Molla 'Abd al-Karim al-Rumi

Mulla Abd al-Karim ibn Abdallah al-Rumi al-Hanafi was born into slavery, and God later granted him freedom. He then devoted himself to seeking knowledge, mastered several disciplines and gained many virtues. He studied with Mulla al-Tusi and with Mulla Sinan al-Ajami, a student of Mulla Muhammad Shah al-Fanari ¹.

He then became a teacher at one of the eight madrasas that Sultan Muhammad Khan al-Fatih built when he conquered Constantinople. Later he was appointed judge of the army, and then mufti in the reign of Sultan Muhammad, and he kept issuing fatwas until he died in the year 901. He wrote glosses on the opening sections of al-Talwih ¹. In this way the man who had been a slave the day before became the mufti of Constantinople in the time of al-Fatih, a career that sums up the doors that learning opened in that state.