إِنَّا لِلَّٰهِ وَإِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُون We have lost a giant in Shaykh Mahmud Effendi (Turkey), a great loss for this Ummah.
Who is Shaykh Mahmud Effendi رحمة الله عليه?
In our century, when describing the advancement of Islam, it is not possible for historians to ignore Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu, who is also known as Mahmud Efendi.
The Shaykh spent all of his life in the service of Islam and in a 50 year time frame the Shaykh revived Islam and the Sunnah in Turkey and taught thousands of Ulamah and Huffadh.Sheikh Mahmud Effendi emphasised on the Sunnah and was well-known for having revived many of the Sunnah practices.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi memorised the entire Qur’an at home with his parents when he was just 6 years old. He then studied the religion and has been blessed to guide millions of people in Turkey. He has helped to produce tens of thousands of scholars and opened countless mosques and institutes. His charity has done great work in Africa and helped strengthen Sunni Islam in areas which were being overtaken by missionaries of different sects and religions. He is a man who never missed Tahajjud or prayer in congregation. This has been the case for numerous decades. He told his students, ‘If you see me abandoning one Sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ amongst the countless blessed Sunnahs which exist then do not accept me as a teacher.”
Whenever a student of Shaykh Mahmud Effendi, who was reciting to Shaykh Abdul Razzaq al-Halabi was returning back to Turkey — Shaykh ‘Abdul Razzaq would tell the student, ‘Kiss the hand of Shaykh Mahmud Effendi on my behalf and give him my salam.” Whenever students from Turkey were going to Damascus, Shaykh Mahmud Effendi would say, “Kiss the hand of Shaykh ‘Abdul Razzaq on my behalf and give him my salam.”
The Prophet ﷺ said, ‘Surely, there are a people who are raised by Allah through this Book (Quran). The greatest lesson we can learn from the lives of the awliya and the truly righteous ulema is that those who dedicate their souls to Allah, His Messenger ﷺ and dawah will be honoured in this world and the Next. May Allah have mercy upon Shaykh Mahmud Effendi, who was a mountain in this ummah, a guide to the Prophetic Way, and a man who reignited the love of the Sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi has spent all of his life in the service of Islam, humanity and peace. He has worked so ambitiously and enthusiastically that it is almost impossible for others to keep pace with him.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi was born in 1929 in a village called Miço (Tavşanlı) where in Of the township of the province of Trabzon-Turkey. His father, Ali Effendi, the son of Mustafa Efendi, and his mother, Fatima Hanimefendi the daughter of Tûfan Efendi, were highly respected people who were known for their asceticism and piety.
At the age of six, Shaykh Mahmud Effendi memorised the Qur’an, at the feet of his parents. And, although he was still only a young boy, he performed his prayers in the mosque, giving great importance to extra worship and non-obligatory but recommended prayers (nafelah).
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi’s maturity in his childhood was astonishing all people around him. People in his village named their children “Mahmud” in the hope that they, too, would be like him.
When he was so young, Shaykh Mahmud Effendi travelled to Kayseri for the sake of Islamic studies and took some lessons, like Sarf and Nahv (Arabic language grammer) and Persian, from Tesbihcizade Ahmet Hodja Effendi, who is an esteemed scholar in that region.
After remaining in Kayseri for a year, he returned to his home village Of, and studied Qira’at (the Recitation of the Qur’an) from Mehmed Rüşdü Aşıkkutlu Hodja Effendi, the most renowned Qira’at scholar of that period.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi learned the sciences of Balaghah (Rhetoric), ‘Elm al-Kalam (Islamic theology), Tafseer (Interpretation of Qur’an), ‘Elmu’l-Hadith (The Prophet ﷺ words, acts and consents), fiqh (Islamic law), usool al-fiqh (Principles of Islamic Jurisprudence) and other Islamic sciences by ÇalekliHaci Dursun Feyzi Efendi, the Senior Professor of Soulaymaneyah Madrasah, who was a distinguished and specialized scholar at the aqlee (intellectual and rational) and naqlee (transmitted) sciences.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi received his diploma with appreciation when he was just 16 years old. In the same year Shaykh Mahmud Effendi completed his studies, he married Zehra Hanim. The couple were blessed with three children, named Ahmed, Abdullah, and Fatima.
Shaykh Mahmud Effendi began to volunteer as an Imam after obtaining his degree and continued teaching and preaching.He revived the Sunnah at a very challenging time and inspired millions of people. A great loss for the Ummah. May Allah elevate his ranks and provide a worthy replacement
Scholars and the general public pour praises and dua for him.
May the Fadl and Mercy of Allah Ta’ala descend upon him.
May Allah Ta’ala forgive his sins, elevate his status, grant him Jannah al-Firdous, make his grave a garden from the Gardens of Paradise, and may Allah Ta’ala be eternally pleased with him.
May Allah Ta’ala grant the family patience & allow us all to take this as a lesson & remember our death as we may be next.
Allah says in the Quran: “Those who believe and do good – the Ever-Merciful shall write for them love” [Maryam:96]. And in the ḥadīth: “When Allah loves a person, He announces to Jibrīl and says: ‘I love so-and-so; so love him’. Then Jibril loves him. Then, Jibrīl announces to the inhabitants of heavens that Allah loves so- and-so; therefore you as well should love him. And when the inhabitants of the heavens (i.e., the angels) love him, love is written for him on this earth.”
The death of the Turkish scholar Sheikh Mahmud Effendi shows such a love والله حسيبه.
May Allah grant us all piety, and may He love us, and may His righteous servants love us! Ameen.
