ABSTRACT
The following analysis of the Ottoman muftis' new legal doctrine on tax and rent is mainly based on the writings of Ibn Nujaim and Syrian and Palestinian muftis of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, who constantly refer to Ibn N ujaim as one of the most important Hanafite authorities on tax, rent and landed property. Ibn Nujaim's writings constitute an important attempt to take stock of the problems connected with the changes in land tenure, tax and rent in the middle of the sixteenth century. He knew that he could not solve the problems he faced merely by continuing the old Hanafite legal tradition in dealing with them. The immense authority which his writings enjoyed in later centuries not only in Egypt but also in Syria and Palestine shows that his solutions were widely accepted. He was certainly not always the author of the legal opinions which he integrated into his solutions. In many respects his writings reflect the cumulative effects of a process of slow and cautious reformulation of the Hanafite legal tradition that had been going on since the tenth century and that had worked its way from Central Asia to Egypt and Syria during the Mamluk period. Ibn Nujaim was a capable synthetiser whose could integrate new notions and legal ordinances serving the interest of the rentier class. He shares with other Hanafite jurists of the Ottoman period the practical insights and economic and social interest that made the workable solution of new problems possible.
