Merkez Efendi


Merkez Efendi was the popular nickname of Musa bin Muslihiddin bin Kılıç, an Ottoman sufi. He is also credited as the creator of "Mesir Macunu", a gum-like candy, which is believed to have cured mental diseases.

Life

Musa bin Muslihiddin bin Kılıç was born in Akçaköy in Buldan ilçe of Denizli Province. His father's name was Mustafa. He travelled to Bursa in 1478 and to İstanbul in 1493 to study religion. His tutor was Sünbül Efendi, founder of a sufi order. During the reign of Ottoman Sultan Selim I, he was sent to Manisa to serve in the külliye, the religious buildings complex of Selim I’s wife Hafsa Sultan. In 1529, he returned to İstanbul as the successor of Sünbül Efendi. He briefly married to Selim I's daughter Şah Sultan. He died in 1552. He had two sons; Derviş Çelebi and Ali Çelebi and a daughter, Ümmü Hatun.

Mesir

Merkez Efendi is credited as the creator of "Mesir macunu", a gum-like candy, which he prepared mixing 40 to 45 different spices. He used to medicate the patients having mental disease in the mental hospital of Manisa he was the chief physician of mesir macunu. But Raşit Öngören from the Islam Encyclopedia finds this claim implausible. Nevertheless, he is popularly associated with the creation of mesir macunu. During the "Mesir Macunu Festival" held annually on 22 March, a symbolic Merkez Efendi figure throws down mesir from the şerefe of a minaret in Manisa on the crowd.

Legacy

Recently, a new secondary municipality and ilçe in Denizli was named Merkezefendi in his honor. In Zeytinburnu ilçe of Istanbul, there is a neighborhood named Merkezefendi and a cemetery named Merkezefendi Cemetery. There are public buildings named after him, including a State Hospital, and a vocational and technical Anatolian High School in Manisa, as well as a primary school in Istanbul. The Municipality of Zeytinburnu organizes a Medicine Festival bearing his name.