Amasya yeniçerilerinden Cırıkcıoğlu Halîl Ağa bin Ahmed’in [736] mahdûmudur. Abdullah Vecîh Efendi tilmizlerinden fâzıl-ı meşhûr Hacı Ahmedzâde es-Seyyid Mustafa ve Zileli muhaddis-i meşhûr el-Hâc Ali Şükrü Efendilerden tahsîl-i ulûm edib ders-i âm ve 1253’de Benderli Medresesi müderrisi olduğu halde 1263’de vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan sâlih, vâ’iz bir zât idi.
Birâderi Ali Ağa’nın oğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa zabtiyye çavûşânından olup bunun mahdûmu nüfus kâtibi şu’arâdan Ali Dâ’imî Efendi 1347’de müntehiren vefât etdi. Diğer mahdûmu Hâncı el-Hâc İdris Efendi ber-hayatdır.
In Modern English
He was the son of Cırıkçıoğlu Halil Ağa, one of the Janissaries of Amasya, and Halil Ağa was the son of Ahmed. He studied under Hacıahmedzade Seyyid Mustafa, a well-known scholar and a pupil of Abdullah Vecih Efendi, and under Hacı Ali Şükrü Efendi of Zile, a famous hadith scholar, and gave public lessons; in 1253 [1837-38] he became professor at the Benderli Madrasa and he died in 1263 [1846-47]. He was one of the well-known scholars, a good-natured man and a preacher.
Seyyid Ahmed Ağa, the son of his brother Ali Ağa, was one of the sergeants of the gendarmerie; his son Ali Daimî Efendi, a population clerk and one of the poets, died by suicide in 1347 [1928-29]. His other son, Hancı Hacı İdris Efendi, is still alive.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- tilmîz: pupil, student
- fâzıl-ı meşhûr: a well-known, learned person
- muhaddis: a scholar expert in the science of hadith
- tahsîl-i ulûm: study of the religious sciences
- ders-i âm: the title of a madrasa professor authorised to give public lessons in mosques
- müderris: a teacher in a madrasa
- vâ'iz: a person who delivers sermons
- zabtiyye çavûşânı: sergeants of the gendarmerie
- müntehiren: by suicide
- şu'arâ: poets
- ber-hayât: alive
Ders-i Âm and the Madrasa Path
The text describes Ahmed Efendi's course of study through the familiar steps of the madrasa tradition: first study with teachers, then the title of ders-i âm, then a professorship at a madrasa. Ders-i âm is the title used for a professor who, besides teaching students in the madrasa, was authorised to give public lessons in the mosque. To obtain it, a person had to graduate from the madrasa, receive the licence (icazet) and then pass one more examination. Those who went this way were influential among the people; the state also made use of their influence from time to time, and Mahmud II announced his reforms to the public largely through the ders-i âm holders.
Amasya holds a place of its own in this respect. More than forty madrasas have been identified in the city in the Ottoman period, and it was an important centre of attraction in the educational life of the region. No information on the Benderli Madrasa, where Cırıkçızade taught, was found in the sources consulted; no record of it was found outside Hüsameddin.
His Teachers and Family
Hüsameddin names two of Ahmed Efendi's teachers: Hacıahmedzade Seyyid Mustafa and Hacı Ali Şükrü Efendi of Zile. No further detail on the lives of either was found in other sources. The searches turned up records of other scholars from Zile, but none that could be linked with this man.
That the son of a Janissary entered the path of learning is a point worth noting. By Hüsameddin's own words the father belonged to the Janissary corps, while the son advanced in the learned profession. Since the Janissary Corps was abolished in 1826, it may be thought that Ahmed Efendi, who became a professor in 1253 [1837-38], was educated in the age when this corps was being dissolved; this is only an inference from the dates, and the text does not say it.
The second paragraph carries the line of Ahmed Efendi's nephews down to 1347 [1928-29], that is, about 1928-1929. Hüsameddin records the death of Ali Daimî Efendi as "müntehiren", that is, by suicide. No record of Daimî's poems was found.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 228–229. amasya.bel.tr
- Hasan Telli, "Meşihat Arşivi’ne Göre Amasya Müderrisleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 7/2 (2024), s. 732–758, https://hdl.handle.net/11630/12210