AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Abdâl Sultân — Kara Mehmed Halvetî

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 12 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Lâdikli İbrâhim oğludur. Amasya’da Hazret-i Pir İlyâs Halvetî hizmetinde ilm ü hâl tahsîl edib hulefâsından oldu. Lâdik’de tedrîs-i ulûm ve irşâd-ı sâlikîn ile meşgûl olup bir zâviye yaptırdı. Arâzi ve mezâri’-i memlûkesini zâviyedârlığa ve zâviye mesâlihine vakfedib 825 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Âlim, zâhid, müttakî idi. Buna defâtir-i vakfiye ve [6] evrâk-ı resmîyede “Mevlânâ eş-Şeyh Şemseddîn Mehmed Abdâl Sultân” denmişdir. Mahdûmu Abdulhâmîd Çelebi olup hafîdi Mehmed Çelebi ulemâdandır. “Abdâl”, gâyet sâfî ve sade dil ma’nâsına Türkçedir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He is the son of İbrahim of Ladik. In Amasya he acquired learning and spiritual training in the service of His Holiness Pir İlyas Halvetî and became one of his khalifas. In Ladik he busied himself with teaching knowledge and guiding those seeking the path, and had a lodge (zaviye) built. He endowed the land and cultivated fields he owned to the lodge's administration and to the needs of the lodge, and died after 825 [1422]. He was a scholar, an ascetic and a pious man. In the waqf registers and official documents he is called "Mevlânâ eş-Şeyh Şemseddîn Mehmed Abdâl Sultân". His son was Abdulhâmîd Çelebi, and his grandson Mehmed Çelebi is among the scholars. "Abdâl" is Turkish in the sense of an extremely pure and plain language.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • ilm ü hâl tahsîl etmek: to learn knowledge and spiritual state
  • hulefâ: khalifas, students the sheikh has authorized
  • tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching knowledge
  • irşâd-ı sâlikîn: guidance of those entering the path
  • zâviye: a small lodge where members of a Sufi order gather
  • mezâri', memlûk: cultivated fields, owned property
  • zâviyedârlık: administration of a lodge
  • defâtir-i vakfiye: waqf registers
  • zâhid, müttakî: a person who has withdrawn from the world, one who fears God

Pir İlyas and the Halvetî Order

Pir İlyas, in whose service Abdâl Sultan was, is known as Gümüşlüzâde Şücaeddin İlyas. He is cited as the person who brought the Halvetî order to Anatolia, and the first Halvetî lodge in Anatolia is the Gümüşlüoğlu Lodge in Amasya. Research reports that in 1402 his son Kara Mehmed, in Timur's service, sent him to Shirvan, that he was trained in Shirvan in the circle of Sadreddin Hiyâvî, and that after Timur's death (1405) he returned to Amasya and began to spread the Halvetî order. His death is given in some sources as 833 [1429-30], in others as 1433.

The information that Abdâl Sultan was his khalifa fits this framework, which shows Amasya as one of the places where the Halvetî order first spread in Anatolia. The death date of 825 [1422] that Hüsameddin gives also falls in the period after Pir İlyas's return to Amasya.

Ladik and the Name Abdâl

Ladik is one of the settlements near Amasya. No detailed record of Abdâl Sultan's lodge, waqf and grave was found other than Hüsameddin. The word "abdâl" was also used in Anatolia for dervishes; Hüsameddin, on the other hand, considers the word Turkish in the sense of "very plain language". The relation between the two meanings could not be verified with another source. The title "Mevlânâ eş-Şeyh Şemseddîn Mehmed Abdâl Sultân" is relayed from the waqf records.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 12–12. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 6 contents