Rıza Beyefendi

Ali Rıza Beyefendi, whose date of birth could not be determined, was the younger son of İşkodralı Mustafa Şerîfî Paşa.

His father Mustafa Paşa, a member of the Buşatlı family, was an important Ottoman statesman who was influential in the politics of Shkodra and Rumelia in the first half of the 19th century, and later served in various governorships and as Şeyhülharem-i Nebevî in Medina.

Rıza Beyefendi served as a member of the Şûrâ-yı Devlet in the Ottoman central bureaucracy. Established in 1868, the Şûrâ-yı Devlet was an important Bâbıâli institution that functioned as an administrative judiciary and advisory body, discussing draft laws and regulations, examining administrative matters, and playing a role in certain trial processes concerning state officials.

Rıza Beyefendi also had a family connection with the palace circle. He married Hayriye Hanım Sultan, daughter of Âdile Sultan, the daughter of Sultan Mahmud II. Hayriye Hanım Sultan, who died of tuberculosis at a young age, was remembered with deep sorrow of separation in the poems of her mother Âdile Sultan.

The Mevlevî sikke on Rıza Beyefendi’s gravestone is a striking detail recalling the family’s ties with Sufi circles. His father Mustafa Şerîfî Paşa is also described in sources as a statesman of Mevlevî inclination.

Ali Rıza Beyefendi died on 5 Rabi al-Akhir 1316 (23 August 1898) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.