Abstract
Religious orders supported by the state with some rights and allowances during both the establishment and ascension periods of the Ottoman Empire were subjected to intense control, especially during the modernization periods of the Ottoman State. For religious order activities, the Ottoman State made important arrangements before the Tanzimat Period and during this period of time, starting with the creation of the Evkaf Nezareti and continuing with the Tanzimat Period, the religious orders lost some important privileges for a while. The changing world conditions with the 19th century and the effort of the Ottoman Empire to adapt to these new conditions, the sects and Tekkes that were centers of activity, lost their former comfortable and somehow autonomous position by the state. The changing world conditions with the 19th century and the effort of the Ottoman Empire to adapt to these new conditions, the religious orders and the places which are the activity centers of dervish lodges, lost their former comfortable and somehow autonomous position by the state. In this century, when modernization or transformation manifested itself in all areas, there were also some changes in the state’s view of dervish lodges. Therefore, the dervish lodges whose areas of activity were restricted by the edicts issued in this century, came under more state control.
An important and another indication that religious orders are under state control is that Meclis-i Mashayih has been opened. On the one hand, while approaches to Westernization was going on in bureaucratic and social life, on the other hand, the dervish Lodges that were being controlled by Sheikh-ul-Islam came under the administration of the Meclis-i-Mashayih institution, which was established in 1866 as a sub-branch of Sheikh-ul-Islam.