İsameddin Onan Efendi

İsameddin Onan Efendi was born in 1867 as the son of Fethullah Fehmi Efendi, mufti of Siroz. He belonged to the Müftüzâdeler, one of the rooted scholarly families of the Balkans. His brother Mehmed Esad Serezli was also an important scholar, teacher and writer.

İsameddin Onan Efendi was remembered as the last Ottoman mufti of Siroz. After the family migrated to Istanbul, he continued his scholarly and teaching life there. He served as a professor at the Medresetü’l-Mütehassisîn and the Dârülhilâfe Medresesi, institutions that represented the higher levels of late Ottoman religious education.

He also taught in modern schools such as the Girls’ and Boys’ Teacher Schools and the Mercan and Gelenbevi high schools. This wide teaching activity shows his place at the intersection of classical religious learning and modern education.

His daughter Faika Onan became a philosophy teacher and served as principal of Istanbul Girls’ High School and Erenköy Girls’ High School. His son Kemal Onan was active in the press world. Through the same family line, the names of Serezli Mehmed Esad and the later actor Metin Serezli also belong to this wider scholarly and cultural circle.

İsameddin Onan Efendi died in 1952. After the funeral prayer at Beyazıt Mosque, he was buried in the family plot near the tomb of Mehmed the Conqueror in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery. His father and daughter were also buried in the same family plot. His gravestone bears the signature of the calligrapher Hâmid Aytaç.