Molla Gürâni (Ahmad al-Kurani)

Teacher of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, Ottoman scholar and mufti (d. 893/1488). His original name was Shams al-Din Ahmad ibn Isma'il; some sources use the title Sharaf al-Din or Shihab al-Din instead of Shams al-Din.

The sources give differing information on his place and year of birth. After completing his early education at home he studied the seven readings, theology, exegesis, grammar and jurisprudence in Baghdad with Zayn al-Din Abd al-Rahman ibn Umar al-Qazwini, and Arabic language and literature in Hasankeyf with Jalal al-Din al-Hulwani. Around 830 (1426-27) he moved to Damascus and studied with scholars including Ala al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Bukhari. By way of Jerusalem he went to Cairo in 835 (1431-32); there he became a student of Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani and received his licence (ijaza). He also learned hadith, Qur'anic readings, exegesis and jurisprudence from scholars such as Zayn al-Din al-Zarkashi, al-Maqrizi, Kamal al-Din Ibn al-Barizi and Ali ibn Ahmad al-Qalqashandi.

Having distinguished himself in these sciences he entered the inner circle of the Mamluk sultan al-Malik al-Zahir Chaqmaq, took part in the learned gatherings held in the sultan's presence, and became professor of jurisprudence at the Barquqiyya Madrasa in Cairo. In 844 (1440), when a dispute between him and the Hanafi judge of Damascus was brought before the sultan as a complaint, he was imprisoned, punished, removed from his teaching post and exiled to Damascus. Meanwhile he met Molla Yegan, one of the scholars of the reign of Murad II, and came with him to Anatolia.

Going with Molla Yegan to Edirne, he met Murad II and became professor first at the Kaplıca and then at the Yıldırım madrasas in Bursa. Al-Sakhawi records that after coming to Anatolia he changed from the Shafi'i to the Hanafi school. In 847 (1443) he was appointed tutor to Prince Mehmed (the Conqueror) in Manisa. When his pupil came to the throne the second time he was offered the vizierate; he declined, saying “Those who serve at your gate hope in the end to reach the office of vizier. If someone other than them becomes vizier, their loyalty to you will weaken and the order of your sultanate will be disturbed.” He was thereupon appointed military judge (kazasker) in 855 (1451).

During the conquest of Istanbul he sat in the Conqueror's council, took part in the conquest with the army, and was among the group that encouraged the sultan in the hardest days of the fighting and so ensured that the siege continued. After the conquest he wrote the Arabic letter of victory (fethname) sent to the Mamluk sultan. Because he acted in appointments without consulting the sultan he was assigned the judgeship of Bursa and the administration of its endowments; having rejected as contrary to the Sharia a proposal from someone close to the sultan, he was removed from the judgeship in 859 (1455). Setting out on pilgrimage, he went to Aleppo and Damascus and from there to Jerusalem (860/1456), and performed the hajj in 861 (1457).

In 862 (1458) he returned to Istanbul and was appointed judge of Bursa a second time. In 885 (1480) he was made mufti of Istanbul, then the highest post of the learned hierarchy, which later became the office of Shaykh al-Islam, and he held it for eight years, most of them in the reign of Bayezid II. Towards the end of his life he fell ill and died in Istanbul. He is described as humble yet dignified, and unafraid to state his convictions openly.

His Works — His most important work is the Qur'an commentary Ghayat al-amani fi tafsir al-kalam al-rabbani, also cited in some sources as Ghayat al-amani fi tafsir al-sab' al-mathani: he began writing it in Jerusalem at the end of 860 (1456) and completed it in 867 (1462-63), dedicating it to the Conqueror. Among its main sources are Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf and Baydawi's Anwar al-tanzil, and the author at times criticises views found in these two commentaries. Copied at the order of some Ottoman sultans and sent as a gift to the Khanate of Bukhara and elsewhere, the work was taught as a textbook in Ottoman madrasas. His other works: al-Durar al-lawami' fi sharh Jam' al-jawami', a commentary on Taj al-Din al-Subki's book on legal theory; Kashf al-asrar on the Qur'anic readings, dedicated to Bayezid II; al-Kawthar al-jari, a commentary on al-Bukhari in which he criticises some interpretations of his teacher Ibn Hajar and of al-Kirmani; al-Abqari, Fara'id al-durar and Raf' al-khitam on the readings; al-Murashshah on grammar; and Risala fi al-wala', written to criticise Molla Hüsrev's treatise of the same name. He also has an Arabic ode of 600 couplets on prosody, al-Shafiya, dedicated to the Conqueror.

His Tomb and Complex — In Istanbul he built two mosques, two masjids, a dar al-hadith madrasa, as well as a school of Qur'an reciters, a khanqah, a bath and a primary school, and endowed many revenue-bearing properties for them; the endowment deed he drew up is dated Rabi al-Awwal 889 (April 1484). He was buried in the graveyard of the mosque he had built in the Aksaray quarter.