AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Ahmed Efendi — Koca Mu’îd

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 6, p. 127 • Edited by: Doç. Dr. Recep Orhan ÖZEL - Doç. Dr. Metin HAKVERDİOĞLU

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Mustafa oğludur. Amasya’da Abdîzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed, Hatîb Kâsım Efendilerden ikmâl-i tahsîl edib üstâdına mu’îd ve mülâzım, ba’dehû ders-i âm-ı meşhûr oldu. Amasya müftülerine müsevvid ve ba’dehû Yörgüç Paşa Medresesine müderris olduğu hâlde 916 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Fâzıl, fakîh, müteşerri’ bir müderris idi.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was the son of Mustafa. In Amasya he completed his education under Abdîzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed and Hatîb Kâsım Efendi; he became his teacher's muîd (teaching assistant) and mülâzım (candidate awaiting appointment), and then a well-known dersiâm. He wrote the drafts of the fatwas of the muftis of Amasya, then became müderris of the Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa, and while in this post he died around 916 [1510-11]. He was a virtuous müderris, a jurist, and strictly bound to the rulings of the religion.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's education
  • mu'îd: the assistant who has students repeat the lesson the müderris has taught
  • mülâzım: a candidate of the learned class who, having finished the madrasa, waits his turn for appointment and in the meantime serves beside his teacher
  • ders-i âm: a müderris with the authority to give lectures open to the public
  • müsevvid: one who writes drafts; here, the clerk who prepares the mufti's fatwa drafts
  • fakîh: a jurist, scholar of fiqh
  • müteşerri': one who scrupulously follows the rulings of the sharia

A Müderris's Path of Training

Short as it is, this entry shows in order the steps through which a provincial scholar passed at the end of the fifteenth century. Ahmed Efendi was first his teacher's muîd. Muîd means "one who repeats" in the dictionary; this name was given to the teaching staff member who repeated the müderris's lesson to his fellow students and assisted the teacher. In Mehmed the Conqueror's waqf deed of the Sahn-ı Semân it is written that muîds were to be chosen from among well-trained, capable students among their peers. Besides repeating the lessons, muîds also took care of supervising the students, and since they were directly attached to the teacher they were regarded as the strongest candidates for müderrisship. The nickname "Koca Muîd" suggests that Ahmed Efendi stayed in this post for a long time and became known for it. Then he became a mülâzım. As Mehmet İpşirli explains, mülâzemet meant that madrasa graduates waited their turn for müderrisship and kadıship and in the meantime gained professional experience; this system was fixed in detailed rules in the middle of the sixteenth century by the regulations of Ebüssuûd Efendi. After these stages Ahmed Efendi worked as a drafts clerk beside the muftis of Amasya and finally became müderris of a madrasa.

His teachers were leading scholars of Amasya. Hatîb Kâsım Efendi was one of the teachers of Prince Bayezid and also taught the famous calligrapher Şeyh Hamdullah; according to Hüsameddin's record, he became teacher of Prince Ahmed in 889 [1484] and died in 894 [1488-89]. Ahmed Efendi's education must have been completed before this date. His other teacher, Abdîzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, belongs to the family of scholars of Amasya known by the Abdîzâde nickname that the author of the work also bears.

The Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa

The madrasa that was Ahmed Efendi's last post is one of the charitable works in Amasya of Yörgüç Pasha, who had been the lala of Murad II in his princely years. As Fahameddin Başar notes, according to the waqf deeds and tahrir registers Yörgüç Pasha had built in Amasya a mosque, a madrasa, an imaret, and two bathhouses; he also had waqf works in Tokat, Gümüş, Köprü, Havza, and İskilip. He died in Zilhicce 845 [April-May 1442] and was buried in the tomb of his mosque in Amasya. The Yörgüç Pasha Mosque, built in 1428, stands today and is a well-known example of the inverted-T-plan mosques in Amasya. Information on the present state of the madrasa could not be obtained.

No information was found in other sources about Koca Muîd Ahmed Efendi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

  • Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 127–127. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

Official sources

Volume 6 contents