Mehmed Nuri Efendi

Seyyid Medeni Mehmed Nuri Efendi (24 November 1859 – 29 July 1927) was an Islamic scholar, qadi (judge), and the last Sheikh al-Islam of the Ottoman Empire.

Biography Medeni Mehmed Nuri was born on November 24, 1859, in the Sultantepe neighborhood of Üsküdar district, Istanbul. His father was el-Hajji es-Seyyid Tarsusizade Osman Kamil Efendi of Istanbul and lived in the city between 1821 and 1896. Medeni Mehmed Nuri's mother was Fındıkzade (Fındıkgil) Sherife Hatija Hanım. Nuri Efendi grew up in the Vefa district of Istanbul, started his primary education with his father, graduated from the Şehzade and Fatih Mosque madrasas and "Mekteb-i Nüvvab", and became an Istanbul professor.

Nuri Efendi was appointed as a Shaykh al-Islam on September 26, 1920, when the government resigned, and was appointed as Sheik al-Islam again on November 4, 1920, when the last Ottoman cabinet was established. He was staunchly against the division of the office of the Caliph and insisted that the office did not just represent the Ottomans but of all Muslims in the world. When the Grand National Assembly of Turkey abolished the Sultanate on November 1, 1922, he resigned together with the last Ottoman government and the office of Shaykh al-Islam ended in its Ottoman form. The post continued in the form of head of the Diyanet (Directorate of Religious Affairs) in the newly formed Republic of Turkey. He was not counted as one of the 150 personae non gratae of Turkey, but his pension was not paid because he had been in the cabinet of Damat Ferit Pasha.