Colin Imber is a retired lecturer of Turkish studies who previously taught at

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, UK. He completed his

Oriental studies Oriental studies is the academic field that studies Near Eastern and Far Eastern societies and cultures, languages, peoples, history and archaeology. In recent years, the subject has often been turned into the newer terms of Middle Eastern studie ...

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he defended his doctorate on "The Ottoman Fleet in the Age of Sultan Suleiman I (1520-1566)". His research interest is focused on the history of the Ottoman Empire until the 17th century and on

Islamic law Sharia, Sharī'ah, Shari'a, or Shariah () is a body of religious law that forms a part of the Islamic tradition based on scriptures of Islam, particularly the Qur'an and hadith. In Islamic terminology ''sharīʿah'' refers to immutable, intan ...

, in particular on the system of

Ottoman law The Ottoman Empire was governed by different sets of laws during its existence. The '' Qanun'', sultanic law, co-existed with religious law (mainly the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence). Legal administration in the Ottoman Empire was part ...

, until the 17th century. He is considered as "perhaps the leading, and...certainly the most productive, of the painfully few Ottoman historians currently working in British universities." He is noted for his opposition to Paul Wittek's "

Ghaza thesis The Ghaza or Ghazi thesis (from , ''ġazā'', "holy war", or simply "raid") is a since disputed historical paradigm first formulated by Paul Wittek which has been used to interpret the nature of the Ottoman Empire during the earliest period of ...

Publications

* ''The Ottoman Empire 1300–1481'', Isis Press, Istanbul 1990 * ''Studies in Ottoman History and Law'', Isis Press, Istanbul 1996 * ''The Ottoman Empire, 1300–1650: The Structure of Power'', Palgrave Macmillan 2002; 2nd Revised Edition, Palgrave Macmillan 2009; 3rd Edition, Red Globe Press 2019 * ''Ebu's-su'ud: The Islamic Legal Tradition'', Stanford University Press (Stanford, CA), 1997.

References

External links

Biographical summary
at Encyclopedia.com Living people British orientalists Scholars of Ottoman history Turkologists Alumni of the University of Cambridge Academics of the University of Manchester 20th-century British historians 21st-century British historians Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-academic-bio-stub