K Kadız^ ade Born: 1582, Balikesir Died: 1635, Istanbul Marinos Sariyannis Institute for Mediterranean Studies/FORTH, Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas, Rethymno, Greece Abstract Kadız^ ade Mehmed Efendi, son of Mustafa (Balıkesir 1582–Istanbul 1635), was a highly influential Ottoman preacher whose revivalist ideas initiated a strong movement named after him, the Kadızadeli; he advocated the abolish- ment of innovations, especially those favored by dervish orders, and the return to the precepts of the Islamic Holy Law. Biography Son of a provincial judge, Kadızade Mehmed Efendi took his first training in his native town, Balıkesir, before moving to the Ottoman capital, Istanbul, where he became a mosque preacher. Initially, he was under the influence of a sheikh of the Halveti order of dervishes; however, he then reverted to an austere fundamentalist attitude. He served as a preacher in various mosques, begin- ning from the early 1620s, and his career culmi- nated in 1631, after his appointment as the preacher of the imperial mosque of Ayasofya (St. Sophia). In his highly popular and eloquent sermons, he attacked vehemently the dervish practices and confronted in particular with the Halveti sheikh Abd€ ulmecid Sivası ˆ Efendi (1563–1639). Apart from oral sermons, he was the author of several treatises in Ottoman Turkish or Arabic. His teachings drew a lot of supporters and influenced Sultan Murad IV’s harsh policies. Kadızade even joined Murad’s campaign against Iran in 1635; however, he fell ill and had to return to the capital, where he died a little later. Heritage and Rupture with the Tradition Kadızade’s ideas influenced deeply Ottoman pol- itics throughout the seventeenth century. They have often been characterized as “fundamental- ist” or “revivalist,” as they emphasized the need for a moral and social redressing of the Ottoman Empire through a return to what he considered strictly Islamic values and the abolition of as many innovating aspects of everyday life as pos- sible. Indeed, the main characteristics of Kadızade’s ideology were the opposition to any innovation (bid’at), as opposed to the way of life in the time of Prophet Muhammad, and especially the violent struggle against the dervish # Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 M. Sgarbi (ed.), Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_137-1