Molla Fenari

Mulla Shams ad-Din Muhammad ibn Hamzah al-Fanari, known as Molla Fenari, was an Ottoman logician, Islamic theologian, Islamic legal scholar, and mystical philosopher. He followed the school of Ibn ʿArabī. Born in 1350 in Bursa, Ottoman Empire, his early life and birthplace are not well documented. He studied under several notable scholars and traveled to Egypt to study Hanafi jurisprudence. Sultan Bayezid I appointed him as the judge of Bursa in 1390. After a period of civil war following Bayezid I's death, during which Fanari lectured in Egypt and Hejaz, he returned to the Ottoman court under Sultan Murad II in 1421. In 1424, Murad II appointed him as the qādī of the military, a position that would evolve into the Sheikh ul-Islam. Fanari held this position along with his professorship and judgeship until his death in Bursa in 1431. He specialized in logic and jurisprudence, with his work on logic being highly regarded.