Ibn Kemal (Kemalpaşazade)

Ottoman şeyhülislam, historian and many-sided scholar; he is counted among the greatest representatives of Ottoman learning and culture in the first half of the XVI century. His real name was Şemseddin Ahmed; he is known as Kemalpaşazade, Kemalpaşaoğlu or Ibn Kemal after his grandfather Kemal Paşa, tutor (lala) to Prince Bayezid (Bayezid II).

He was born on 3 Dhu al-Qa'da 873 (15 May 1469); his birthplace is disputed (see Multiple Perspectives). His father was Süleyman Çelebi, who had taken part in the conquest of Istanbul and was appointed warden of Amasya in 879 (1474); his mother was the daughter of Küpelioğlu Muhyiddin Mehmed, one of the military judges of the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror. After becoming a hafiz of the Qur'an and studying Arabic language and literature, logic and Persian with the scholars of Amasya, he first entered the military profession and took part in Bayezid II's campaigns as a cavalryman of the six regiments. As Taşköprizade relates from him, at an assembly of the grand vizier Çandarlı İbrahim Paşa he saw Molla Lutfi, professor at Filibe, seated above the famous raider commander Evrenosoğlu Ahmed; concluding that the standing of the ulema was higher than that of the commanders, he resolved to join the learned profession. He attended the lessons of Molla Lutfi at Edirne and then of scholars such as Kestelî Muslihuddin Mustafa, Hatibzade Muhyiddin, Muarrifzade Sinaneddin Yusuf and Müeyyedzade Abdurrahman, completing his education.

With Müeyyedzade's support he became professor at the Ali Bey (Taşlık) Madrasa in Edirne; meanwhile he was charged with writing an Ottoman history in Turkish. He taught at the İshak Paşa Madrasa in Skopje (911/1505), at the Halebiye and Üç Şerefeli madrasas in Edirne, at the Sahn-ı Seman in Istanbul (914/1508) and at the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa in Edirne (917/1511). Under Selim I his fame grew with an epistle he wrote against the Safavids; in 921 (1515) he was made judge of Edirne and on 14 Sha'ban 922 (12 September 1516) military judge of Anatolia. On the Egyptian campaign, in which he took part in this office, he won great favour with the sultan and served as assistant to Hayır Bey in the survey of Egypt. It is related that on the return from the campaign mud splashed from his horse's hoof soiled the sultan's kaftan, whereupon Selim I said that “the mud splashed from the feet of the ulema is a source of adornment and a cause of pride”, and willed that this kaftan be laid over his coffin after his death. In 924 (1518) he was charged with the survey of Karaman and the next year removed from the military judgeship; early in 926 (1520) he became professor at the Darülhadis of Edirne, in 928 (1522) at the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa, and in 930 (1524) moved to the Fatih Madrasa in Istanbul. Finally, in Sha'ban 932 (May 1526), he was appointed şeyhülislam in succession to Zenbilli Ali Efendi.

He died in this office on 2 Shawwal 940 (16 April 1534) and was buried in the graveyard of the Mahmud Çelebi lodge outside Edirnekapı. In his testament he had asked that his funeral be conducted in dervish fashion and that no tomb be built over his grave, only a stone set up. The chronogram composed on his death, “Irtahala al-'ulum bi al-Kamal” (With Kemal the sciences, too, have died), expresses his scholarly stature.

His Circle of Influence — Among the scholars he trained were Muhyiddin Mehmed b. Pir Mehmed, Sa'di Sadullah Efendi, Muslihuddin Mustafa, Celalzade Salih Çelebi and Şeyhülislam Ebussuud Efendi. Among the Ottoman ulema he was called “the first teacher” (al-mu'allim al-awwal) for his scholarly power, and his pupil Ebussuud Efendi “the second teacher”; for his skill in giving fatwas he received the epithet “mufti of the two worlds” (mufti al-thaqalayn). Taşköprizade says that he made the scholars before him forgotten; al-Tamimi likens him to al-Suyuti for the number of his works and judges him superior in grasp of questions, reasoning and disputation. His classification of jurists into seven ranks according to their competence in ijtihad (mujtahid in the law, mujtahid in the school, mujtahid in particular questions, ashab al-takhrij, ashab al-tarjih, ashab al-tamyiz and muqallid) influenced later Hanafi literature; Arab scholars such as Ibn Nujaym, al-Haskafi and Ibn 'Abidin also cited his views in their works. Through his efforts to bring the kanunnames into line with the sharia, his role in drafting the kanunname of Egypt and the first independent treatise that can be identified on the legitimacy of cash waqfs, he led the way in establishing many practices in Ottoman society.

His Poetry and Sufi Line — According to the source he was not opposed to Sufism: he held that the Sufi path is sound, that one should believe in the states of the saints and hope for help from their spiritual presence, and he advised seeking their prayers. He made the soundness of Sufism conditional, however, on its not exceeding lawful bounds; he stated that saying “my shaykh said so” cannot count as Sufism, and issued severe fatwas on the whirling (devran), dance and audition in dhikr (see Multiple Perspectives). In the Arabic fatwa he wrote on Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi, which was inscribed on his tomb together with the fatwa of al-Firuzabadi, he used very respectful language towards him and defended the Fusus al-Hikam and al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya. This fatwa influenced Selim I, who on his return from Egypt built at Damascus a tomb over Ibn 'Arabi's grave, with a mosque and an imaret beside it. At the order of Süleyman the Magnificent he examined İbrahim Gülşeni's Ma'navi and reported that the people of the outward cannot grasp its meaning and that the work contains many divine secrets.

His Works — He wrote in Turkish, Arabic and Persian in many fields; it is hard to give a firm figure for their number: Jamil al-'Azm ascribes to him 214 works, Brockelmann 179, Nihal Atsız 209, Şamil Öçal 226. His principal work in history is the Tevarih-i Al-i Osman: written at the wish of Bayezid II, whom he presented with a history in eight volumes reaching the events of 916 (1510), it was later continued at Süleyman's request to the end of the Mohács campaign, that is, to 933 (1527), becoming a work of ten books. His other principal works include the Divan, containing more than 400 ghazals; the mathnawi Yusuf u Zeliha in 7777 couplets; the Kaside-i Bürde Tercümesi, a translation of al-Busiri's ode; the Nigaristan, modelled on Sa'di's Gulistan; the Afdaliyyat Muhammad 'ala Sa'ir al-Anbiya'; the gloss he wrote on Hocazade's Tahafut; and the Akaid-i İslam, dealing with the foundations of faith, worship and ethics. His fatwas, too, are important documents reflecting the religious, legal, political and social life of the Ottoman society of his day.