A ferman (firmān) was a document issued by the sultan in the Ottoman Empire. It differed from other documents of the sultan such as berat ( berāt , a certificate documenting an appointment to a post, a privilege, a tax exemption, or an income allocation), name-i hümayun ( nāme-i humāyūn , royal letter), etc., by the fact that it contained his order or command. It became effective following decisions taken at the divan-ı hümayun (dīvān-ı humāyūn) and their subsequent approval by the sultan. The text of ferman s were written