Abstract:

In the Great Seljūq State, the wazīr was the highest administrative authority after the ruler. According to the viewpoint of the period, the good or bad course of the sulṭān and the country depended on the wazīr. As in the previous Islamic and Turkish-Islamic states, in the Great Seljūq State, the wazīr managed the state affairs with wide authority. Therefore, the wazīr had authority in administrative, military, financial, political and religious affairs. With an administrative hierarchy, each dīwān (dīwān-i inshā wa al-ṭughrā, dīwān-i istīfā-i mamālik, dīwān-i ishrāf-i mamālik, dīwān-i arż) constituting the state organization was subordinate to the dīwān-i a’lā, headed by the wazīr. Therefore, the wazīr was the head of the bureaucracy. The wazīr also had extensive judicial-criminal wide authority. In this study, it is going to be examined the issues in appointing and dismissing the ḳāḍī al-ḳuḍât and ḳāḍīs, dealing with complaints both in the dīwān al-maẓālim and out of the dīwān al-maẓālim, hearing a case, giving a verdict, forgiving the offences, revoking the punishments within the judicial-criminal duties, authorities and responsibilities of the wazīrs in the Great Seljūq State. Finally, appreciations and criticism directed to the Great Seljūq wazīrs within justice and cruelty will be discussed.