Mufti of Xanthi Mustafa Trampa pays a loyalty visit to Hafiz Hilmi Alihoca
On Sunday, 20 August 2023, a large delegation consisting of Mustafa Trampa, Mufti of Xanthi, Ahmet Hraloğlu, Deputy Mufti of Xanthi and a group of Sahin hodjas visited Hafiz Hilmi Alihoca, 86 years old, born in 1937, who retired from teaching and served as imam in the Tekke Mosque of Sahin for many years, at his home in the town of Sahin.
During this visit, which was organised within the framework of the "Loyalty to the Great Sycamores" project, there were moments full of emotion. Hafiz Hilmi Hodja, who was the teacher of many teachers, especially Mufti Trampa, stated that he was very pleased and happy with this visit. Despite his advanced age, he explained his vast experiences to the visitors with great care.
Hafiz Hilmi Alihoca completed primary school in his own village, Şahin Primary School. Then he enrolled in Şahin Madrasah. After completing the madrasah, he started to work as a teacher in Hisarkaya village of Komotini, which is now abandoned. After serving here for three years, he started teaching at Şahin Primary School and continued his duty here until his retirement.
Hafiz Hilmi Alihoca also worked as a Ramadan teacher in areas such as Büyük Öksüzlü, Kırköy, Koyunköy and Kireççiler in the plain region of Xanthi during the school holidays, when the month of Ramadan fell in the summer months.
Alihoca, who retired from Şahin Primary School in the 1993-94 academic year, continued his duty as imam and orator in Şahin Karaca Ahmet (Tekke) Mosque for ten more years and in 2004, in his own words, "I could have continued this honourable duty, but I left voluntarily with the desire to leave it to young people like you".
The work of making tombstones, which he started as a hobby, gradually became famous in the whole village and the region, and he started to make handmade, handcrafted tombstones with Ottoman Turkish script. Alihoca is also a good traditional dessert master.
Hafiz Hilmi Alihoca, in addition to his primary school teaching duties, was also engaged in Qur'anic service and also trained Hafiz. The hafiz he trained were Hafiz Hüseyin Bekir, the former imam of Misvaklı, Hafiz Salih Karaali and Hafiz Mehmet Emin Meço.
During his years of service, Alihoca made efforts to improve himself by attending the training courses organised by Istanbul University Faculty of Education and Izmir 9 September University Faculty of Education three times in total.
At the end of the visit, Mufti Trampa presented him with the two-volume book "THE MOSQUES AND MASJIDS OF XANTHI" from the publications of the Muftiate and thanked the people of the house for their warm interest.
