Hacı Ali Efendi

Born in Alasonya (Elassona), Hacı Ali Zeynelâbidin Efendi was one of the late Ottoman scholars who became identified with the scholarly circles of Fatih. After receiving his first education in his hometown, he came to Istanbul and attended the lessons of Alasonyalı Hacı Ali Efendi, from whom he received his ijazah.

Ali Zeynelâbidin Efendi served for many years as a dersiâm at Fatih Mosque. A dersiâm was a scholar authorized to give public lessons in the great mosques of Istanbul. This position shows that he was not only a preacher or mosque official, but a teacher who trained students in the classical religious sciences.

He was later appointed Ders Vekili, the official responsible for overseeing the dersiâm network and the teaching order of the madrasas. The fact that he received this office in 1908 places him among the leading figures of the Istanbul scholarly establishment in the late Ottoman period.

Known among his students as “Şifâcı,” or “the healer,” Ali Zeynelâbidin Efendi taught many later religious scholars. Among those who attended his lessons were Mustafa Fehmi Gerçeker, later the first President of the Directorate of Religious Affairs, and Alasonyalı Hacı Cemal Öğüt.

He died in 1912 and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.