Ahmed Çelebi — Nakîbzâde Mevlânâ es-Seyyid

In Modern English

He was the nakîbüleşraf of Amasya. He was the son of es-Seyyid Şemseddîn Ebû Hâşim Mehmed bin Abdullah es-Semerkandî, one of the Husaynid seyyids whose pure lineage is written above. He acquired learning from scholars; the duty of looking after the affairs of the seyyids (şerâfet), which had been given to his father, was given to him and his brothers upon his father's death.

Later he became nakîbüleşraf and died around 882 [1477-78]. He was among the learned and generous; he was a highly respected, devout, and cheerful-faced man. He witnessed the Hızır Pasha waqf deed drawn up in 870 [1465-66], signing as "es-Seyyid Ahmed bin es-Seyyid Şemseddîn es-Semerkandî" and writing his testimony with the Persian phrase "Bi'l-cümle güvâh şudem," meaning "I have witnessed all of it."

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• nakîbü'l-eşrâf: the official who keeps the records of, and looks after the affairs of, the descendants of the Prophet (seyyids and sharifs)
• sülâle-i tâhire: pure, noble line; here the Prophet's lineage
• sâdât-ı Hüseynî: seyyids descended from Imam Husayn
• şerâfet vazîfesi: the duty of looking after the affairs of seyyids and sharifs
• irtihâl: death, passing away
• ba'dehû: after that
• hudûdunda: around, in the vicinity of
• küremâ: generous people, noble persons
• beşûş: cheerful-faced
• güvâh: witness (Persian)

The Samarkandî Seyyids

In the fourth volume of his work, enumerating the seyyid families of Amasya, Hüsameddin places in fifth position the line of es-Seyyid Şemseddîn Ebû Hâşim Muhammed bin Abdullah es-Semerkandî, who is buried in Amasya. In the same place he says that this man's son es-Seyyid Ahmed Çelebi was a very well-known figure in the years when Sultan Bayezid II was a prince in Amasya, and that he was able to verify the family's genealogy only with difficulty from Umdetü't-tâlib, a classic work on the lines of seyyids. In the tenth volume he also writes that he supposes Selâmet Hatun, a learned woman and Sufi, to have been the wife of this Ebû Hâşim es-Semerkandî. No record of this family was found outside Hüsameddin's own work.

The Office of Nakîbüleşraf

Nakîbüleşraf is the title of the official who records the genealogies of the descendants of the Prophet, weeds out false seyyids, and deals with their tax exemptions, marriages, and lawsuits. Among the Ottomans, an office responsible for this work is known to have been established for the first time in the reign of Bayezid I (Yıldırım), in Ramadan 802 [May 1400], with Seyyid Muhammed Nattâ, the sheikh of the Kâzerûnî zaviye in Bursa, placed at its head. The real turning point of the institution was Bayezid II's appointment in 900 [1494] of Seyyid Mahmud, son of his teacher Seyyid Abdullah, to this post with a salary. Until that date those who carried out the duty did not receive a regular salary and were called "nâzır"; the title "nakîbüleşraf" was adopted at this date, taken from the example in the Mamluk realm. In later periods the nakîbüleşraf in Istanbul had deputies in provincial cities, chosen from among the seyyids, that is, nakîbüleşraf kaymakams.

Considering that the subject of this entry died around 882, this information shows that the title "nakîbüleşraf" used by Hüsameddin had not yet taken its official form in Ahmed Çelebi's lifetime. It is notable in this respect that in Hüsameddin's text the duty passed from father to sons is called "şerâfet vazîfesi"; Ahmed Çelebi's post in Amasya should be understood as an early form of the local office that would be called nakîb kaymakamlığı in later centuries. That this office continued in Amasya in later centuries can be understood from Hüsameddin's other records; for example, Zanalı Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi was both nakîb kaymakamı and mufti of Amasya.

The Hızır Pasha Waqf Deed

The waqf deed that Ahmed Çelebi signed as a witness belongs to one of the leading families of Amasya. Hızır Pasha was the brother of Yörgüç Pasha, the lala (tutor) of Murad II; he served as lala to Prince Alâeddin under Murad II and to Prince Bayezid in Amasya under Mehmed the Conqueror, and died in 871 [1466]. According to a recent study based on archival documents, Hızır Pasha established three waqfs in Amasya in 870 [1465]. With the deed of this date, agricultural lands, vineyards and gardens in Suluova, Doğantepe, Ladik, and the center of Amasya, together with two hans and a bathhouse, were endowed; posts for a müderris, a muîd (teaching assistant), and other staff were set for a madrasa and mosque. The deed also stipulates additional payments to the müderris and students at the madrasa of his brother Yörgüç Pasha, and the recitation of the Qur'an at the grave of his grandson, who was buried in the same madrasa. Hızır Pasha's son Mehmed Pasha added thirteen villages, two mezras (farm hamlets), seven mills, and a shop to his father's waqf in 1493. The accounting records of the waqf can be traced down to the Republican period. The Hızır Pasha Mosque is still among the surviving old buildings of Amasya today.

Seyyid Ahmed Çelebi's signature is a fine example showing that Hüsameddin examined waqf deeds himself and built the lives of his subjects also from the witness records in such documents.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 123. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 4 (entry "Mehmed Paşa", the seyyid lines in Amasya); the Supplement to vol. 4 (entry "Mirzâ Alî Bey"); vol. 10 (entry "Selâmet Hâtun-Muslihîzâde").

Academic studies

• Ş. Tufan Buzpınar, "Nakîbüleşraf", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 32, 2006, p. 322-324 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/nakibulesraf).
• Muhammet Okudan, "Hızır Paşa Vakıfları ve Amasya Hızır Paşa Medresesi", İtkan Akademik Araştırmalar Dergisi, 2/2, 2025, p. 133-145.

Books

• Mustafa Çağhan Keskin, "II. Bayezid Dönemi Amasya Çevresinde Yerel Bir Bani: Hızır Paşa Oğlu Mehmed Paşa", Art-Sanat, 5, 2016.
• İlhan Şahin - Feridun Emecen, "Amasya", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, 1991, p. 1-4.