The _Mufti_ was definitely constituted by Suleiman the head of the _Ulema_;[662] and as such he outranked all officials of government, except that he yielded place to the grand vizier on ordinary occasions. He was almost the equal of the sultan himself, since he was the expounder and representative of the Sacred Law, which was above the sultan. Bayezid II was accustomed to stand to receive the _Mufti_, and to give him a seat above his own.[663] Early in Suleiman’s reign it was said, “The Turk shows his [_Mufti_] the greatest reverence of any man in his realm, because he represents justice and the image of God.”[664] Sixteenth-century Westerners compared the _Mufti_ with a “very great cardinal,”[665] but more often with the pope.[666] The _Mufti_ had, however, no temporal authority and no active part in affairs; like his brethren in lesser cities, he could give responses only when his opinion was asked. He could, however, rightly be compared with the pope in dignity and in the magnitude of the matters with which he dealt. His alone was the right to proclaim that war should be begun, and to send out preachers to declare that the war was holy and incumbent on all Moslems. He was frequently consulted by the sultan as to the conformity of proposed _Kanuns_ with the Sacred Law.[667] In his hands rested the extreme responsibility of pronouncing that a sultan had transgressed the Sacred Law and ought to be deposed. In short, though he could claim no divinely delegated power to create new rules of faith or law, he was the final earthly authority in the interpretation of the Sacred Law as completed by Mohammed the Prophet. He exercised a function similar to what in the United States of America is the highest office of the Supreme Court,—the power of defending the Constitution. In this capacity the _Mufti_ often withstood the sultan. _Urf_ was subordinate to _Sheri_, and in case of conflict the former must yield; therefore the sultan, who embodied the former, could not override the _Mufti_, who represented the latter. A century after the time of Suleiman it was said:— “The _Mufti_ is the principal head of the _Mahometan_ Religion or Oracle of all doubtful questions in the Law, and is a person of great esteem and reverence amongst the _Turks_; his Election is solely in the Grand Signior, who chuses a man to that Office always famous for his Learning in the Law, and eminent for his vertues and strictness of Life: his Authority is so great amongst them, that when he passes Judgment or Determination in any point, the Grand Signior himself will in no wise contradict or oppose it....