شيخ الإسلام
With its members appointed by the Sultan, the Meclis-i Vükela's duties were an extension of his executive power and agenda, however they often added their opinions to proposals before passing them along to the Sultan. Culminating the executive organs of government on a central level, it was the principal executive and legislative coordinating body of the Ottoman plutocracy. The exact composition of the Council of Ministers varied, but it usually consisted of leading ministers of the Ottoman state, the Shaykh al-Islām, the Serasker and the Grand Admiral, or more often their undersecretaries: the directors of the police and arsenal of Istanbul, the undersecretary of the Grand Vizier, the heads of the department of excise taxes (Rusumat Emini) and the lieutenant ("Kethüda") of the queen mother, who represented the Sultan's palace.