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Sheik Edebali was a religious leader and father of Osman I's wife.

Seyh Edebali was born at 1206 but the definite information about his place of birth doesn’t exist.

According to some sources he was born in Karaman, an important city for Seljuk Empire. But in some sources it is written that Seyh Edebali was born in Horasan, an important Turkish region in Central Asia, and he migrated to Anatolia with nomadic Turks. He was a student of Necmeddin ez-Zahidi while he was studying law of Islam at Karaman. After he finished his education at Karaman, he went to Damascus and studied Islam. In Damascus; he was the student of famous Islam philosophers, Sadreddin Süleyman Ebül-iz and Cemalettin el-Hasiri. When he ended his study at Damascus, he returned back to Anatolia and settled down to Itburnu Village around Eskisehir.

It is known that Edebali was a very wealthy man but he had spent his money for other people. He had built a zaviye, a middle sized dervish lodge, in Itburnu Village. He was helping poor people and giving them food in his lodge. As an addition to that, he had some students studying Islam and Islamic law in his zaviye. He was enlightening Turkish Muslim people living at the region.

He had met with Ertugrul Ghazi, an Uj Bey and the father of Osman Ghazi, many times and they made long conversations on Islam and the state. Osman Ghazi had been his guest in his lodge many times and he had been a mentor for Osman Ghazi. Osman had seen his well known dream one night while he was a guest of Edebali in his lodge. In his dream Osman saw that moon comes out from Edebali’s chest and gets into his own chest than a tree comes out from Osman’s chest and it ramified. Osman had seen that people, rivers and horsed under the tree. When he woke up next morning, he told Edebali his dream immediately. Edebali said that the moon represents Edebali’s daughter, Malhun Hatun, and she would be Osman’s wife. And Edebali continued as, this marriage will lead to a family and a great empire which was symbolized by the tree in his dream. After all Osman married to Edebali’s daughter, Malhun Hatun who is the mother of Orhan Ghazi who is the second leader of Ottoman Empire after Osman Ghazi. Edebali was also called as a Molla. He is considered as the spiritual founder of Ottoman Empire and also he had been the first Kadi the empire. It is believed that Edebali joined to many fights with Osman Ghazi. After Osman Ghazi conquered Bilecik, Edebali moved his zaviye to there and continued his works in Bilecik. Edebali had been the leader of Ahi organization until his death. He died at the age of 120 at 1326 in Bilecik. His tomb is still in his lodge at Bilecik. His daughter, Malhun Hatun, died a month later and Osman Ghazi died three months later after his death.

According to some sources; if Mevlana had met with Yunus Emre, he also met with Seyh Edebali. The reason of such a possibility is that both Yunus Emre and Edebali lived at regions, which are close to each other. This is not definite information but an important issue at the Islamic Turkish history.

His counseling speech to Osman Ghazi

His counseling speech to Osman Ghazi when Osman became the leader is very important in order to understand the Ottoman rulers and society. His words had been considered as the only truth and Ottoman sultans ruled their empire and people in it through those words for centuries.

"My son, now, you are the leader! From now on wrath is for us; the calmness is for you. Being offended is for us; pleasing is for you. The impeachment is for us; to endure is for you. Incapacity and mistakes are for us; tolerance is for you. Disagreements and disparity are for us, justice is for you. Unfairness is for us; forgiveness is for you. Dividing is for us, completing is for you. Slothfulness is for us, warning and guiding is for you. son! My son, your burden is heavy, your duty is difficult and your power is like up to a hair. May Allah Teala be with you. Hope that Allah would make your beylik sacred and beneficial for Islam. Hope that Allah make your light brighter and expand your beylik to far lands. Pray Allah to give you a heart and a mind which can carry your load. You and your followers should lead with your swords; and we, the dervishes, must think and pray for you so we can reach to our aims. May Allah Teala be with you."

• Foundation of Ottoman Empire

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