marriage contract and dead washing and few problems that are faced in social life are the subsequent problems.The problems faced by the imams in their professional lives during the relevant period were reflected in 60 different documents. According to the classification, the foundation related issues were found to be the most common among these problem with a rate of 33,3%. These have mainly arisen from the foundation managers or sometimes from the tenant of the foundations. Problems arising from the managers of the foundations were related to the facts that the imams did not get their salaries or their salaries were cut without a legitimate justification. Sometimes the mismanagement of the foundation caused difficulties for the imams who received their salaries from the foundation. The problems related to the tenants were often caused by the desire of the tenants to seize the property or by their attempts not to pay the rent. The problems of the imams in such cases arise due to the fact that the relevant foundation property itself or its income is allocated to the imam. The unlawful tax collection is the second biggest problem faced by the imams with a rate of 30 %. Generally, the village officers and some customary people, imposed pressure on the imams and demanded illegal taxes from them. Although it was clearly stated in the documents of that period that the imams are “the leaders and guides of the society” and they were exempted from the taxes, these people willingfully subjected the imams to oppression and harassment in this regard, probably due to their personal interests. With a remarkable rate of 21.6 %, the illegal interventions were the third most common problem faced by the imams. These problems generally arose due to the attempt to seizure the duties of the imams illegally while they were professing. The persons who took place in such interventions were typically the colleagues of the imams such as khadi and mufti and only sometimes civilians. Even illegally issued imamate certificates were found in the relevant period. These certificates issued by some state officials in an illegitimate manner posed a problem to the imams who performed their duties legally. In this period, it was revealed that some people who did not have the authority to intervene the duties of the imams caused difficult situations for the imams when they intervened through the remedy of imamate. These people involving in the work of imams were generally the residents of the place where the imams performed their duties. With a rate of 11,6 % the fourth most common  problems faced by the imams were the issues of performing the marriage ceremony and the bathing of the deceased. It was revealed that these problems generally occurred among the imams themselves and according to the document some tyrant imams put unlawfully pressure on the other colleagues.Apart from some relatively simple violations such as intervening in the work of the imams, it can be said that the imams were rarely confronted. In this respect, the problems they faced with the society were simple issues encountered in daily life generally and these happened very rarely. As a result of the research, the problems that were understood to have occurred in the relevant period and to have come to the forefront are the mentioned issues. During this period, imams were confronted mostly with the village officers and civil servants or with the management and tenants of the foundations or with the other imams. As it can be seen, the imams did not have many problems. Especially the problems faced with the rayah were quite limited and simple. No matter what, they were always able to communicate their problems easily and directly to imperial council. The imperial council did not remain indifferent to the problems of the imams and tried to solve their problems with some instructions. However, especially the foundations, illegal imamate certifications and the problems related to taxes pointed out that the problems were deep and the functioning of the related institutions were deteriorated. The problems that occurred within this scope and the commands sent continuously showed that the mentioned problems could not be eliminated permanently.