Hafız Ahmed Şakir Efendi

Hafız Ahmed Şakir Efendi was born in Istanbul and was the son of Halil Efendi of Safranbolu. Because of a squint in his eyes, he was known by the nickname “Şaşı Hafız.” He studied with famous teachers of his period such as Rusçuklu Mustafa Efendi, Şirvânîzâde Rüşdü Paşa and Hafız Mehmed Galib Efendi.

Ahmed Şakir Efendi, one of the dersiâms of Fatih Mosque, taught in fields such as Arabic language, kalām, principles of Islamic law and logic. Until his death, he also taught Arabic at the Fatih Military Rüşdiye.

According to the well-known Ottoman biographer Bursalı Mehmed Tahir, Hafız Ahmed Şakir Efendi was among the late Ottoman scholars who trained the greatest number of students. In three separate ijazah ceremonies, he granted ijazahs to hundreds of students; among his students were future şeyhülislams, judges, muftis and madrasa professors.

Among his students were major figures of late Ottoman scholarly and intellectual life, including Şeyhülislam Musa Kâzım Efendi, Şeyhülislam Mehmed Nuri Efendi, Mahmud Esad Efendi and İzmirli İsmail Hakkı Efendi.

One of the finest anecdotes about Ahmed Şakir Efendi’s humility concerns the soup kitchen beside Yavuz Selim Mosque. When he heard that poor students were hesitant to go there, he encouraged them by going to the soup kitchen every morning and sitting cross-legged on the floor with the students to drink soup.

Hafız Ahmed Şakir Efendi died on 23 Ramadan 1315 (15 February 1898) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.