Veli Mehmed Pasha (died 1716), also known as Mehmed Veli Pasha or Wālī Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman who served as

Kapudan Pasha The Kapudan Pasha ( ota, قپودان پاشا, modern Turkish: ), was the Grand Admiral of the navy of the Ottoman Empire. He was also known as the ( ota, قپودان دریا, links=no, modern: , "Captain of the Sea"). Typically, he was based ...

(1706–1707) and the Ottoman governor of

Bosnia Eyalet The Eyalet of Bosnia ( ota, ایالت بوسنه ,Eyālet-i Bōsnâ; By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters ; sh, Bosanski pašaluk), was an eyalet (administrative division, also known as a ''beylerbeylik'') of the Ottoman Empire, mostly based o ...

(1707) and

Egypt Eyalet The Eyalet of Egypt (, ) operated as an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire from 1517 to 1867. It originated as a result of the conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517, following the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–17) and the a ...

(1711–1714, with a small break in 1712). When he was governor of Egypt in 1711, a Turkish preacher arrived in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

and began to denounce the local Egyptian practice of praying at the graves of

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, ...

saints, claiming that this was against

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

and that "the miracles of the saints end at the grave." An established local

ulama In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...

(religious scholar) declared a

fatwa A fatwā ( ; ar, فتوى; plural ''fatāwā'' ) is a legal ruling on a point of Islamic law (''sharia'') given by a qualified '' Faqih'' (Islamic jurist) in response to a question posed by a private individual, judge or government. A jurist i ...

against the Turkish preacher, dismissing his claims. However, the preacher had stirred the local populace, and the people threatened an insurrection against Veli Mehmed Pasha's government and violence against the local Sufi masters. When the supporters of the preacher sent a representative to voice their demands to Veli Mehmed, he offered to accept them, but when they left, he informed the

Mamluk Mamluk ( ar, مملوك, mamlūk (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural), translated as "one who is owned", meaning " slave", also transliterated as ''Mameluke'', ''mamluq'', ''mamluke'', ''mameluk'', ''mameluke'', ''mamaluke'', or ''marmeluke'') ...

emirs that the crowd had "behaved disrespectfully," intended to create an insurrection, and had insulted him and his

kadı A ''kadi'' ( ar, قاضي '; tr, kadı) was an official in the Ottoman Empire. The term ''kadi'' refers to judges who preside over matters in accordance with Islamic law, but in the Ottoman Empire, the ''kadi'' also became a crucial part of the ...

(judge). He also told the emirs that he had decided to leave the city for fear for their lives. The emirs were disturbed at this news and gathered their troops and

sanjak-bey ''Sanjak-bey'', ''sanjaq-bey'' or ''-beg'' ( ota, سنجاق بك) () was the title given in the Ottoman Empire to a bey (a high-ranking officer, but usually not a pasha) appointed to the military and administrative command of a district (''sanjak' ...

s, deciding to arrest the leaders of the crowd and banish the Turkish preacher from Cairo. When the emirs' men found those responsible, they punished them with beatings and exile, quelling the insurrection. Veli Mehmed Pasha was dismissed from the governorship of Egypt in 1714. He was executed on the orders of

sultan Sultan (; ar, سلطان ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it ...

Ahmed III Ahmed III ( ota, احمد ثالث, ''Aḥmed-i sālis'') was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV (r. 1648–1687). His mother was Gülnuş Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at H ...

in June or July 1716.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mehmed Veli Pasha 17th-century births 1716 deaths 17th-century people from the Ottoman Empire 18th-century Ottoman governors of Egypt 18th-century executions by the Ottoman Empire Ottoman governors of Egypt Ottoman governors of Bosnia Kapudan Pashas Executed people from the Ottoman Empire

See also

References