During the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent he was appointed as the Shaykh al-Islām, i.e. supreme head of the ulama, a post which he held until his death.

His works include commentaries on the Qur'an, treatises on hadith, Islamic law, philosophy and theology (kalam), logic, Sufism, ethics, history, several books on Arabic and Persian grammar, literature, and a small diwan of poetry.

He wrote numerous scholarly commentaries on the Quran, treatises on jurisprudence and Muslim theology and philosophy, and during his stay in Egypt he translated the works of the Egyptian historian ibn Taghribirdi from Arabic.

His best poetical works include the Nigaristan "The Picture Gallery", written in Persian and modeled upon the Būstān and the Golestān of Saadi Shirazi; a poem, "Yusuf ü Züleyha", in rhymed couplets, retelling the story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife; and Divān "Collected Poems", consisting mainly of lyrics.

[10] Kemalpaşazâde also wrote a famous history of the Hanafi school of fiqh entitled Risāla fī Ṭabaqāt al-Mujtahidīn "The Treatise regarding Biographies of Jurists".