Amasya kadısı Muslihîzâde Abdurrahman Efendi’nin evlâdından ve a’yân-ı sâlifeden Kadızâde Muslî Ağa bin İbrâhim Çelebi ahfadından ve Şehreküsdü Mahallesi eşrâfından Hacı Mehmed Efendi’nin mahdûmudur.
Hutût-ı mütenevvi’ayı hattât-ı meşhûr Ebuloğlu Hâfız Mustafa ve hattât-ı meşhûr Ma’denüzcüzâde el-Hâc Halîl Zühtü Efendi’nin Çırağı Zileli Ahmed Kâmil Efendilerden ahz u temeşşuk edib üstâdına nispetle “Kâmilî” mahlasını aldı. Ulûmu da Kavaklı el-Hâc Ömer Kuzu Efendi’den ahzedib her iki taraftan mücâz ve Hacı Ömer Efendi’ye dâmâd [759] oldu.
Şehreküsdü Mahallesi’ndeki hânesinde talebelere yazı öğretdi. Sonra mahkemeye girip ketebeden oldu. Kayın pederinin vefâtında mahlûlünden Sarâc-hâne Câmii Hatîbi ve 1282’de açılan Rüşdiyye mektebi hat mu’allimi ve 1296’da mahkeme baş-kâtibi, Hâfız Zekeriya Efendi’nin maktûlen vefâtı üzerine mahkeme-i şer’iyye baş-kâtibi oldu.
Üç yıl kadar hizmet-i şer’iyyede bulunup 1299 senesi saferinin evâ’ilinde bilâ-veled irtihâl etdi. Âlim, fakîh, kâtib, tab’an nâzik, çelebi-meşreb, hilkaten asîl bir hattât-ı meşhûr idi. Hattâtlığı şöhret-i ilmiyyesine gâlib, hatt-ı talîk ve sülüsde mâhir idi. Çırağı olan hattât-ı meşhûr Köse Mustafa Sabri Efendi ber-hayatdır. -Ammarahullah-
In Modern English
He was a descendant of Muslihîzade Abdurrahman Efendi, qadi of Amasya, and a grandson of Kadızade Muslî Ağa (son of İbrahim Çelebi), one of the former notables; he was the son of Hacı Mehmed Efendi, of the leading men of the Şehreküstü quarter.
He took up the various scripts and practiced them under the famous calligrapher Ebuloğlu Hâfız Mustafa and under Zileli Ahmed Kâmil Efendi, apprentice of the famous calligrapher Ma'denüzcüzade Hacı Halîl Zühtü Efendi; from his teacher he took the pen name "Kâmilî." He also learned the sciences under Kavaklı Hacı Ömer Kuzu Efendi. He received licenses from both sides and married a daughter of Hacı Ömer Efendi.
In his house in the Şehreküstü quarter he taught students writing. Later he entered the court and became one of its clerks. On the death of his father-in-law he took over the vacated post and became preacher of the Saraçhane Mosque; he served as writing teacher of the Rüşdiye school opened in 1282 [1865-66]; in 1296 [1878-79] he became chief clerk of the court, and when Hâfız Zekeriya Efendi was killed he became chief clerk of the sharia court.
After about three years in sharia service he died childless in the early days of Safer 1299 [1881-82]. He was a scholar, a jurist and a clerk; gentle by nature, refined, of noble stock and a famous calligrapher. His calligraphy outshone his scholarly fame; he was skilled in the ta'liq and thuluth scripts. His apprentice, the famous calligrapher Köse Mustafa Sabri Efendi, is still alive. May God make him flourish.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- hutût-ı mütenevvi'a: various kinds of script
- ahz u temeşşuk: learning and practicing; in calligraphy, learning by imitating the model the teacher wrote
- mahlas: the pen name an artist uses in his works
- çırak: in calligraphy, a student trained by a master
- mücâz: one who has received a license
- hat mu'allimi: writing teacher
- ketebe: clerks
- baş-kâtib: head of the clerical work of a court
- hatt-ı talîk, sülüs: two types of Islamic script
- bilâ-veled: childless
- çelebi-meşreb: refined, gentlemanly in temper
- hilkaten: by nature
- ber-hayat: alive
- Ammarahullah: may God make him flourish (a prayer formula)
Amasya and the Art of Calligraphy
Amasya is regarded as the cradle of calligraphy. Sheikh Hamdullah learned the six scripts (aklâm-ı sitte) here from Hayreddin Mar'aşî and received his license, produced the works of his early period in Amasya, and set out his own style in Istanbul. Hüsameddin's Amasya Târihi is also among the sources in the bibliography of the entry on Sheikh Hamdullah. The present entry is one of the examples showing that this tradition lived on in Amasya in the second half of the nineteenth century and that writing was taught both in private houses and in schools. Training in calligraphy rests on the practice relationship between master and apprentice; that Ahmed Kâmilî took his pen name from his teacher's name shows how strong this bond was.
Taken together, the writing teaching, the clerkship and the chief clerkship in the text show that fine writing was a professional tool at that time. The court clerk drew up sharia documents, rulings and records, and knowledge of calligraphy was directly useful in that work. That the same person was a mosque preacher and knew jurisprudence shows that the learned class and clerical work were intertwined in Amasya.
The Hamdullah School and the License
Sheikh Hamdullah learned calligraphy in Amasya, became the calligraphy teacher of Bayezid II, and went to Istanbul when summoned to the palace. His school is the longest-lived school of calligraphy; later calligraphers imitated his forms, and those who succeeded were praised with the words "he wrote like the Sheikh." In this school thuluth and naskh came to the fore, while the riqa script was used under the name "hatt-ı icâze" in calligraphers' colophons, in the ijazah certificates of the learned class, and in the completion notes of books. Ahmed Kâmilî's receiving a license "from both sides," that is, in writing and in learning, is one of the examples in which these two worlds were united in one person. Hamdullah's maternal uncle and father-in-law was also a calligrapher; the art is seen passing from master to apprentice within the family.
The Rüşdiye School
Hüsameddin writes that the Rüşdiye school was opened in 1282 [1865-66]. It is reported that during Ziya Pasha's term as mutasarrıf of Amasya (1863-65) a secondary school and six primary schools were built; whether there is a link between those records and the opening of the Rüşdiye could not be determined. Among those who later attended the same Rüşdiye was Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi, mufti of Amasya. This shows that the school was one of the institutions that trained educated people in Amasya at the end of the nineteenth century.
The Man in Other Sources
No information could be found in other sources about Muslîzade Hacı Ahmed Kâmilî Efendi, his teachers Ebuloğlu Hâfız Mustafa and Ma'denüzcüzade Halîl Zühtü Efendi, or his apprentice Köse Mustafa Sabri Efendi. There are studies on Hamdullah and the early calligraphers of Amasya; no separate source was found on these nineteenth-century calligraphers. The present state of the Saraçhane Mosque also could not be verified.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 235–235. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- "Hamdullah Efendi, Şeyh", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hamdullah-efendi-seyh
- Halil İnalcık, "Akyüz, Kenan: Ziya Paşa'nın Amasya Mutasarrıflığı Sırasındaki Olaylar, Belgeler I" (book review), Belleten, 30/117 (1966). https://belleten.gov.tr/tam-metin/3252/tur
- Kamil Şahin, "Yetkin, Abdurrahman Kâmil", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yetkin-abdurrahman-kamil