Amasya Müftülüğünden ma’zûlen İstanbul’da 973 senesi rebîülevvelinde vefât eden Hamidli Küçük Tâceddîn Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Ulemâdan tahsîl-i ulûm edib sudûrdan Çivizâde Mehmed Efendi’den mülâzım ve nice müddet bilâd-ı Mısriyye’de kadı ve hâkim oldu.
Hângâh kazâsından munfasıl iken 1011 senesi zilka’desinde [475] Balıkesir’de müderris ve müftü olup 1014 cumâdelâhiresinde Şücâ’ Efendi yerine Amasya Müftüsü ve sultâniyye müderrisi olarak Amasya’ya geldi. İki yıldan ziyâde tedrîs ve iftâ ile meşgûl iken 1016 senesi zilka’desinde eşkıyâ-yı celâliyye hücûmunda zehre-çâk olarak vefât etdi. Âlim, fakîh, afîf, muhibb-i sûfiyye idi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Hamidli Küçük Tâceddin Efendi, who, having left the muftiship of Amasya, died in Istanbul in Rabi' al-awwal 973 [1565]. He studied under the scholars; he became a mülâzım of Çivizâde Mehmed Efendi, one of the scholars who had risen to the highest ranks of the learned profession, and for a long time served as judge and magistrate in the land of Egypt.
While out of office from the judgeship of the kaza of Hângâh, he became müderris and mufti in Balıkesir in Dhu al-Qa'dah 1011 [1603]. In Jumada al-thani 1014 [1605], in place of Şücâ' Efendi, he came to Amasya as mufti of Amasya and müderris of the Sultaniye Madrasa. While he had been teaching and occupied with fatwa matters for more than two years, in Dhu al-Qa'dah 1016 [1608], during an attack by the Celali bandits, he died, his gall bladder bursting from fear. He was a scholar, a jurist, chaste, and a lover of the people of Sufism.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed or removed from office
- mahdûm: son
- sudûr: scholars who had risen to the highest offices of the learned profession (chief military judge, şeyhülislam)
- mülâzım: a person who served an apprenticeship with a great scholar and entered the queue for a judgeship or müderrisship
- bilâd-ı Mısriyye: the land of Egypt
- munfasıl: out of office
- tedrîs ve iftâ: teaching and giving fatwas
- zehre-çâk: with the gall bladder burst from fear
- afîf: chaste, pure
- muhibb-i sûfiyye: a lover of the Sufis
The Record in Hüsameddin's Chronicle
In the chronicle of Amasya in the third volume of his work, Hüsameddin narrates Ahmed Efendi's coming to the muftiship within a wider frame. When the mufti of Amasya, Emîr Ali Efendi, died in Rabi' al-thani 1014, Şücâeddin Efendi, mufti of Trabzon and müderris of the Hatuniye, was appointed in his place. While coming from Trabzon to Amasya, Şücâeddin Efendi was attacked by bandits on the road, reached the city half dead, and died a month later. Thereupon, in Jumada al-thani, "Mufti Tâceddin Efendizâde Ahmed Efendi" became mufti of Amasya. This agrees exactly with the information in the entry. In those same days Amasya was under the oppression of Kör Yûsuf Ağa, kethüda of Yıldızlı İbrahim Bey; the roads could not be passed because of bandits. That a mufti should be attacked on the road and die, and that his successor in turn should die of fright during a bandit raid, shows how insecure a place Amasya was in the Celali years.
Researchers who study the Celali revolts call this period, which lasted from 1603 to 1608, the era of the "great flight" (büyük kaçgunluk) in Anatolia. The people abandoned their homes and fled to fortified cities and towns, and the country turned into a ruin. According to Hüsameddin's chronicle, in Shawwal 1016 Kalenderoğlu Mehmed Pasha raided Zile and bombarded the city with cannon brought from Trabzon. The raid that led to Ahmed Efendi's death falls in the months right after these disturbances. This period came to an end only with the harsh and bloody measures of Grand Vizier Kuyucu Murad Pasha.
A Point to Note
Hüsameddin's chronicle has another record for Dhu al-Qa'dah 1016: in that month "the mufti of Amasya, Köse Ahmed Efendi" was forced to resign, and after the muftiship was offered to several müderrises it was given in Dhu al-Hijjah to İbrîz Mahmud Efendi of Salonica. Köse Ahmed Efendi of Malgara appears in the chronicle in earlier years twice as mufti of Amasya. Thus for the same month one place records the death of Tâceddinzâde Ahmed Efendi, the other the resignation of Köse Ahmed Efendi. The records of two muftis bearing the same name may have been confused; which is correct could not be determined with the sources at hand. In addition, other Tâceddin Efendis such as "Koca Tâceddin" and "Karamânî Hâce Tâceddin" appear in the chronicle among the muftis of Amasya; Hamidli Küçük Tâceddin Efendi, Ahmed Efendi's father, having died in 973, is a separate and earlier person from these.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies