AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Çelebi — Mevlânâ Rükneddîn el-Cündî

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 122 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasya züamâsında Cündî Mahmûd Bey bin Kemâl Çelebi mahdûmu olup “Mevlânâ Cündî” demekle meşhûrdur. Amasya’da Tâceddîn İbrâhim et-Tokâdî, ZiyâeddînYûsuf bin Abdulmelîk el-Amâsî, Merzifon’da Şerîf Cürcânî tilmizi olan Ferîdüddîn Mehmed bin İbrâhim ed-Devvânî, Şücâ’eddîn İlyâs bin Yahyâ el-Merzifonî gibi fuzâlâdan ahz-ı ulûm ederek Amasya’da ders-i âm oldu.

Yıllarca tedrîs-i ulûm ederek fevkalâde iştihâr edib Torumtay Medresesi müderrisi oldu. Kendisine teklîf-i kazâ edildikde redd eylediğinden Yörgüç Paşa Medresesi müderrisliği verildi. Ömrünün sonuna kadar tedrîs ve tezkîrden ferâgat etmeyip 877 senesi hilâlinde vefât etdi.²⁰

Gâyet fâzıl, muhakkik, Arab ve Acem edebiyâtına fevkalâde vâkıf, müteşerri’, zâhid bir müderris-i benâm idi. Şâkirdân-ı [384] ma’rifeti pek çokdur. Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, Mevlânâ Abdî Çelebi, Abdîzâde Abdurrahman Efendi gibi fuzalâ bunlardandır.

Footnotes

  • 20 “Kitâbü’l-Misbâh” adlı eseri esnâ-yı tedrîsinde güzelce şerh ve i’zâh ederek “Dav’ü’l-Misbâh” tesmiye etti. Muhtasar, müfîd bir eserdir.
Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Cündî Mahmud Bey, son of Kemal Çelebi, one of the zeamet holders of Amasya, and he was known as "Mevlânâ Cündî." He studied under great scholars: in Amasya under Tâceddîn İbrahim et-Tokâdî and Ziyâeddîn Yûsuf bin Abdülmelik el-Amâsî, and in Merzifon under Ferîdüddîn Mehmed bin İbrahim ed-Devvânî, a student of Şerîf Cürcânî, and Şücâeddîn İlyas bin Yahyâ el-Merzifonî. He became a teacher authorized to give public lectures in Amasya.

After many years of teaching he won very great renown and became müderris (madrasa professor) of the Torumtay Madrasa. When he was offered the post of kadı (judge) he refused it, and so he was given the professorship of the Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa. He did not give up teaching and preaching until the end of his life; he died in the year 877 [1472-73].

He was a müderris of the highest virtue, who examined questions in depth, knew Arabic and Persian literature very well, held strictly to the rulings of the religion, had withdrawn from the world, and was widely known by name. The students who learned from him were very numerous. Virtuous scholars such as Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, Mevlânâ Abdî Çelebi, and Abdîzâde Abdurrahman Efendi were among them.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • züamâ: zeamet holders, sipahis (cavalrymen) with large revenue assignments
  • cündî: soldier, sipahi; here a family nickname
  • fuzalâ: virtuous scholars (plural of fâzıl)
  • ahz-ı ulûm: acquiring knowledge
  • ders-i âm: a teacher authorized to lecture in a madrasa
  • teklîf-i kazâ: the offer of the post of kadı
  • tedrîs ve tezkîr: teaching and preaching with admonition
  • hilâlinde: within, during
  • muhakkik: a scholar who investigates questions in depth
  • müteşerri': strictly bound to the rulings of the sharia
  • zâhid: one who has renounced the pleasures of the world
  • şâkirdân-ı ma'rifet: students of learning
  • şerh ve i'zâh: commentary and explanation
  • tesmiye etmek: to give a name
  • muhtasar, müfîd: short and useful

Information in the Footnote: Dav'ü'l-Misbâh

In a footnote Hüsameddin writes that while teaching, Mevlânâ Cündî explained the work called "Kitâbü'l-Misbâh" in a fine commentary, that he named this commentary "Dav'ü'l-Misbâh" (The Light of the Lamp), and that the work was a short but useful book. The work that first comes to mind when "Misbâh" is mentioned in Ottoman madrasas is Mutarrizî's (d. 610/1213) el-Misbâh fi'n-nahv, on Arabic grammar. According to M. Sadi Çöğenli, this book is a work in five parts that Mutarrizî composed to teach Arabic to his son, abridging the grammar books of Abdülkāhir el-Cürcânî; about fifty commentaries and glosses were written on it. Niksarlı Hasan Pasha's el-İftitâh fî şerhi'l-Misbâh is among the best known of these. That Cündî taught this widely used textbook and wrote a commentary on it fits the madrasa tradition perfectly.

One detail, however, draws attention. One of the most famous commentaries on el-Misbâh is Tâceddin el-İsferâyînî's ed-Dav' şerhu'l-Misbâh; this book has been printed and was read among early Ottoman scholars to the point that commentaries were written on it. The name "Dav'ü'l-Misbâh" that Hüsameddin attributes to Cündî is almost identical to this work. Therefore either Cündî knowingly gave his own commentary a similar name, or the copy Hüsameddin saw was a manuscript of İsferâyînî's ed-Dav' that Cündî had taught from or copied. Since Hüsameddin does not say where the manuscript was, this question remains open.

The Torumtay and Yörgüç Pasha Madrasas

The Torumtay Madrasa, where Cündî first served as müderris, is most probably the Seljuk building known today as the Gökmedrese Mosque or Torumtay Mosque. According to Selda Kalfazade, the building was commissioned by Seyfeddin Torumtay, who was appointed governor of Amasya in the time of Gıyâseddin Keyhusrev II. Because its inscription is lost, the date of construction is not certain, but the waqf deed drawn up by Torumtay bears the date 665 [1266-67]. Called "Gökmedrese" in its waqf deed, the building was used in its day as both a madrasa and a mosque. It takes its name from the turquoise and purple tile and glazed-brick decoration of the adjoining tomb; its door leaves in kündekâri technique are today in the Amasya Museum. The building still stands.

The Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa, given to him because he refused the post of kadı, was part of the complex that Yörgüç Pasha had built in 834 [1430]. According to Emine Naza Dönmez, although the Yörgüç Pasha Mosque on the bank of the Yeşilırmak still stands, its madrasa has not survived; the enclosed section east of the mosque's entrance iwan is thought to have been the madrasa's lecture hall. His refusal of the post of kadı is consistent with Hüsameddin's describing him as a "zâhid."

His Teachers and Students

That Ferîdüddîn ed-Devvânî, one of Cündî's teachers in Merzifon, is mentioned as a student of Seyyid Şerîf Cürcânî ties Cündî to one of the main currents of fifteenth-century Ottoman learning. Fahreddîn Acemî, the mufti of Edirne under Murad II, was likewise among the scholars trained under Cürcânî. Ahmet Suphi Furat also emphasizes that Merzifon in this period was as lively a center of learning as Amasya, producing scholars, jurists, mystics, kadıs, and muftis from the time of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed onward.

Some information about Cündî's students can be gathered from Hüsameddin's work and other sources. In another entry Hüsameddin writes that after coming to Amasya with his father in 861 [1456-57], Koca Emîr İbrahim Efendi studied for a time under "Mevlânâ Ahmed Cündî Çelebi" and then went to Istanbul. The Hatîb Kâsım named among the students is most probably the father of Muhyiddîn Mehmed bin Hatîb Kâsım, who is listed among the Amasya scholars in Mecdî's Hadâiku'ş-Şakāik. Muhyiddîn Mehmed was born in Amasya on 27 Şâban 864 [17 June 1460], served as müderris in Amasya, Bursa, Istanbul, and Edirne, and was tutor to Prince Ahmed. The nisba of Abdîzâde Abdurrahman Efendi in the list is the same as Hüsameddin's own epithet; but whether there was a kinship between them cannot be understood from this entry.

No information was found in other sources about Mevlânâ Cündî himself or about his teachers Tâceddîn et-Tokâdî, Ziyâeddîn el-Amâsî, Ferîdüddîn ed-Devvânî, and Şücâeddîn el-Merzifonî.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Volume 6 contents

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