Fatma Sultan Mosque / Gumushanawi Lodge

His given name was Mehmed Zahid, his surname, Kotku. He says that his father used to call him, “My son, Mehemmed.” His surname, meaning “humble,” captured the essence of his character right there at the top of his ID.

He was born in 1897 in the Gregorian calendar (1313 in the Rûmî calendar and 1315 in the Lunar/Hijri calendar) on a blind alley called Türkmenzâde within the castle of the city of Bursa. 

His Family

His father and mother were Muslims who had migrated from the Caucasus in 1879/80 (1297). Their grandparents were from Nuha, an old commercial center famed for its silk industry, in the region of Shirvan in the Caucasus. Nuha lay at the foot of a mountain, its inhabitants were Muslim, and Azeri Turkish is still spoken there.

His mother Sabire Hanım passed away when Mehmed Zahid Efendi was three years old. She was buried in the Pınarbaşı cemetery.

His older brother Ahmed Şakir (AD 1892/93-1919, R. 1308-1335) was an officer who served in Jerusalem and Çanakkale. He got sick in the trenches, and when he was twenty-eight years old, he passed away and was buried in Söğütlüçeşme. Although his mother had another child, it died when it was only a few months old.  

His father’s second marriage was with a woman named Fatma Hanım, an immigrant from Daghestan. She gave birth to three daughters. One of these was Pakize, who went on to marry the late Ahmed Efendi, one of the imams of Bursa’s Great Mosque and one of the sheikhs of the İsmail Hakkı Dervish Lodge.

His Education and Military Service   

Mehmed Zahid Efendi (May Allah have mercy on him!) first studied at Oruç Bey Primary School. He continued his studies at a high school in the Maksem quarter of Bursa, and later entered the Bursa Trade School. During this period, he was drafted into military service on 27 April 1916 (14 April 1332), during the First World War. He served in the military for years, overcoming many dangers and illnesses. When the army withdrew from Syria, he made the difficult journey back to Istanbul.   

Continuing his military service, on Friday, 10 July 1919 (10 July 1335), he began service as a secretarial worker in the office of the 30th branch of the 25th Army Corps. Entries from his diary show that he was still employed in this duty in March of 1922 (1338).  

His Sufi Training and His Services to Religion  

During his time in Istanbul, he attended various religious gatherings, lessons, and sermons in mosques. He especially liked Seydişehirli Abdullah Feyzi Efendi. On 16 July 1936, Friday (16 July 1336), after performing prayers at the Ayasofya Mosque, he went to the Gümüşhâneli Lodge (located beside the Fatma Sultan Mosque in front of the governorate building) and joined the order of Sheikh Ömer Ziyâeddin Efendi. Day by day, he improved himself under the tutelage of his sheikh.

After the passing away of this honored personage on 18 November 1921 (18 Teşrinisani 1337) he continued his studies of the perfections (tahsîl-i kemâlât), went into seclusion (halvet) many times, and after receiving his hilâfetnâme (a teaching license from his sheikh) at the age of 27, he earned the licenses of Râmuzü’l-ehâdîs (Sign of Hadiths), Hizb-i A’zam (Company of the Exalted), and Delâilü’l-hayrât (Proofs of Good Deeds). During this time, he continued to attend lessons at the Bayezit, Fatih, and Ayasofya Mosques, and completed his memorization of the Qur’an. During these periods, he performed religious services in various towns and villages at the direction of his teacher.   

After the closure of the dervish lodges, he returned to Bursa and married. He served as an imam for fifteen or sixteen years in the village of İzvat on the Bursa plains, taking over from his father, who died in 1929. He was later appointed to the office of imam and preacher at the noble Üftade Mosque, and he settled in the house of his father inside the city castle. He served there from 1945/46 until 1952.   

On 1 October 1958, he was transferred to the noble Fatih İskenderpaşa Mosque, where he served for the rest of his life. 

His Death  

Mehmet Zahid Efendi (May Allah have mercy on him!) fell into poor health in the final years of his life. Though still mobile, he suffered from acute pain. In February 1980, his health forced him to return from the Hejaz, where he had moved in the summer of 1979. On 7 March 1980, he underwent an operation in which two-thirds of his stomach was removed.

After the operation, he gradually recovered. In 1980, he even kept the Ramadan fast without interruption. He performed the tarawih prayers with a full recitation of the Qur’an and gave sermons. That summer, he was taken to Balıkesir’s Ilıca and the seaside town of Ayvacık in Çanakkale for his aching feet, and when the Hajj season arrived, he went to the Hejaz. However, the discomfort that had led to his operation returned, and the pains began again. On 6 November 1980, after performing the Hajj with difficulty, he came back to Istanbul in a state of grave ill health. Exactly one week later, around noon on Thursday, 13 November 1980 (5 Muharram 1401) he laid down to rest and, surrounded by prayers, recitations of the Yasin surah, prayer beads, and tears, he departed for the Hereafter.

During the funeral service, traffic came to a halt all around the Süleymaniye, Şehzadebaşı, and Fatih Mosques. The interior and courtyard of Süleymaniye filled to bursting, with the congregation spilling out into the streets as far as the Esnaf Hospital. Countless people from the furthest reaches of Anatolia and far-off Europe had heard of his passing and had come to pay their respects. Many more had been unable to get the news in time to attend.

His passing led to great sadness in the world of Islam. In Saudi Arabia, at the Kaaba, in Kuwait, and in many other places, too, funeral services were performed prayers offered in his behalf. News agencies published the report of this painful passing.  

Fittingly, the page of his calendar dated 13 November 1980, the day of his death, contained very meaningful words. The following wondrous piece is but one example:

Do Not Cry After Me    

When my coffin goes forward the day that I die

Don’t think this world’s pain still with me.

Don’t cry. Don’t say, “What a pity!” “What a shame!”

Should you fall into Satan’s trap, that’s the time for such things.  

“What a pity” should really be said then.

At my funeral, don’t say farewell.

My meeting is really the time.

Don’t say goodbye when they put me in the grave.  

The grave is the curtain of the community of Heaven.

The grave may seem a prison, but

Really it’s the soul’s salvation.

Since you saw it set, so watch it rise.  

What harm comes to the sun and moon in setting?

It seems to you they set, but

In essence, it’s a rising, a shining.

What seed planted does not grow?    

Why, in the case of the seed of man,

Do you come to think it won’t sprout and grow?

What bucket swung down for water was not pulled up full?

Why do you cry when dear Joseph falls into the well?        

One shuts one’s eyes in this world only to open them in the next!

And all words fall empty

In the world beyond time and space.     

His Morals and Features  

The deceased was loveable and attractive. He was rather tall, a little chubby, yet with an imposing air. He had a fair complexion, plump pink cheeks, and a rather long beard. His brow was wide, and his eyebrows distinct. His head was large, and his face rosy. Laughing, he used to say that when he was young, he was weak, and that as an orphan he would drink eggs and so came to have large build. He had a presence that would awaken love and respect in people at first glance. Whether he knew you or not, he would greet you with kind words and a smile that caught your heart. His eyes were of a dark chestnut, impossibly mysterious and full of deep meaning. In one eye was a red spot, and on his back and belly were birthmarks as large as the palm of one’s hand.   

His memory was very strong, his speech sweet and limpid. He often spoke in the colloquial style of the people. He gave those before him the chance to speak. Even though he knew something very well, he would listen with a gentle mien as if he were hearing it for the first time, and he would give a meaningful and subtle answer. His talks were congenial, his sermons awe-inspiring. During his sermons, he would raise his voice, and like a commander in front of his army, he would speak courageously and extemporaneously.  

In his private life, he behaved with wit and compassion, not ordering anyone directly. He spoke with hints and winks, and was patient in case of misunderstanding.  

He was extraordinarily modest. Although his noble qualities were manifest and his fame universal, he did not look down at his students from on high or elevate himself above others. He saw himself as any unexceptional individual among his brothers, hiding his rank and perfection with great skill.   

He was extraordinarily respectful and devoted to his own masters. His old friends from the lodge relate that when he went to the sessions of his masters, he would sit politely on his knees, lower his head, and not shift so much as a foot.

He was deeply contemplative. It was impossible not to be surprised at the discoveries and connections he came up with in his talks. He would often go on talking for weeks or even months about a single Qur’anic verse or Prophetic utterance.    

He would train those he had selected with great patience until he had put them on the right road. He was always understanding of their early faults. He would work with them for years, never abandoning them halfway.  

His loyalty to his friends was matchless. He would seek them out, visit them, and ask after them. He spared no effort in his duties to his relatives, and he did not begrudge them any kind of help.   

He was very openhanded. What he gave, he gave in incredibly generous amounts. He never feared not having enough for himself. He would fill the bellies of his guests, and, at his table, guests were ever in the majority. He always had a smile ready for them, but so too for those serving them. His door was always open.

He observed his religious duties day and night, and encouraged his students to do the same. He knew what was in a person’s heart. To those with questions, he would give an answer before they even asked. To those in need, he would meet that need before they even voiced it. He moved hearts and dreams. Blessings rained down upon the places he visited. Abundance traveled wherever he went. When he came, the most remote, most needy places filled with divine favor. Those who accompanied him on his journeys were ever in a state of surprise and astonishment at the coincidences, manifestations of grace, and material and spiritual good fortune they witnessed along the way.

May the Most Holy Allah on High make his rank the highest! May He grant that we who are both humble and weak might share and benefit from his bounties and intercessions! Amen! May peace and blessings be upon the Revered Master of the Messengers and upon his family, companions, and followers with goodness until the Day of Doom! And may Allah the Lord of All Beings be praised!    

* Three different calendar systems are used in this text. These are the Gregorian calendar (AD), the Rûmî calendar (R.) and the Lunar/Hijri calendar (AH).