According to the memoirs of the Russian general Nikolay Muravyov, Vasıf was a Georgian from the Guria province, born in the village Chokhlati and originally surnamed Gudjabidze. He was sold as a slave at the age of 12 to Reşid Mehmed Pasha in Istanbul. The 19th-century Ottoman chronicler Mehmed Süreyya also records his Georgian origins.