Saints and Tombs of Çorum

Elvan Çelebi

A 14th-century Anatolian Sufi and poet, son of Âşık Paşa (author of the Garibnâme) and great-grandson of Baba İlyâs-ı Horasânî, leader of the Babaî movement. Affiliated with the Vefâiyye order, he settled in a village between Çorum and Mecitözü, where he built a mosque, lodge, tomb and bath. His grave lies in the tomb section of his lodge in today's Elvançelebi village (Mecitözü). His death is dated to around 760/1358-59. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi; Semavi Eyice, Türkiyat Mecmuası)

Koyun Baba

A 15th-century Kalenderî/Bektashi dervish who lived in Osmancık; according to the Vilâyetnâme and Evliya Çelebi he was of Khorasan origin, his real name reported as Seyyid Ali. He settled in Osmancık during the reign of Mehmed II. He died on 25 Muharram 873 (15 August 1468); his lead-domed tomb on a hill by the Kızılırmak was built by Bayezid II. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi; Kültür Araştırmaları Dergisi)

Iskilipli Mehmed Atif Efendi

A late-Ottoman scholar, professor and author born in the İskilip district of Çorum. A graduate of the Dârülfünûn Faculty of Theology, he headed the Teâlî-i İslâm Society and wrote works such as 'Frenk Mukallitliği ve Şapka'. Convicted by the Ankara Independence Tribunal for opposing the Hat Law, he was executed on 4 February 1926; his remains were later relocated to the İskilip Gülbaba Cemetery.

Abu Bakr al-Churumi

A Rifâî-Kādirî shaykh born in the village of Değirmendere near Çorum. In 1880 he received ijaza (hilâfet) of the Rifâiyye, Kādiriyye and other orders from Abdürrahîm et-Tantâvî and opened a lodge in Çorum. He died during dhikr and was buried in Çorum's Ulu (Hıdırlık) Cemetery.

Yusuf Bahri Efendi

Fakhr al-Muhaddithin (Pride of the Hadith Scholars)

An Ottoman hadith scholar born in Vezirköprü. He studied in Amasya, Kastamonu and Istanbul, then in Egypt; after about 1785 he settled in Çorum, teaching hadith, jurisprudence, exegesis and rhetoric and earning the title 'Pride of the Hadith Scholars'. He died in Çorum in the first half of the 19th century and his grave is in the mosque courtyard at Hıdırlık in Çorum.