Amasya’nın İçerişehir’inde Câmi-i enderûn imâmı Mahmûd Çelebi bin Mehmed mahdûmudur. Merzifon Sultâniyyesi müderrisi olan Seydî Ahmed Kırımî, Amasya’da Mevlânâ Ahmed Cündî ve Tokâdîzâde Cemâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebilerden ikmâl ederek ders-i âm oldu.
Ba’dehû Halvetiyye şeyhi Pîr Bahâ’eddîn Mehmed Çelebi’ye intisâb ederek tasfiyye-i bâtın edib sûfiyye mesleğine girdi. Terk-i tedrîs ederek Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi sohbetinde tefeyyüz etdi. Bu esnâda İçerişehir’de Mahmûd Çelebi Zâviyesi şeyhi olup 894’de vefât etdi. Fâzıl, vâ’iz, mazınne-i kerâmet, ta’bîr-i menâmda [393] yegâne-i rûzgâr idi. “Çelebi Halîfe” demekle meşhûr Pîr Cemâleddîn Mehmed Çelebi bu zâtı âsârında çok senâ etmişdi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mahmûd Çelebi bin Mehmed, imam of the Câmi-i Enderûn (the Inner Castle Mosque) in the İçerişehir of Amasya. He completed his education by reading under Seydî Ahmed Kırımî, müderris of the Merzifon Sultâniye, and in Amasya under Mevlânâ Ahmed Cündî and Tokâdîzâde Cemâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi, and became a dersiâm.
Then he attached himself to the Khalwati sheikh Pîr Bahâeddîn Mehmed Çelebi, purified his inner world, and entered the path of the Sufis. Giving up teaching, he received spiritual grace in the conversations of Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi. During this time he became sheikh of the Mahmûd Çelebi Zaviye in İçerişehir, and he died in 894 [1488-89]. He was a virtuous man, a preacher, believed to have miraculous gifts, and unrivaled in his time in the interpretation of dreams. Pîr Cemâleddîn Mehmed Çelebi, known as "Çelebi Halîfe," praised this man greatly in his works.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- Câmi-i enderûn: the mosque in the inner castle
- ikmâl etmek: to complete (one's education)
- ders-i âm: dersiâm, a müderris who gives lectures open to all
- intisâb: attaching oneself to a sheikh, becoming a disciple
- tasfiye-i bâtın: purifying the inner world, the heart
- sûfiyye mesleği: the path of Sufism
- terk-i tedrîs: giving up teaching
- tefeyyüz etmek: to receive spiritual grace, to gain knowledge and wisdom
- mazınne-i kerâmet: a person thought to have miraculous gifts
- ta'bîr-i menâm: interpretation of dreams
- yegâne-i rûzgâr: the one and only person of his time
- senâ etmek: to praise
His Teachers and the Merzifon Sultâniye
Seydî Ahmed Kırımî, mentioned as the first teacher of the subject of the entry, is one of the well-known müderrises of the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa in Merzifon. This madrasa was built by Çelebi Sultan Mehmed between 817-820 [1414-1417] and was called "Merzifon Sultâniyesi" among the people. After its founding, scholars such as Ferîdüddîn-i Dîvânî, Seydî Şemseddin Ahmed-i Kırîmî, Rükneddin Abdülkerim of Amasya, and Nizâmeddin Abdurrahman-ı Âftâbî taught there. Ahmed Subhi Furat, who studied the scholars trained in Merzifon, notes that after İlyas er-Rûmî, Seyyid Ahmed b. Abdullah of Crimea took over the head of teaching at the madrasa. After 1844, when the müderrisship began to pass from father to son, the madrasa lost its scholarly function, was used for a time as an arms depot, and in the Republican period was repaired and allotted to cultural activities. No information was found in other sources about Mevlânâ Ahmed Cündî and Tokâdîzâde Cemâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi.
Who Is Pîr Bahâeddîn Mehmed Çelebi
The name "Khalwati sheikh Pîr Bahâeddîn Mehmed Çelebi," to whom the subject of the entry attached himself, may point to two different persons. The first is Muhammed Erzincânî, the caliph of Seyyid Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî, the second pir of the Khalwatiyya, who appears in the sources as Pîr Muhammed Erzincânî, Şeyh Pîrî, or Molla Pîrî. The word "Bahâeddin" was added to his name only in works written at the beginning of the twentieth century. Çelebi Halîfe also took his icazet from him. However, it is noted that this sheikh never left Erzincan in the Akkoyunlu realm and that he ensured the spread of the Khalwatiyya in Anatolia through his caliphs; his death date too is disputed between 873 [1468-69] and 879 [1474]. Ahmed Çelebi's attaching himself to him would require his having gone to Erzincan.
The second possibility is among Amasya's own Khalwati sheikhs. In the first volume Hüsameddin writes that "eş-Şeyh Bahâeddîn Muhammed Halvetî" founded a Khalwati zaviye in the upper part of Amasya Castle in 847 [1443-44]; in his other entries too a "Bahâeddîn Tekke" in the upper castle appears. Considering that the subject of the entry was raised in İçerişehir at the foot of the castle, around the inner castle mosque where his father was imam, it is also possible that the sheikh Hüsameddin means is this Bahâeddîn Muhammed Halvetî of the immediate surroundings. With the information we have, one of the two possibilities cannot be chosen with certainty.
Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi
Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi, in whose conversations the subject of the entry took part, is one of the sheikhs of the Gümüşlüoğlu Tekke, the first tekke founded in Amasya specifically for the Khalwatiyya. This tekke was built by Hâce Celâl Çelebi, a relative of Pîr Şücâeddin İlyâs, who returned to Amasya in 1406 after Timur's death. After Pîr İlyâs, the sheikhship of the tekke passed in turn to Abdurrahman Çelebi, Gümüşlüzâde Celâl Çelebi, and Pîr Hayreddin Hızır Çelebi. Hüsameddin too, when listing the circle around Prince Bayezid in Amasya around 881 [1476-77], mentions "şeyhü'l-meşâyih Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi."
The Mahmûd Çelebi Zaviye
The Mahmûd Çelebi Zaviye, where the subject of the entry served as sheikh, is in today's Hatuniye quarter. It was built in 807 [1404] by Ammâdzâde Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi, one of the famous kadıs of Amasya. The building, remembered as the first Naqshbandi tekke in Anatolia, was founded in the name of Rükneddin Mahmud Buhârî, who was one of the caliphs of Şâh-ı Nakşbend Muhammed Bahâeddin and came to Amasya, and the sheikhship was given to him. In the time of Sultan Bayezid II Khalwatis served as sheikhs in the tekke, and they made the recitation of the hatm-i hâcegân prayer, which came from the Naqshbandi tradition, a Khalwati custom here. Ahmed Çelebi's serving as sheikh in this tekke can be seen as one of the first examples of this period in which a Naqshbandi foundation passed into the hands of Khalwati sheikhs. In later years Hayreddin Hızır Tokadî, one of the caliphs of Cemâl-i Halvetî, also served as sheikh here.
Çelebi Halîfe's Praise
Çelebi Halîfe, that is, Cemâl-i Halvetî, is one of the Sufis who produced the most works in the Ottoman period, and almost all of his works are in Arabic. The work or works in which he praised Ahmed Çelebi are not named by Hüsameddin; no record was found of which work this praise appears in. Considering that both sheikhs were in Amasya in the same years and that Çelebi Halîfe had been sheikh of the Hoca Sultan Zaviye from 880 onward, the closeness between them is understandable.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 125. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, Mukaddime (buildings inside the castle); vol. 3 (entry "Sultân Bâyezîd Hân-ı Sânî"); vol. 7 (entry "Pîr Mehmed Efendi-Mu'allim Hâfız").
Academic studies
- Ahmed Subhi Furat, "XV. ve XVI. Yüzyıllarda Merzifon'da Yetişmiş İlim Adamları", İslam Tetkikleri Dergisi, 10/1, 2020, p. 27-41.
Books
- M. Baha Tanman, "Mehmed I Medresesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 28, 2003, p. 394-395.
- Zaur Şükürov, "Muhammed Bahâeddin Erzincânî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 30, 2020, p. 502-503.
- Mehmet Serhan Tayşi, "Cemâl-i Halvetî", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 7, 1993, p. 302-303.
- Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", Akademiar, 5, 2018, p. 91-118.