Söğüt / Places to visit / İlk hutbe
Dursun Fakıh Tomb
Founding period · Küre village · 20 km from the centre
Söğüt's sights are gathered in the town centre; this tomb is the exception. It stands in the village of Küre, on a hill 550 metres above sea level, commanding the country around. On clear days the Şeyh Edebali Tomb in Bilecik can be seen from here; the distance between the two, as the crow flies, is 14.5 kilometres.
Who was Dursun Fakıh?
A scholar born in Karaman. He was Şeyh Edebali's student and later his son-in-law, which made him Osman Gazi's brother-in-law by marriage. He studied Qur'anic exegesis, hadith and jurisprudence under Edebali.
His place in the Ottoman story comes from this: after the conquest of Karacahisar he read the first Friday sermon in Osman Gazi's name. According to the sources this was the first sermon read as a sign of the principality's independence. Dursun Fakıh is also regarded as the Ottoman state's first judge and first prayer leader. A work of his, the Gazavatnâme, survives.
A contradiction in the dates. The Bilecik Governorship's page on Dursun Fakıh dates this sermon to 28 September 1299. But the same governorship's history page, and the Encyclopaedia of Islam of the Turkish Religious Foundation, give the conquest of Karacahisar and the first sermon as 1289. This ten-year gap is not resolved in the sources.
Is this a grave or a memorial?
There is no clean answer, and you should know that as you read.
The Bilecik Governorship presents this straightforwardly as a tomb and writes that hundreds visit it daily. The Encyclopaedia of Islam of the Turkish Religious Foundation, on the other hand, states that Dursun Fakıh's grave is in Bilecik, in the tomb within the Şeyh Edebali lodge; it adds that two further memorial shrines are attributed to him, one at Karacahisar and the other near the village of Küre in Söğüt.
So by the encyclopaedic source the structure here is not the actual grave but a memorial. This is common with figures of the founding period and does not lessen the visit — but it is worth knowing which is which.
From the air. The winding approach road is visible. 
The interior. Cenotaph, tiled panels and chandelier. 
The front. An earlier state of the building. 
The tomb with the village of Küre behind it. 
The side elevation. Cypresses and the stone retaining wall. 
From a distance. The tomb stands on the summit.
The village of Küre
The name may sound familiar: the healing pilaf distributed at the festival is also cooked here, in Küre. The two stops can be fitted into the same day.
Getting there
At the 20th kilometre of the Bilecik-Söğüt road there is a turning for the village of Küre; the tomb is reached about 2 kilometres further on. The road is asphalt. The hill is climbed by a winding approach.
GPS: 40°04'51.21" N — 30°08'13.73" E. There is no public transport; you will need a car.
Other stops