Sheikh Edebali Tomb: Osman Gazi’s Mentor in Bilecik

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1. What is the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?
2. How do you get to the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?
3. When is the best time to visit the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?
4. What is the history of the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?
5. What is the Sheikh Edebali Tomb famous for?
6. What can you see at the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?
7. Common misconceptions about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb
8. Frequently asked questions about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb
9. What do the official records say about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

What is the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

The Sheikh Edebali Tomb (Şeyh Edebali Türbesi) in Bilecik is the burial place of the religious scholar and Ahi leader whom Turkish tradition regards as the spiritual architect of the Ottoman state. Edebali was the father of Bala Hatun, wife of Osman Gazi, and Osman was a frequent guest at his dervish lodge.

The tomb stands beside the Orhan Gazi Mosque in the old part of Bilecik. It is a place of pilgrimage for Turkish visitors and the focus of the town’s main festival: every year on 6 September, Bilecik celebrates its liberation together with Sheikh Edebali festivities, and during Ahilik Week guests are served festival pilaf and grapes near the tomb.

How do you get to the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

The tomb is in Bilecik town, which is on the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway. From Bilecik YHT station, take a taxi or local bus into town; the tomb and the Orhan Gazi Mosque are in the old quarter and signposted. By road, Bilecik is about 80 km from Eskişehir, 95 km from Bursa and 250 km from Istanbul. Söğüt, with the tomb of Ertuğrul Gazi, is about 30 km away, and most visitors see both on the same day.

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When is the best time to visit the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

The tomb can be visited year-round. To see it at its liveliest, come in early September for the liberation and Sheikh Edebali festivities on 6 September and Ahilik Week in the second week of the month, when a mevlit is recited at the Orhan Gazi Mosque. For a quieter visit, choose a weekday in spring or autumn. Dress modestly, as you would for a mosque, and keep your voice down inside the tomb.

What is the history of the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

Accounts of Edebali’s early life differ. The 2002 provincial inventory says he was born in Khorasan in 1208 (the provincial directorate now gives 1206 in Merv, in the same region), spent his childhood there, migrated as a young man with Turkmen tribes to the Adana region and settled around Karaman, and then went to Damascus to study under the great scholars of the day. Other sources give his birthplace as Kırşehir in central Anatolia. All agree that he settled in the Bilecik area and became a leading figure of the Ahi brotherhood, the network of craftsmen’s guilds that shaped the towns of 13th-century Anatolia.

According to the inventory, Edebali, as an Ahi sheikh, organised the general rules of the Ahi order and put them into practice. Everyone respected him for his wisdom and modesty in religious, scholarly and social matters, and Ertuğrul Gazi and Osman Gazi received great help from the Ahis, and especially from Edebali, during the founding of the Ottoman state. He served as the first kadı (judge) of the young state and is said to have given Osman his gazi sword. His daughter Bala Hatun married Osman.

Edebali died in Bilecik in 1326, the year Bursa fell to the Ottomans, and was buried here. According to the Bilecik Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, Edebali had moved his zaviye (dervish lodge) to Bilecik after the Ottomans took the town, and he was buried in the room of the lodge that served as a masjid. His wife, his daughter, the scholar Molla Hattab-ı Karahisari, Sheikh Muhlis Baba and some of his relatives were buried with him (Bilecik Culture and Tourism Directorate).

What is the Sheikh Edebali Tomb famous for?

• Its link to the founding of the Ottoman state through Edebali’s role as Osman Gazi’s mentor and father-in-law.
• The Ahi tradition: Edebali is remembered as one of the first Ahi sheikhs of Anatolia, and Ahilik Week is celebrated here.
• The September festivities, with pilaf and grapes served near the tomb.

What can you see at the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

The tomb. The grave of Sheikh Edebali, visited by pilgrims and by Turkish families on the trail of Ottoman history. Besides Edebali, the tomb holds the graves of his wife, his daughter, the scholar Molla Hattab-ı Karahisari and Sheikh Muhlis Baba.

The Orhan Gazi Mosque. Next to the tomb, named after Osman’s son and successor Orhan; during the festivities a mevlit is recited here.

Old Bilecik. The surrounding streets have many restored Ottoman houses, and the Clock Tower built under Abdülhamid II looks down on the town from the slope above.

Common misconceptions about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb

Is Sheikh Edebali buried in Eskişehir?

What people often assume: Some sources, including the 2002 Eskişehir provincial tourism inventory, place his tomb in the Odunpazarı cemetery in Eskişehir.

What the record says: Edebali died in Bilecik in 1326, and his tomb is in Bilecik beside the Orhan Gazi Mosque (Bilecik Culture and Tourism Directorate).

Frequently asked questions about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb

What do the official records say about the Sheikh Edebali Tomb?

Sheikh Edebali, father-in-law of Osman Gazi, one of the first Ahi sheikhs of Anatolia and a scholar without a madrasa, was born in Khorasan in 1208. Having spent his childhood in Khorasan, the sheikh migrated in his youth with Turkmen tribes, came to the Adana region and settled in the Karaman area. After staying there for a while he went to Damascus to study, completed his education there and took lessons from the great scholars of the time. Edebali, who was an Ahi sheikh, organised the general rules of the Ahi order and put them into practice.

Everyone respected Sheikh Edebali for his wisdom and modesty in religious, scholarly and social matters. Ertuğrul Gazi and Osman Gazi received great help from the Ahis, and especially from Edebali, in the founding period of the Ottoman state. (Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Bilecik Provincial Tourism Inventory, 2002)