ABSTRACT
There has been controversy between scholars holding that most of the institutions of the Ottoman Empire were of Byzantine origin, and others regarding them as of Islamic or Turkish origin. As far as Seljukid Asia Minor is concerned, the problem is not quite the same as for the Ottoman Empire; first of all because the period was different, but secondly and more especially because the conditions of establishment and growth were not the same. The Seljukid regime in Asia Minor was of course headed by the sultan. The term, originally a colloquialism, became official, and since the caliph had lost effective power, it was used for the holder of power as distinct from the caliph. In most of the Muslim states in the East contemporary with the Seljukids, there was a clear ethnic and career distinction between administrative office on the one hand, and political or military and official functions on the other.
