Âdil Mehmed Efendi signed the Islamic court registers and judgments as "Mehmed bin Ali er-Rummânî eş-şehîr bi-Âdil", that is, "Mehmed son of Ali, the Rummânî, known as Âdil": a scholar and poet who served as deputy judge (nâib) in seventeenth-century Amasya. Ali Efendi, one of the town's well-known scholars, was his father. He studied with his father and with the Amasya mufti Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi, taught, entered the madrasa career thanks to his post as tutor to a pasha, became deputy judge of Amasya and judge in several sanjaks, and died in 1086 (1675-76). In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's description he was "learned, accomplished, a poet".

Hüsameddin's Entry

Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan Ali Efendi bin Mehmed'in mahdûmudur. Pederinden ve Amasya müftüsü Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi'den vesâir ulemâdan ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm, müderris, Şemseddîn Paşazâde Ahmed Paşa'nın hâcesi ve imâmı olduğu münâsebetle rüûs tedrîsi aldı. Ba'dehû Amasya nâibi ve ba'zı elviyeye kadı olup 1086'da vefât etdi. Âlim, kâmil, şâir idi. "Mehmed bin Ali er-Rummânî eş-şehîr bi-Âdil" diye sicillât ve i'lâmâtı imzâ ederdi.

Translated: His father, Ali Efendi son of Mehmed, was one of the renowned scholars. He completed his studies with his father, with Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi, mufti of Amasya, and with other scholars, and became a public lecturer and madrasa teacher; because he was tutor and prayer leader to Şemseddîn Paşazâde Ahmed Pasha, he was granted the teaching diploma (rüûs). Later he became deputy judge of Amasya and judge in some sanjaks, and died in 1086. He was learned, accomplished and a poet. He signed the registers and judgments as "Mehmed bin Ali er-Rummânî eş-şehîr bi-Âdil".

Life

Âdil Mehmed Efendi's first teacher was his father. Hüsameddin counts Ali Efendi among the "renowned scholars" but gives him no entry of his own, nor does he explain where the family name "Rummânzâde" came from. Rummân is Arabic for pomegranate. The nisba "er-Rummânî" in the signature suggests the word had settled on the family as a nickname or trade name, though the reason is unknown.

The second teacher Hüsameddin names is Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi. Counted among the famous preachers of Amasya around 1060 (1650), Mehmed Efendi was holding the preaching chair of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque when he became mufti of Amasya in Safer 1073 (September-October 1662), and he died on the twenty-third of Cemaziyelevvel of the same year. Since his tenure as mufti lasted only a few months, Âdil Efendi must have studied with him during his years as preacher; the entry gives the teacher the title he held near the end of his life. Having completed his education, Âdil Efendi became a dersiâm, a teacher licensed to give public lessons in the mosque.

The turning point of his life was his service as tutor and prayer leader to a statesman called "Şemseddîn Paşazâde Ahmed Pasha". Hüsameddin does not identify this pasha further. He is very probably the Ahmed Pasha described in the entry Ahmed Paşa-Şemsî Paşazâde in the sixth volume, son of Şemseddîn Ahmed Paşazâde Ali Bey of the Gümüşlüzâde family: he became governor of the sanjak of Bozok in 1048 (1638), over the next twenty years held the governorships of Kars, Sivas, Diyarbekir, Konya, Kefe and Bursa, and returned to Amasya each time he was dismissed. Nothing links the two records directly; the identification rests on the name and the period. The rüûs Âdil Efendi received for this tutorship was the diploma that opened the madrasa career in the Ottoman learned hierarchy, and serving as tutor and imam in a palace or a pasha's household was one of the recognised ways to obtain it.

Âdil Efendi then moved into the judiciary. He first served as nâib, the deputy of the judge of Amasya, then as judge in "some sanjaks" whose names are not given, and died in 1086. Where he died and where he was buried is not recorded.

His Signature in the Registers

The liveliest detail of the entry is the formula of his signature. The phrase "eş-şehîr bi-Âdil" shows that the name Âdil had become established enough to identify him even in an official document. Considering also Hüsameddin's habit of putting the pen name first in his headings, Âdil is very likely the name he used in his verse. Meaning "just", it suits a deputy judge and judge particularly well; whether the pen name fitted the profession or the profession the pen name cannot be known. Hüsameddin knew the Amasya court registers closely, and he probably took the signature formula from them, though he does not say in which register he saw it.

His Poetry

None of Âdil Mehmed Efendi's poems has been found. Hüsameddin is content to set the word "poet" beside his learning and says nothing of odes or ghazals. Âdil Mustafa Efendi, whose entry follows directly in the eleventh volume, was the son of a Merzifon mufti family and died about a century later, in 1188; the two entries are not linked to each other. In Metin Hakverdioğlu's list of the poets in Hüsameddin, Âdil Mehmed's name stands as no more than a heading.

Chronology

1048 (1638): Şemsî Paşazâde Ahmed Pasha becomes governor of Bozok, beginning twenty years of provincial governorships between which he returns to Amasya.

Safer 1073 (September-October 1662): His teacher Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi becomes mufti of Amasya; he dies on 23 Cemaziyelevvel 1073 (3 January 1663).

1086 (1675-76): Âdil Mehmed Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources