It was on the night of June 22, 2022 that Sheikh Mahmud Efendi, spiritual authority of the Sufi path Naqshbandi in Turkey and a Sunni religious reference, left this world at the age of 93. A respected figure in the Muslim world, tributes have multiplied to salute a wise man and a reviver of traditional Islam.
Born in 1929 in Trabzon, north of TurkeyMahmud Efendi was the only child of a conservative family in a small village called Of. It is said that his father Ali Efendi, imam of the village, invoked constantly after each call to prayer for God to grant him a pious child.
The anecdote tells that his mother Fatima Hamim, saw during a dream, the moon descending in her arms and illuminating the whole earth. She became pregnant soon after and gave birth to their only son. It is a respected spiritual master of the region Omar Mahmud Efendi, to whom the newborn was brought, who will give him the name Mahmud.
A master rooted in Islamic sciences
Bathed in a pious family atmosphere, Mahmud Efendi memorized, very early, the book of God under the direction of his parents and then studied the rudiments of the Arabic language (conjugation, grammar, eloquence…).
He will then begin to travel in the country in search of religious science and will acquire a solid knowledge in multiple theological fields such as the exegesis of the Koran, jurisprudence (fiqh), the foundations of jurisprudence (ussul al fiqh), dogma, prophetic tradition (hadith) or even history.
Sheikh Mahmud received his first idjazâ (diploma) from his teacher, Sheikh Dourssoun Efendi, at the age of 16. He then continued his journey in science with various masters and educators of the soul, to the point of reaching an exceptional level and beginning to teach himself.
Mahmud Effendi.
In terms of spirituality (tassawuf) it is especially with Sheikh Ali Haydar Efendi that he will walk spiritually and with whom he will evolve within the Naqshandi Sufi way. Way in which Sheikh Mahmud also became an authority.
A cloud of tributes in the Muslim world
Heir to a thousand-year-old and traditional Ottoman Islamic culture, the Imam disseminated his orthodox methodology within Turkish society through the opening of several religious schools (madrassa) in the country from which countless disciples emerged.
His status as a revivifier was above all due to his inexhaustible preaching which revived the practice of traditional Islam in Turkey at a time when this practice was no longer well established, to his opposition to multiple government decrees targeting certain external rites of Islam (prayer, hijab, beard, etc.) as well as its influence in the return of religion to the political life of the country.
The soul of Sheikh Mahmud Efendi returned to his Lord with the respect, satisfaction and homage of all the representatives of the Muslim world, all movements confused.
Death of Mahmud Efendi, religious and spiritual authority in Turkey