Gedikhasanlı Şakir Efendi Shrine

Mehmet Şakir Suntay, known as Gedikhasanlı Şakir Efendi, originally hailed from the Cami-i Kebir neighborhood of Kayseri, though his family later settled in the village of Gedikhasanlı in Yozgat. Born in Yozgat in 1853 as the middle son of Ali Efendi, from the Kayseri family known as the "Cücezadeler," Şakir Efendi began his education in his home village and then completed studies at the Osmanpaşa Medrese. He subsequently traveled to Kayseri, where he received his teaching certification (icazet) from the noted scholar Müritzade Ali Efendi and others, before returning to Yozgat. There he taught as a müderris (professor) at the Demirli Medrese through both the late Ottoman and early Republican periods, and also lectured for a time at his alma mater, the Osmanpaşa Medrese. After Turkey's medreses were closed, he withdrew to his home village, continuing to serve as imam-hatip and spiritual guide to the local community. Over his lifetime he trained numerous students in Yozgat and Osmanpaşa, including the Naqshbandi sheikh Şeyhzade Ahmet Efendi and Mufti Hulusi Akyol. Deeply versed in Arabic, hadith and especially Qur'anic sciences and exegesis, Şakir Efendi is said — according to those who knew him well, though no official document confirms it — to have passed the doctoral-level ruus examination and earned the title of dersiam, yet to have declined the state stipend to which this entitled him. Despite remaining physically healthy, he lost his sight entirely in his final years and died in Gedikhasanlı village in 1937, where he was buried in the village cemetery. His grave was later developed by his admirers into a pilgrimage site, and continues to be visited as a place of religious devotion to this day.