Sultan and Lawgiver of the Ottomans. Suleiman I, commonly known as Suleiman the Magnificent was the tenth and longest-reigning Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1520 until his death in 1566. Under his administration, the Ottoman caliphate ruled over at least 25 million people.

At the helm of an expanding empire, Suleiman personally instituted major judicial changes relating to society, education, taxation, and criminal law. His reforms, carried out in conjunction with the empire's chief judicial official Ebussuud Efendi, harmonized the relationship between the two forms of Ottoman law. He was a distinguished poet and goldsmith; he also became a great patron of culture, overseeing the "Golden" age of the Ottoman Empire in its artistic, literary and architectural development