Muftiate

A muftiate (alternative spelling: muftiyat) Bosnian: Muftijstvo or Muftiluk; Albanian: Myftini; Bulgarian: мюфтийство; Kazakh: мүфтият; Russian: Муфтият; Tatar: мөфтият; Romanian: muftiat; Ukrainian: Муфтіят) is an administrative territorial entity under the supervision of a mufti.

A grand muftiate is more significant than a muftiate, and is presided over by a grand mufti.

A grand muftiate or muftiate is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the directorate, and oversees the local boards, clerics, mosques, and trusteeships. The structure of Russian- and south-eastern European muftiates were never prescribed by Islamic doctrine, but instead are based on the principle of an all-encompassing legal and administrative order in parallel fashion to Christian dioceses with the purpose of regulating the Islamic religion.

In 1788 the Russian Empire under Empress Catherine II established the first muftiate in Russia named “The Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly” governed by a supreme mufti who oversaw the appointment of imams and the management of mosques across the empire. The mufti was initially appointed by the emperor, but with a decree signed by Emperor Alexander I in 1817, it was determined that the mufti should be elected by the Muslim community with imperial approval. Most of the muftis, their assistants and ordinary mullahs were elected from the Kazan Tatars. The mufti's duties included overseeing the Muslim clergy, clerical appointments, the construction of mosques, marriages and divorces, inheritances, property disputes, endowments (waqf), cases of disobedience to parents by children, the correctness of the execution of Muslim worship, and birth registrations. With the creation of the Soviet Union the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly was replaced with the Central Spiritual Board of Muslims.

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