The “Sunna-minded” Trend 275
was the şeyhülislam Feyzullah Efendi (1638–1703, ş. 1695–1703), who was ini-
tially brought to Istanbul from his hometown of Erzurum by his father-in-law
Vani Mehmed Efendi in 1664. A descendant of a renowned Halveti family from
the Karabağ region of Azerbaijan, Feyzullah Efendi received a solid education
in Islamic sciences in Erzurum.152 He was also exposed to the Halveti tradi-
tion through his uncle Sheikh Mustafa Efendi, who was the head of the Halveti
order in that town until his death in 1667, and his father Seyyid Mehmed
(d. 1693), who took over the leadership of the order after that date. However,
it was Vani Mehmed, at that time a resident of Erzurum, who had the biggest
influence on the young Feyzullah. By then, Vani Mehmed had established him-
self as a famous scholar in Erzurum and became first the protégé of Feyzullah’s
uncle, Sheikh Mustafa Efendi, and, later, his son-in-law.153 It was also Vani
Mehmed who took him to Istanbul and let him participate in the scholarly
discussions held in the sultan’s presence, thus bringing him to the notice of
the sultan.154
From his appointment as tutor to Prince Mustafa in 1669 until his tragic
demise in the wake of the Edirne Incident of 1703, Feyzullah Efendi built an ex-
tensive household for himself which he bolstered by marriage alliances, waqf
properties, and by placing his kin in lucrative ilmiye positions.155 Although his
relationship with the Köprülü clan was far from easy, Feyzullah Efendi was an
important element in the preservation of the Köprülü mentality in terms of
the preservation of their material and ideological heritage.156
The ascession of Mustafa II to the throne in 1695 resulted in Feyzullah being
made not only head of the entire ilmiye hierarchy but also the sultan’s senior
advisor on state affairs. It was apparent right from the start that Mustafa II
was going to be a very different ruler from his two uncles, Süleyman II and
Ahmed II, who had ruled before him. Having escaped the long periods of pal-
ace captivity that they faced during much of their pre-adult lives, Mustafa ex-
perienced a more liberal palace atmosphere, as did his brother Ahmed (who
152 In his autobiography, Feyzullah says that he received lessons from his father and a relative
named Molla Seyyid Abdülmümin, who taught him the Quran, Arabic and Persian, litera-
ture and poetry, and Islamic law. Later, he learned syntax, grammar, semantics, rhetorics,
and flowery phraseology from his cousin Molla İbrahim Murtazazade, who was one of the
best-known scholars in the area. Nizri 2014, 22.
153 Nizri 2014, 21–22.
154 Kaylı 2010, 221.
155 For an account of how Feyzullah settled his sons and relatives into lucrative ilmiye posi-
tions, see Nizri 2014, 92–95.
156 He was appointed as the overseer of the Köprülü’s charitable endowments. See Abou-
El-Haj 2005, 145, fn. 58. He also infiltrated the Köprülü household by arranging marriages
between his and the Köprülü family, see Nizri 2014, 65.