In existographies, Mahomet Effendi (c.1615-c.1665) (FA:68), aka Lari Mehmed Efendi, was a Turkish intellectual noted for being executed for the crime of atheism, specifically for things such as denying the raising of the dead for the Last Judgment, abstaining from the religious obligations of prayer and fasting, and supposedly denying the existence of Allah.
Overview
In 1665, or earlier (c.1655), Effendi was executed for the crime of atheism; according to British historian Paul Rycaut (1629-1700) (Ѻ), as recounted in his 1665 The Present State of the Ottoman Empire, this event occured “in his time” as “he remembers”, which would loosely date the execution to possibly within the last decade in retrospect or circa 1655; specifically, from the 1666 sixth corrected edition, Rycaut states: [2]
“These then give themselves the title of Muserin, which signifies: the true secret is with us; which secret, is no other than the absolute denial of a deity, that nature or the intrinsical principal in every individual thing directs the orderly course which we see and admire; and that the heavens, sun, moon and stars have thence their original and motion, and that man himself rises and fades like the grass or flower; It is strange to consider, what quantities there are of men that maintain this principle in Constantinople, most of which are Kaddees and learned men in the Arabian legends, and others are renegades from the Christian faith, who conscious of the sin of their apostacy, and therefore desirous that all things may conclude with this world, are the more apt to entertain those opinions which come nearest to their wishes. One of this sect called Mahomet Effendi, a rich man, educated in the knowledge of the Eastern learning, I remember, was in my time executed for impudently proclaiming his blasphemies against the being of a deity; making it in his ordinary discourse, an argument against the being of a god, for that either there was none at all, or else not so wise as the doctors preached he was, in suffering him to live who was the greatest enemy and scorner of a divine essence that ever came into the world. And it is observable, that this man might notwithstanding his accusation have saved his life, would he but have confessed his error, and promised for the future an assent to the principles of a better: but he persisted still in his blasphemies, saying, that though there were no reward, yet the love of truth obliged him to dye a martyr. I must confess until now, I never could believe that there was a formal atheism in the world, concluding that the principle (of the being of a god) was demonstrable by the light of nature; but it is evident now how far some men have extinguished this light and lamp in their souls.”
The event, of ironic sake, according to the 2018 banned/censored Turkish Wikipedia entry on Lari Mehmed Efendi (Ѻ), occurred on Friday 2 Nov 1665 in Istanbul.
In 2011, Marc Baer, in his Honored by the Glory of Islam, states that the execution occurred in 1865 and describes it as follows: [3]
“Lari Mehmed Efendi was an important Muslim in Istanbul society. He was wealthy and a member of the religious class. He was also an imam and respected for his knowledge and intelligence. But Abdi Pasha, who was given the report requesting the execution of Lari Mehmed Efendi by the sultan, relates that he was notorious for his heretical beliefs. More than forty witnesses ascertained that Lari Mehmed Efendi denied the raising of the dead for the Last Judgment and the religious obligations of prayer and fasting, all the while deeming the consumption of wine lawful. He gathered a number of Muslims around him who shared his views. He did not deny his beliefs. A fatwa was decreed permitting his execution, which was duly carried out. Mehmed IV approved his execution and insisted that Abdi Pasha include it in his chronicle; he wanted to make an example of a Muslim who denied core principles of the sultan's pious faith. After exposing him to public view at Parmak Gate, where the patriarch had been hanged less than a decade earlier, they decapitated him.”
In 2016, Iiker Binbas, in his Intellectual Networks in Timurid Iran, reports that the event occurred in 1665, that it was “much publicized” and recorded in Ottoman chronicles: [2]
“The atheist Mahomet Effendi, a very learned wealthy Istanbulite, was executed for proclaiming impudently ‘his blasphemies against the being of deity’. Mahomet Effendi was in fact Lan Mehmed Efendi, a very well-known atheist whose much publicized trial and execution in 1665 was recorded in contemporary Ottoman chronicles. After his execution, his library was transferred to the treasury and then sold off at the book marker. For some reason, the palace then wanted the books back and the books, which included Larrs nachlass and books in European languages, were repurchased for the palace from the second-hand book-stores of Istanbul. It is a pity that in the archival document recording the repurchase of the books, the titles of the books in European languages are not recorded.”
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Quotes | On
The following are quotes on Effendi:
“One can add to the example of Vanini that of a certain Mahomet Efendi who was executed in Constantinople not so very long ago for having made known his beliefs denying the existence of god. He could have saved his life by confessing his error and by promising to renounce it for the future; but he preferred to persist in his blasphemies, saying that "although he had no reward to expect, the love of truth obliged him to suffer martyrdom in support of it." A man who speaks thus necessarily has an idea of decency; and if he presses his obstinacy so far as to die for atheism, it must be that he has so raging a desire to be a martyr for it that he would be capable of exposing himself to the same torments even if he were not an atheist.”
— Pierre Bayle (1682), Various Thoughts on the Occasion of the Comet (Ѻ); via citation to the 1670 French translation of Paul Rycaut’s The Present State of the Ottoman Empire
“Effendi was executed for having advanced some notions against the existence of god.”
— Bernard Mandeville (1714), Fable of the Bees (Ѻ)
Quotes | By
The following are quotes by Effendi:
“Although there is no recompense to be looked for, yet truth is truth, and the love of it constrains me to die in its defense.”
— Mahomet Effendi (c.1655), Turkish atheist (Ѻ) for his atheism
References
1. (a) Rycaut, Paul. (1665). The Present State of the Ottoman Empire: Containing the Maxims of the Turkish Politie, the Most Material Points of the Mahometan Religion, Their Sects and Heresies, Their Converts and Religious Votaries (§12: Concerning the New and Modern Sects amongst the Turks, pgs. 128-; Effendi, pg. 130). London: John Starkey, 1670.
(b) See: 1666 sixth edition corrected (Ѻ) for an example statement; first edition is difficult to find.
2. Binbas, Iiker E. (2016). Intellectual Networks in Timurid Iran (pg. 289). Cambridge University Press.
3. Baer, Marc D. (2011). Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman Europe (pg. 114). Oxford University Press.
External links
● Lari Mehmed (Turkish → English) – Wikipedia.
