Molla Fenârî

Molla Fenârî, whose real name was Muhammed, his father being Hamza, and who is referred to with the epithets Rûmî and Fenârî, is known by the title Şemsüddîn. He was born in the Hijri year 751 (1350 CE) in the village of Fener, and passed away in the month of Rajab of the Hijri year 834 (1431 CE) in Bursa. He learned the path of Sufism from his father; he took lessons from scholars such as Alâüddîn Esved, Cemâleddîn Aksarâyî, and Hamîdüddîn-i Kayserî. For the sake of knowledge he went to Egypt and studied fiqh under Kemâleddîn-i Bâbertî. After serving as a professor (mudarris) in Bursa, he went to Konya, where he married and had children who grew up to become scholars. In Bursa he met Somuncu Baba (Hâmid-i Aksarâyî) and received spiritual grace (feyz) from him; it is related that, being affected by Somuncu Baba's exegesis of the Fatiha at the opening of the Great Mosque (Ulu Câmi), he wished to become his student. Belonging to the Zeyniyye path in Sufism, Molla Fenârî earned his livelihood through silk-making (kazzâzlık) and lived modestly. In the Hijri year 828 (1424) he was appointed by Sultan Murad II as the first Shaykh al-Islam, and he held this office for six years. The sources relate that in a certain lawsuit he rejected the testimony of Sultan Yıldırım Bayezid on the grounds that he did not meet the conditions of being a witness, whereupon the sultan had a mosque built and began attending the congregation. In Bursa, Jerusalem, and other places he left behind many charitable works such as masjids, schools of hadith (dârülhadîs), and madrasas; it is stated that more than ten thousand books remained at the time of his death. He has numerous works, foremost among them Ayn-ül-A'yân, Füsûl-ül-Bedâyi', and Misbâh-ul-Üns.