Amasya civârında Erba’a Kazâsı dâhilinde Keydoğan köyünden Hüseyin bin Osmân bin İbrâhim’in mahdûmudur. Amasya’da Canikli el-Hâc Mehmed, Boyâbadî el-Hâc Süleyman, Hacı Ahmedzâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendilerden tahsîl-i ulûm ederek mücâz olduktan sonra Kayseriye’ye gidip fâzıl-ı meşhûr Kâsım Efendi’den de ahz-ı ulûm ederek avdetde Hacı Kâsım Efendi’nin tavsiyesiyle Amasya’da Karagözzâde Fındık Mustafa Efendi’den de hâssaten ulûm-ı şer’iyyeyi ahz ü ikmâl etdi. Bunlardan da mücâz oldu.
Amasya’da bir müddet tedrîs-i ulûm etdikten sonra edilen davet üzerine Taşâbad’a gidip orada ders-i âm ve müftî-i benâm oldu. Fakat kazâ a’yânı el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa’nın tahakkümünden bîzâr olarak tedrîs ve iftâyı terk edib tekrar Amasya’ya can atdı. Amasya’da ikinci defa tedrîse başladı. Avdetinden dolayı pek mahnûn oldu. [746]
Çünkü Şeyhzâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi’nin can sohbetinden ayrıldığına pek müteessifdi. Bu avdetinde o sohbete kavuştu. 1263’de mahlûl olan Benderli Medresesi müderrisliğine tayin edildi. 1265’de meclis-i de’âvâ a’zası ve birkaç yıl sonra da mahkemede şer’iyyâtî oldu.
1272’de Hicâz’a gidip geldi. 1273 senesi leyle-i berâtında dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan fâzıl, usûl-i fıkıh ve kelâmda mâhir, hadîs ve tefsîre vâkıf, natûk, gâyet fakîh, vecîh, vakûr, bir zât-ı muhterem idi. Mahdûmları Hâfız Mehmed Efendi 1307’de el-Hâc Mustafa Neş’et Efendi 1319’da ve Benderli müderrisi Mehmed Ârif Efendi de 1327’de vefât etdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Hüseyin from the village of Keydoğan, in the district of Erbaa near Amasya; Hüseyin was the son of Osman, who was the son of İbrahim. In Amasya he studied with Canikli Hacı Mehmed, Boyabadî Hacı Süleyman and Seyyid Mustafa Efendi, known as Hacı Ahmedzâde, and received a licence to teach. He then went to Kayseri and studied also with the renowned scholar Kâsım Efendi. On his return, on the advice of Hacı Kâsım Efendi, he studied and completed the religious sciences in particular with Karagözzâde Fındık Mustafa Efendi in Amasya. He received a licence from these men as well.
After teaching in Amasya for a time, he went to Taşâbâd on an invitation and became a well-known mufti and public lecturer there. But, wearied by the pressure of Hacı Ahmed Ağa, one of the notables of the district, he gave up teaching and issuing fatwas and returned to Amasya. In Amasya he began to teach for the second time. He was very glad to be back.
For he had greatly regretted being parted from the heartfelt company of Şeyhzâde Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi. On this return he rejoined that company. In 1263 [1846-47] he was appointed professor of the Benderli Madrasa, which had fallen vacant. In 1265 [1848-49] he became a member of the council of lawsuits, and a few years later an official for sharia matters at the court.
In 1272 [1855-56] he made the pilgrimage to the Hejaz and returned. He died on the Night of Berat (the fifteenth night of Shaban) of 1273 [1856-57]. He was one of the renowned scholars, a man of virtue, skilled in the principles of jurisprudence and in theology, versed in hadith and exegesis, talkative, a very discerning jurist, dignified, grave and respected. Of his sons, Hâfız Mehmed Efendi died in 1307 [1889-90], Hacı Mustafa Neşet Efendi in 1319 [1901-02], and the Benderli professor Mehmed Ârif Efendi in 1327 [1909-10].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mücâz: one who has received a licence (icazet) and the authority to teach
- ahz-ı ulûm: taking up learning, studying
- ders-i âm: a professor authorised to give public lectures
- müftî-i benâm: a renowned, well-known mufti
- a'yân: the notables and influential people of a place
- tahakküm: pressure, domineering behaviour
- mahlûl: vacant (of a post)
- meclis-i de'âvâ: the council that heard lawsuits
- şer'iyyâtî: an official dealing with sharia matters at the court, a sharia clerk; the exact duty cannot be made out from the text
- leyle-i berâ't: the Night of Berat, the fifteenth night of Shaban
- natûk: talkative, a good speaker
- usûl-i fıkıh, kelâm: the methodology of Islamic law; the science that grounds the articles of faith in reason
Taşâbâd and the District of Erbaa
The Taşâbâd of the text is present-day Taşova. The settlements of Erek, Karayaka, Sonusa (Uluköy) and Taşâbat, between Niksar and Amasya, were close to one another and were therefore called together "Nevâh-i Erbaa", that is, "the four towns", and their taxes were recorded under that name. It is recorded that in 1840 the tax collected from these four places was entered as 47,243 kuruş. As Erek grew more than the others over time, it became a district in 1872 and took the name Erbaa for itself alone; Taşâbat, Karayaka and Sonusa came to be counted as its villages. Taşova became a separate district in 1944, and Sonusa was attached to Taşova. Hüsameddin's phrase "the village of Keydoğan within the district of Erba'a" therefore fits the administrative structure of the period, made up of these four towns, before Erek became the single centre. The present name or location of the village of Keydoğan could not be verified in the sources read.
The Madrasas and Professors of Amasya
The life of Ahmed Efendi, who is named in the book as professor of the Benderli Madrasa, shows the path of a provincial scholar: receiving a licence nearby, travelling to a more distant centre of learning (Kayseri), serving as mufti in the provinces, escaping the pressure of local men of power by returning to the city, and then a madrasa professorship and a seat on the council. More than forty madrasas have been identified in Amasya, and they made the city a centre of attraction in the educational life of the region. A study based on the records of the Meşihat Archive notes that the chains of licences of Amasya professors meet in Ebû Saîd Muhammed el-Hâdimî and then divide into two branches, reaching Imam Bukhari and Abu Hanifa. Since that study deals with the professors of the reign of Abdülhamid II (1876-1909), it gives no information on Ahmed Efendi himself. No information was found in other sources on the Benderli Madrasa or on Ahmed Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 231–231. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources