BEDREDDIN

born Dec. 3, 1358, Samawna, Ottoman Empire died December 1416/20, Srrai byname of Badr Ad-din Ibn Qadi Samawna Ottoman theologian, jurist, and mystic whose social doctrines of communal ownership of property led to a large-scale popular uprising. A convert to Sufism (Islamic mysticism), in 1383 Bedreddin undertook the pilgrimage to Mecca, and, upon his return to Cairo, he was appointed tutor to the Mamluk crown prince of Egypt. He then traveled as a Sufi missionary throughout Asia Minor. His communalistic doctrines made him a popular preacher, and in 1410 he was appointed a military judge by Msa, a claimant to the Ottoman throne. On the defeat of Msa in 1413, Bedreddin was banished to the Ottoman city of Iznik. During his exile Bedreddin further refined his doctrines and maintained contact with a secret society that in 1416 staged a social uprising, of which he became the ideological head. Upon the collapse of the rebellion, he was arrested, and, after a trial of dubious legality, he was convicted and hanged.