Esbak Amasya Müftüsü Canikli el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi bin Derviş Mustafa Efendi bin el-Hâc Ali Efendi bin Ahmed Efendi bin Kadı Keyvan Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Pederinden ve Sipâhi el-Hâc Hâfız Ömer Efendi’den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek mücâz ve ders-i âm oldu.
Pederinin zaman-ı fetevâsında müsevvid ve emînü’l-fetvâ ve irtihâlinde Hızır Paşa müderrisi oldu. Mu’ahharan meclis-i de’âvâ âzası olduğu halde 1267’de bilâ-veled vefât etdi. Gâyet fakîh, Arabîyede mâhir, ilm-i ferâ’izde üstâd, halûk, afîf, zâhid bir zât idi. Birâderi el-Hâc Mehmed Hilmi Efendi Amasya Müftüsü ve diğer birâderi el-Hâc Hâfız Ali Efendi de Taşköprü Müftüsü oldu.
In Modern English
He was the son of Canikli Hacı Mehmed Efendi, the former mufti of Amasya; Mehmed Efendi was the son of Derviş Mustafa Efendi, who was the son of Hacı Ali Efendi, who was the son of Ahmed Efendi, who was the son of Kadı Keyvan Efendi. He completed his studies under his father and under Sipahi Hacı Hâfız Ömer Efendi, received the licence (icazet) and gave public lessons.
In the period when his father was issuing fatwas he became müsevvid and fatwa steward (fetva emini), and at his father's death he became professor at the Hızır Paşa Madrasa. Later, while a member of the council of lawsuits, he died childless in 1267 [1850-51]. He was a thorough jurist, expert in Arabic, a master of the law of inheritance, gentle in character, chaste and ascetic. His brother Hacı Mehmed Hilmi Efendi became mufti of Amasya, and his other brother Hacı Hâfız Ali Efendi became mufti of Taşköprü.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- esbak: former, previous
- mücâz: one who has been given a licence, authorised to teach
- ders-i âm: the title of a madrasa professor authorised to give public lessons in mosques
- zaman-ı fetevâ: the period of issuing fatwas
- müsevvid: one who writes drafts; here understood as an assistant who worked on writing fatwas beside the mufti
- emînü'l-fetvâ: fatwa steward, the official in charge of fatwa affairs
- irtihâl: death
- mu'ahharan: later
- bilâ-veled: childless
- fakîh: a scholar of Islamic law
- ilm-i ferâ'iz: the law of the division of inheritance
- halûk, afîf, zâhid: gentle in character, chaste, one who keeps away from worldly pleasures
A Family of Muftis
The family in this entry shows a line of learning and fatwa-giving passing from father to sons in Amasya. Ahmed Efendi's father is Canikli Hacı Mehmed Efendi, the mufti of Amasya; in other entries of the book this man is named as the teacher of some people. One of Ahmed Efendi's brothers became mufti of Amasya, the other mufti of Taşköprü. Kadı Keyvan Efendi is named at the very beginning of the chain of descent; that the ancestor is called kadı points to the age of the family's tie to the learned profession. Since Ahmed Efendi died childless, the line continued through his brothers. That the son served as müsevvid and fatwa steward during his father's time as mufti shows that training from within the family was regarded as usual at the fatwa office; this interpretation rests on the picture the text draws and is not verified by another source.
The Hızır Paşa Madrasa
Hüsameddin writes that at his father's death Ahmed Efendi became professor at the Hızır Paşa Madrasa. In Amasya, Mehmed Paşa, of the line of Hızır Paşa, was a vizier of Bayezid II and the tutor (lala) of Prince Ahmed (d. 900/1495); the mosque he had built stands in the Mehmed Paşa Quarter near the Yeşilırmak and its construction was completed in the month of Muharram 891 (January 1486). Of the graves in front of the tomb attached to the mosque, the first belongs to Hızır Paşa, the father of Mehmed Paşa. No information was found in the sources consulted on the state of the Hızır Paşa Madrasa in the nineteenth century or on Ahmed Efendi's professorship. It is known that more than forty madrasas existed in Amasya and that its professors held an important place in the educational life of the region.
In Other Sources
No record was found outside Hüsameddin of Canikli Mehmed Efendi's term as mufti, of the muftiships at Taşköprü and Amasya, or of Ahmed Efendi himself. For the membership in the council of lawsuits, see the note in the entry on Ahmed Efendi of Çarşamba.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 229–229. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies