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One of the akhi notables of Ankara; his tomb stands beside the mosque that bears his name, popularly also known as the Arslanhane Mosque.
The source records his death as 751 (1350-51). Ahî Şerafeddin's father and uncle were, according to what most researchers accept, the two akhi brothers Hüsâmeddin and Hasan, who had the mosque repaired when it fell into ruin towards the end of the thirteenth century; the mihrab too is accepted to have been made at that time.
The mosque stands in the Ahî Şerafeddin quarter on the Atpazarı slope, and is popularly also called the Arslanhane Mosque because many lion statues once stood before and around it. The first inscription on its wooden pulpit states that it was built in 689 (1290) by the akhi brethren in the time of the Seljuk sultan Mes'ûd b. Keykâvus (Mesud II). Outside the mosque are a burial enclosure and the tomb of Ahî Şerafeddin.
Limit of this record: This record rests not on an article devoted to the man himself but on the article about the mosque that bears his name. The source gives no more about the person of Ahî Şerafeddin than the three pieces of information above (the year of his death, the identity of his father and uncle, and the site of his tomb). The architectural description of the mosque is rich; but that description has not been carried over here, because it belongs to the building, and has been left to the place record. To fill a person's record with the description of a building would be to make the record appear deeper than it is.
Differing Scholarly Views
Was the mosque's founder Şerafeddin or Seyfeddin? An inscription beside the main door gives as founder the name "Seyfeddin", which some researchers have read as "Şerafeddin". Since this may be Emîr Seyfeddin Çaşnigîr, the date of the building's construction can be carried back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. That is, the "Şerafeddin" in the mosque's name may not be the same person as the one in the inscription.
The date of construction is disputed. While the pulpit inscription gives the year 689 (1290), it has been argued that the mosque is essentially older.
He has no article of his own. No separate article for Ahî Şerafeddin could be found in the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam; what is known of him is a few sentences within the article on the mosque. That is the limit of this record.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) — Semavi Eyice · vol. 1, pp. 531-532, entry “AHÎ ŞERAFEDDİN CAMİİ”
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Permanent ID: EA-Z-000058 · this address reaches the same record even if its name changes; use it when citing.