Firman

{{Short description|Royal mandate or decree}} {{for|the surname|Firman (surname)}} {{redirect|Ferman|the surname or given name|Ferman (name)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} [[File:Fath Ali Shah Qajar Firman in Shikasta Nastaliq script January 1831.jpg|thumb |A Fat'h Ali Shah Qajar ''firman'' in ''Shekaste Nastaliq'' script, January 1831]] {{wikt | firman}} A '''firman''' ({{langx|fa|فرمان|translit= farmān}}; {{Langx|tr| ferman}}),<ref>{{cite web | title=firman | url= http://www.seslisozluk.com/?word=firman | publisher= Seslisozluk | date= 1999–2012 | access-date= 14 February 2008 | archive-date= 19 June 2008 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080619051937/http://www.seslisozluk.com/?word=firman | url-status= live}}</ref> at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods such firmans were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The English word ''firman'' comes from the Persian {{lang|fa-Latn|farmān}} meaning "decree" or "order".

== Etymology == ''Farmān'' is the modern Persian form of the word and descends from Middle Persian (Pahlavi) {{lang|pal-Latn|framān}}, ultimately from Old Persian {{lang|peo-Latn|framānā}} ({{lang|peo-Latn|fra}} = "fore").<ref name="Iranica">{{cite Encyclopædia Iranica Online | title = Farmān| last = Fragner | first = Bert G. | authorlink = | url = https://iranicaonline.org/articles/farman | year = 1999| access-date = 3 February 2021 }}</ref><ref name="EI2">{{EI2|last1=Busse|first1=H.|last2=Heyd|first2=U.|last3=Hardy|first3=P.|title=Farmān|url=https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/farman-COM_0213|volume=2}}</ref> The difference between the modern Persian and Old Persian forms stems from "dropping the ending ''ā'' and insertion of a vowel owing to the initial double consonant".<ref name="EI2"/> This feature (i.e. ''fra-'') was still used in the Middle Persian form.<ref name="EI2"/> The Turkish form of the word ''farmān'' is ''fermān'', whereas the Arabized plural form of the word is {{lang|fa-Latn|farāmīn}}.<ref name="Iranica"/><ref name="EI2"/>

== Origins of firmans in the Ottoman Empire == In the Ottoman Empire, the Sultan derived his authority from his role as upholder of the Shar'ia, but the Shar'ia did not cover all aspects of Ottoman social and political life. Therefore, in order to regulate relations and status, duties, and the dress of aristocracy and subjects, the Sultan created firmans.<ref name=Lapidus>Ira M. Lapidus, ''A History of Islamic Societies'', 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2002, pp. 260-261</ref>

== Organization == [[Image:StMaryOfTheMongols20071010 02.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Firmans of Mehmed II and Bayazid II – kept at the Church of Saint Mary of the Mongols in Istanbul – which granted the ownership of the building to the Greek community]] Firmans were gathered in codes called "''kanun''". The ''kanun'' were "a form of secular and administrative law considered to be a valid extension of religious law as a result of the ruler's right to exercise legal judgement on behalf of the community."<ref name=Lapidus/>

When issued by the sultan in the Ottoman Empire, firmans' importance was often displayed by the layout of the document; the more blank space at the top of the document, the more important the firman was.

== Examples of Ottoman firmans ==

=== Firman of Murad (26 October – 23 November 1386) === In this firman, Sultan Murad I recognises a decree created by his father Sultan Orhan (c. 1324–1360). He gives the monks (Christian) all they owned during his father's reign, ordering that no one can oppress them or claim their land.<ref>[http://www.culture.gr/2/21/218/218dn/e218dn00.html "Firman of Sultan Murad I," Ottoman Documents, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 11 Mar 2007] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212014219/http://www.culture.gr/2/21/218/218dn/e218dn00.html |date=12 December 2006 }}</ref>

=== Firman of Mehmed the Conqueror (30 August 1473) === [[File:Fetihname Fatih.jpg|thumb|Mehmed the Conqueror's bilingual (Ottoman and Chagatai) ''Fetihname'' (Declaration of conquest) after the Battle of Otlukbeli.]] Following the defeat of Uzun Hasan, Mehmed the Conqueror took over {{lang|tr|Şebinkarahisar}} and consolidated his rule over the area. From {{lang|tr|Şebinkarahisar}} he sent a series of letters announcing his victory, including an unusual missive in the Uyghur language addressed to the Turkomans of Anatolia.<ref>{{cite book | last = Babinger | first = Franz | authorlink = Franz Babinger | others = ed. by William C. Hickman, trans. by Ralph Manheim | title = Mehmed the Conqueror and his Time | series = Bollingen Series XCVI | publisher = Princeton University Press | year = 1978 | page = [https://archive.org/details/mehmedconqueror00fran/page/316 316] | isbn = 0-691-09900-6 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/mehmedconqueror00fran/page/316 }}</ref>

The decree (''yarlık'') had 201 lines and was written by {{lang|tr|Şeyhzade Abdurrezak Bahşı}} on 30 August 1473:<ref>{{cite book|title=Archivum Ottomanicum|editor=György Hazai|year=2002|volume=20|author=Ayşe Gül Sertkaya|section=Şeyhzade Abdurrezak Bahşı|pages=112}}</ref> {{Blockquote|Completed when Karahisar was reached on the date of eight hundred and seventy eight, 5th day of the month Rebiülahir, the year of the Snake.}}

=== Firman of Mehmed IV (1648–1687) === In this firman, the monks of Mount Athos report that the administrative officials charged with the collection of taxes come at a later date than they are supposed to and demand more money than the value assessed. They also make illegal demands for additional food supplies.<ref>[http://www.culture.gr/2/21/218/218dn/e218dn00.html "Firman of Sultan Mehmed IV," Ottoman Documents, Hellenic Ministry of Culture, 11 Mar. 2007] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061212014219/http://www.culture.gr/2/21/218/218dn/e218dn00.html |date=12 December 2006 }}</ref>

== Other firmans ==

One of the most important firmans governing relations between Muslims and Christians is a document kept at the Saint Catherine's Monastery on the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. This monastery is Greek Orthodox and constitutes the autonomous Sinai Orthodox Church. The firman bears the hand print of Muhammad, and requests the Muslims do not destroy the monastery for God-fearing men live there. To this day there is a protected zone around the monastery administered by the Egyptian government, and there are very good relations between the 20 or so monks, mainly from Greece, and the local community there.

Firmans were issued in some Islamic empires and kingdoms in India such as the Mughal Empire and the Nizam of Hyderabad. Notable were Emperor Aurangzeb's various firmans.

== Other uses == The term "firman" was used by the archeologist/novelist Elizabeth Peters for official permission from the Egyptian Department of Antiquities to carry on an excavation. A similar authority was cited by Austen Henry Layard for excavations at Nimrud which he mistakenly believed was Nineveh.<ref>{{cite book|author=Austen Henry Layard|title=Nineveh and Its Remains: With an Account of a Visit to the Chaldaean Christians of Kurdistan, and the Yezidis, Or Devil-worshippers, and an Enquiry Into the Manners and Arts of the Ancient Assyrians|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=llVFb6qLmsgC|volume=II|year=1849|publisher=J. Murray|page=3|access-date=14 June 2020|archive-date=14 June 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614220641/https://books.google.com/books?id=llVFb6qLmsgC|url-status=live}}</ref>

In the Old Yishuv Court Museum is held a firman for the 1890 opening of the printing business of Eliezer Menahem Goldberg, Jerusalem resident. The firman was translated into Hebrew from Turkish by Advocate Yosef Hai Fenizil, and shows that the business was located in Rehov Hayehudim and had permission to undertake printing in Turkish, Arabic, Hebrew, English, German, French and Italian.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.museums.gov.il/en/items/Pages/ItemCard.aspx?IdItem=ICMS-OYC-D2005 |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 April 2019 |archive-date=11 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191011234006/http://www.museums.gov.il/en/items/Pages/ItemCard.aspx?IdItem=ICMS-OYC-D2005 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

== Gallery == <gallery> File:Gaykhatu Farman.jpg|Firman of Sadr al-Din Zanjani, vizier of ilkhan Gaykhatu, dated Jumada II 692/June 1292. Art and History Collection on loan to the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery File:Firman of Sultan Muhammad b. Tughlaq Shah (cropped).jpg|Firman of Muhammad bin Tughluq dated Shawwal 725 AH/September–October 1325. Keir Collection File:Farman Of Feroz Shah Bahmani - 14 -05 -1406 A.D.jpg|Firman of Taj ud-Din Firuz Shah of the Bahmani Sultanate dated 1405–06. Andhra Pradesh State Archives File:Firman of the Emperor Aurangzeb, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.jpg|Firman of Aurangzeb dated 25th Jumadi II of 1072 AH/15 February 1662. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery File:An imperial order, farman, from the time of Shah 'Alam II, dated 1776.jpg|A firman issued by the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II File:Farman by Ahmad Shah Durrani.jpg|A firman issued by Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of the Durrani Empire </gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite journal |last1=Ashraf |first1=Assef |title=Copied and Collected: Firmans, Petitions, and the Political History of Qajar Iran |journal=Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient |date=2019 |volume=62 |issue=5–6 |pages=963–997 |doi=10.1163/15685209-12341498|s2cid=214018418 |url=https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/292328 |url-access=subscription }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Firman (Decree)}} Category:Government of the Ottoman Empire Category:Islamic calligraphy Category:Documents Category:Government of Safavid Iran Category:Qajar Iran Category:Persian words and phrases Category:Decrees