In Ottoman intellectual history, some names have outlived their owners' real names in popular memory because of the nickname attached to them. Ali Cemâlî Efendi is one of them. Because he took people's questions in a zenbil, a woven basket lowered from the window of his house, and sent the answers back down in the same basket, the people called him "the Zenbilli mufti", or Zenbilli Ali Efendi. This small detail became, in the public eye, the summary of a long life and of more than twenty years in the office of fatwa. Zenbilli Ali Efendi, who served as mufti of Istanbul under Bayezid II, Selim I (Selim the Grim) and Süleyman the Magnificent, stands first among the figures who shaped the transformation of that office into the official institution known as the şeyhülislâmlık, the office of the shaykh al-Islam.

Amasya's place in his life is by no means small. One branch of his family lived in the city for centuries; he himself served as mufti of Amasya and became the first professor of the Sultaniye Madrasa built by Bayezid II. Two of his children were born in Amasya, and many of the city's scholars were trained in his lessons. The Amasya historian Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar insistently calls him "Zenbilli Ali Efendi of Amasya" and counts him among the shaykhs al-Islam the city produced. How accurate this claim is remains debatable, but his deep bond with the city is clear.

Lineage and Family

Ali Cemâlî was the son of Ahmed Çelebi. His family traced its descent to Cemâleddin Aksarâyî, a scholar of Qur'anic exegesis, lexicography, literature and medicine from the early Ottoman period, who in turn was held to descend from Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. In reference to this ancestor, he and many of his contemporary relatives bore the nisba "Cemâlî". His full name appears in the sources as Mevlânâ Ali b. Ahmed b. Mehmed el-Cemâlî el-Aksarâyî, and his honorific was Alâeddin. This family, which produced a great many names in state and scholarly life in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, formed a broad circle of ulema and Sufi masters that researchers refer to as "the Cemâlîs".

One of the best-known members of the family was Cemâl-i Halvetî, known as Çelebi Halîfe, founder of the Cemâliyye branch of the Halveti order. According to Hüsâmeddin, Çelebi Halîfe was Zenbilli Ali Efendi's paternal cousin. This Halveti shaykh, who had been Bayezid II's spiritual guide during the prince's years in Amasya and is believed to have played an influential role in his accession, was also the chief pillar of the family's standing in Amasya. Grand Vizier Pîrî Mehmed Paşa also belonged to the Cemâlî family, but Hüsâmeddin notes that the Cemâleddin Aksarâyî from whom Pîrî descended was a different person from Zenbilli's ancestor. Ramazan Ata draws attention to the fact that almost every member of this Aksaray-born family passed through Amasya. Cemâleddin Aksarâyî had come to the city at the invitation of his friend Şadgeldi Paşa, who had declared his independence in Amasya, and remained there for about twenty years, holding important posts. From then on the family regarded Amasya, the city of princes, as a homeland of its own.

Debates over His Date and Place of Birth

There is no certain information on Zenbilli Ali Efendi's date or place of birth. Cavit Baysun, taking into account his death at an advanced age in 1525-1526 and the length of his studies and career, suggests that he may have been born during the first reign of Mehmed II (the Conqueror), that is, between 1444 and 1446. For this reason his birth is generally placed around 1445. As for his birthplace, there are three different views. Some sources call him a Karamanid, since Aksaray belonged to the Karaman lands in those years. Because the Cemâlî family is known to have lived in Aksaray, with some members later migrating to Istanbul, it is also argued that he was born in Aksaray.

The third view belongs to Hüsâmeddin. In his history of Amasya, describing the İslâm quarter at the foot of Gedikli Kaya on the eastern side of the city, he explains that the quarter's original name was the Eslem quarter. The name comes from Eslem Hatun, daughter of Bedreddin Mahmud Buhârî, known as "Sarı Kadı", who was qadi of Amasya in the 1410s. Eslem Hatun, the paternal aunt of the famous calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah, built a small mosque in the quarter, with a school and a fountain beside it, and arranged her endowments in 1444. According to Hüsâmeddin, Eslem Hatun's husband was Cemâlî Mehmed Çelebi. From this marriage came Kemâl Çelebi, and from him the shaykh al-Islam Cemâlîzâde Ali Çelebi, and the family administered this endowment as trustees for a time. The author records that a shaykh al-Islam such as Zenbilli Ali Efendi and a grand vizier such as Pîrî Mehmed Paşa came from this quarter. However, when the entry was written for the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, attention was drawn to Hüsâmeddin's tendency to present many figures as natives of Amasya, and it was stressed that this information should be treated with caution. The most accurate statement, then, is that Zenbilli Ali Efendi came from a family with roots in Amasya, but that his birthplace has not been established by documents.

Years of Study

Ali Cemâlî received his first education from Mevlânâ Hamza of Lârende. This scholar was the maternal grandfather of Pîrî Mehmed Paşa, the future grand vizier. Some sources write that in this early period he memorized al-Quduri's legal compendium and al-Nasafi's didactic poem. It is also related that his teachers in Karaman and Konya, believing their own learning insufficient for his talent, sent him to Istanbul. In Istanbul he attended the lessons of Molla Hüsrev, whom Mehmed the Conqueror praised as "the Abu Hanifa of his age". When Molla Hüsrev was appointed mufti, Ali Cemâlî went to Bursa and became a student of Hüsâmzâde Mustafa Efendi (named Mevlânâ Muslihuddin in some sources), professor of the Sultâniye Madrasa. He completed the rational and transmitted sciences under this teacher. When his studies were finished, Hüsâmzâde made him his muîd, or assistant professor, and gave him his daughter in marriage.

Teaching and Exile under Mehmed II

During the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror he began teaching in Edirne. The madrasa in which he started is disputed. Mecdî writes that he was appointed to the Ali Bey Madrasa, while Hoca Sâdeddin names the Taşlık Madrasa. It is also related that the sultan, learning that he was poor, sent him 5,000 akçe together with fine robes. This brilliant start was short-lived in the shadow of palace politics. When Karamânî Mehmed Paşa became grand vizier, the young professor's closeness to Sinan Paşa, the vizier's political rival, led to his being banished first to the Beylerbeyi Madrasa in Edirne and then to the Sirâciye Madrasa, with his salary reduced. Some accounts place this appointment in 1477.

Hurt by this treatment, Ali Cemâlî resigned his professorship. For a time he entered the service of Mes'ûd-i Edirnevî, a Halveti shaykh in Edirne, and then moved to Istanbul. There, together with Sinan Paşa, he frequented the dervish lodge of Shaykh İbnü'l-Vefâ Muslihuddin Mustafa of Konya, to whom many intellectuals of the day were attached, met him often and became his disciple. The bond he formed with this shaykh, founder of the Vefâiyye branch of the Zeyniyye order, would later be the main reason he was given the nisba "Sûfî". The changed political climate following the death of Mehmed II in 1481 and the killing of Karamânî Mehmed Paşa by the Janissaries opened the way for his return to the madrasa.

In the Service of Bayezid II

With the accession of Bayezid II, Ali Cemâlî returned to teaching. Mecdî tells of this return through the story of a dream. According to the account, the sultan saw Ali Cemâlî in a dream one night and wished to meet him. Ali Cemâlî declined the invitation with the words "Selâtîn ile mülâkat ebgaz-ı mubâhâttır", meaning "meeting with sultans is the most disagreeable of permitted things". The sultan nevertheless gave him the professorship of the Hudâvendigâr, or Kaplıca, Madrasa in Bursa. Hoca Sâdeddin and Atâî, by contrast, write that he was sent at this time to be mufti of Amasya, and researchers consider this second account more reliable. It is thought that Bayezid II wished to show his devotion to his shaykh by sending a scholar from this family specifically to Amasya, where Çelebi Halîfe, who had played a large part in the sultan's accession, lived. Some sources add that in these years he also taught at the Orhan Gazi Madrasa in İznik and the Murad Gazi Madrasa in Bursa.

After the Amasya muftiship he was appointed in Bursa first to the Hudâvendigâr Madrasa and then to the madrasa of the Green Mosque, known as the Bursa Sultâniye. Mecdî writes that during his professorship in Bursa the city's muftiship was also given to him, although he did not want it. The list of Amasya muftis compiled by Hüsâmeddin arranges these years somewhat differently. According to him, the fatwa office of Amasya was taken in 1483 from Abdî Çelebi, who had held it until then and was also the teacher of Kemalpaşazâde, and given to Cemâlîzâde Ali Çelebi, while Abdî Çelebi became professor at the Yörgüç Paşa Madrasa. Although the dates given by the sources do not fully coincide, it is clear that in the 1480s Ali Cemâlî moved back and forth between Amasya and Bursa, serving in both cities as both professor and mufti.

The Amasya Muftiship and the Sultaniye Madrasa

Ali Cemâlî's firmest bond with Amasya was formed through the complex that Bayezid II built in the city. The madrasa of the Bayezid Complex, erected at the request of the Halveti shaykh Çelebi Halîfe to the sultan, was completed in 1486 and became known as the "Medrese-i Sultâniyye". In the same year Ali Cemâlî returned to Amasya as professor of this madrasa and also took on the muftiship of Amasya. Hüsâmeddin records that the professorship of the madrasa was reserved by stipulation for the muftis of Amasya and that its first professor was Zenbilli Ali Efendi. This condition was observed until 1673, after which the muftiship and the professorship were separated. Thus the tradition linking the Amasya muftiship and the Sultaniye professorship, which lasted nearly two hundred years, began with him.

The madrasa had been built as a separate section to the west of the mosque. According to Hüsâmeddin's description, its north-facing gate and its four sides were of stone; it had a şadırvan fountain in the middle, gardens on two sides, cells on three sides and a spacious lecture hall opposite the gate. In the following centuries the madrasa remained one of the most prestigious educational institutions in the city and was long used as the Provincial Public Library. Some of the students Ali Cemâlî trained in this madrasa later followed him to Istanbul. According to Hüsâmeddin, his son Rûhî Ahmed Efendi was born in this city in 1486, that is, while his father was a professor in Amasya, and another son, Cemâleddin Mehmed Çelebi, was also born in Amasya in 1489. Cemâleddin Mehmed's mother was the daughter of his cousin Çelebi Halîfe. This marriage reinforced, at the level of family as well, the bond between Zenbilli and the Halveti circle in Amasya.

Departure from Amasya

Ali Cemâlî's second period in Amasya ended in resentment over an incident at a ceremony. In 1491 Şehzade Ahmed (Prince Ahmed), then sanjak governor of Amasya, gave his tutor Birgivîzâde Mustafa Efendi precedence over the city's ulema at the circumcision feast of his sons Murad and Alâeddin. This choice in matters of protocol offended Ali Cemâlî, who as mufti stood at the head of the city's learned establishment. He left his post and returned to Istanbul. According to Hüsâmeddin's list, in the same year Abdî Çelebi became mufti of Amasya and professor of the Sultaniye for the second time. It would be incomplete to think that only personal offence played a part in this departure. It is argued that the stance taken by the Sunni Sufis and scholars of Amasya against Prince Ahmed, who was said to feel close to scholars of Persian origin, also had an effect.

Prince Ahmed's governorship of Amasya marked the beginning of difficult years for the Cemâlî family. As Ramazan Ata relates, Shiite influence grew during this period, and Zenbilli Ali Efendi's brother Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi was killed in 1509 during a disturbance because of his anti-Shiite sermons. This event hastened the family's migration to Istanbul. Some popular accounts, on the other hand, attribute his departure from Amasya to the activities of those who coveted his office, or to a dream he had. His return to Istanbul was not without trouble either. Mecdî writes that Bayezid II was angered that he had left his madrasa in Amasya without permission and dismissed him. Perhaps for this reason Ali Cemâlî waited about six months and was finally appointed to the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa that the sultan had opened in Istanbul. When he hesitated to accept this madrasa, considering it unsuited to his scholarly rank, he was transferred to one of the Sahn-ı Semân madrasas.

The Pilgrimage and the Muftiship of Istanbul

While a professor of the Sahn, he set out on the pilgrimage together with his cousin Çelebi Halîfe. Because of disturbances in the Hejaz he was obliged to wait a year in Egypt and was able to perform the pilgrimage only the following year. The year spent in Egypt was not wasted. It is related that he worked in the city's libraries, attended its gatherings of learning and conversation, and found the opportunity to compare the methods of instruction in the Arab world with those of the Ottoman madrasas. While he was in Egypt, Efdalzâde Hamîdüddin Efendi, the mufti of Istanbul, died. The muftiship was given to him, and until his return the authority to issue fatwas was left to the professors of the Sahn-ı Semân. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam places this death in 1503 and Ali Cemâlî's arrival in Istanbul to take up the office of fatwa probably around the middle of 1504.

The sources disagree on the dates. Some biographies state that the appointment was made in 1497, others in 1498, and his term of office is accordingly calculated at between twenty-two and twenty-five years. Hüsâmeddin, too, writes in his list of Amasya muftis that "Mufti Ali Çelebi" left for the Hejaz in 1497-1498 and that Abdî Çelebi became mufti of Amasya for the third time in his place. This information agrees with the accounts saying that he set out on the pilgrimage from Amasya, but contradicts those stating that Ali Cemâlî left Amasya in 1491. The prevailing view is that his muftiship lasted twenty-four years.

When Ali Cemâlî returned to Istanbul, Bayezid II gave him, in addition to the office of fatwa, the professorship of the madrasa he had built in Istanbul in 1505-1506, teaching one day a week for a daily stipend of 50 akçe. This madrasa is the building used today as the Turkish Foundation Museum of Calligraphy Arts. In 1506-1507 the sultan also appointed him overseer of the endowments of his charitable foundations in various parts of the Ottoman lands. The granting of these two posts to the muftis of Istanbul became a tradition after him. In this way the professorship of the Bayezid Madrasa and the oversight of the sultan's endowments became natural components of the office that would later take the name of shaykh al-Islam.

The Story of the Basket

The source of the nickname "Zenbilli" lies in the way he conducted fatwa business. Those seeking a fatwa would write their questions on a slip of paper and place it in the basket lowered from the window of the mufti's house; Ali Cemâlî would pull the papers up, write his answers and lower the basket again. In some accounts the basket is said to have been lowered from a balcony rather than a window. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam explains the purpose of this practice as concluding the business of those who applied to him without delay. The treatise Hırzü'l-mülûk likewise notes that he took pleasure in making people's affairs easier and did not keep petitioners waiting. Ramazan Ata, for his part, thinks that in this way he aimed to answer promptly without falling under the influence of the questioners.

This simple device also opened a path for those who could not wait their turn at a mufti's door or who were reluctant to appear before a great scholar. The basket, which shortened the distance between questioner and respondent, also became a neutral intermediary protecting the mufti from the pressure of acquaintances, influential figures or insistent visitors. That the people embraced this practice and that the nickname survived for centuries is itself a sign of the mufti's standing among them. The sources make particular note that, although he remained in the office of fatwa for a long time, he never abandoned his humility until the end of his life.

His Relationship with Selim the Grim

Selim I, who ascended the throne in 1512 after Bayezid II, kept Zenbilli Ali Efendi as mufti throughout his reign. Hüsâmeddin relates that, because Selim had been born in Amasya, he felt a sense of fellow-townsmanship towards the people of Amasya, and that in his reign many high offices, from privy secretary to military judges and from treasurer to grand vizier, were filled by men from Amasya; in this list he names Zenbilli Ali Efendi as shaykh al-Islam and Pîrî Mehmed Paşa as the last grand vizier. It has also been argued that these two figures from the same family formed one of the most harmonious pairs in Ottoman history in upholding the rule of law.

The sources relate that he made no concessions in scholarly matters and opposed even Selim, known for his harsh temperament. It is claimed that he told the sultan without hesitation that officials could be punished only within the framework of legal rules, that they could not be killed on the sultan's order, and that execution was possible only by the mufti's fatwa after a court ruling, and that he thereby defined the limits of the sultan's authority. According to the tradition, he once told Selim openly that if he carried out an execution "ahkâm-ı şer'iyyeye mugayir", that is, contrary to the rulings of the sacred law, he would issue a fatwa for his deposition. When the sultan told him in harsh terms not to interfere in his decisions on government, Zenbilli Ali Efendi left the sultan's presence in anger without asking leave. Selim, later realizing that his own behaviour had been wrong, showed him favour and offered him the posts of military judge (kazasker) of Anatolia and Rumelia.

The most detailed version of these episodes is the anecdote about the treasury officials. According to the story, Selim had ordered the execution of one hundred and fifty officials of the Topkapı Palace treasury for their negligent conduct. Hearing of this, Zenbilli Ali Efendi went to the Imperial Council, although it was not customary for the shaykh al-Islam to attend. The viziers rose to greet him and asked why he had come. He said he wished to speak with the sultan and was admitted to his presence. Saying that one of the duties of those who hold the office of fatwa is to protect the sultan's hereafter, and that there was no religious ground for putting to death those condemned, he asked that they be pardoned. When the sultan replied that this was a requirement of sovereignty and that scholars meddling in such affairs would throw the administration of the state into disorder, he reminded him that the decision concerned the sultan's hereafter and therefore fell within his own duty. According to the story, Selim relented with the words "We have pardoned them." As he rose to leave, Zenbilli Ali Efendi said he had one more request "concerning magnanimity", and, observing that it would not befit the dignity of the sultanate for the pardoned men to be dismissed from their posts and left to beg in the streets, asked that they be restored to their positions. The sultan accepted this as well, saying only that he would reprimand them for their faults.

The historical value of such stories must be weighed with care. The entry in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam states that the traditions about Zenbilli Ali Efendi and Selim are very likely intended to emphasize the importance of the office of shaykh al-Islam, which was in fact taking shape as a new official institution. Similarly, there are stories recounting that he opposed the unjust punishment of finance officials and merchants and the forced conversion of non-Muslims to Islam. Some popular accounts say that he supported the Çaldıran and Egyptian campaigns, even encouraging Selim to undertake them. These cannot be considered events documented in detail in the sources, but they reflect how the period and later generations imagined a mufti's stance before the ruler.

His ties with the Amasya scholars of Selim's reign can also be traced in the sources. According to Hüsâmeddin, when Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, the military judge of Rumelia who had incurred the sultan's wrath and been dismissed at Çoban Köprüsü on the return from Çaldıran, died on the night of Berat in 1516, it was Zenbilli Ali Efendi who led his funeral prayer, and Müeyyedzâde was buried near the tomb of Eyüp Sultan. When the famous calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah died in 1520, his funeral prayer too was led by Zenbilli Ali Efendi in the Hagia Sophia Mosque. Hüsâmeddin also writes that he attended, together with Kemalpaşazâde, the gatherings of Hekim Çelebi of Amasya, shaykh of the Emîr Buhârî lodge.

The Reign of Süleyman, Rhodes and His Final Years

When Süleyman the Magnificent came to the throne in 1520, Zenbilli Ali Efendi again remained in his post and held this office until his death. He took part in the siege of Rhodes in 1522, one of Süleyman's first great campaigns. After the island was conquered, he led the first Friday prayer in the Cathedral of Saint John, which had been converted into a mosque. Some hagiographic accounts say that he persuaded the sultan to undertake the Rhodes campaign, and even that after the conquest he stayed on the island for years as imam, founding madrasas and soup kitchens. This last claim cannot be reconciled with the documents reporting that he fell gravely ill in 1523 and died in Istanbul.

The best-known story about Süleyman is the versified fatwa concerning ants. According to the tradition, when ants overran the fruit trees in the palace garden, the sultan asked the mufti in a couplet whether it was a sin to kill them:
Dırahta ger ziyan etse karınca
Günâhı var mıdır anı kırınca

(If the ant should harm the tree, is there sin in crushing it?) Zenbilli Ali Efendi answered by writing this couplet beneath the question:
Yarın Hakk'ın dîvânına varınca
Süleyman'dan hakkın alır karınca

(Tomorrow, when it comes before God's court, the ant will claim its right from Süleyman.) There are different versions of the couplets. In some sources the question is given as "Dırahtı sarmış olsa eğer karınca / Zarar var mı karıncayı kırınca", and the answer as beginning "Yarın divanına Hakk'ın varınca". The story has lived on among the people as an example that conveys, in the briefest way, the image of a mufti who draws the limit of power by the right of the weak.

When in 1523 he became too ill to carry out his duties, Süleyman asked him to appoint a deputy. He chose Shaykh Bahâeddinzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi as his deputy. This arrangement continued until his death, and his muftiship thus reached twenty-four years. His death is estimated to have occurred shortly before Sha'ban 932, that is, May-June 1526. Taşköprizâde relates that he and his father visited Zenbilli on his deathbed, that the two spoke privately and that his father began to weep. When he asked the reason after they had left, his father told him that Zenbilli had said the spirit of Moses would come in the morning and summon him to the hereafter. His grave is in the burial ground of the small mosque and school he had built at Zeyrek in Istanbul. He was succeeded by Kemalpaşazâde Ahmed Şemseddin Efendi of Amasya.

Scholarly Character and Ties to Sufism

The sources present him as a dignified scholar with authority in jurisprudence, legal theory, literature, lexicography, syntax, Qur'anic exegesis and hadith. It is also noted that he followed scholarly developments closely and constantly renewed himself, that he was very fond of books and had works brought from various places. He is said to have taken care to perform the five daily prayers in congregation and to have been known for his asceticism and piety. Ramazan Ata argues that he was influential in the drafting of the law codes (kanunname) of Süleyman's reign and that he restrained the almost unlimited powers of the sultans by the religion's conception of justice. This assessment rests on the view that Zenbilli was one of the leading representatives of the idea of "nizâm-ı âlem", the order of the world.

Zenbilli Ali Efendi's Sufi side was also strong. For this reason he is recorded in some works with the nisba "Sûfî", described as "erbâb-ı hâl, sâhib-i kerâmet", a man of spiritual states and a worker of wonders, and was also called "Mevlânâ Sûfî Ali Cemâlî". Although he had close relatives among the Halveti shaykhs, such as Çelebi Halîfe and İshak Karamânî, he was a disciple of the Zeyniyye shaykh İbnü'l-Vefâ Muslihuddin Mustafa. This personality, seen as a bridge between madrasa and dervish lodge, has led to his being regarded as the representative of an environment in which learning and Sufism advanced without being severed from each other.

Works

Zenbilli Ali Efendi's most important work is Muhtârât mine'l-Fetâvâ, on Hanafi jurisprudence. Many copies of this work, also known as Fetâvâ-yı Ali Efendi, are found in Istanbul libraries, especially in various collections of the Süleymaniye Library. His second work is Muhtasarü'l-Hidâye, an abridgement of Burhan al-Din al-Marghinani's celebrated al-Hidaya. A Nasihat Risalesi (Treatise of Counsel), written on the principles of faith, the snares of the self and the purification of character, is also attributed to him. The title is thought to derive from the hadith "Religion is sincere counsel". An example of one of his fatwas was published in the İlmiyye Salnâmesi.

The Risâle fî hakkı'd-devrân attributed to him, however, has been the subject of a long debate. Two copies of this Arabic treatise, which argues that the devran and dance performed by Sufis for the purpose of dhikr are not forbidden, are recorded, one in prose and the other in verse. Ahmet İnanır shows that the phrase "Müftî Ali Çelebi" appears at the beginning and end of the treatise, that other scholars bearing this name lived at the time, and that the work flatly contradicts the views of jurists both before and after him, and concludes that it is a strong possibility the treatise does not belong to Zenbilli. The same treatise has also been attributed to Kınalızâde Ali Çelebi and to Alâeddin Ali Çelebi b. Salih Filibevî. At the end of the sixteenth century, the shaykh al-Islam Çivizâde Mehmed Efendi likewise wrote that the treatise was not Zenbilli's and that the attribution had been made deliberately by the Sufis. As for Âdâbü'l-evsiyâ, a thirty-five-chapter work of jurisprudence initially attributed to him, it has been established that it was written by his son Fudayl Çelebi.

Charitable Foundations

Zenbilli Ali Efendi was also known for his philanthropy and built mosques, small mosques and schools in various districts of Istanbul. The Alaca Mescid on Tersane Street in Galata was demolished in 1957 when Azapkapı Street was opened. The Müftü Ali, or Zenbilli Ali Efendi, Mosque in the Küçük Mustafa Paşa district was first built as a small mosque (mescit) and converted into a congregational mosque in 1525-1526. The single-domed, square-plan Ali Cemâlî Efendi School was built on the Zeyrek slope between 1523 and 1525, and Zenbilli's grave lies before its entrance façade. The Müftü Bath, which stood near the Müftü Ali Mosque in the Fatih Kadı Çeşmesi district, was removed in 1960. The income of the bath had been endowed to the mosque, small mosque and school mentioned above.

His Children and Students

Zenbilli Ali Efendi's sons also left their mark on the learned profession. Muhyiddin Mehmed Şah Efendi (Molla Çelebi) wrote a Târîh-i Âl-i Osmân. Rûhî Çelebi is the author of another Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân. According to Hüsâmeddin, Rûhî Ahmed Efendi, born in Amasya, studied with his father and with Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, taught in the madrasas of Istanbul and Edirne, rose as far as the Sahn-ı Semân and died young in 1521. Fudayl Çelebi was a scholar with various works in verse and prose. Cemâleddin Mehmed (Cemal Çelebi) served as qadi and governor. Hüsâmeddin writes that he was appointed qadi of Amasya in 1537. His daughter Sitti Şah Hatun built a small mosque and a madrasa in Istanbul. Hüsâmeddin records that Sittî Hatun was married to Mustafa Dede, son of Şeyh Hamdullah, and that she built a school and a small mosque in Vefa.

Many scholars from Amasya also attended his lessons. As Hüsâmeddin relates, Kara Sâlih Efendi served him and attended his lessons while he was mufti of Amasya and professor of the Sultaniye, went with him to Istanbul and for years acted as his teacher's fatwa clerk and copyist of drafts. Nakîzî Bayezid Efendi of Amasya was trained in his lessons in Istanbul and rose to a professorship of the Sahn; on his teacher's death in 1526 he was removed from the Sahn and sent to the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa in Amasya. Sinâneddin Yusuf Efendi, known as Muhaşşî, studied jurisprudence with him and became his assistant professor. His nephew Ahmed Şemseddin Çelebi studied in Amasya with Koca Emîr İbrâhim Efendi and in Istanbul with his uncle Zenbilli, and went on to serve as qadi in cities such as Tokat, Sivas and Erzurum. These names show that Zenbilli served as a bridge between the office of fatwa in Istanbul and the learned circles of Amasya.

His Place in the Office of Shaykh al-Islam

Zenbilli Ali Efendi appears in the lists of Ottoman shaykhs al-Islam as the eighth name in the sequence beginning with Molla Fenârî. Before him the muftiship of Istanbul was more a position of scholarly prestige. During his long tenure the office was endowed with permanent duties such as the professorship of the Bayezid Madrasa and the oversight of the sultan's endowments, and its weight before the ruler increased markedly. The TDV Encyclopedia of Islam states that the first important steps in shaping the Istanbul muftiship, much like the grand vizierate, into an office able to exercise religious oversight were taken during his tenure. Ramazan Ata likewise holds that it was he who gave the office of shaykh al-Islam its true value. In popular memory, however, what has remained is less this institutional transformation than the basket hanging from the window and the words spoken in spite of the ruler's anger.

Chronology

1444-1446: His birth, according to Cavit Baysun's estimate; his birthplace is given as Aksaray, Karaman or Amasya.

1477: According to some accounts, his transfer in Edirne to the Beylerbeyi Madrasa and then to the Sirâciye Madrasa.

1481: Death of Mehmed II; his return to teaching under Bayezid II.

1483: According to Hüsâmeddin, the fatwa office of Amasya is given to Cemâlîzâde Ali Çelebi.

1486: Completion of the Bayezid (Sultaniye) Madrasa in Amasya; he becomes its first professor and mufti of Amasya.

1491: Following the incident at the circumcision feast of Prince Ahmed's sons, he leaves Amasya and returns to Istanbul.

1503: Death of Efdalzâde Hamîdüddin Efendi; the muftiship of Istanbul is given to Ali Cemâlî, then in Egypt (1497 or 1498 in some sources).

1504: He arrives in Istanbul and takes up the office of fatwa.

1505-1506: His appointment to the professorship of the Bayezid Madrasa in Istanbul.

1506-1507: His appointment as overseer of Bayezid II's endowments.

1509: According to Ramazan Ata, his brother Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi is killed during a disturbance.

1512: Accession of Selim I; he is kept on as mufti.

1516: He leads the funeral prayer of Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi.

1520: Accession of Süleyman; he leads the funeral prayer of Şeyh Hamdullah in the Hagia Sophia.

1522: He takes part in the conquest of Rhodes and leads the first Friday prayer in the Cathedral of Saint John.

1523: Falling gravely ill, he appoints Bahâeddinzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi as his deputy.

1523-1525: Construction of the school on the Zeyrek slope.

1526: His death in Istanbul shortly before May-June; burial at Zeyrek; Kemalpaşazâde succeeds him.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. I, III, VII, Istanbul 1927 and later.

Academic studies

  • Ramazan Ata, "Osmanlı Devletinde Cemalîler Okulu: Cemal Halvetî ve Zenbilli Ali Cemalî Efendi", Journal of the Faculty of Theology, Fırat University, 20:1 (2015), pp. 75-98.

Other sources

  • Yusuf Küçükdağ, "Zenbilli Ali Efendi", TDV Encyclopedia of Islam (TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi), vol. 44, Istanbul 2013, pp. 247-249. islamansiklopedisi.org.tr
  • Yusuf Küçükdağ, II. Bâyezid, Yavuz ve Kanûnî Devirlerinde Cemâlî Ailesi, Istanbul 1995.
  • Mecdî Mehmed Efendi, Şakâik-i Nu'mâniyye Tercümesi (Hadâiku'ş-Şakâik), ed. Abdülkadir Özcan, Istanbul 1989.
  • Hoca Sâdeddin Efendi, Tâcü't-Tevârîh, vol. II.
  • Ahmet İnanır, "Osmanlı'da Semâ, Raks ve Devrân Tartışmaları Bağlamında Şeyhülislâm Zenbilli Ali Cemâlî Efendi'ye İsnat Edilen Risale fi Hakkı'd-Devrân ve'r-Raks'ın Aidiyet Sorunu", Usûl, 14 (2010/2), pp. 155-178.
  • Resul Kesenceli, "Mutasavvıf Şeyhülislâm Zembilli Ali Cemalî Efendi", Somuncu Baba magazine, no. 196. somuncubaba.net
  • "Üç Padişah Döneminin Şeyhülislamı Zenbilli Ali Efendi", Istanbul History and Culture Association, 2016.
  • "Beyazıt II Camii ve Külliyesi" and "Hamdullah Efendi, Şeyh", TDV Encyclopedia of Islam.
  • "Zenbilli Ali Cemali Efendi", Wikipedia (English). en.wikipedia.org

Online sources