Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi

Es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mustafa Efendi, whose date of birth could not be determined, was from Ankara and was one of the leading figures of the late Ottoman ilmiye circle.

Mustafa Efendi served as chair preacher at Hagia Sophia Mosque and was among the sheikhs of the imperial mosques who preached and offered religious counsel to the public after Friday prayers.

The office of chair preacher was a respected preaching lineage formed around the major mosques in the Ottoman period; the highest rank in this lineage was regarded as the chair preacher of Hagia Sophia.

Mustafa Efendi was also one of the deputies of the Naqshbandi order. In the Sufi tradition, a deputy is a person authorized for spiritual guidance by the sheikh or master to whom he is attached; in this respect Mustafa Efendi belonged to a Sufi chain alongside his scholarly identity.

Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi died on 23 Muharram 1314 / 23 June 1312 in the Rumi calendar (5 July 1896) and was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery.