Today marks 69 years since Shaykh ul-Islām Mustafā Sabrī Effendī, the last Shaykh ul-Islām of the Ottoman Empire, left this world.
He was one of Islām’s pre-eminent scholars and thinkers of the 20th century. When the Caliphate fell into the hands of the secular Kemalist government with Atatürk coming into power, a huge crackdown was lead against religious scholars and islamic institutes, which resulted in Shaykh Mustafā Sabrī Effendī and his companion Shaykh al-Islām Muḥammad Zāhid al-Kawtharī having to flee the country and settle in Egypt.
He would go to sleep hungry and say: “This is better than supporting the tyrants!” And even 69 years after his death, the foundations of Kemalism still continue to tremble upon hearing the echoes of his blessed name.
Seven years after the death of Shaykh Mustafā Sabrī Effendī, when his grave was opened in order to bury his wife next to him, people saw that his body was completely fresh and intact like it was on the day of the burial.
He preserved Allāh’s religion while he was in this world, and Allāh preserved his body after his death.
Al-Fātiḥa for his noble soul.
