AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahî Mehmed Çelebi, Ahi Dede

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 267 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Zile kazâsı dâhilinde Kazankayalıdır. Amasya’da Saraçlar Şeyhi “Mevlânâ Pîr Sun’ullah Halvetî” ye hizmet ve sohbetinde tahsîl-i maârif edib hâdim ve mürîd-i hâssı oldu. Pîr müşârün-ileyhin irtihâlinde İnepazar nâhiyesine gidip orada ikâmet ve halkı tarîk-i müstakîme da’vet ederek zikir ve ibâdete koyuldu.

Amasya Vâlisi iken Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî kendisine mikdâr-ı kâfî arâzî ihsân edib onu zirâatle ihyâ ve mahsûlünü [11] fukarâya bezl ve it’âm eder. Kimseden nesne almazdı. Orada bir tekke yaptırdı. Evâhir-i ömründe bu arâzi-i memlûkesini tekkesine vakfedip, 910 senesi hilâlinde pîr-i fânî iken vefât etdi.

Ârif, sâlih, müttakî, ehl-i keşf idi. Zâviyesine muahharan Habîb-i Karamânî hulefâsından İnepazarlı Şeyh Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi şeyh olup nâhiyeyi şenletdi. Bunun irtihâlinde mahdûmu “eş-Şeyh İsâmeddîn İbrâhim Efendi” iştihâr etdi. Şemseddîn Sivasî’nin pederi olan eş-Şeyh Ebü’l-Berekât Mehmed ez-Zilevî, bu Şeyh Musliheddîn Efendi’nin halîfesidir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He is from Kazankaya, in the district of Zile. In Amasya he served "Mevlânâ Pîr Sun'ullah Halvetî," the Sheikh of the Saddlers (Saraçlar), acquired learning and insight in his company, and became his servant and special disciple. When the said pîr died, he went to the sub-district of İnepazarı, settled there, called the people to the straight path, and devoted himself to remembrance of God (zikir) and worship.

Sultan Bayezid II, when he was governor of Amasya, granted him a sufficient amount of land; he cultivated it and brought it to life, and distributed and fed its produce to the poor. He took nothing from anyone. He had a lodge built there. Late in his life he endowed this land, his own property, to his lodge, and he died at the beginning of 910 [1504-05], a very old man.

He was a knower of God, devout, God-fearing, and possessed of spiritual insight. Later, İnepazarlı Sheikh Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi, one of the successors of Habîb-i Karamânî, became sheikh of his zawiya and made the sub-district prosper. At his death his son "Sheikh İsâmeddîn İbrahim Efendi" became well known. Sheikh Ebü'l-Berekât Mehmed ez-Zilevî, the father of Şemseddîn Sivâsî, is a successor of this Sheikh Musliheddîn Efendi.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • tahsîl-i maârif: acquiring learning and insight
  • hâdim ve mürîd-i hâss: one who serves, the disciple closest to the sheikh
  • irtihâl: passing away, dying
  • tarîk-i müstakîm: the straight path
  • ihsân: granting as a gift
  • zirâat: agriculture
  • bezl ve it'âm: distributing and feeding
  • arâzi-i memlûke: land that was his own property
  • pîr-i fânî: very old, aged
  • ehl-i keşf: a person with spiritual insight
  • muahharan: later
  • halîfe: the student the sheikh authorizes and may leave in his place

The Halvetî Chain and Şemseddin Sivâsî

The last sentence of the text is noteworthy for the development of the Halvetiyye in Anatolia. Şemseddin Sivâsî was born in Zile in 926 [1520], and according to research his father Ebü'l-Berekât Muhammed Efendi was a man who had migrated from Khorasan to Zile. He received his authorization (hilâfet) from Hacı Hızır of Amasya, one of the successors of Habîb Karamânî, who was among the first Halvetî sheikhs active in Anatolia. Şemseddin Sivâsî's own chain of the order, in turn, runs through Muslihuddin Efendi, Hacı Hızır Amâsî and Habîb Karamânî to Seyyid Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî, the second pîr of the Halvetiyye. This information agrees with the names "Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi" and "Ebü'l-Berekât Mehmed ez-Zilevî" in Hüsameddin's text. Only the shape of the chain differs. Hüsameddin counts Musliheddîn directly among the successors of Habîb Karamânî and makes Ebü'l-Berekât a successor of Musliheddîn. In the research, by contrast, it is written that Ebü'l-Berekât received his authorization directly from Hacı Hızır, while Muslihuddin Efendi appears as Hacı Hızır's successor in the chain of his son Şemseddin. The difference may rest on a simplified account by Hüsameddin or on a different source; no document that would settle it has been found.

One of Şemseddin Sivâsî's works was written in Zile in 1560 and another in Sivas in 1567. After his nephew Abdülmecid Sivâsî came to Istanbul, the Şemsiyye branch began to be called Sivâsiyye. The link between İnepazarı, Zile and Sivas thus shows the Amasya-centered advance of the Halvetî chain.

The Halvetî Lodges of Amasya

A study of the zawiyas of Amasya reports that in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries endowment revenues in Amasya flowed especially to zawiyas headed by Rifâ'î, Halvetî and Naqshbandî sheikhs, and that these orders replaced the earlier Bektashi influence (the study notes that this is connected with the fading of the non-Sunni character of the Amasya region in the thirteenth century). The same study also mentions that the Sheikh Elek Dede Zawiya was run by Halvetiyye sheikhs. This framework shows that the İnepazarı lodge and its Halvetî sheikhs fit the general development in Amasya. No information was found in the sources on whether the lodge at İnepazarı still stands today or on the later fate of the endowment revenues of the land.

Information That Could Not Be Found

No information was found in other sources on Ahî Mehmed Çelebi's teacher Pîr Sun'ullah Halvetî or on the zawiya known as the "Sheikh of the Saddlers." The dates of İsâmeddîn İbrahim Efendi and Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi have also not been verified.

Bibliography

Volume 7 contents