Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî ve şehzâdesi Sultân Ahmed muallimi iken 894 senesi ramazânında vefât eden Emîr Alizâde Hatîb Kâsım Efendi bin Ya’kûb Çelebi bin Ahmed Çelebi mahdûmu ve fâzıl-ı meşhûr Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi’nin birâderidir. [410]
Amasya’da pederinden ve İstanbul’da Hatîbzâde Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi’den ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm ve Amasya’da Yörgüç Paşa, ba’dehû Hızır Paşa Medreselerine müderris oldu. 918’de Mehmed Paşa Müderrisi iken ma’zûl ve ba’dehû kadı oldu. Erzurum kazâsından munfasılen 939 senesi evâilinde vefât etdi.
Âlim, fakîh, müstakîm bir zât idi. Ceddi olan Halfet Gâzi Vakfı’na mütevellî olup mahdûmu Ebu’l-kâsım Abdullah Efendi de kibâr-ı kudâtdan idi. Bunun tercemesi yukarıda yazıldı.
In Modern English
He was the son of Emîr Alizâde Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, son of Ya'kûb Çelebi, son of Ahmed Çelebi, who was the teacher of Sultan Bayezid II and of his son Prince Sultan Ahmed and who died in the month of Ramadan of 894 [1489]; he was also the brother of the renowned scholar Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi.
He completed his education by studying with his father in Amasya and in Istanbul with Hatîbzâde Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi, and became a ders-i âm; in Amasya he served as müderris first at the madrasa of Yörgüç Pasha and then at that of Hızır Pasha. In 918 [1512], while müderris of the Mehmed Pasha Madrasa, he was dismissed, and later he became a kadı. After leaving the kadılık of Erzurum, he died in the early part of 939 [1532].
He was a learned man, deep in fıkıh (Islamic jurisprudence), and upright. He became mütevelli (trustee) of the waqf of his ancestor Halfet Gazi. His son Ebu'l-kâsım Abdullah Efendi was also among the great kadıs; his life was written above.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- muallim: teacher, tutor
- fâzıl-ı meşhûr: a renowned, virtuous scholar
- ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's education
- ders-i âm: a scholar authorised to teach in a madrasa
- ma'zûl: dismissed from office
- munfasıl: separated from one's post
- evâil: the first days, the beginning of a period of time
- fakîh: a scholar of fıkıh (Islamic law)
- müstakîm: upright, honest
- kibâr-ı kudât: the great judges
- terceme: life story, biography
The Hatîb Kâsımzades: A Scholarly Family of Amasya
Ahmed Şemseddîn Efendi belonged to a family of learning that stretched from Amasya to Istanbul in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. The full name of his brother Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi is given in present-day sources as "Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi b. Hatîb Kâsım Efendi b. Yakûb Efendi b. Ahmed Efendi b. Mehmed Efendi b. Ebubekr b. el-Hâc Emir Ali"; Hüsameddin's calling the father "Emîr Alizâde" rests on the el-Hâc Emir Ali in this genealogy. The brother is known as Hatîbzâde, İbnü'l-Hatîb or Hatîb Kâsımoğlu. Born in Amasya on 27 Shaban 864 (17 June 1460), he received his first education from his father, then studied with Sinan Pasha, and served as müderris in Amasya, then in Bursa at the Çendik and Ahmed Pasha madrasas, and in Istanbul at the Mustafa Pasha Madrasa. Yavuz Selim appointed him to the madrasa he had newly built near Hagia Sophia, and he later rose to the Sahn-ı Semân. He died on 2 Dhu al-Qa'da 940 (15 May 1534); Kemalpaşazâde led his funeral prayer, and he was buried at Eyüp. Besides tafsir, hadith, fıkıh and qira'at, he was considered a master of jafr, wafq and music.
Hüsameddin gives the tutorship of Prince Ahmed to the father, Hatîb Kâsım Efendi. Present-day researchers who write the biography of the brother Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi, however, say that it was Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi who tutored Prince Ahmed in the reign of Bayezid II. Since Hatîb Kâsım Efendi died in 894, it is possible that he taught the prince in his childhood and his son in later years; it is not clear whether the two records exclude each other.
The Confusion of Two Hatîbzades
The entry gives "Hatîbzâde Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi" as Ahmed Efendi's teacher in Istanbul. This person must not be confused with Hatîbzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed, Ahmed Efendi's own brother. The teacher in question is Hatibzâde Muhyiddin Efendi (d. 901/1496), who was born in Kastamonu, began at the Orhan Gazi Madrasa in Iznik, rose to chief professorship in the Sahn-ı Semân, and for a time served as private tutor to Mehmed the Conqueror. His father's name, too, was Hatibzâde Tâceddin İbrâhim. The sources record that this scholar was at times also confused with his namesake, Muhyiddin Mehmed of Niksar. That at least three scholars bearing the name "Hatîbzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed" lived in the same period shows the reason for the confusions so common in biographical sources.
The Amasya Madrasas Where He Taught
The three madrasas where Ahmed Efendi served as müderris are all among the principal institutions of Amasya's Ottoman-period learning. The Hızır Pasha Madrasa is the mosque and madrasa built by Hızır Pasha, brother of Yörgüç Pasha. In 870 [1465] Hızır Pasha established three waqfs in Amasya, appointed posts such as müderris and muîd (teaching assistant) for the madrasa and mosque, and included in his waqf deed a condition that additional payments be made to the müderris, muîd and students of the madrasa built by his brother Yörgüç Pasha. Thus the Yörgüç Pasha and Hızır Pasha madrasas, where Ahmed Efendi taught in turn, were institutions linked to each other through the waqfs of the two brothers.
The Mehmed Pasha Madrasa, for its part, is part of the Mehmed Pasha Complex, which according to its inscription was built in 1486 by Mehmed Pasha, lala (tutor-guardian) of Prince Ahmed, son of Bayezid II. Today only the mosque and the adjoining spaces where hot meals were distributed to the poor and to madrasa students survive from the complex; the madrasa, imaret (soup kitchen), tomb and fountain that should have stood near the şadırvan have not come down to us. Ahmed Efendi's dismissal from this madrasa in 918 [1512] coincides with the year Yavuz Selim came to the throne and the circle of Prince Ahmed fell from favour. It comes to mind that, as the son of Prince Ahmed's teacher, he may have been affected by this change, but the reason for his dismissal is not stated in the sources.
The Halîfet Gazi Waqf
The waqf of which Ahmed Efendi was mütevelli is that of the Halîfet Gazi Madrasa and Tomb, one of Amasya's Seljuk-period buildings. The name popularly pronounced Hilfet Gazi is originally Halîfet Gazi. The complex is in the Şamice neighbourhood, on Torumtay Street. According to its inscription the madrasa was built in 606 [1209-10], and Halîfet Gazi's waqf deed dated 622 [1225] has also survived. Halîfet Gazi, once a Danishmendid emir, entered Seljuk service, was appointed governor of Amasya in the time of Alâeddin Keykubad I (619/1222), and fell as a martyr in 1232 on campaign against the Georgians, and was buried in his tomb in Amasya. Since Hüsameddin counts Halîfet Gazi as Ahmed Efendi's "ced" (ancestor), the family evidently traced its lineage to this Seljuk emir; the trusteeship of the waqf must also have been given to his descendants. No other record confirming this line of descent was found.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 130–130. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Books