He was born into the Köprülü family, the son of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha and Ayşe Hatun (Hanım), daughter of Yusuf Ağa. His father was an Ottoman general of devshirme origin who in 1656 became Grand Vizier, while his mother was the daughter of a notable originally from Kayacık, a village of Havza in Amasya. His maternal grandfather was a voyvoda (tax-farmer)[4] who built a bridge in Kadegra, that because of this was renamed Köprü, where his father Mehmed was stationed, and to which the Köprülü family owes its name.[5]
He served as grand vizier from 1661 to 1676 after he inherited the title from his father. Prior to this appointment, he served as the Ottoman governor of the Damascus Eyalet (1660 to 1661) and the Erzurum Eyalet (1659 to 1660).[6]
He was dubbed Fazıl, meaning "wise" (from the Arabic fazilet, meaning "wisdom"), for reducing taxation and promoting education. On the other hand, he was brutal in war. He led the Ottoman Army in the Austro-Turkish War (1663–64) in which he intended to subdue Austria and to finally conquer Vienna itself. At the beginning of July 1664, he succeeded in destroying Novi Zrin in the northern part of the Kingdom of Croatia after nearly a month-long siege. Although defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard, he was able to gain territory by the Peace of Vasvár in 1664.
Contemporary European observers frequently remarked upon the atheistic tendencies of Fazıl Ahmed's inner circle of courtiers, and particularly those of Fazıl Ahmed himself. Nevertheless, his exact religious views remain unknown.[7]
Fazıl Ahmed Pasha died on November 3, 1676, from complications resulting from his lifestyle of heavy drinking.[8]
^Mehmet Süreyya (1996) [1890], Nuri Akbayar; Seyit A. Kahraman (eds.), Sicill-i Osmanî (in Turkish), vol. 1, Beşiktaş, Istanbul: Türkiye Kültür Bakanlığı and Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfı, p. 209, ISBN978-975-333-041-1
^Wurm, Heidrun (1971). Der osmanische Historiker Ḥüseyn b. Ğafer, genannt Hezārfenn, und die Istanbuler Gesellschaft in der zweiten Hälfte des 17. Jahrhunderts. Freiburg im Breisgau: Klaus Schwarz Verlag. p. 52. [in German]
^Finkel, Caroline (2005). Osman's Dream: The Story of the Ottoman Empire, 1300-1923. New York: Basic Books. pp. 278, 281. ISBN978-0-465-02396-7.