The unjust hanging of the poet Figânî in 911 darkened the last year of Abdurrahman Çelebi, judge of Amasya; Hüsameddin writes that he died of that grief in 912 (1507). Twice judge of the town, Abdurrahman also resented the growing Persian influence there during Prince Ahmed's governorship. He was a grandson of the Muslihî, one of the oldest judicial families of Amasya; his grandfather was the judge Abdurrahman Çelebi known as "Molla Beylik," and his father Şemseddin Mehmed Çelebi had been chief military judge of Anatolia. There is no record that he himself wrote verse. Hüsameddin calls him "edîb," a man of letters, never "şâir"; his tie to the literature of Amasya runs through his reaction to a poet's death.

The Entry in the History of Amasya

Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar sets out the judge's lineage, posts and death in the entry Abdurrahman Çelebi-Muslihîzâde:

Esbak Anadolu kazaskeri Şemseddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Abdurrahman Çelebi bin Şâh Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Ulemâdan ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm, Atabeg müderrisi, ba'dehû Merzifon'da Rahmaniyye müderrisi oldu. 891 hudûdunda Amasya kadısı olup geldi. 896 vak'asında azledilip Ankara kazâsıyla Amasya'dan çıktı. Sonra Sivas ve 905 hudûdunda sânîyen Amasya kadısı olup geldi. Ancak Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'in Acemlere karşı iltifâtını pek fazla görüyordu. 911'de Acemlerin siâyesiyle şâir Figânî Bey'in yok yere salben i'dâmı pek ziyâde merâkına dokundu. Halkın acı sözlerine ve Acemlerin tazyîkâtına tahammül edemediğinden 912 zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Ceddînin yanında medfûndur. Âlim, kâmil, edîb, müstakîm bir zât idi. Oğulları Mehmed, Mahmûd, Seydî Ahmed Paşalara "Kadızâde" dendi. Kadı hamamı vakfına bunlar mütevvellî olmuşlardı.

In modern words: he was the son of Şemseddin Mehmed Çelebi, a former chief military judge of Anatolia, who was in turn the son of Abdurrahman Çelebi, son of Şah Mehmed Çelebi. Once trained by the scholars, he became a licensed lecturer, then professor at the Atabey madrasa and afterwards at the Rahmâniye in Merzifon. Around 891 (1486) he came to Amasya as judge. In the incident of 896 (1490-91) he was dismissed and left Amasya with the judgeship of Ankara. He then served at Sivas and, around 905 (1499-1500), came back to Amasya as judge a second time. But he saw that Prince Sultan Ahmed, governor of Amasya, showed far too much favour to the Persians. In 911 (1505-06) the groundless hanging of the poet Figânî Bey, brought about by Persian intrigue, wounded him deeply. Unable to bear the bitter words of the townspeople and the pressure of the Persians, he died in Zilhicce 912 (April-May 1507). He is buried beside his grandfather. He was learned, accomplished, cultivated and upright. His sons Mehmed, Mahmud and Seydî Ahmed Pasha were called "Kadızâde," and they became trustees of the endowment of the Kadı bathhouse.

His Life

Abdurrahman Çelebi's career has to be read largely alongside his family's weight in Amasya. The Muslihî descended from Mevlânâ Muslihüddin Mûsâ, head of the learned men of Amasya in the fourteenth century, and through the fifteenth century they gave the town judges, professors and muftis. His grandfather Abdurrahman Çelebi was born in 795 (1393), served four times as judge of Amasya after holding the chair of Halfet Gazi, endowed his property in 858 (1454) and died in Şaban 861 (1457). Hüsameddin writes that he built a fine bathhouse in the Fethiye quarter and endowed it for his descendants, attaching his farm to his tomb. That the grandson Abdurrahman Çelebi was also buried "beside his grandfather" suggests that the family's burial place and endowment arrangements were kept from one generation to the next.

He held his first professorships at the Atabey madrasa in Amasya and at the Rahmâniye in Merzifon. His years as a judge fall almost entirely within Prince Ahmed's long governorship of Amasya. Hüsameddin calls his dismissal from his first Amasya judgeship in 896 a "vak'a," an incident, but does not explain in this entry what it was. When he returned to Amasya around 905, after the judgeships of Ankara and Sivas, the mood of the town had changed.

In Hüsameddin's telling, the Amasya of these years was a place where Safavid influence was seeping into the prince's court. The favour Prince Ahmed showed to the Persians, the "Acem," troubled the local scholars, and Abdurrahman Çelebi was among those who shared that unease. The breaking point came in 911: the poet Figânî İshak Çelebi, slandered over an epic he had written against Shiite propaganda in the town, was hanged. The judge's own part in the affair is unknown; Hüsameddin says only that he held the execution to be "groundless" and that afterwards he could not bear the bitter words of the people and the pressure of the Persians. He died about a year after Figânî's execution, in Zilhicce 912.

Family and Endowments

His father Şemseddin Mehmed Çelebi appears in the first volume as "Molla Beylikzâde Molla Vildân Mehmed Çelebi." According to Hüsameddin, this military judge completed the first building of the Kadı madrasa, beside the mosque in the Fethiye quarter, in 900 (1494-95), and his son Abdurrahman Efendi, himself a judge, set its endowments in order in 911. The Kadı bathhouse in the same quarter is recorded as endowed by "kadı-yı mûmâ-ileyh," the judge just mentioned. The phrase can be read two ways: it may point to Abdurrahman, who arranged the madrasa's endowment, or to his grandfather, who is said in the eleventh volume to have built the bathhouse. The madrasa was repaired in 945 (1538-39) by Seydî Pasha of the family's descendants, most likely Abdurrahman's son Seydî Ahmed Pasha.

Abdurrahman's sons Mehmed, Mahmud and Seydî Ahmed Pasha were known by the surname "Kadızâde" and became trustees of the Kadı bathhouse endowment. Hüsameddin himself hesitates over the nickname "Molla Beylik": after giving it to the grandfather, he adds that he has also seen a record using it for the grandfather's brother Abdülgaffâr el-Muslihî, and leaves the matter open with "God knows best."

His Poetry and the State of the Sources

The difference between "edîb" and "şâir" decides the matter in this entry. Hüsameddin regularly keeps "şâir" for those who wrote verse; the "edîb" he chose for Abdurrahman Çelebi describes literary learning and refinement. The entry holds no couplet, no title of a work and no judgement on him as a poet, and no other source tells of his life. His link with poetry comes from the phrase "the poet Figânî Bey" in his entry and from the way he took that poet's death. No poem of his has been found; one may yet surface in an anthology or an endowment record.

Chronology

795 (1393): His grandfather Abdurrahman Çelebi ("Molla Beylik") is born.

Şaban 861 (June-July 1457): His grandfather dies and is buried beside his own father.

c. 891 (1486): Abdurrahman Çelebi becomes judge of Amasya.

896 (1490-91): He is dismissed and leaves Amasya with the judgeship of Ankara.

900 (1494-95): His father Molla Vildân Mehmed Çelebi completes the building of the Kadı madrasa.

c. 905 (1499-1500): He becomes judge of Amasya a second time.

911 (1505-06): Figânî İshak Çelebi is hanged; Abdurrahman sets the endowments of the Kadı madrasa in order.

Zilhicce 912 (April-May 1507): Abdurrahman Çelebi dies.

945 (1538-39): Seydî Pasha of the family, most likely his son Seydî Ahmed Pasha, repairs the Kadı madrasa.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources