In this article, the life of Goynuklu Ibrahim Hakki Efendi will be analyzed. Ibrahim Hakki Efendi was born in Goynuk in the middle of 1294/1878 according to the Rumi calendar. Since his father was a mudarris, he has become familiar with 'ulama' circles since his childhood. He spent the first years of his education life in Goynuk, where he was born. He completed the later stages of the education process in Istanbul. He returned to Goynuk after completing his madrasa education and obtaining his ijazat and he undertook various official duties in his hometown until 1946, the date of his death. He served as the Mufti of Goynuk for the longest time among the duties he has undertaken. It is known that he had continued this duty in the last period of the Ottoman Empire and the first years of the Turkish Republic. Therefore, Ibrahim Hakki Efendi is the last mufti of the Ottoman period and the first mufti of the Republic period in Goynuk. Ibrahim Hakki Efendi is the subject of this article because we think that his position is important. According to our findings, there has not been any study on Ibrahim Hakki Efendi yet. In this respect, the article will enable Ibrahim Hakki Efendi to known in the light of archive sources and other available information/documents. The article includes informations about his life, family, education, hodjas, scientific background and the duties he undertook. In order to obtain this information, we first applied to the Istanbul Mufti's Mashikhat Archive and to the Religious Affairs Presidency Archive. From the aforementioned archives, the registry files of Ibrahim Hakki Efendi were obtained. In addition, other sources that will contribute to the article have been carefully scanned. Ibrahim Hakki Efendi took the exam of the lectern sheikhdom and was found successful after his madrasah education. But, since the appointment to the lectern sheikhdom was made according to a certain hierarchy, his turn did not come. Upon this, Ibrahim Hakki Efendi returned from Istanbul to his hometown, Goynuk and undertook a number of official duties from this date until his death. Court membership, mudarrisship and muftiship are among his official duties that he undertook. His name was chosen and determined by the local units for the duty of mufti and he was appointed to the post with the approval of Shaykh al-Islam. Ibrahim Hakki Efendi had served as the mufti of Goynuk between 1912-1946 without any interruption. His long service as a mufti is enoug to reach a positive opinion about his education, scientific knowledge, personal characteristics, and his position in the eyes of administrators and society. Because the fact that a person has held the same post for thirty-four years is at least a sign of trust in him. However, when he was first appointed as mufti, some objections were raised against him. It is possible to list these objections under the headings such as taking sides in favor of Ibrahim Hakki Efendi when he was elected as the mufti, ignoring the applications of other candidates and his lack of scientific knowledge. These objections that submitted to the officials were not ignored by the local authorities, on the contrary, they were addressed. Even, these objections were investigated by more than one governmental institution. As a result of the investigations, it was determined that the allegations made against Ibrahim Hakki Efendi were unfounded. As a result, this amount of information has been identified for Ibrahim Hakki Efendi at least for now. It would be appropriate to state that the contents of the article is open to improvement with the information and documents that are likely to be obtained later.
