Caniklidir. Canik nahiyesi dâhilinde Eğrikum adlı köy halkından Mustafa bin Osmân bin Abdullah bin İbrâhim’in mahdûmudur. 1258’de doğup 1275’de Amasya’ya tahsîl-i ulûm için geldi. İçerişehir’de Tekke Medresesinde ikâmetle İbikli el-Hâc Hasan Efendi’den altı yıl kadar okudu.
1281’de mûmâ ileyhin Hicâz’a azîmetinde Şirvânî el-Hâc Mustafa Efendi’nin dersine devam ve ondan ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek icâzet-nâme aldı. Bir müddet ders-i âm olup te’ehhül ederek ders okutdu. Medresesi civârında bir evceğiz edindi. [767] 1296’da Halîlesinin vefâtından pek müte’essir oldu. Ruhunu tesliye eden bir işâret-i kutsiye üzerine tedrîs ve te’ehhül fikrinden vazgeçti. O işâret-i kutsiyenin ta’yin etdiği yöne gitdi. Üveysî meşreb olup vefâtına kadar bu yoldan ayrılmadı.
1312 senesi zilka’desinin evâilinde dâr-ı kutse irtihâl etdi. Vefâtından hiçbir kimse haberdâr olmadığından günlerce cesedi evceğizinde kaldı. Zilka’denin on ikinci gecesi şerik-i dersi olan Müftü el-Hâc Osmân Efendi’ye rüyâsında vefât etdiğini haber verip defn edilmesini söyledi.
Ertesi gün ulemâdan birkaç zât ile beraber Hacı Osmân Efendi, hânesine gidip girdi. Yorgan altında çıplak olan cesedinde ne dendân-ı fareden bir zarar ne de yazın sıcağına rağmen ufûnetden bir eser görülemedi. Cenazesi o gün kaldırılıp Çatal Hâfız Ahmed Efendi’nin yanına defnedildi.
Âlim, gâyet âbid, halîm, tam manasıyla zâhid, ortaboylu, bünyesi nahîf, seyrek sakallı, sarışın benizli yeşil cübbeli, beşûş, sukûtî-meşreb, mazınne-i [768] kerâmet bir zât-ı şerîf idi.
Merhûm ahyânen hediye kabûl ederdi. Fakat nüzûr ve sadakât almaz, ta’ayyüşüne akıl ermezdi. Sâ’imü’d-dehr olup ekser eyyâmda su ile iftâr iderdi. Gâyet latîf, sabûr, halûk idi. Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii avlusunda yukarı çınarın dibinde oturur, evkât-ı salâtı gözler. Uyur gibi gözleri yumuk dururdu. Ne güler, ne ağlar, ne de söylerdi. Hâlini kimseye sezdirmezdi.
Birgün merhûmun yanına gitdim. Terceme-i hâlini sordum. Derhal elimi tutdu ve buyurdu ki; “Sen ulemâ-yı ümmetin, a’yân-ı memleketin, vatanın târîhini yazıyorsun, bundan büyük hayırlı hizmet olmaz. Bâdi-i mağfiretin olur inşâllah. Lâkin dikkat ki yazdıklarını yakmayasın, yangından sakın. Elinde yarısı bile kalsa yine bir menfa’atdir. Diğer yarısını sonra da yazabilirsin.
Terceme-i hâlini yazacağın kimselerin uyûb u nevâkısını yazmakta pek ziyâde dikkat et. Ya müşâhade yahud ihbârât-ı sâdıka ile sâbit olan seyyi’âtı ibret için yazmakta bir [769] be’is yoktur. Bu halde sakın garaz karıştırma. Hasenâtı istediğin kadar yazarsın. Mümkün olduğu kadar seyyi’âtdan taharrüz et, sonra o mağfûr olur, sen mu’azzeb olursun.”
Merhûmun bu sözlerini kaydetdim. Şayânı hayretdir ki 1331’de İstanbul’da Molla Hüsrev Mahallesi’ndeki Acı Çeşme Sokağında bir hânede müste’ciren ikâmet ederdim. Bu hânenin karşısından çıkan bir yangında eşya ve kitaplarım yandı. Refikâmın kurtarabildiği eşya içinde Amasya Târîhi’nin harfi “şîn”e kadar olan yarısı da vardı. Harf-i “şîn”dan aşağısı kâmilen yandı.
In Modern English
He was from Canik. He came from the villagers of Eğrikum, a village within the nahiye of Canik, and was the son of Mustafa; Mustafa was the son of Osman, Osman the son of Abdullah, and Abdullah the son of İbrahim. He was born in 1258 [1842-43] and came to Amasya in 1275 [1858-59] to study. Staying at the Tekke Madrasa in İçerişehir, he studied for about six years under İbikli Hacı Hasan Efendi.
In 1281 [1864-65], when the aforementioned Hasan Efendi left for the Hejaz, he continued attending the lessons of Şirvânî Hacı Mustafa Efendi, completed his studies under him and received a diploma (icazetname). For a time he gave open lessons for the public; he married and went on teaching. He acquired a small house near his madrasa. In 1296 [1878-79] he was deeply grieved by the death of his wife. Following a sacred sign that consoled his soul, he gave up teaching and the thought of marriage. He went in the direction the sacred sign indicated. Being of Uveysi temperament, he never left that path until his death.
In the first days of Dhu al-Qadah 1312 [1895] he passed to the other world. Because no one knew of his death, his body lay in his small house for days. On the twelfth night of Dhu al-Qadah he appeared in a dream to his study companion, Mufti Hacı Osman Efendi, told him that he had died and asked that he be buried.
The next day Hacı Osman Efendi went to his house with several of the ulema and entered. On the body, which lay naked under a quilt, there was neither damage from mice nor, despite the summer heat, any trace of decay. His funeral was held that day and he was buried beside Çatal Hâfız Ahmed Efendi.
He was a scholar, deeply devoted to worship, gentle, truly detached from the world, of medium height, frail in build, with a thin beard, a fair complexion and a green robe, cheerful in countenance, quiet by nature, and a blessed person thought to possess miraculous gifts.
He would occasionally accept gifts, but took neither vows nor alms, and no one could understand how he made his living. He fasted continuously, and on most days broke his fast with water. He was very gentle, patient and good-natured. He would sit at the foot of the upper plane tree in the courtyard of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, watching the prayer times. He kept his eyes shut as if asleep. He neither laughed, nor wept, nor spoke. He let no one perceive his state.
One day I went to see him. I asked for his biography. He took my hand at once and said: "You are writing the history of the scholars of the community, of the notables of the country, of the homeland; there can be no more beneficial service than this. God willing, it will be a means of your forgiveness. But take care not to burn what you write; beware of fire. Even if only half remains in your hands, it will still be of use. You can write the other half later.
Be very careful in writing the faults and shortcomings of those whose biographies you will write. There is no harm in writing, as a lesson, the wrongdoings that were either witnessed or established by reliable reports. But in that case, never mix in malice. You may write their good deeds as much as you wish. Keep away from wrongdoings as far as possible; afterwards that person is forgiven, and you are the one who suffers punishment."
I recorded these words of the late man. Remarkably, in 1331 I was living as a tenant in a house on Acı Çeşme Street in the Molla Hüsrev quarter of Istanbul. In a fire that broke out opposite this house, my belongings and my books burned. Among the things my wife managed to save was half of the Amasya Tarihi, up to the letter "shin." Everything after the letter "shin" burned completely.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- tahsîl-i ulûm: pursuing studies
- icâzet-nâme: a document by which a teacher authorizes a student to teach and to transmit particular books
- ders-i âm: a müderris authorized to give open lessons to the public
- te'ehhül: marrying, starting a family
- halîle: wife
- üveysî meşreb: a person believed to have been spiritually trained by someone he never met in person, rather than by a living teacher
- dâr-ı kutse irtihâl: passing to the next world, dying
- şerik-i ders: study companion
- ufûnet: the smell of decay
- nahîf: thin, frail
- beşûş: cheerful, smiling
- sukûtî-meşreb: taciturn by temperament
- mazınne-i kerâmet: thought to possess miraculous gifts
- nüzûr ve sadakât: vows and alms
- sâ'imü'd-dehr: one who fasts all year round
- uyûb u nevâkıs: faults and shortcomings
- seyyi'ât ve hasenât: wrongdoings and good deeds
- müste'ciren: as a tenant
The Uveysi Way
The phrase "üveysî meşreb," used in the text for Ahmed Efendi's path, refers in Sufi literature to a person who receives spiritual training, through dreams or other spiritual means, from someone he has not seen in person. The term takes its name from Uways al-Qarani (Veysel Karanî), who lived in Yemen in the time of the Prophet and became a Muslim but could not meet him in person. According to the encyclopedia entry, the epithet is applied to four groups: those believed to have been trained by spiritual means by the Prophet, by Veysel Karanî, by Khidr, or by a spiritual guide. Üveysîlik was first mentioned by Farid al-Din Attar in his Tadhkirat al-awliya, completed in 618 [1221]. Hüsameddin does not say by what sign Ahmed Efendi entered this path or from whom he believed he received spiritual benefit; he only reports that after his wife's death he received a "sign" and walked in that direction to the end of his life. For this reason, the text does not make clear whether Ahmed Efendi belonged to any order.
Amasya's Madrasas and Teachers
In the first volume of his book, while listing the scholars who spread learning in Amasya, Hüsameddin also names İbikli Hacı Hasan and Şirvânî Hacı Mustafa, using the phrase "exceptionally renowned" for the group. The teachers he gives for Ahmed Efendi are thus names he also recalls with respect elsewhere. The Tekke Madrasa is recorded as one of the twenty-odd madrasas still teaching in Amasya at the beginning of the twentieth century. The number of madrasas in Amasya rose above forty during the Ottoman period. The identity of the "Mufti Hacı Osman Efendi" in the text has not been settled: a study based on the archive of the Meşihat names Osman Hilmi Efendi, son of Hacı Mehmed, as a mufti of Amasya, but it could not be verified whether this person is the same as the Hacı Osman Efendi mentioned by Hüsameddin. No information was found in other sources about Çatal Hâfız Ahmed Efendi or the village of Eğrikum.
The Sultan Bayezid Mosque
The courtyard where Ahmed Efendi sat is that of the Mosque and Complex of Bayezid II in Amasya. According to its inscription the mosque was completed in Rajab 891 [July 1486]; Hüsameddin, however, argues that construction began in Rajab 886 [September 1481]. In the broad courtyard of the complex, shaded by trees and set in the middle of an outer court of roughly 160 by 120 metres, there are two ablution fountains and a time-keeper's building from the nineteenth century. Whether the "upper plane tree" in the text is still standing today could not be established from the sources examined.
The Fire and Half of the Amasya Tarihi
The last paragraph of the entry is one of the rare pieces of information Hüsameddin gives, in his own voice, about the fate of his book. As far as the text shows, the biographies in the Amasya Tarihi were arranged in alphabetical order, and in the Istanbul fire everything after the letter "shin" was lost. Hüsameddin was born in Amasya in 1869, and according to the encyclopedia entry the work was in fact a twelve-volume study of which only four volumes could be printed between 1912 and 1928; the fifth volume is reported lost, and volumes six to twelve are said to be held in manuscript in the Süleymaniye Library. Whether there is a connection between the section lost in the fire and these missing volumes cannot be determined from the sources. It is also unclear whether the year 1331 in the text is hijri or fiscal (mâlî); if hijri it corresponds to 1912-13, if fiscal to 1915-16. Ahmed Efendi's words also summarize the principle Hüsameddin adopted when writing biographies: what is written must not be burned, faults should be recorded only when they were witnessed or established as true, and only as a lesson, and malice must not be mixed in. Indeed, in the entry for Kofuoğlu Hacı Ahmed Ağa in this volume, good deeds and faults are set side by side.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 237–238. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, section on learning and the ulema of Amasya (original edition p. 260-261).
Academic studies
Other sources
- "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar" entry, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi.