Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu


Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu, usually referred to as Mahmut Efendi and known to his disciples as Efendi Hazretleri, is a Turkish Sufi Sheikh and the leader of the influential İsmailağa jamia of the Naqshbandi-Khalidiyya Ṭarīqah centred in Çarşamba, Istanbul.

Early life

Ustaosmanoğlu was born to a village imam in Miço village of the Of district. He became a hafiz under his father by the age of 10 and continued his madrasa education, gaining his ijazah by the age of 16. Afterwards he married his cousin and started his work as an imam.

Naqshbandi order

In 1952, Ustaosmanoğlu met Ahıskalı Ali Haydar Efendi, a Naqshbandi sheikh who he became his murshid. Ali Haydar Efendi appointed him as the imam of the İsmailağa Mosque in 1954. By the year 1960, Ustaosmanoğlu's life had its greatest turn after Ali Haydar Efendi's demise and he became the leader of the path. In 1996, he retired as the imam of the İsmailağa Mosque.

After 1996

Ustaosmanoğlu tried to keep a low profile in the following years, especially after the 1997 memorandum, but his relations came under public spotlight with a series of internal strife in the sect. His son-in-law Hızır Ali Muratoğlu was murdered in 1998 and in 2006, a retired imam named Bayram Ali Öztürk was murdered in the mosque and the man who stabbed him to death was lynched by the congregation.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is known to maintain close relations with Ustaosmanoğlu and a prosecution from 2007 to 2009 including wiretapping led to Erdoğan himself. Erdoğan paid a highly publicised visit to Ustaosmanoğlu the night before the presidential election in 2014.

The Khalid’îyyah - İsmailağa Jamia - Ṭarīqah silsila

#NameBuriedBirthDeath-
17Khwaja Muhammad Baha'ud-Dīn Naqshband BukharīQasr-e-Aarifan, Bukhara, Uzbekistan4 Muharram 718 AH
3 Rabi al-Awwal 791 AH
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18Khwaja Ala'ud-Dīn Attar Bukhari, son-in-law of Jafaaniyan, Transoxiana Wed 20 Rajab 804 AH
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19Khwaja Yaqub CharkhiGulistan, Dushanbe, Tajkistan762 AH
5 Safar 851 AH
-
20Khwaja Ubaidullah AhrarSamarkand, UzbekistanRamadan 806 AH
29 Rabi al-Awwal 895 AH
-
21Khwaja Muhammad Zahid WakhshiWakhsh14 Shawwal 852 AH
1 Rabi al-Awwal 936 AH
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22Khwaja Dervish Muhammad, son of sister of Asqarar, Uzbekistan16 Shawwal 846 AH
19 Muharram 970 AH
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23Khwaja Muhammad Amkanaki, son of Amkana, Bukhara, Uzbekistan918 AH
22 Shaban 1008 AH
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24Khwaja Muhammad Baqī Billah BerangDelhi, India5 Dhu al-Hijjah 971 or 972 AH
25 Jumada al-Thani 1012 AH
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25Shaikh Ahmad al-Farūqī al-Sirhindī, Imām RabbānīSirhind, India14 Shawwal 971 AH
28 Safar 1034 AH
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26Imām Khwaja Muhammad Masum Faruqī, 3rd son of Sirhind, India1007 AH
9 Rabi al-Awwal 1099 AH
-
27Khwaja Muhammad Saif ud-Dīn Faruqī, son of Sirhind, India1049 AH
19 or 26 Jumada al-awwal 1096 AH
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28Sayyid Nur Muhammad BadayuniDelhi, India11 Dhu al-Qi'dah 1135AH
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29Shaheed Mirza Mazhar Jan-e-Janaan, Shams-ud-Dīn HabībullāhDelhi, India11 Ramadan 1111 AH
10 Muharram 1195 AH
-
30Khwaja Abdullah Dehlavi, alias Shah Ghulam Ali DehlavīDelhi, India1156 AH
22 Safar 1240 AH
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31Mawlānā Muhammad Khâlid-i BaghdâdîDamascus, SyriaSharazur, Sulaymaniyah, Iraq
-
32Abd Allah-i Mücâvir fi-Balad-î'l-Lâh,
alias Abd Allah-e Macca-e Erzincanī		Mekke-i-MükerremeMekke-i-Mükerreme
?
?		-
33Shaykh Mustafa İsmet Garibu'l-Lâh,
alias Grand Sheikh Affandy		Çarşamba, Fatih-Istanbul, TurkeyIoannina, Ottoman Empire
1289 AH		-
34Khwaja Khâlil-i Nûr-u Allah ZaghrawiZara, Sivas, Ottoman Empire-
35Khwaja Ali Rezâ al-Bazzâz AffandyTekke Camii, Bandırma, Balıkesir Province-Ottoman EmpireBulgaria1330 AH-
36Khwaja Ali Haydâr Affandy,Sakızağacı cemetery, Istanbul, TurkeyAkhaltsikhe, Batumi-Ottoman Empire 1288 AH-
37Khwaja Mahmut Ustaosmanoğlu:tr:Tavşanlı, Of|Tavşanlı - Of, Trabzon, Turkey