ABSTRACT
This study examines the question “What is the role of the High Council of Religious Affairs (HCRA) in the Shariah governance mechanism in Turkey? The study aims to explore the place and importance of the High Council of Religious Affairs (HCRA), one of Turkey’s Shariah governance actors. In order to discuss the role and functions of HCRA in Shariah governance, a semi-structured interview was conducted by choosing a case study, one of the qualitative research designs. The research group consists of three board members and three board experts. As a result of the interviews, 530 minutes of audio recordings were obtained and analyzed, and a 67-page text was obtained. These texts and interview notes were analyzed through the Atlas Ti program, and five themes and 33 sub-themes were reached. These themes are Access channels, fatwa, institutional dimension, contributions to Islamic economics and finance (IEF), Shariah governance. These themes provide rich content to explore the place and importance of HCRA in Shariah governance in Turkey. This study, which is one of the limited numbers of studies dealing with Shariah governance in Turkey, is thought to make a unique contribution to the literature in terms of both being based on fieldwork and considering the HCRA, one of the Shariah governance actors.