Abstract
Today, the imam is defined as the person who leads the congregation in prayer. However, in the Ottoman society, imam has a much broader meaning. These can be listed as the person being followed, leader, head of state, caliph, and administration. In this study, based on the "administration" meaning of imam, the duties they assumed in the Ottoman local administration will be explained through the example of Bolu. Ottoman provincial organization consists of different types of administrations, such as states, sanjaks, districts, subdistricts and villages / quarters. The imam was responsible for administration of villages and quarters that were subunits of this organization. We can trace back the duties of the imam in the Ottoman local administration to the establishment phase of the state. Imam performed many duties in administrative, financial and municipal areas during this time period. The establishment of the mukhtar organization in the first half of the 19th century was a breaking point in terms of the duties and responsibilities of the imam. Many of the duties carried out by the imam were transferred to the mukhtar. However, in practice, imam continued many of its previous duties sometimes alone and sometimes with mukhtar until the collapse of the state. In fact, we can say that this process has continued until recently, especially when it comes to rural areas. In this study, the transition process in the 19th century and developments at the beginning of the 20th century will be explained mainly.