İbrahim Paşa
Profile summary
Highlights
İbrahim Paşa, whose date of birth could not be determined, served during the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II as Director of General Protocol, one of the most sensitive offices of palace and state protocol.
This office was concerned with the organization of ceremonies before the sultan, the receptions of foreign ruling families and envoys, holiday ceremonies and Friday processions. The Director of General Protocol conducted protocol during the reception of foreign guests and their contact with the sultan; when necessary, he also performed duties of reception, hospitality and translation on behalf of the sultan.
İbrahim Paşa also served as translator of the Imperial Council, a long-established office connected with foreign languages, diplomatic correspondence and interstate contacts. Translators of the Imperial Council were not merely officials who translated documents, but diplomatic officers who played an important role in Ottoman foreign relations.
İbrahim Paşa died on 22 Rajab 1324 / 29 August 1322 in the Rumi calendar (11 September 1906) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.
Epitaph
He is the Living, the Eternal. A Fatiha for the soul of İbrahim Paşa, Translator of the Imperial Council and Minister of General Protocol. 11 September 1906.
He is the Creator, the Eternal. Ah, visitor. Perhaps you once knew me as perfect; if you saw me now, you would not recognize or know me at all. I do not know what caused this loneliness and change; only the Lord knows its secret and wisdom. Alas, just when I was in joy, the grief for my son had overwhelmed me. The ranks I obtained all belong to the mortal world; they do not raise my worth beneath the earth. They say that earth has neither joy nor fate—then what are a rose garden and a flood of calamity? Even if my soil does not hear, my soul will surely be pleased if, for instance, you offer me a Fatiha.
A Fatiha for his/her soul