He faced coups and was subjected to an assassination attempt.. Mahmud Effendi, the sheikh of the Sufis in Turkey

Istanbul -

Sheikh "Mahmoud Osta Osman", known as "Mahmoud Effendi", died at dawn yesterday, Thursday, while receiving treatment for kidney diseases in hospitals in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

Sheikh Mahmud Effendi is one of the most prominent Sufi religious figures in Turkey, with an estimated number of followers in the millions. He is the leader of the Naqshbandi Ismail Agha Jamaat, which was recently known as the Mahmud Effendi Jamaat.

The Sheikh learned the Arabic and Persian languages, grammar, morphology, the sciences of the Qur’an, jurisprudence and its origins, hadith, interpretation and rhetoric, and memorized the Holy Qur’an early in his life, and worked in the fields of advocacy and spreading the teachings of Islam inside Turkey. He also made great efforts in this field outside Turkey, and some researchers are attributed to him in the affairs of groups Islamic credit for establishing dozens of schools in Africa, India and the Balkans.

Birth and upbringing

Mahmud Usta Osman was born in the village of Şavanli near Trabzon in northeastern Turkey in 1929 to a family interested in religious education. He was tutored by his father, "Ali Effendi", who was the imam of the mosque of his village, and his mother, "Fatima Hanim", who was also interested in religious sciences and the sciences of the Holy Qur'an, which he memorized. At the age of ten.

Mahmoud Usta Osman continued his journey in religious education at the hands of his teacher Muhammad Rushto, then he studied Arabic in the village of Bablan at the hands of the teacher Abd al-Wahhab Effendi, then he received religious sciences such as jurisprudence, hadith and interpretation of the Noble Qur’an at the hands of his teacher Dursun Faydi Guven.

The Sheikh obtained a license in religious sciences, and began teaching it to people in the mosque of his village when he was only 16 years old.

In 1951 he was appointed imam and preacher of a mosque in Dorje district, Sivas state.

After completing his military service in 1952, Mahmud Effendi met his Sheikh Ahiskali Ali Haydar Effendi, who invited him to take over the Imamate at the Ismail Agha Mosque;

It is one of the main centers of Naqshbandi Sufism near the famous Al-Fateh Mosque in Istanbul, which remained in its imamate since 1954 until he retired at the age of 65 in 1996.

Social life

Mahmoud Usta Othman married his cousin, Zahra, and had two sons from her.

They are Ahmed and Abdullah, and one daughter, who bore his mother's name, Fatima. After the death of his wife, Zahra, he married a second wife named "Musharraf".

The late Sheikh Mahmoud Effendi in one of his public advocacy meetings (communication sites)

Scientific achievement

In addition to his spiritual leadership as a Sufi imam of the Ismail Agha Naqshbandi group, Sheikh Mahmud Effendi was known for producing a wealth of religious books during his life, the most important of which was the book of interpretation “Rouh al-Furqan” of which 19 of its volumes were printed, and it is expected to reach 54 volumes, and the book “Conversations”, which includes His personal conversations in 9 volumes, a “Qudsiah Message” consisting of two volumes, a book “The Companions of Omar” and “The Interpretation of Surat Al-Fatihah” and others.

The Sheikh also ranked 34th in the list of the 500 most influential people in the Islamic world for the year 2022, issued annually by the Royal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Jordan.

In 2010, he received the Imam Muhammad Bin Qasim Al-Nanotwi Award from the International Symposium for Service to Humanitarian Affairs during a grand ceremony held in Istanbul.

public attendance

Mahmud Effendi is considered the spiritual father of the Ismail Agha Naqshbandi Sufi group in Turkey, and his group’s followers are estimated in the millions, and they are remarkably spread in the Fatih district of Istanbul, especially in the “Yavuz Selim” neighborhood. In Trabzon, the birthplace of Sheikh Mahmud Effendi.

The sheikh is one of the most prominent figures who faced the failed coup attempt in 2016, and he has always confronted the generals of the military coups that Turkey witnessed during the past decades, as he was subjected to an assassination attempt and harassment after the 1960 coup.

his death

Mahmoud Effendi suffered from geriatric diseases in recent years, until he was transferred on June 5, 2022, to intensive care in a hospital in Istanbul, where he continued to receive treatment until he died at dawn yesterday, Thursday, June 23, 2022.