Evliya Çelebi

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evliya_%C3%87elebi

Evliya Çelebi was born Mehmed Zilli in 1611 Constantinople to a wealthy family from Kütahya. His father was Derviş Mehmed Zilli, an Ottoman court jeweller, and mother an Abkhazian relative of the later grand vizier Melek Ahmed Pasha.[2] Evliya Çelebi received a court education from the Imperial ulema.[3] He may have joined the Gülşenî sufi order, as he shows an intimate knowledge of the sufi lodge in Cairo, and a graffito in which he referred to himself as "Evliya-yı Gülşenî" (Evliya of the Gülşenî).[citation needed] A devout Muslim opposed to fanaticism, Evliya could recite the Koran from memory and joked freely about Islam. Though employed as a religious expert and entertainer to the Ottoman grandees, Evliya refused employment that would keep him from travelling.[3] His journal writing began in Constantinople, taking notes on buildings, markets, customs and culture, and in 1640 it was extended with accounts of his travels beyond the confines of the city. The collected notes of Evilya Çelebi's travels form a ten-volume work called the Seyahatname ("Travelogue"). He fought the Habsburgs in Transylvania. Evliya Çelebi died sometime after 1682: it is unclear whether he was in Constantinople or Cairo at the time.