He is the erudite scholar, the rational, the astute, the dialectical, the linguist, the exegete, the verifier the thorough investigator, the master, the Sun of the Religion, ʾAḥmad ʾIbn Sulaymān ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā. He was attributed to his grandfather Kamāl Pāšā, so he was known as ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā or Kamāl Pāšā Zādah or Ibn Al-Kamāl Al-Wazīr. He was also well known as Muftī Aṯ-Ṯaqalayn (the giver of legal verdicts of the two worlds) due to the expansiveness of his insight over the Islamic sciences regarding the differing areas, and the strength of his judicial proceedings and the distinction of his successions and his emancipations.
He was born in the year 873 AH in the city of Tokat om the vicinity of Sivas. He grew in a house of honour and status. His father, Sulaymān ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā was from the chiefs of the Islamic Khangate armies in the time of Sulṭān Muḥammad Al-Fātiḥ. He partook in the conquest of Constantinople with the army of the Sanjaks of Amasya in the year 857 AH. After the conquest, he became a trustee for the army of the Sulṭān with the rank of Subaşi[1], which is a position of the one who is competent to control a town/country on behalf of the Sulṭān. He passed away in Istanbul. He was buried to the side of the school of his father, Kamāl, beside him. Just as his father had a noble rank, so did his grandfather, who was from the commanders of the Ottoman government and the spiritual mentor (Murabbī) for Sulṭān Bāyizīd the Second. And he was someone who was in the good graces of the Sulṭāns such that he became Nişancı[2] of the Sulṭānic divans.
His mother, she is the daughter of the honoured master Muḥyī Ad-Dīn Muḥammad who was famously known as ʾIbn Kūbalū. He passed away 874 AH. He was from the famous scholars known for virtue in their time. Sulṭān Muḥammad Al-Fātiḥ made him a judge (Qāḍī) after taking on some responsibilities. Then he discharged him in the year 872 AH. And he had two daughters. The first of them married the master, Sinān Pāšā, and the second one married Sulaymān Çelebi ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā. He had a son from her, whose name is Aḥmad Šāh. He is an erudite scholar, known as ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā.
The erudite scholar ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā in his youth, grew in this honour and status. Love of perfection overpowered him. He was busied with the noble science – whilst he was young – night and day. He spent a quarter of his life in acquiring every virtue. He exchanged the youthfulness of his years in acquisition of knowledge. Then he joined the troop of the people of the army, hence he stopped his pursuit of knowledge. He continued to be busy and he rose the ranks of the army. He would be on the lookout to attack discreet army chiefs, like his father and his grandfather, however youthfulness – as aforementioned – altered what he could see, so he left the army and clung to the scholars. So, the erudite scholar ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā would continue to drink from the sweetness of the springs of the scholars, and the greatest ones of the virtuous, such that he became a teacher at Madrasaħ ‘Alīyy Bik in Edirne. He then became a teacher at Madrasaħ ʾUskūb. He then became a teacher at Madrasaħ Al-Ḥalabīyyaħ in Edirne. Thereafter he became a teacher at the last two schools in Edirne. He then became a teacher at one of the Madrasaħs of Ṯamān. He then became a teacher at the Madrasaħ of Sulṭān Bāyizīd Ḵān in Edirne. He then became the Qāḍī of it. Thereafter he became the Qāḍī of the victorious army in the province of Anatolia. He was then dispatched from that position and given the Madrasah of Dār Al-Ḥadīth in Edirne and he was assigned 100 dirhams every day. Then he became a teacher at the Madrasaħ of Sulṭān Bāyizīd Ḵān in Edirne for a second time. Then he became a Muftī of the city of Constantinople after the passing Mawlā ‘Alāʾ Ad-Dīn ‘Alīyy Al-Jamālanīyy. ʾIbn Kamāl Pāšā passed away whilst he was a Muftī in 940 AH.
Completed on: Tuesday 24th Rabīʿ Al-Awwal 1445 AH (10th October 2023) Faizan Al-Karachi Al-Maddāḥ
[1] This is an Ottoman gubernatorial title given to a commander of a town or a castle.
[2] This is a high post in Ottomon government. This is a role that consisted of sealing the precepts of the Sulṭān and the Wazīr, supervising the divan’s archives and keeping the records of the timar system.
Faqir Ink 