Amasya’nın şu’arâ ve urefâsından meşâyih-i mevlevîyeden es-Seyyid Mehmed Sabit Dede bin es-Seyyid Mehmed Kamî Dede bin eş-Şeyh Ahmed Dede Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Amasya ve Konya’da tahsîl-i ilm ü marifet ve adâb-ı mevlevîyeyi tekmil ederek 1238’de pederinin vefâtı üzerine mesnevî-hân ve 1243’de ammizâdesi eş-Şeyh Mehmed Efendi’nin vefâtı ile Amasya mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi oldu.
1248’de a’yân-ı meclis ve 1251’de idare meclis a’zâsı olup 1254’de vefât etdi. Urefâ ve udebâdan şâir, zarîf, hâtır-şinâs bir çelebi idi. Mahdûmu Mustafa Sakıp Dede olup 1281’de ve bunun mahdûmu Ahmed Arif Dede 1313’de vefât etdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of es-Seyyid Mehmed Sabit Dede, one of the Mevlevî sheikhs and one of the poets and learned men of Amasya; Mehmed Sabit Dede was the son of es-Seyyid Mehmed Kamî Dede, who was the son of eş-Şeyh Ahmed Dede Efendi. He completed his education in learning and spiritual knowledge, and in Mevlevî custom, in Amasya and Konya. On the death of his father in 1238 [1822-23] he became mesnevîhan, and in 1243 [1827-28], on the death of his cousin eş-Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, he became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge.
In 1248 [1832-33] he became a member of the council of notables and in 1251 [1835-36] of the administrative council, and he died in 1254 [1838-39]. He was a learned man and a man of letters, a poet, refined, a çelebi who knew how to win hearts. His son Mustafa Sakıp Dede died in 1281 [1864-65], and the latter's son Ahmed Arif Dede died in 1313 [1895-96].
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- şu'arâ: poets
- urefâ: people of spiritual knowledge, learned and cultivated men
- meşâyih-i mevleviyye: Mevlevî sheikhs
- mesnevî-hân: the officer who recites and explains Mevlânâ's Mesnevî
- adâb-ı mevlevîye: the customs and rules of the Mevlevî order
- ammizâde: cousin on the father's side
- hâtır-şinâs: considerate, one who wins hearts
- çelebi: title for those descended from a Mevlevî sheikh's line
- idare meclisi: local administrative council
The Amasya Mevlevî Lodge
The spread of the Mevlevî order in Anatolia began in the time of Sultan Veled, son of Mevlânâ, when caliphs he had trained were sent to Amasya, Kırşehir and Erzincan and founded zâviyes there. The lodges in these three cities were founded by caliphs, and in the places where they opened a waqf was created with the tolerance, even the help, of the authorities. The Amasya lodge is therefore one of the early Anatolian centers of the order. In the seventeenth century the grand vizier Bayram Pasha founded a second Amasya lodge.
The Mevlevîs suffered for a time after the ban on the semâ that began in 1666; the ban was lifted in 1684. In the nineteenth century the Mevlevî leanings of Selim III and Mahmud II, and the closing in 1826 of the Bektashi lodges together with the Janissary corps, restored the order's official standing. Ahmed Sâlim Dede's sheikhship begins in just this period, after 1827-28. The council memberships Hüsameddin records show that the sheikh also had ties with the administration of the city.
For this family, in which the sheikhship and the mesnevîhan post passed from father to son and from cousin to cousin, Hüsameddin also writes the death years of the son and the grandson. That Ahmed Sâlim Dede studied partly in Konya keeps Mevlevî education tied to the center.
No information on Ahmed Sâlim Dede's poems, on Mehmed Sabit Dede and Mehmed Kamî Dede, or on later generations of the family was found in other sources.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 227–227. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies