Lütfullah Efendi

Lütfullah Efendi (El-Evvel) was born in Karaman; the date of his birth is not known. He was the son of Fakîh Abdullah Efendi and is the third deputy (halife) of Emir Sultan. He went to Gallipoli to acquire learning; there he became a student of Sheikh Bedreddîn Efendi, and advancing on the path of sufism he received the succession (hilâfet) from his master. For thirty-one years he explained to people the commands and prohibitions of Islam, and trained a great number of students. He had two daughters and two sons named Abdurrahmân and Abdülganî; he married one of his daughters to Dâvûd Efendi. After his death, Dâvûd Efendi again succeeded him in his place. Various legends (menkıbe) are related about him in the sources: it is recounted that while he was performing the prayer in the presence of one of his learned (dânişmend) students he undertook a spiritual journey, and that upon returning he said, 'I traveled the distance between west and east, but I could not find a single awakened person.' It is likewise related that Lütfullah Efendi, seeing that his words had no effect, said, 'My words had no effect upon you, but they had an effect upon this stone,' whereupon the large stone in front of the lectern broke into pieces; and that when he became filled with wrath in the face of a student who denied sainthood (vilâyet) and miraculous grace (kerâmet), his blessed head rose up as far as the ceiling of the lodge. The muezzin of the mosque also recounted that for forty years he always found him in a state of worship. He died in the year 1488 (AH 894), at the end of the month of Muharram, on a Friday before the evening prayer. He was buried in the garden of the Emir Sultan Mosque.