Ṣālih Efendi-zāde Meḥmed Emīn

Ṣālih Efendi-zāde Meḥmed Emīn served as Shaikhu'l-Islam, the highest religious authority in the Ottoman Empire, to Sultan Abdu'l-hamid I (r. 1774–1789). A petition held by the MFA suggests that Ṣālih Efendi-zāde Meḥmed Emīn first attempted to enter into the service of the Ottoman government as a scribe. This was not an unusal path for religiously trained persons, who also often trained in calligraphic arts.