Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL
Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 228 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU
Diyârbekir vilâyeti dâhilinde Belvar kasabasından olup oralarda tahsîl-i ulûm ederek Merzifon’da ikâmet ve neşr-i ulûma himmet etdi. Fazîlet-i ilmiyyesini Amasya ulemâsına tasdik etdirip iştihâr ederek eş-Şeyh Ahmed Nâsih [734] Efendi’nin vefâtında teferrüd etdi.
1253’de Merzifon ulemâsının ittifâkı ile müftü olup beş yıl kadar makâmını muhafaza ederek 1257’de dâr-ı bekâya rihlet etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan fâzıl, gâyet fakîh, usûlî, ulûm-i aklîyede mâhir bir zât idi.
He came from the town of Belvar in the province of Diyarbekir. After studying there he settled in Merzifon and devoted himself to spreading learning. He had his scholarly standing confirmed by the scholars of Amasya and gained a reputation; on the death of eş-Şeyh Ahmed Nâsih Efendi he stood alone.
In 1253 [1837-38], with the agreement of the scholars of Merzifon, he became mufti, held the post for about five years, and passed away in 1257 [1841-42]. He was among the noted scholars: a learned man, an excellent jurist, a specialist in legal method (usûl) and a master of the rational sciences.
Merzifon was a district of the Amasya sanjak. Beginning with the Danishmendids it took on the look of a typical Turkish-Islamic town, known for its madrasas, mosques, lodges and tombs. The Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa (817/1414) and the complex built in the seventeenth century by Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha are among the buildings that shaped the town's appearance. The place where Ahmed Efendi of Belvar settled was a district in which this long scholarly tradition continued.
The path Hüsameddin describes with "having his scholarly standing confirmed by the scholars of Amasya" reflects how the Ottoman learned world worked: a scholar's learning was recognized through the icâzet and through the acceptance of other scholars. Amasya counted as the yardstick in this respect because of the fame its madrasas had won; the traveller Perrot, who came in 1861, calls the city "the Oxford of Anatolia".
That the muftiship was given by the scholars in unanimity is worth noting. In a later period the election of provincial muftis was regulated by a nizamname and held by the vote of a body made up of members of the administrative council, municipal members, scholars, imams and preachers (an example from Seydişehir in 1919 is known). The "agreement of the scholars" that Hüsameddin describes for 1253 is an earlier and less formal form of this tradition; as a historical record, this detail rests solely on Hüsameddin's account.
Hüsameddin does not name Ahmed Efendi's teachers. No information on Ahmed Efendi, on his predecessor Şeyh Ahmed Nâsih Efendi or on Belvar was found in other sources.
Primary sources
Academic studies