Bayezid Pasha

Summary

Bayezid Pasha, first vizier of Mehmed I — al-Sallabi credits him with commanding the second army against Börklüce Mustafa and defeating him at Qara Burnu, after Börklüce had killed the commander Shishman and routed the first ¹.

On the sultan's deathbed in 824/1421 Mehmed charged him with the succession of Murad; Bayezid and the vizier Ibrahim concealed the sultan's death for forty-one days until the heir arrived and took the reins ².

Sheikh Badr al-Din of Simavna

Sheikh Badr al-Din Mahmud ibn Isra'il, known as Ibn Qadi Simavna — son of the qadi, commander and conqueror of Simavna castle near Edirne under Murad I. The Shaqa'iq al-Nu'maniyya traced his formation through Cairo — al-Sayyid al-Sharif al-Jurjani, Akmal al-Din al-Babirti, and the Mamluk sultan Faraj ibn Barquq among his pupils — then his Sufi turn under Sheikh Sa'id al-Akhlati, until Musa Çelebi made him qadi 'askar and Mehmed's victory over Musa landed him confined at Iznik. Al-Sallabi describes his preaching there as a call to equality of wealth and religions — a doctrine the author himself brands 'corrupt', which is the historian's judgment rather than a neutral description. Backed by the prince of Wallachia he raised seven to eight thousand fighters at Deli Orman; Mehmed took the field from Serres, broke his force, and intelligence penetration delivered him prisoner — 'the sun pales, my lord, as it nears setting' — before a shari'a court sentenced him to death on the 'splitting the stick' hadith.

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Sheikh Badr al-Din of Simavna