Ahmed Şemseddîn Çelebi — Mevlânâ Gerçekzâde

In Modern English

He was the son of Gerçekzâde Mevlânâ Muslihuddîn Mustafa Efendi, mufti of Amasya. He acquired learning as a student of scholars; he became dersiâm in Amasya, müderris of the Hüsâmiye Madrasa, and kadı of Tokat. In 881 [1476-77] he became mufti of Amasya, and he died in the year 885 [1480-81]. He was one of the well-known scholars and kadıs.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mahdûm: son
• tellemüz etmek: to become a student, to take lessons
• tahsîl-i ulûm: study of the sciences
• ders-i âm: dersiâm, a müderris who gives lectures open to all
• hilâlinde: within, during
• meşâhîr-i ulemâ ve kudât: well-known scholars and kadıs

The Gerçekzâdes and the Muftiship of Amasya

The Gerçekzâde family was not found in any source other than Hüsameddin; but other parts of Hüsameddin's work give information that completes the life of the subject of this entry. In the third volume, which tells of the princely years of Sultan Bayezid II, it is written that when the mufti of Amasya, Zeyneddîn Halîl Çelebi, died in 865 [1460-61], one of the well-known müderrises, Muslihuddîn Mustafa Efendi bin Menteşe Çelebi, known as "Gerçekoğlu," became mufti in his place. This is the father of the subject of this entry. In the same volume, where the circle around Prince Bayezid in Amasya around the year 881 is listed, "the mufti Gerçekzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi" is mentioned along with names such as the vizier Hızır Paşazâde Mahmûd Pasha, the lala Fenârîzâde Ahmed Bey, Kemal Paşazâde Süleyman Bey, and Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi. Thus father and son held the fatwa office of Amasya in succession around the prince's court.

According to Hüsameddin's account, in 882 [1477-78] an inquiry commission sent by Mehmed the Conqueror came to Amasya; in 883 a decree arrived ordering the execution of some of the prince's close associates and the dismissal and transfer elsewhere of the others. Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman, who got his share of these events, fled to Aleppo before the execution decree reached Amasya; some sources place this flight in 884 [1479]. In Hüsameddin's entry "Abdî Çelebi" in the twelfth volume it is also recorded that Abdî Çelebi became mufti of Amasya "in place of Gerçekzâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi in the incident of 883." Accordingly, Ahmed Çelebi must have been removed in this purge of 883 from the muftiship he had begun in 881, and died in 885. The brief account in this entry, which gives the impression that he served as mufti without interruption between 881 and 885, is corrected when read together with the other entries.

Gerçekzâde Muslihuddîn Mustafa should not be confused with the Konya-born sheikh of the same name, Muslihuddin Mustafa (Şeyh Vefâ), who died in Istanbul in 896 [1491]; the two are different persons.

The Hüsâmiye Madrasa

The Hüsâmiye, where Ahmed Çelebi served as müderris, is the madrasa founded in 857 [1453] in the Kuba quarter of Amasya by the Khalwati sheikh Kubalızâde Hüsâmeddin Hüseyin el-Halvetî. According to the information Hüsameddin gives in the first volume, the madrasa stood on the road, on the qibla side of the mosque south of Kuba; its founder had also had a mosque, a fountain, and a tomb for himself built there. The müderrisship of the Hüsâmiye was long regarded as a very prestigious post. The building burned in the fire of 1011 [1602]; although it was renewed as a tekke by his descendant, the nakîb kaymakamı Seyyid Ahmed Efendi, it burned again in the fire of 1099 [1688], and around 1125 [1713-14] it was revived as a lecture hall by the dersiâm Kubalı Hâfız Ali Efendi. After 1241 [1825-26] it fell into ruin and became a garden. The madrasa was founded together with Hüsâmeddin Hüseyin's tekke and was run by Khalwati müderrises.

Today, inside the Kuba Mosque in the Çakallar quarter, on the site of the tomb, formerly a small room enclosed by a masonry wall, lies the grave of Kubalı Çelebizâde Sheikh Hüseyin Halvetî. No trace remains of the madrasa itself.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 123. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 3 (entry "Sultân Bâyezîd Hân-ı Sânî"); vol. 12 (entry "Abdî Çelebi-Mevlânâ Abdullah").

Academic studies

• "Muslihuddin Mustafa", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, p. 269-271 (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/muslihuddin-mustafa).

Books

• Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", Akademiar, 5, 2018, p. 91-118.
• Hasan Aksoy, "Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 31, p. 483-485.

Other sources

• Metin Hakverdioğlu, "Amasya'da Kubalılar, Kuba Medresesi ve Azerbaycan Göçmenlerinin Amasya'da Edebiyata Etkileri" (molekuleredebiyat.com/?p=723).