Amasyalıdır. Mûsâ Çelebizâde İbrâhim Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Amasya’da tahsîl-i ilim ve ma’rifet edib ibtida Amasya Mevlevihanesi Şeyhi Garibî Mehmed Dede Efendi’nin [509] Çilehanesinde tekmil-i süluk etdi. Bu esnâda edebiyât-ı Arabiyye ve Farisiyye’yi ondan öğrendi. Ba’dehû İstanbul’a ve buradan Bursa’ya gidip Saburi Tekkesi Şeyhi Amasyalı Abdülğani Efendi’ye intisab ederek tarikat-ı Zeyniyyeden hilafetnâme aldı.
Ba’dehû Amasya’ya avdetle Garibî Dede’nin irtihaline bina’en Amasya Mevlevi-hânesi şeyhi oldu. Ancak Amasya’da hâdis olan Hüftadî vak’asında takibata düçar olduğundan dolayı 1037’de tegayyüb etdi. 1039’da Bursa’da olduğu anlaşıldı.
1041’de Bursa’da kâin Ali Paşa Tekkesi Şeyhi olduğundan 1044 senesi rebiülevvelinde vekâletle idare etdiği Amasya Mevlevihanesi meşihâtı uhdesinden ref’ edilip vekili olan Sâlih Dede Efendi’ye verildi. Yıllarca Ali Paşa Tekkesi’nde meşîhat edib 1057’de vefât etdi. Tekke derûnunda medfûndur.
Âlim, edebiyat-ı Arabiyye ve Farisiyye’de mâhir, müteşerri’, şâir, edîb bir şeyh olup “Kelimî Ahmed Efendi” demekle [510] meşhûr olup bakıyye-yi ahvâl ve âsârı aşağıda “kef” harfinde gelir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Mûsâ Çelebizâde İbrâhim Efendi. After acquiring knowledge and learning in Amasya, he first completed the path of the order in the cell (çilehane, the section where the thousand-and-one-day ordeal is endured) of Garibî Mehmed Dede Efendi, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge. During this time he learned Arabic and Persian literature from him. Then he went to Istanbul and from there to Bursa, attached himself to Abdülğani Efendi of Amasya, sheikh of the Sabûrî Lodge, and received a hilâfetnâme (certificate of caliphate) from the Zeyniyye order.
Later he returned to Amasya and, on the death of Garibî Dede, became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge. But since he was pursued in the Hüftadî affair that took place in Amasya, he disappeared in 1037 [1627-28]. In 1039 [1629-30] it was learned that he was in Bursa.
Because in 1041 [1631-32] he became sheikh of the Ali Pasha Lodge in Bursa, the sheikhship of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge, which he had been running as deputy in Rebîülevvel 1044 [1634-35], was taken from him and given to his deputy Sâlih Dede Efendi. After serving for years as sheikh at the Ali Pasha Lodge he died in 1057 [1647]. He is buried inside the lodge.
He was a sheikh who was a scholar, a master of Arabic and Persian literature, devoted to the rules of religion, a poet and man of letters, and he is famous under the name "Kelimî Ahmed Efendi." The remainder of his biography and his works come below under the letter "kef" (K).
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- tahsîl-i ilim ü ma'rifet: acquiring knowledge and learning
- tekmîl-i süluk: completing the path of the order, that is, spiritual training
- intisab: attaching oneself to a sheikh or an order
- hilâfetnâme: document by which a sheikh declares that he has given his student authority to guide in his own name
- avdet: return
- irtihâl: death
- düçâr olmak: to fall victim to, to be struck by
- tegayyüb: disappearing, going into hiding
- meşîhat: sheikhship
- uhde: responsibility, duty
- müteşerri': one who scrupulously follows the rules of religion
- bakıyye-yi ahvâl: the remainder of a life, a detailed biography
The Zeyniyye Order and the Lodge in Bursa
The Zeyniyye is an order founded in Herat at the beginning of the fifteenth century and spread over a wide geography. Since in its founding period it was represented by scholar sheikhs who also knew the sharia sciences, it attracted the ulema and statesmen, and from the sixteenth century on it began to lose its influence. The lodge from which Kelimî received his icazet is the Kâsım Subaşı Zâviyesi, also known in Bursa as the Ali Pasha Lodge. This zâviye belonged to the Zeyniyye. Abdülganî Efendi, who trained under Resul Efendi serving at the lodge in Bilecik, became postnişin (sheikh) at this zâviye in Bursa. Kilimî Ahmed Efendi, son-in-law and caliph of Abdülganî Efendi, is the person who died in 1057 [1647] and is regarded as the last Zeyniyye sheikh of the zâviye. After him the lodge remained in the hands of other orders.
Points Where Hüsameddin's Account Differs
In Bursa sources this sheikh appears as "Ankaralı Ahmed Kilimî"; Hüsameddin, however, presents him as a native of Amasya and writes his name "Kelimî." Since the name, the year of death (1057), the city (Bursa), the teacher (Abdülganî Efendi) and the order coincide completely, it can be thought that the same person is meant. The contradiction concerning the birthplace could not be resolved with these pages. According to Hüsameddin the place where he first trained is the Amasya Mevlevi lodge, and he received the Zeyniyye caliphate in Bursa. This also suggests a period in which a sheikh could be connected with more than one order, that is, could train in a Mevlevi cell and later become sheikh in the lodge of another order.
The Amasya Mevlevi Lodge and Deputy Sheikhship
According to Mevlevi sources, in the institutionalization of the Mevlevi order Sultan Veled sent caliphs to Amasya, Erzincan and Kırşehir and had lodges opened. The practice of the "deputy sheikh," who runs the lodge in Mevlevi houses when the sheikh cannot be on duty or is young, is known. Kelimî's running the Amasya Mevlevi lodge by deputyship after settling in Bursa, and the post's finally being given to his deputy Sâlih Dede, recalls this practice. This entry gives no information about the "Hüftadî affair." In another entry of Hüsameddin it is written that a bey serving at the Amasya Fortress was appointed to the sanjak beylik of Canik in Şevval 1038 in return for services he showed in the "Hüftâdî incident." This suggests that the event was a disturbance experienced in Amasya at the end of the 1030s, that is, in the years Kelimî disappeared in 1037; the relation of Kelimî's being pursued to this event and the nature of the event are not explained in the sources that could be read.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies
- Reşat Öngören, "Zeyniyye", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2013. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/zeyniyye
- Sezai Küçük, "Mevlevîlerde Çocuk Şeyhler ve Vekil Şeyhlik", Sakarya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, XV/27, 2013.
Other sources
- Abdurrezzak Tek, "Mevlevîliğin Bursa'daki İzleri", Semazen (mevlana.net articles).