Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu (1927 – 23 June 2022), usually referred to as Mahmut

Effendi Effendi or effendy ( tr, efendi ; ota, افندی, efendi; originally from grc-x-medieval, αφέντης ) is a title of nobility meaning ''sir'', ''lord'' or ''master'', especially in the Ottoman Empire and the Caucasus''.'' The title it ...

and known to his disciples as "Efendi Hazretleri", was a Turkish

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

Sheikh and the leader of the influential '' İsmailağa

jamia Jamia (جامعة ''jāmi‘a''; also ''jamiya'' 'h'' is the Arabic word for ''gathering''. It can also refer to a book Al-Jami'a or a mosque, or more generally, a university. In the latter sense it refers in official usage to a modern university, ...

'' of the

Naqshbandi The Naqshbandi ( fa, نقشبندی)), Neqshebendi ( ku, نه‌قشه‌به‌ندی), and Nakşibendi (in Turkish) is a major Sunni order of Sufism. Its name is derived from Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari. Naqshbandi masters trace their ...

Khalidiyya Naqshbandiyya Khalidiyya, Khalidiyya or Khalidi is the title of a branch of the Naqshbandiyya Sufi lineage, from the time of Khalid al-Baghdadi until the time of Shaykh Ismail ash-Shirwani. The Khalid’îyyah tariqa silsila References * Ga ...

Ṭarīqah centred in Çarşamba, Istanbul.

Early life

Ustaosmanoğlu was born in a village

imam Imam (; ar, إمام '; plural: ') is an Islamic leadership position. For Sunni Muslims, Imam is most commonly used as the title of a worship leader of a mosque. In this context, imams may lead Islamic worship services, lead prayers, ser ...

in Miço (now Tavşanlı) village of the Of district. He became a '' hafiz'' under his father by the age of 6 and continued his ''

madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

'' education, gaining his ''

ijazah An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...

'' by the age of 16. Afterward he married his cousin and started his work as an imam.

Naqshbandi order

In 1952, Ustaosmanoğlu met Ahıskalı Ali Haydar Efendi (Gürbüzler), a Naqshbandi sheikh who became his ''

murshid ''Murshid'' ( ar, مرشد) is Arabic for "guide" or "teacher", derived from the root ''r-sh-d'', with the basic meaning of having integrity, being sensible, mature. Particularly in Sufism it refers to a spiritual guide. The term is frequently use ...

''. Ali Haydar Efendi appointed him as the imam of the İsmailağa Mosque in 1954. By the year 1960, Ustaosmanoğlu's life had its greatest turn after Ali Haydar Efendi's demise and he became the leader of the path (tariqa). In 1996, he retired as the imam of the İsmailağa Musjid.

Later life

Ustaosmanoğlu tried to keep a low profile in the following years, especially after the 1997 memorandum, but his relations came under the public spotlight with a series of internal strife in the sect. His son-in-law Hızır Ali Muratoğlu was murdered in 1998 and in 2006, a retired imam named Bayram Ali Öztürk was murdered in the mosque and the man who stabbed him to death was lynched by the congregation.

Ahmet Şık Ahmet Şık (; born 1970, Adana) is a Turkish investigative journalist, the author of several books, a trade unionist, and member of Parliament in Turkey.Details othis website; accessed on 11 April 2011 His book, '' The Imam's Army'', investigatin ...

, Niyazi Dalyancı, habervesaire.com, 18 February 2010
Warfare between judiciary and government

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

was known to maintain close relations with Ustaosmanoğlu. Erdoğan paid a highly publicised visit to Ustaosmanoğlu the night before the presidential election in 2014. Ustaosmanoğlu died on 23 June 2022, after two weeks of hospitalization for an infection.

Khalid’îyyah, İsmailağa jamia and tarīqah silsila

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ustaosmanoglu, Mahmut 1929 births 2022 deaths People from Of, Turkey Turkish Sunni Muslim scholars of Islam Turkish Sufis 20th-century imams 21st-century imams