[3] The status of the mufti began to increase as the Ottoman Empire became more secular from the mid-nineteenth century on.
[7] When the British authorities took control, they severed the link with Istanbul, and widened the jurisdiction of the Mufti to cover the whole of Mandatory Palestine.
[8] The position of Qadi was usually a one-year role, and was appointed by the central Ottoman government, whilst the muftis were usually a member for a notable family in the town.
Shortly after the 1917 Battle of Jerusalem, newly appointed British Military Governor Ronald Storrs met with Hussein al-Husayni, who explained that the majority of Jerusalem's 11,000 Muslim residents were followers of the official Ottoman Hanafi rite, with a minority following the Shafi’i school which had been predominant prior to the Ottoman conquest.
Storrs advised the British government to declare that there would only be a single recognized post of mufti going forward.