Amasyalıdır. Yörgüç Paşa Câmii İmamı Ali Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Sultân Bâyezîd kürsî şeyhi Îcâdîzâde eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi’nin halka-i tedrîs ve sohbetinde ulûm ve kemâlâtı sûriyye ve maneviyyeyi ahz ve telakkî ederek müşârün-ileyhden me’zûn oldu.
Kezâlik “Memi Dede” demekle meşhûr eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed bin İbrâhim el-Halvetî’den ahz u füyûzât ederek her ikisinden de hilâfet-nâme aldı. Fazîlet-i ilmiyyesi, zühd ve takvası ile temayüz edib Sultân Bâyezîd kürsî şeyhi olarak ahlâk-ı umûmiyyenin tehzîbine çalıştı.
Muğnîzâde Ahmed Efendi, kendisinden inâbe ederek imâret arkasında kâin Hacı İlyas Mescidi ittisâlinde bir zâviye-i Halvetiyye yaptırdı. Oranın meşîhatını da sâhib-i tercemeye verdi. [493] Ba’dehû kürsü şeyhliğinden isti’fâ ederek zâviyede ihtiyâr-ı tekâ’üd ve zikr u ibâdete teveccüh-i tâm etdi. Ulemâ ve halk arasında “kutub” ve “Kutbeddîn” dendi.
Bu halde eyyâm-ı hayâtını ikmâl ederek 1039 senesi ramazânının on beşinci günü dâr-ı kudse irtihâl etdi. Âlim, zâhid, gayet müttakî, âbid, müteşerri’, mazınne-i kerâmet, sâhib-i velâyet bir zât-ı sütûde-simâd idi. Cenazesi Yörgüç Paşa imâreti ittisâlinde kâin mezarlığın cenûb-ı garbî köşesinde pederinin yanına defnedildi.
Şeyh-i müşârün-ileyhin mezarı, ziyâretgâh-ı ulemâ ve meşâyih olup halk kendisinden istişfâ ederdi. Yanında hayli ulemâ ve meşâyih medfûndur. Bunlardan biri de Hacı Abdullah oğlu eş-Şeyh Mustafa Efendi’dir. Yakın zamanlarda meşâyih-i Nakşibendiyyeden eş-Şeyh Süleyman Efendi de kendi vasiyeti ile oraya defnedildi. Hulefâsından eş-şeyh Ali, Hızır, İbrâhim Efendiler meşhûrdur.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of Ali Efendi, imam of the Yörgüç Pasha Mosque. In the teaching and conversation circle of Îcâdîzâde Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi, pulpit sheikh of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, he acquired the outer and inner sciences and maturities and received a licence (icazet) from him.
Likewise he received spiritual grace (feyz) from Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed, son of İbrâhim el-Halvetî, known as "Memi Dede," and received a certificate of succession (hilafetname) from both. Standing out through his scholarly virtue, his non-attachment to the world, and his piety, he became pulpit sheikh of Sultan Bayezid and tried to improve the morals of the people.
Muğnîzâde Ahmed Efendi attached himself to him and, repenting, had a Khalwati zaviye built adjoining the Hacı İlyas Mosque behind the imaret, and gave the sheikhship of it to him as well. Later he withdrew from the pulpit sheikhship and chose retirement in the zaviye, giving himself entirely to dhikr and worship. Among the scholars and the people he was called "Kutub" and "Kutbeddîn."
Completing his life in this state, he died on the fifteenth day of Ramadan 1039 [April 1630]. He was a scholar, one who had withdrawn from the world, extremely pious, devoted to worship, strictly bound to the rulings of religion, believed to possess miracles (keramet), a man who had attained the rank of sainthood, worthy of praise. His funeral was buried in the south-western corner of the cemetery adjoining the Yörgüç Pasha Imaret, beside his father.
The sheikh's grave was a place of visit for scholars and sheikhs, and the people sought healing from him. Many scholars and sheikhs are buried near him. One of them is Şeyh Mustafa Efendi, son of Hacı Abdullah. In recent times Şeyh Süleyman Efendi, one of the Naqshbandi sheikhs, was also buried there by his own will. Among his successors (halifes), Şeyh Ali, Hızır, and İbrâhim Efendis are known.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kürsî şeyhi: the sheikh who preached and taught from the pulpit in a great mosque
- halka-i tedrîs: lecture circle
- kemâlât-ı sûriyye ve ma'neviyye: outer and inner maturities
- me'zûn: one who has received a licence (icazet)
- hilâfet-nâme: the document a sheikh gives to his disciple making him his successor (halife)
- inâbe: repenting and attaching oneself to a sheikh
- meşîhat: sheikhship
- kutb: in Sufism, the highest spiritual leader of the age
- mazınne-i kerâmet: one thought to possess miracles
- sütûde-simâd: worthy of praise
- istişfâ: seeking healing
The Kutub Lodge
The Kutub Lodge, called by the sheikh's name, stood in the Hacı İlyas quarter, which the people called "behind the Imaret" (İmaret ardı), on the street where the west door of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque opened. According to the information Kadir Özköse gives relying on studies on the seventeenth century, the lodge was built in 1018 [1609] by Şeyh Ahmed Halvetî, known as Kutub Dede, its waqfs were arranged in his name, and he himself took on its sheikhship. Hüsameddin, however, says here that the one who had the zaviye built was Muğnîzâde Ahmed Efendi, who had attached himself to the sheikh. The two accounts can be reconciled by supposing that Muğnîzâde had the building made and arranged the waqf in the sheikh's name; however, no document making this certain was seen. After the sheikh, his successor Mehmed Efendi and, from among the scholars, Seyyid İbrâhim Efendi became postnişin (head of the lodge), and the sheikhship continued in the lodge until the early nineteenth century; Şeyh Ahmed Efendi (d. 1220/1805), known as "Çatal Hâfız," was among them.
His Tomb and Memi Dede
In the section on tombs of his work, Hüsameddin places the "Kutub Tomb" in the western corner of the small cemetery east of the Yörgüç Pasha Imaret and repeats that Şeyh Mustafa Efendi, son of Hacı Abdullah, was buried beside him on his own will. According to Özköse this cemetery was where the market-hall building stands today, and the sheikh's grave has not survived. The mosque of Yörgüç Pasha, who died in 845 (1442) and is buried there, is still standing.
The sheikh's second guide (mürşid), Memi Dede, was a Khalwati elder who served as sheikh at the Hızır Pasha Lodge, founded in 971 [1564] by the beylerbeyi Hızır Pasha, of the Yörgüçpaşazâde, after Molla Şeyh İlyas Efendi. The Memi Dede Cemetery in the west of Amasya takes its name from him. No information was found in other sources on Îcâdîzâde Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi and Muğnîzâde Ahmed Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 156–156. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 1-4, section on tombs ("Kutub Tomb"), Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022. https://amasya.bel.tr/uploads/e-kitap/kitap/1-4/files/basic-html/page144.html
Academic studies