He was born in Kütahya. His real name was Ali, and his pen name was Fenâî. There is insufficient information about his family and educational background. It is said that his family were sayyids. He went to Istanbul and became a disciple of the Celvetiyye sheikh Selâmi Ali Efendi. After receiving his ijaza, he went to Manisa, where he had a mosque and a tekke built and began his spiritual guidance activities. Following the death of his spiritual guide, Selâmi Ali Efendi (1104/1692), he returned to Istanbul and became the postnişin at his sheikh’s tekke in Selâmsız, Üsküdar. Together with his dervishes, he participated in Baltacı Mehmed Pasha’s Prut campaign as the “army sheikh” (1123/1711). In 1126 (1714), he handed over the tekke in Selâmsız to another sheikh and moved to the tekke he had built in the Pazarbaşı neighborhood of Üsküdar, which is known by his name. He passed away after thirty-two years of spiritual guidance there. The inscribed poem on the tomb adjacent to the tekke is by Kilisli Hüseyin Efendi, who also served for a time as the qadi of Edirne. Hüseyin Efendi recorded the date of his death with the verse, “Kıldı es-Seyyid Fenâyî dâr-ı firdevsi makām” (Ayvansarâyî, II, 222). The flag that Fenâî carried during the Prut campaign was draped over his coffin, and the banner given to him was erected at his head.
Fenâî Ali Efendi, exercising his own judgment in accordance with the practices of the Celvetiyye order, increased the number of turns in the Celvetî turban to nineteen—the number of letters in the basmala. The top of the turban is orange, and the rest is green. Although Fenâî Ali Efendi was associated with a branch of the Celvetiyye known as the Fenâiyye, this branch never developed into an independent order.
Although it is said that Ali Efendi, who wrote poetry under the pen name Fenâî, had a compiled divan (Güner, p. 141), no such information is found in older sources. Based on a hymn of his included in Hüseyin Vassâf’s *Sefîne* (III, 65) and a couplet in *Osmanlı Müellifleri* (I, 83), it is difficult to pass judgment on his poetic talent; however, it can be said that these hymns are sincere expressions of his religious sentiments.
After Ali Efendi’s death, his successor Abdullah Rıfkı Efendi (d. 1184/1770) and Rıfkı Efendi’s son Mehmed Nazif Efendi (d. 1207/1792), Mehmed Şâkir Efendi (d. 1225/1810), Mehmed Efendi (d. 1261/1845), Mehmed Şâkir Efendi (d. 1302/1884), İhsan Efendi, and finally Mehmed Şâkir Efendi (d. 1951) served as postnişins.
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The transcription of the tombstone inscription was completed on July 20, 2026, by Mr. Furkan Yiğit Gürleyik.
Fenai Ali Efendi’s Tomb and Cemetery: Mustafa Haşim Bey’s Tombstone
(Meter: Fâilâtün/Feilâtün/Fâilün)
Having drunk the nectar
from the cup of fate, O
Allah, I have found solace
in the realm of transience. I now
fulfill the will of my predecessor, for Allah has granted me the honor of serving as the acting chief physician of the imperial
armyof His Majesty
the Sultan. Having retired
from the post of Chief Physician, he passed away while holding the office of Sheikh at the noble
dervish lodge of
Hazret-i Fenâyî of the Celvetiyye Order of the Highest Orderto
the Abode of Eternity, may Allah have mercy on his soul. For the soul of the late Mustafa
Haşim Bey, recite the Fatiha
. Year 1295, on the 2nd of Shawwal
