Amasya a’yânından olup 1296’da vefât eden Hasan Bey bin el-Hâc Es’ad Ağa’nın ikinci mahdûmudur. Karabağî el-Hâc Hamza ve Hasan Efendilerden ahz-ı ulûm ederek mücâz [776] ve ders-i âm oldu. Ramazânlarda Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii şerîfinde halka va’z ü nasihât etdi. 1308’de tebdîl-i meslek edib sarığı atdı. Kâtib-i ayyaş olup fevâhiş uğrunda vârını tüketdi.
1310’da İstanbul’a gidip kardeşi Mehmed Hamdi Bey’in sâye-i ikbâlinde sicill-i ahvâl-i idâre-yi umûmîyesi kalemine girdi. Orada ahvâli kesb-i saffet edib baş-mümeyyiz oldu. Mütemâyiz rütbesini aldı. Her şeyden el çekip 1335’de vefât etdi. Âlim, halûk, mütevâzî, müşekkel bir zât idi. İbtida Hamzavî idi. Sonra rind ü kalender oldu. Akibet muhibb-i sûfîye olarak vefât etdi.
In Modern English
He is the second son of Hasan Bey, son of Hacı Es'ad Ağa, one of the notables of Amasya, who died in 1296 [1878-79]. Having received learning from Karabağî Hacı Hamza and Hasan Efendi, he received a diploma and gave open lessons. In the months of Ramadan he preached and gave admonitions to the people in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. In 1308 [1890-91] he changed his profession and threw away the turban. He was a clerk given to drink and revelry, and squandered his fortune on vice.
In 1310 [1892-93] he went to Istanbul and, under the patronage of his brother Mehmed Hamdi Bey, entered the Personnel Records (Sicill-i Ahvâl) office of the General Administration. There his condition improved and he became chief examiner (başmümeyyiz). He received the rank of mütemâyiz. Withdrawing from everything, he died in 1335. He was a scholar, of good character, humble, of fine appearance. At first he was a Hamzavî. Then he became a rind and a kalender. In the end he died as a friend of the Sufis.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- a'yân: notables
- mücâz: one who has received a diploma and the authority to teach
- ders-i âm: a müderris giving open lessons to the public
- va'z ü nasihât: sermon and admonition
- tebdîl-i meslek: changing one's profession
- kâtib-i ayyaş: a clerk given to drink and revelry
- fevâhiş: shameful or base deeds
- sâye-i ikbâl: the shade of fortune and advancement, patronage
- sicill-i ahvâl: officials' biographical and service records
- mümeyyiz, başmümeyyiz: official who examined and checked records and documents, and the head of such officials
- kesb-i saffet: setting one's condition right, settling down
- mütemâyiz: one of the Ottoman civil ranks
- müşekkel: given form, well-shaped; the exact sense of its use for a person is not certain
- rind: a person free of worldly concerns, not bound by convention
- kalender: a wandering, carefree dervish
- muhibb-i sûfî: one who loves the Sufis and is close to them
Hamzavî, Rind and Kalender
The last sentences of the text sum up Ahmed Nafiz Bey's spiritual course: first a Hamzavî, then a rind and kalender, finally a friend of the Sufis. The word "Hamzavî" can be understood in two ways. On the one hand, Hamzavîlik is the name of the branch of Bayrâmî Melâmîlik attached to Hamza Bâlî; Melâmîlik took root in the Bosnian region after Hamza Bâlî, and Melâmî sheikhs met with the harsh attitude of the Ottoman administration. On the other hand, one of Ahmed Nafiz Bey's teachers was Karabağî Hacı Hamza Efendi; "Hamzavî" may also express affiliation with this teacher. Which Hüsameddin meant is not certain from the text. As for the Kalenderiyye, according to Ahmet Yaşar Ocak it was an order that ran from the beginning of the fourteenth century to the end of the seventeenth, remarkable for its relations with the central administration, and eventually dissolved into Bektashism. Which of these paths Ahmed Nafiz Bey entered, and in what circle, is not stated in the text; it says only that he changed his path.
From the Pulpit to the Records Office
Ahmed Nafiz Bey preached in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque in Ramadan, in 1308 left the turban for clerkship, and in 1310 entered the Sicill-i Ahvâl office in Istanbul. The sicill-i ahvâl organization was founded in 1879 as a commission attached to the Ministry of the Interior and was reorganized in 1896 under the name of the Commission for Civil Officials (Me'mûrîn-i Mülkiyye Komisyonu). On entering service, officials filled in a printed "biography form" (tercüme-i hâl varakası) giving their date of birth, father's name, education, posts, ranks and rewards; records based on these documents were entered in registers. Today the registers in the Ottoman Archive hold records of about fifty thousand officials. That Ahmed Nafiz Bey rose to chief examiner in this office shows that he held a post examining and checking records; his exact job description cannot be understood from the text. It is possible that he himself has an entry in these registers, but this could not be verified.
Preaching at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque
The Sultan Bayezid Mosque, where he preached in Ramadan, is the centre of the complex Bayezid II had built in Amasya; according to its inscription it was completed in Rajab 891 [July 1486]. The müderris post of the complex's madrasa was reserved for the muftis of Amasya. No records of who preached in the mosque were found in the sources examined. No information was found in other sources about Karabağî Hacı Hamza and Hasan Efendi, Hasan Bey, Hacı Es'ad Ağa and his brother Mehmed Hamdi Bey.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Academic studies