Osman Fazli

Osman Fazli
Osman Fazli's tomb is at Famagusta, Cyprus
Born	7 July 1632 Shumnu, today Bulgaria
Died	1691 (aged 58–59) Famagusta, Cyprus
Resting place	Famagusta, Cyprus
Other names	Atpazarî Osman Fazlı-Allah, Kutup Osman Fazlı
Ethnicity	Turkish people
Occupation	Sheikh, Author,
Religion	Islam
Jurisprudence	Sunni
Movement	Sufism
Main interest(s)	Mysticism, Theology
Notable work(s)	Commentaries on Ibn Arabi and Sadreddîn Konevî
Sufi order	Jelveti
Influenced by Muhammad, Ibn 'Arabi, Sadreddîn Konevî, Mahmud Hudayi, Muk'ad Ahmed, Mes’ud Çelebi, Zakirzade Abdullah,.
Influenced Ismail Hakki Bursevi

Osman Fazli (Turkish: Atpazarı Osman Fazlı-ilahi or Kutb Osman Fazlı), was a Jelveti Sufi spiritual guide in 17th-century Ottoman Empire. He spent c.25 years teaching and preaching, and became head Sheikh of the order in Istanbul and led the studies, conversation, meditation, and dhikr. But when he was about 48 it was revealed to him that the Ottoman Empire would fall into ruin, and, although he was of reclusive temperament, felt the only way to care for its population was to be at the Sultan's court. There he was outspoken against many of the Grand Vizier's plans: that they would bring disaster and misfortune, and he was proven right. He spent some years at court but when he declared one Grand Vizier's plan as against the sharia and distorting the Quran, the only way the Vizier could silence him was with exile. Osman Fazli went into retreat but emerged with a different course of action: he was leading a band of Sufis towards the battlefront when he was arrested and exiled for good. Osman Fazli exemplifies the Jelveti way: that following union with Allah he returns and acts in the world. He is hushyar (awake).

Osman Fazli was born 7 July 1632 (19 Zilhicce 1040 A.H) in Shumnu, today Shumen in present-day north east Bulgaria but then part of the Ottoman empire. Osman Fazli's father, Seyyid Fethullah, was a learned person of very severe temperament and educated Osman Fazli himself, however he died when Osman was about ten and the boy ceased studies for a while. But when he heard an itinerant poet praising the value of spiritual knowledge, he was inspired to take up such studies and moved first to Edirne in Thrace to the classes of Jelveti Saçlı Ibrahim. He was next sent to the main Jelveti tekke in Uskudar, Istanbul whose principal Jelveti Saçlı Ibrahim, a holy ecstatic (meczup), had appointed one of his pupils, Zakirzade Abdullah Efendi, as the spiritual guide to seekers. Osman, on meeting Zakirzade, cried: "Now I have found my sheykh." Zakirzade Abdullah, now an old man, replied: "At last a student with real certainty in God has come to us. For so many years we have performed this service here without coming across such strength of spirit as this," later adding that Osman had the natural ‘mashrab’ (way of drinking) of Sheykh al Akbar Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi. Because Osman Fazlı exemplified the way of service, all the knowledges were inspired into his heart.