Şeyh Edebali

Scholar, Sufi

Religious scholar and Sufi (B. 1206 Karaman –D. 1296, Bilecik). He was the father-in-law of Osman Ghazi and the grandfather of Orhan Ghazi. He continued his education, which he began in Karaman, in Damascus by taking interpretation, hadith and Islamic law lessons from the distinguished scholars of the era. When he returned from Damascus he tended towards Islamic philosophy and by founding a hermitage in Bilecik, he raised students. According to the sources, Osman Ghazi was among the visitors of Sheikh Edebali’s dervish lodge.

According to what Âşıkpaşazâde told based on the account of Mahmud Pasha, who was the son of Edebâli, and Yahşi Fakih, the son of Osman Ghazi’s imam İshak Fakih; one night Osman Ghazi stayed at Edebâli’s hermitage and in his dream he saw the moon entering his breast and at the same time he saw a tree springing from his navel and saw the shadow of this tree spreading over the whole world and saw mountains rising from underneath it and waters coming out from under every mountain. When he told Edebâli his dream, the sheikh told him that Allah gave sultanate to Osmanoğulları (T. N. the Ottoman Dynasty) and he married his daughter Mal Hatun off with Osman Bey. While this name is found in certain sources as Mal Hatun, Oruç b. Âdil writes in Tevûrîh-i Âl-i Osmân that Osman Ghazi did not have this dream but it was his father Ertuğrul Ghazi who had this dream and that sheikh’s daughter who married Osman Ghazi was called Râbia (Bâlâ) Hatun.

Edebali, who was one of the Ahî sheikhs, was also an Ottoman kadi and mufti. After living a long life he passed away in Bilecik.

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