Saints and Tombs of Edirne

Enîs Receb Dede

An Edirne-born Mevlevî sheikh and mystical poet (pen name Enîs). On the death of his master Neşâtî Ahmed Dede in 1085/1674 he became sheikh of the Edirne Muradiye Mevlevîhâne, holding the post for some sixty years and becoming one of the most influential Mevlevî sheikhs; he died around 1147/1734. He is buried in the Muradiye Mosque cemetery alongside Neşâtî and Ali Eşref Dede. (Sources: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi 'Enîs Receb Dede' & 'Murâdiye Külliyesi-Edirne'; Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü)

Koyun Baba (Edirne)

A figure regarded among the Nakşibendî, with a tomb in the Kassâb Abdülaziz quarter (Altûnîzâde street) of Edirne (name given as Mehmed Koyun Baba); he died in 1618. Nothing remains of the lodge that bore his name; the rectangular tiled-roof tomb holds three marble sarcophagi and was restored in 2002. NOTE: the better-known Koyun Baba's principal tomb is in Osmancık; this Edirne structure belongs to a separate/local figure. (Sources: Turkish Ministry of Culture Cultural Inventory; Sarıcazâde Râmiz mesnevi / Şimşek 2008)

Saçlı Ibrahim Efendi

A sheikh of the Celvetî order and a khalifa of Aziz Mahmud Hüdâyî, he was a leading figure in spreading the Celvetiyye across the Balkans and served at the Selimiye Mosque. He died in Edirne in 1070/1659 and was buried at the Dizdârzâde Ahmed Efendi lodge on Kıyık Caddesi; the lodge is gone but his relocated grave survives on the street. (Sources: Sarıcazâde Râmiz mesnevi / Şimşek 2008; Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü)

Turahan (Gazi Turhan) Bey

Ghazi

An Ottoman frontier lord; a raider commander remembered for the conquest and settlement of Thessaly. In the earliest sources he is also called Türk Turahan. The concentration of the family's endowment records in the Uzunköprü, Keşan and Malkara area shows that they first settled there; those living in that area appear in the survey registers as "Turahanlı". Left in the region of Thessaly when Evrenos Bey went to Yenice-i Vardar, Turahan Bey soon entered the ranks of the famous frontier lords. According to Doukas, already in those years Bayezid I sent him to raid the towns of Thrace and the Black Sea coast of Bulgaria, thereby closing those roads during the siege and blockade of Constantinople. During the turbulent years of the interregnum he is seen to have acted together with the other frontier lords in Rumelia and to have maintained good relations with his neighbours. After declaring his loyalty to Murad II (825/1422) he returned to the Thessalian frontier. In Jumâdâ II 826 (May 1423) he launched attacks with his cavalry against the Hexamilion wall in the Morea; he demolished the fortifications rebuilt by Manuel II and entered the Morea. He kept towns such as Mistra, Leondari, Gardiki and Dabia under pressure. According to Venetian sources, in 1425 the admiral of the Venetian fleet conducted preliminary peace talks with him. In 833 (1430) he took part in the siege during the conquest of Thessalonica; in 1431 he demolished the walls on the Isthmus of Corinth. In the summer of 1435 he besieged and took the city of Thebes (Tiva). Ottoman sources also record raids he made towards the Danube frontier: he was among the raiders who crossed the Danube by order of Murad II and ravaged the land of Wallachia (841/1437). As raiding activity shifted to the Danube and beyond, Murad II gave him the fortress of Güvercinlik as a base. In 846 (1442), on one of his raids from there into Hungarian territory, he was defeated on the river Sava; on this occasion his name appears in a letter of the Hungarian regent János Hunyadi as Koca Turahan Bey, lord of Güvercinlik — the word "koca" indicating that his age was by then well advanced compared with the other lords. When his opinion was sought during the battles at the Izladi pass in 1443-1444, he said that he was the oldest and most experienced among the frontier lords. The failure to pursue the retreating Hungarian army led, through the influence of Çandarlı Halil Pasha, who appears to have been his rival, to his arrest at Edirne and his dispatch to Tokat. He was immediately afterwards released from prison and sent once more to the Morea (850/1446). He stood by Mehmed II at his second accession and joined his campaign against the Karamanids. He acted with those who favoured the conquest of Constantinople. During the preparations for the conquest, in December 1452, he carried out important operations together with his two sons Ahmed and Ömer to prevent aid coming from the Morea: he seized the defensive walls of the Isthmus of Corinth, descended as far as Arcadia, crossed the plain of Tripolis and reached the Messenia region of Mount Ithome, came to the Gulf of Koron and took Navarino. Having come to Edirne in October 1455 and met the sultan, Turahan Bey died the following year, at over eighty years of age (middle of 860/1456 ). He was buried in the tomb beside the mosque he had built in the village of Kırıkkavak at Uzunköprü. That he is called "Hacı" in his endowment deed is evidence that he made the pilgrimage; this journey is said probably to have taken place after the second battle of Kosovo. His Circle of Influence — Thessaly, which he had taken, formed his administrative region. He gave it an Islamic character, and many Turkish migrants from Anatolia were settled there. Larissa (Yenişehr-i Fenâr) became an important centre in his time, and he had a mosque and other charitable works built there.

Fahreddin-i Acemi

(q.s.)

One of the first Ottoman şeyhülislâms; a scholar who served as mufti of Edirne for over thirty years. Information about the early part of his life does not appear in the sources. He completed his first studies in Iran under Seyyid Şerîf el-Cürcânî . After coming to Ottoman lands he studied hadith at Bursa with Burhâneddin Haydar Herevî and obtained certification. He served as assistant to Mehmed Şah Fenârî at the Sultaniye Medrese; he then taught at various institutions. In 834 (1430) he was appointed mufti of Edirne by Murad II with a daily stipend of thirty akçes. He maintained this position for over thirty years, continuing under Mehmed the Conqueror. His part in the affair of the Hurûfîs is related in the source thus: at the contrivance of Grand Vizier Mahmud Pasha he listened covertly to their views, then publicly refuted them before the sultan, and the fatwa he gave resulted in their execution by burning. It is recorded that he died in 865 (1460-61); the source gives this date with a question mark. His Circle of Influence — He held licences for the transmission of hadith and trained a great many scholars; throughout his long muftiship at Edirne he stood at the centre of the scholarly life of his age. His Tomb and Complex — His medrese at Edirne, near the Üç Şerefeli Mosque, was later demolished and another building put in its place. He himself was buried at the Dârülhadis Mosque.

Hasan Sezai-i Gulsheni

(q.s.)

A Halvetî-Gülşenî sheikh and divan poet; the pîr of the Sezâiyye branch of the order, centred on Edirne. He was born in 1080 (1669) in the town of Gördüs (Corinth) in the north-east of the Morea. His given name was Hasan; the pen name Sezâî , it is related, was bestowed on him by Niyâzî-i Mısrî. His father's name was Ali and his grandfather's Kurtbeyzâde Hasan. When the Morea fell under Venetian occupation in 1098 (1687) he crossed by sea to Istanbul and from there to Edirne. At Edirne he worked in the mukabele office with the help of his relative Ali Bey, accountant of the cavalry. At the Âşık Mûsâ lodge he attached himself to Sheikh Mehmed Sırrî Efendi and entered the Halvetî-Gülşenî path. After Sırrî Efendi's death he completed his spiritual training with Lâ'lî Mehmed Fenâî Efendi and received authorisation. He also received an icâzetnâme from İbrâhim Çelebi, sheikh of the Gülşenî lodge in Egypt. He died on 17 Ramadan 1151 (29 December 1738) at Edirne and was buried at his own lodge. His Circle of Influence — The Sezâiyye branch of the Halvetî-Gülşenî order, which bears his name, spread above all in Edirne and its surroundings and found its real strength in that region. His Poetry and Sufi Line — Sezâî is among the poets who worked Sufi content within the forms of divan poetry; his voluminous divan is the proof of this productivity. His Sufi line comes from the Gülşenî branch of the Halvetiyye, and the bond formed with Niyâzî-i Mısrî appears both in the account of his pen name and in the commentary he wrote on one of his ghazals. His Works — 1. Dîvan. A voluminous collection made up of 396 ghazals, five odes, twelve murabba's and other verse forms. It was printed at Bulak (1250, 1256) and at Istanbul (1276); the edition in Latin letters was prepared by Şahver Çelikoğlu (1985). 2. Mektûbât-ı Sezâî. His letters to his son, his sons-in-law, his disciples and state officials; printed at Istanbul (1289), the edition in modern Turkish was prepared by Cezair Yarar (2001). 3. Şerh-i Gazel-i Niyâzî-i Mısrî. A commentary he wrote on a famous ghazal of Niyâzî-i Mısrî (Istanbul 1276). His Tomb and Complex — A masonry tomb with a dome was later built over his grave.