Ahmed Çelebi — Mevlânâ Cemâleddîn

In Modern English

He was from Merzifon. He was the son of Mevlânâ İmâdeddîn Mahbûb, kadı of that place; Mahbûb was the son of Ahmed, Ahmed the son of Mehmed, and Mehmed the son of Mevlânâ Sadrüşşerîa Ubeydullah. Sadrüşşerîa Ubeydullah was the son of Mes'ûd, and Mes'ûd the son of Tâcüşşerîa Mahmûd el-Mahbûbî el-Buhârî. Having learned from his father and the other scholars of Amasya, he became a dersiâm, müderris of the Merzifon Sultâniyye, and mufti and kadı of Merzifon, and died around 847 [1443-44]. He was one of the virtuous scholars. He was called "Mahbûbzâde".

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mahdûm: son
• vesâ'ir: and the others, other
• ahz-ı ulûm: taking up, learning the sciences
• ders-i âm: a scholar authorised to give public lectures in a mosque, dersiâm
• Sultâniyye: a madrasa built by a sultan; here the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa in Merzifon
• fuzalâ: virtuous, learned people

A Lineage Stretching from Bukhara to Merzifon

The chain of descent Hüsameddin gives ties Ahmed Çelebi to one of the best-known Hanafi scholars in the history of Islamic law. Sadrüşşerîa es-Sânî Ubeydullah b. Mes'ûd el-Mahbûbî el-Buhârî belongs to a family that produced many scholars in Bukhara. According to Şükrü Özen, the family's lineage goes back to the Companion Ubâde b. Sâmit el-Ensârî, and the nisba "Mahbûbî" comes from this Companion's grandson Mahbûb b. Velîd. Sadrüşşerîa died in Bukhara at the end of Jumada al-Akhira 747 [October 1346]. His works Şerhu'l-Vikāye, et-Tenkīh and et-Tavzîh became among the basic books taught in Ottoman madrasas, and for a time scholars who were to become müderrises of the Semâniye madrasas were examined on these texts.

In Hüsameddin's record, Sadrüşşerîa's grandfather appears as "Tâcüşşerîa Mahmûd". According to present-day research, however, Sadrüşşerîa's paternal grandfather is Tâcüşşerîa Ömer and his maternal grandfather is Burhânüşşerîa Mahmûd; Tâcüşşerîa's son Mes'ûd married Burhânüşşerîa's daughter, and Sadrüşşerîa was born of this marriage. Özen notes that there is much confusion over the family's genealogy both in classical sources and in modern studies. Hüsameddin's merging of the names of two grandfathers is also an example of this confusion.

One of Sadrüşşerîa's children whose name is known is Mahmûd; his father began writing Şerhu'l-Vikāye at his request, but when Mahmûd died could complete the work only in Safar 743 [July 1342]. In Hüsameddin's chain of descent, however, "Mehmed" appears as Sadrüşşerîa's son. Information on whether Sadrüşşerîa had a son named Mehmed could not be reached. No record documenting that a branch of the family came to Anatolia and settled in Merzifon was found either. For this reason the information that Ahmed Çelebi descended from Sadrüşşerîa should for now be read as a family tradition resting on Hüsameddin's record.

The Kadı Mahbub Quarter in Merzifon

In records of 926 [1520] in Merzifon a quarter named "Kadı Mahbub" appears; this quarter lives on today under the name Gazimahbup. Considering that Ahmed Çelebi's father was Mevlânâ İmâdeddîn Mahbûb, kadı of Merzifon, it is very probable that the quarter took its name from this kadı. This is an inference, but it is a striking trace connecting Hüsameddin's record to the map of present-day Merzifon. In records of the 1840s the quarter already appears under the name "Gazi Mahbub".

The Merzifon Sultâniyye

The "Sultâniyye-i Merzifon" in which Ahmed Çelebi was müderris is the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa, called "Merzifon Sultâniyesi" by the people of the area. According to the inscription over the arch of the entrance eyvan, its construction was begun by the order of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed in 817 [1414] and completed in 820 [1417] by Umur Bey b. Ali. Its architect is Şamlı Ebû Bekir b. Muhammed Hamza el-Müşeymeş, who was also the master of the Bayezid Pasha Mosque in Amasya. With its open-courtyard, four-eyvan plan it is one of the most important of the early Ottoman madrasas.

Baha Tanman lists, among the scholars who served as müderris in the madrasa after its foundation, Ferîdüddîn-i Dîvânî, Seydî Şemseddin Ahmed-i Kırîmî, Rükneddin Abdülkerim of Amasya and Nizâmeddin Abdurrahman-ı Âftâbî. Ahmed Çelebi's name is not in this list; Hüsameddin's record adds one more name among the first müderrises of the madrasa. After 1844 the madrasa lost its scholarly life as the müderrisship began to pass from father to son; it was used for a time as an arms depot and, in the Republican period, was repaired by the General Directorate of Foundations and given over to cultural activities. The clock tower above the entrance eyvan was built in 1282 [1865] by Ziya Pasha, mutasarrıf of Amasya.

That Ahmed Çelebi was at the same time mufti and kadı of Merzifon shows that he took over his father's office of kadı. That in Merzifon in the first half of the fifteenth century the offices of kadı, mufti and madrasa teacher were gathered in the same person, within a family passing from father to son, points to the weight of the Mahbûbzâdes in the scholarly and legal life of the town.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 120–120. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Şükrü Özen, "Sadrüşşerîa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 35, İstanbul 2008. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/sadrusseria
• Mehmet Öz, "Merzifon", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 29, Ankara 2004. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/merzifon
• M. Baha Tanman, "Mehmed I Medresesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 28, Ankara 2003. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-i-medresesi