Mehmed Şakir Efendi

Mehmed Şâkir Efendi was born in Tokat in 1872 as the son of Kemerli Ömer Efendi. His father had received ijazah from Bozzâde Ahmed Efendi. After his first education in Tokat, Mehmed Şâkir Efendi came to Istanbul and attended the lessons of Istanbul Ahmed Şâkir Efendi, receiving his ijazah in 1890.

In 1895 he passed the examination and became a dersiâm at Fatih Mosque. A dersiâm was a scholar authorized to give public lessons in the great mosques of Istanbul. Mehmed Şâkir Efendi trained a large number of students; around three hundred are recorded as having received ijazah from him.

He also pursued judicial training. In 1897 he received a third-class niyabet certificate from the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb, the school that trained deputy judges. He became an Istanbul mudarris in 1902, taught at the Mekteb-i Kudât in 1908, and in 1909 served as a member of the Meclis-i Mesâlih-i Talebe, the council concerned with student affairs.

Among his students were Ali Himmet Berki and Ömer Nasuhi Bilmen, both of whom became important figures in the religious and legal life of the Republican period. In 1912 Mehmed Şâkir Efendi was elected deputy for Tokat.

He died on 25 Safar 1331, corresponding to 21 January 1328 in the Rumi calendar and 3 February 1913 in the Gregorian calendar. He was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.