Saints and Tombs of Çorum

Shaykh Muslihiddin Attar

One of the five successors left by Akşemseddin, teacher of Mehmed the Conqueror, he represented the Bayramiyye-Şemsiyye branch in İskilip. Taşköprîzâde counts him among Akşemseddin's companions and notes he undertook guidance after his master's death. He died and was buried in İskilip; sources give no precise death date. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Akşemseddin'; academic study on Şeyh Muslihiddin Attar)

Suhayb al-Rumi — Cenotaph (Makam)

A Companion of the Prophet, Suhayb b. Sinan al-Rumi. Reliable sources record that he died in Medina in Shawwal 38 (March 659) and was buried in al-Baqi'. Late traditions claim he died at Çorum returning from a Constantinople campaign, but this is uncertain; the structure at Çorum's Hıdırlık is a CENOTAPH (makam), his actual grave being in Medina. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Suheyb b. Sinan'; Hitit Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi)

Ubayda Ghazi — Cenotaph (Makam)

A warrior/Companion said to be of Yemeni origin, venerated at Çorum's Hıdırlık beside the Suhayb al-Rumi cenotaph. Local tradition holds he came to Anatolia with the Constantinople-siege army around AH 49 (669) and was martyred near Çorum. As this cannot be firmly confirmed, the structure is regarded as a CENOTAPH (makam). (Sources: Çorum Municipality 'Çorum'da Sahabe ve Evliya Makamları'; Kültür Envanteri)

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)

Iskilipli Mehmed Atif Efendi

A Turkish scholar and author; a public lecturer and professor. He was born in 1875 in the village of Tophane in İskilip. His father was Mehmed Ali Ağa and his mother Nazlı Hanım. He was orphaned at six months and was raised by his grandfather Hasan Kethüdâ. After his local studies he went to Istanbul despite his family's opposition. He completed his medrese studies in 1902, passed the ruûs examination, and in 1903 began teaching at the Fâtih Mosque. After graduating in 1905 from the Faculty of Theology of the Istanbul Dârülfünun he taught Arabic at Kabataş High School. Because of his activities he was exiled to Bodrum by a şeyhülislâm; he then travelled to the Crimea and to Warsaw and returned after the proclamation of the Second Constitutional period. In 1910 he served as inspector of medreses; he wrote for journals such as Sebîlürreşâd and Beyânülhak . After the 31 March Incident he was imprisoned for a week. Following the assassination of Mahmud Şevket Pasha in 1913 he was exiled to Sinop, Çorum and Sungurlu for about eighteen months; the authorities later acknowledged his innocence. In February 1919 he became vice-president of the Society of Professors under the presidency of Mustafa Sabri Efendi; when Sabri Efendi became şeyhülislâm he assumed the presidency of the society. In November 1919 the society took the name Teâlî-i İslâm Cemiyeti , published numerous works and opened branches throughout Anatolia. His treatise Frenk Mukallidliği ve Şapka of 1924 was regarded as a text opposing the hat law. He was arrested on 7 December 1925 and tried before the Ankara Independence Court. Although he was at first acquitted, his detention continued; while the prosecutor demanded three years of hard labour, the court passed a sentence of death. On 4 February 1926 he was executed together with Ali Rızâ Efendi, the former mufti of Babaeski. His Works — Mir'âtü'l-İslâm (1332), İslâm Yolu (1338), Tesettür-i Şer'î (1339), Dîn-i İslâm'da Men'-i Müskirât (1340) and Frenk Mukallidliği ve Şapka (1924), which was the subject of his trial.

Abu Bakr al-Churumi

A Sufi whose name is associated with the establishment of Rifâ'î culture in Çorum, and the holder of licences to guide in five orders. He was born in the village of Değirmendere in Çorum. After memorising the Qur'an he studied the medrese sciences and served for a time as imam in Samsun. He then went to Istanbul and attached himself to Mehmed Rûşen Efendi, sheikh of the Azîz Mahmud Hüdâyî lodge. Seven years later, at his master's command, he set out with Hacı Ahmed Efendi of Sânamer on a journey to complete his spiritual training. In Baghdad and Wâsit he visited the tombs of Abd al-Qâdir al-Jîlânî and Ahmad al-Rifâ'î. He stayed about five years in Mecca and Medina. He then came to Tanta and visited the station of Sayyid Ahmad al-Badawî; for two years he served Abd al-Rahîm al-Tantâwî and completed his training. In 1880 Abd al-Rahîm al-Tantâwî and Abd al-Rahîm al-Nishâwî granted him licences to guide in the Rifâ'iyya, Qâdiriyya, Dasûqiyya, Badawiyya and Shâdhiliyya orders. After this journey of seven years he returned to Istanbul and was received by Abdülhamid II. At this audience, at which Yedisekiz Hasan Pasha was also present, he was given a banner embroidered in gold thread with the profession of faith, together with a patent; he was permitted to open a lodge in Çorum. In 1892, with support from the Privy Treasury, he restored a building formerly used as a lodge and began his work of spiritual guidance there. The lodge is known to have consisted of a tevhidhâne, three cells, a cellar, a kitchen and a small courtyard, and in time a share of the neighbouring vineyards, gardens and mill was endowed to it. Its endowment deed records that food was to be given to the poor on Friday and Monday nights, that the invocation was to be performed after the night prayer according to Rifâ'î usage, and that prayer was to be offered for the continuance of the state. Mehmed Nazif Efendi, an important figure in Istanbul Rifâ'î circles of the day, is said to have made a donation to the lodge in 1900. He died during a session of invocation; his grave is in the Great (Hıdırlık) Cemetery of Çorum. The Rifâ'î-Qâdirî chain transmitted from him has reached the present through Müştak Ali Efendi of Ahıska (d. 1957) and Mustafa Çorûmî (Hacı Mustafa Anaç, d. 1980). The chain of Abd al-Rahîm al-Nishâwî, from whom he received his Qâdirî licence, leads to the Niyâziyya, a Qâdirî branch active in Egypt today.

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.