Buluntu Hoca (Hajji Abdurrahman Buluntu Efendi)

Hajji Abdurrahman Buluntu Efendi (1868-1967) was one of the last great scholars (müderris) of late-Ottoman and early-Republican Urfa. He studied at the Halîlürrahman Medrese under scholars such as Hacı Mustafa Hâfız Efendi, Hacı Ramazan Efendi and Miftahîzâde Hasan Açanal, mastered Arabic and Hebrew, and spent ten years advancing his Islamic studies in Syria. For many years he taught at the Halîlürrahman Medrese, training students including Arap Hoca and Zeki Hoca, and declined an offer of the muftiship. He died on 24 November 1967 and was buried in the domed tomb in the cemetery east of the Halîlürrahman Mosque.