Amasyalıdır. Kuyûd-ı resmiyyeden anlaşıldığı üzere Tokat Sancağı Beyi Şucâeddîn Süleyman Bey bin Vezîr Kemâleddîn Ahmed Paşa bin el-Hâc Tâceddîn İbrâhim Çelebi bin Hayreddîn Halîl Çelebi bin el-Hâc İbrâhim Bey bin Hâce Alâeddîn Ali Şâh bin el-Hâc Nûreddîn Kutlu Bey bin Cemâleddîn Fîrûz Bey bin Şemseddîn Mahmûd et-Tuğrâî bin Baba İlyâs Horasânî mahdûmudur. Buna Ahmed Şâh Çelebi denirdi. [411]
Ahmed Şâh Çelebi, Osmanlı Devletinde tek gelen Türklerden bir allâme-i ya’sûb bir müctehid-i mensûb olduğu münâsebetle her müverrih kendi fikr ve mezâkına göre Amasyalı, Edirneli, Tokatlı diyerek müşârün-ileyhi muhtelif memleketlere nisbet etmişlerdir.
Pek çok meşâhîrin mevlid ve nesebi hakkında ihtilâf edildiği gibi bu zâtın da hâssâten mevlidi hakkında ihtilâf edilmiş olduğu görülür. Müşârün-ileyhe tilmîz ve muâsır olup 968’de vefât eden “Şakâyık-ı Nu’mâniyye” müellifi Taşköprülüzâde Ahmed İsâmeddîn Efendi Şâkâyık’ta bu zâtın mevlidî ve maskat-ı re’si hakkında sükût ediyor. Nerede doğduğunu ve nereli olduğunu yazmıyor.
Fakat Şakâyık mütercimi olup 999’da vefât eden kudâtdan Edirneli Mecdî Mehmed Efendi müşârün-ileyhin tercemesi başında, “Mahmiye-i Edirne’ye müntesiblerdir.” diyor. Edirneli olduğunu ve Edirne’de doğduğunu ihsâs ediyor. Mehmed Süreyyâ Bey de “Sicill-i Osmânî”sinde bunu kabûl edib “Edirne’de tevellüd eyledi” diyor. [412]
Fakat Kemâl Paşazâde’nin Edirneli olduğunu yazan, müşârün-ileyhi göremeyen, kendisine muâsır olmayan bir Edirnelidir ki müşârün-ileyhin kendisinden yâhud tilmîz ve muâsırlarından tahkîk ederek tevsîk etmemişdir. Gayret-i vataniyye sevkiyle Edirneli olduğu iddiâ edilmiş demektir.
Vesâik-i târihiyyeden mücerred ve ârî olan bu iddiâyı Mehmed Mecdi Efendi de takdîr etmiş olacaktır ki: Müşârün-ileyh için “Edirne’ye müntesiplerdir” diyor da Edirne’de doğduğunu ve Edirneli olduğunu yazmıyor.
Çünkü müşârün-ileyhin Edirne’de tahsîl ve tedrîs-i ulûm etdiği münâsebetle Edirne’ye hakîkaten bir nisbeti vardır. Târîhen bu nisbet-i süknâsı sâbitdir. Ancak bu nisbet itibârıyla “Edirne’ye müntesiplerdir.” denebilir.
Bundan da müşârün-ileyhin aslen Edirneli olması, Edirne’de doğması lâzım gelmez. Bununla beraber Edirneli Mecdî Efendi’den evvel gelen müverrihlerden hiçbiri müşârün-ileyhin Edirneli olduğunu yazmıyor. [413]
990 târîhinde vefât eden Kastamonulu Latîfî Efendi de Nûr-ı Osmâniyye Kütübhanesinde 3725 numarada mukayyed “Tezkire-i Şu’arâ”sında diyor ki:
“Sultânü’l-ulemâ’i’l-müte’ehhırîn ve hâtemü’l-fukahâ’i’l-müctehidîn, şemsü’l-milleti ve’d-dîn, vâris-i ulûmi’l-enbiyâ’i ve’l-mürselîn ulemâ-i memleket, Rûm’un Sultân-ı ser-bülendi, a’nî Kemâl Paşazâde Ahmed Çelebi Efendi -rafe’allâhu kadrahû fî zümreti’l-ulemâi ve ânese rûhahû bi ervâhi’l-fukahâ-. “Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Çelebi’nin mahdûmzâdesidir. (!) Livâ-i Tokat’ta zeâmete mutasarrıf iken (!) dünyaya gelmişler. A’nî mevlid-i mübârekleri Tokat’da vâki’ olup (!) neşv ü nemâları Edirne’de olmuşdur. Ekser-i nâs bundan ğâfil (!) ve gafletle câhil (!) dir. İttifâk-ı sikât budur ki vilâyet-i Rûm’a nazîr ve adîl bir câmi-i ulûm ve fünûn ve mütebahhir ve muhît zû fünûn peydâ ve hüveydâ olmadı.” (Varak 37)²³
Latîfî Efendi’nin şu beyânı pek latîf ve şâyân-ı [414] dikkatdir. Bütün müverrih ve mu’âsırların gâfil ve câhil oldukları farz edilen bir nazariye, bir iddiâ-yı târîhî nakledilirken bu nakli isbât edecek dekâ’ik ve edille-i târihiyye gösterilmesi zarûreti vardı.
Müellifin sinn ü sâl-i vefâtı gösteriyor ki Kemâl Paşazâdeye kendisi yetişememişdir. Kendisinin yetişemediği bir zâtın Tokatlı olduğunu beyân etmek için her halde bir nakl-i sarîh ister. Yoksa müşârün-ileyhin Tokatlı olması da bir nazariye, bir iddiâ-yı mücerred hâlinde kalır. “Ekser-i nâs bundan gâfil ve gafletle câhildir.!” dediği de Kemâl Paşazâde’nin Edirneli olduğunu iddiâ eden Mehmed Mecdî Efendi olacaktır.
Latîfî Efendi’nin iddiâsına gelince, Kemâl Paşazâde Ahmed Çelebi, bütün fetvâlarında ve resâil ve müellefâtında kendisinin koyduğu “Ahmed bin Süleyman Kemâl Paşazâde”²⁴ imzâsından ve kendisine muâsır olan bütün müverrihlerin zabt u kaydından müstebân olduğu üzere “Kemâl Paşazâde Süleyman Çelebi’nin mahdûmzâdesi” değil, doğrudan [415] mahdûmu, ya’nî oğludur.
Kemâl Paşazâdenin târîh-i tevellüdünü beyân etseydi, pederi Süleyman Bey “Tokat’ta zeâmete mutasarrıf iken dünyaya gelmişler” sözü daha iyi tedkîk ve tenvîr edilebilir; “mevlid-i mübârekleri” ya’nî mübârek tevellüdleri “Tokat’ta vâki” olduğu anlaşılır, neşv ü nemâları Edirne’de” olduğuna bir mana verilirdi.
Nûr-ı Osmâniyye kütübhanesinde (3293) numarada mukayyed olup Muhammed bin İbrâhim el-Halebî’nin 965 senesinde te’lîf eylediği “Dürru’l-habeb fî Târîh-i Haleb” adlı eserinde Halep Kadı’l-kudâtı Amasyalı Muhaşşî Sinan Efendi’nin terceme-i hâlini yazarken Kemâl Paşazâde’nin de Amasyalı olduğunu şöyle beyân ediyor:
“Yûsuf bin el-Huseyn bin İlyâs bin Hasan Kadı’l-kudât Sinânüddîn bin eş-Şeyhü’l-kudvetü Husâmüddîn el-Amâsî el-Hanefî Kadı-i Haleb el-meşhûr bi Sinan Çelebi telemmeze li Müfti’l-memleketi’r-rûmiyyeti el-Amâsî el-Hanefî bel Müfti’l-memâliki’l-İslâmiyyeti bin Kemâl Paşa” (Varak 340) [416]
Yanî “Halep kadısı Amasyalı Sinan Çelebi demekle meşhûr kadı’l-kudât Sinâneddîn Yûsuf bin eş-Şeyhü’l-kudvetü Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin bin İlyâs bin Hasan el-Hanefî, memleket-i Osmâniyye, belki bütün memâlik-i İslâmiyye müftüsü olan Amasyalı Kemâl Paşazâde el-Hanefî’den telemmüz ve ahz-ı ulûm etmişdir.” demek olur.
Pek tabidir ki, Halep müverrihi Muhammed bin İbrâhim el-Halebî, bu zabtı 946’da Halep kadısı olan Amasyalı Sinan Efendi’nin kendisinden tahkîk edib yazmıştır. Bunu da terceme-i hâl esnâsında Sinan Efendi ile muhâverâtından anlatıyor. Sinan Efendi, kendi üstâdının nereli olduğunu elbetde üstâdına yetişemeyen Mecdî ve Latîfî Efendilerden daha iyi bilir.
Aşağıda Âşık Çelebi tezkiresinden ve sâireden naklen arz edilecek malûmat-ı târihiyyede görüleceği üzere Kemâl Paşazâde’nin Amasyalı Mü’eyyedzâde Abdurrahmân Efendi ile ve Amasya’da vâlî iken Sultân Bâyezîd’in nezdinde bulunan ve dâmâdı olan Uğurlu Mehmed Paşazâde Göde Ahmed Bey ile hukûk-ı kadîmesi olduğu ve cedd ü pederinin [417] Amasya’da vâlî iken Sultân Bâyezîd’e lala olmaları ve Amasyalı eş-Şeyh Mahmûd Efendi’nin yanında medfûn bulunması, müşârün-ileyhin nereli olduğunu ve nerede doğup büyüdüğünü pek sarîh ve mukni’ bir sûretde göstermektedir.
Bâb-ı âlî mahzen-i evrâkında bulup birer sûretleri İkdâm Gazetesi’nde tarafımdan bir takım mütâlaât-ı târihiyye ile neşr ve müverrihlerin nazar-ı dikkati celb edilen 875 ve 878 târihli ve Amasya Mahkemesinden verilen iki kıt’a hüccet-i şer’iyyede Kemâl Paşazâde’nin pederi “Fahru’l-umerâi’l-kirâm Şücâeddîn Süleyman Bey bin Kemâl Paşa” nın Amasya’da Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî vâlî iken ma’iyyet-i ümerâsından bulunduğu mûsârrah ve muhakkaktır.
Bu hüccetlerde Candarlızâde “Tâceddîn İbrâhim Paşa bin Halîl Paşa” Sultân Bâyezîd’in lalası ve vezîri ve (Süveydâ, Sevâdiye) Mahallesi’nde akârât satın alan Vâlide Sultân’ın vekîli ve iş bu vekâlete şâhidlerden birisi de “Şücâeddîn Süleyman Bey bin Kemâl Paşa” olduğu tasrîh edilmektedir. [418]
882’de Süleyman Bey’in Amasya vilâyeti merkez muhâfızı olduğu Amasyalı Halîmî Mehmed Efendi’nin Amasya ricâlinden şikâyeti hâvî Sultân Fâtih’e takdîm etdiği ve Fâtih kütübhanesinde bulduğum kasîdesi şerhinde münderic ve bunun tahkîkından sonra 883’de Tokat Sancağı Beyi olarak Amasya’dan uzaklaştırıldığı da kayden malûmdur.
Ceddî Kemâleddîn Ahmed Paşa, Amasya’da vâlî iken Sultân Bâyezîd’in lalası ve vezîri olup 874 senesi evâhirinde Amasya’da vefât etdiği ve sarây-ı sultânî şimâlinde kâin Yakûb Paşa Câmi-i şerîfinin garp tarafındaki türbesinde medfûn olduğu da Amasya Mahkemesi sicillâtının şehâdetiyle sâbitdir.
Ceddînin pederi Hacı İbrâhim Çelebi bin Halîl Çelebi de 824 târihine kadar Amasya’da vâlî olan Sultân Murâd Hân-ı Sânî dîvân-ı ketebesinden olup 841’de Amasya vâlîsî olan Sultân Fâtih’in defterdârı olduğu da mahkeme sicillâtıyla mazbûtdur. Şu malûmat-ı târîhiyye gösteriyor ki sâhib-i tercemenin kendisi ve âbâ u ecdâdı Amasyalıdır. [419]
Kemal Paşazâde’nin Amasyalı olduğunu biraz da kendi kaleminden çıkan “Târîh-i âl-i Osmân”ından tetebbu edelim. Târîhimizin üçüncü cild-i matbûunda 223. sahîfesinde Târîh-i âl-i Osmân’ın defter-i sâbiinden naklen şunlar yazılmışdı.
Merhûm Kemal Paşazâde diyor ki: “Amasya ki tevârîh-i kadîmede Harcene adıyla yâd olur. İçine gam-gîn girerse dilşâd olur. Ve bend-i gamdan cânı âzâd olur. Nâdire-i asr ve şöhre-i dehr olmuş meşhûr bir şehirdir. Hayret-i Mısr kendisi ve reşk-i Nîl önündeki nehirdir.
Nazm-ı Fârisî
نكويم كه هم حشم مصر است و نيل
بهشت است ورودش ورو سلسبيل
لب رودش از هر طرف كشته زار
برو چرجها چون فلك بيقرار
ده و مزرعش هرطرف بى كران
25 كمين مرز كشت او مرز فان
Nazm-ı Türkî
Cûyinin suyu âb-ı kevserdir.
Hâk-i pâkî abîr u anberdir
Gel Sevâdiyesini seyr eyle
Kasr-ı ‘ıtr içre gör ne manzardır.
Merdüm-i ayn-ı âlem ve yâhûd
Hâl-i ruhsâr-ı heft-i kişverdir
Cild-i mezkûrun 224. sahîfesinin hâşiyesinde not olarak yazmıştım [420] ki: “Allâme-i müşârün-ileyh Kemâl Paşazâdenin Amasyalı olduğuna, Amasya’nın Sevâdiye Mahallesi’nde doğduğuna, maskat-ı re’sine pek samîmî muhabbetlerle merbût bulunduğuna şu harâretli sitâyişleri, kıymetli yazıları da bir delîl-i bâhirdir.”
Latîfî Efendi’nin iddiâsı gibi merhûm Tokatlı olsaydı Amasya’ya bu kadar harâretli sitâyişlerde bulunamaz, Amasya’nın diğer mahallâtı içinde hâssaten (Sevâdiye, Süveydâ) Mahallesi’ne bu kadar merbûtiyyet göstermezdi. Bir kısmını da Tokat hakkında yazardı. Hâlbuki, “Târîh-i âl-i Osmân”ında Tokat’ı bu kadar sitâyiş etmemiş, Tokat’a bu derecede merbûtiyyet göstermemişdir.
Âlî Bey, Nûr-ı Osmâniyye Kütübhanesinde 3406 numarada mukayyed “Künhü’l-Ahbâr” adlı târîhinde Sultân Selîm Hân-ı evvel asrının ulemâsını yazarken diyor ki:
“Ve mine’l-ulemâi fî asrihî Mevlânâ Şemsüddîn Ahmed bin Süleyman bin Kemâl Paşa-ravvahallâhu rûhahû-. Babaları mîr livâ ve cedleri melîkü’l-ümerâ olmağın ni’met-i vâfire ve servet-i mütekâsire ile neşv ü nemâ bulup muhtasarâtı tamâmen tahsîl etdikten sonra [421] sipâh tarîkına sülûk etdi.” (varak 257)
Şâyân-ı dikkatdir ki Âlî Bey, bu târîhinde Sultân Süleyman asrının şuârâsını yazarken diyor ki; “Mevlânâ Latîfî” kendisi Kastamonî olmakla vatanını bilmediği ehl-i nazmı ondan yazdı demişler. Hatta tezkiresinin nâmını Kastamonu-nâme tabîr kılmışlardır. Hâlâ ki etdikleri garaz-ı fâhiştir. Sözleri “men sannefe fekad üstühdife”²⁶ mazmûnuna mâ sadak olmasını mûcib-i iftirâ-ı mûhışdir.”
Bundan ziyâde şâyan-ı hayretdir ki ben, sâhib-i tercemenin Amasyalı olduğunu târîhimin birinci cildinde yazmış olduğuma handeler eden Köprülüzâde Mehmed Fuâd Bey, hadd-i zâtında mütetebbi’ bir fâzıl olduğu halde buna rağmen ve Latîfî Efendi’ye tebe’an eserlerinde Kemâl Paşazâde’nin “Tokatlı” olduğunu yazmıştır.
Hâlbuki 1100 târîhine kadar geçen bütün müverrihler, ehl-i fazîlet ve eserler, ne Mecdî Mehmed Efendi’nin “Edirneli” demesine ve ne de Abdullatîf Latîfî Efendi’nin bu manâsız ve delilsiz sözlerine hiçbir kıymet ve ehemmiyet vermemişlerdir. Hattâ İstanbullu bile dememişlerdir. [422] Binâenaleyh: Kemâl Paşazâde Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Şâh Çelebi, mevliden ve neslen ba’de neslin, fer’an neseb-i aslin Amasyalı’dır. Pederi, Latîfî Efendi’nin dediği gibi “Tokat’da zeâmete mutasarrıf” bir zaîm parçası değil, belki Tokat Sancağına mutasarrıf bir mîr-livâdır. Ceddî Kemâl Paşazâde Amasya’da medfûn bir vezîrdir. 873 senesi zilka’desinin beşinci günü Amasya’nın (Süveydâ, Sevâdiye) Mahallesi’nde doğdu.
Esnâ-yı teharriyâtımda Yerebatan Kütübhanesinde münşeât arasında bulduğum bir mecmûa²⁷ içinde Mevlânâ-yı müşârün-ileyhin târîh-i tevellüdü pederinden naklen şöyle yazılmıştı: “Târîh-i tevellüd-i Kemâl Paşazâde Ahmed Şâh Çelebi bin Süleyman babasının hattından naklen hâmis-i zilka’de sene selâsin ve seb’îne ve semâni mi’e fî Süveydâ-i Amasya.”
Amasya’da pederinin sarây muhâfızı olduğu esnada nâz u nimet içinde büyüdü. 883’de pederi Tokat Sancağı Beyi olduğu esnâda oraya beraber gitdi. 886’da pederinin Amasya’ya gelip Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed nezdine me’mûr olduğu esnâda avdet edib Amasya ulemâsından [423] Şeyhîzâde Abdî, İbrîzâde Abdurrahmân, Ya’kûbzâde Bahşî Efendilerden Sarf, Nahv, Meânî, Mantık, Lügat fenlerine âid muhtasarâtı okudu.
Bu esnâda Sibekzâde Ahmed, Şirvânî Ebu’l-hayr, Kutbeddînzâde Ahmed Câmî Efendilerden de kavâ’id-i Fârisiyye, Gülistân, Lügat-ı Fârisiyye’yi ahz u kıraat ederek Arap ve Acem dilleriyle tekellüm edecek iktidârı kazandı. Ba’dehû uhdesine ze’âmet tevcîh edilerek askerliğe girdi. Edirne’ye gidip Sultân Bâyezîd Hân’ın ma’iyyet-i hâssa bölüğüne kayd u kabûl edildi.
Lâkin müşârün-ileyh en büyük zevki tahsîl ve mütâla’ada bulmuşdu. Çünkü vâlidesi, meşâhîr-i fuzalâdan Amasyalı Kazasker Küpelioğlu Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Mecdeddîn Abdülmecîd Çelebi bin Abdülkerîm el-Kâdirî hemşîresi idi.²⁸ Kendisini tahsîl-i ulûma çok teşvîk ve terğîb eder, meslek-i ulemâya girmesini pek ziyâde isterdi.
Burada bir hikâye-i meşhûre vardır. Şakâyık mü’ellifi Ahmed İsâmeddîn Efendi’nin nakline göre hülâsası şudur: [424]
“Mevlânâ Ahmed Şâh Çelebi, Sultân Bâyezîd ile harbe gidip esnâ-yı seferde Vezîr Candarlızâde İbrâhim Paşa’nın meclisine kibâr-ı ümerâdan Evrenos Beyzâde Ahmed Bey gelip oturmuşdu. Bu esnâda yevmiyyesi otuz akçeden ibâret olan Filibe Müderrisi Mevlânâ (Lütfî Çelebi) dervîşâne libâsıyla gelip Ahmed Bey’in üst tarafına oturur.²⁹
“Kemâl Paşazâde buna fevkalâde teaccüp ve hayret edib bu pespâye müderrisin Ahmed Bey gibi bir emîr-i zî-şânın üst tarafına geçip oturmasının sebebini sorar. Rüfekâsından biri der ki, “Ulemâ, ta’zîm ve ikrâma ümerâdan ziyâde lâyıktır. Bu Lütfî Çelebi, zâhirde otuz akçeli bir müderris ise de mertebe-i ilmiyyesi ve ilmin mertebesi pek yüksektir.”
“Mevlânâ Şâh Çelebi, düşünür. “Benim için emîr-i zî-şân Ahmed Bey’in mertebesine varmak imkânı yoktur. (!) Fakat bu fâzıl müderrisin mertebesini çalışıp kazanabilirim der; ilmiyye mesleğine girer!”
Şu hikâye, herhalde bir efsâneye benzer. Çünkü Kemâl Paşazâde, o zamanlarda ilim ve ulemânın kadr u kıymetini [425] ve bir mîr-livânın mertebe-i emâretini fark ve temyîz edemeyecek derecede câhil olmadığı gibi bir vezîrzâdenin akl ve fetâneti, ilim ve fazîleti oldukca mesned-i vezâret ve sadârete kadar yükselebileceğini takdîrden gâfil ve sâde-dil değildi.³⁰
Bunun için Nûr-i Osmâniyye Kütübhanesinde 3149 numarada mukayyed “el-‘Aylemü’z-zâhir” adlı târîhinde Niksârîzâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Cenâbî Efendi, şu hikâyeyi anlatdıktan sonra kenârında hâşiye olarak diyor ki:
“Şu hikâyenin herhâlde uydurma olduğu açıktır. Çünkü Kemâl Paşazâde gibi zevât, âdî dünyâ rütbesi için ve fânî bir devlet uğruna it’âb-ı nefs ederek tahsîl-i ulûm etmekten âlî ve münezzehtir.”
Kemal Paşazâde tahsîl ve mütala’a zevkini tatmîn için askerlikten isti’fâ ederek tahsîl-i ulûm u fünûna fevkalâde koyuldu. İstanbul’da fazl ve kemâl ile iştihâr eden “Molla Kestelli” demekle meşhûr Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi bin Haydar, Hâce-i Sultânî Ma’rûfzâde Sinânüddîn Yûsuf Efendi bin Ali, Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Muhammed Efendi bin İbrâhim derslerine [426] muvâzabet etdi.
Bu esnâda Tokatlı Molla Lütfî, Amasyalı Mü’eyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendilerin derslerine de gidip Matâli’ ve Makâsıd gördü. Kezâlik Lügat-i Fârisiyye müellifi Amasyalı Halîmî Mehmed Çelebi bin Lütfullah bin Ebî Yûsuf’tan da Fârisiyyâtı ahz u telakkî ederek tevsi-i malûmâta çalıştı. Molla İzârî demekle meşhûr Germiyanlı Kâsım Efendi’den de hayli istifâde etdi.
899’da üstâdı Molla Kestellî’den mülâzım olarak tedrîs-i ulûma başladı. Ders-i âm olduğu esnâda 900 senesi rebîülâhirinin yirmi beşinci günü üstâdı Molla Lütfî Çelebi kendisine isnâd edilen ilhâd ve zendeka yüzünden ihrâz-ı rütbe-i şehâdet etdikte şu beyitlerle târih-i vefâtını ve mağduriyetini anlatdı.
افتخار فضال لطفى مقتول كه او
بود در جمله فضائل بهمه ملك فريد
چونكه اهل حسد او راز تعصب كشتند
كشت تاريخ وفاتش ولقدمان شهيد31
Kemâl Paşazâdenin bu beyitleri Lütfî Efendi’nin cânına kıyan [427] ve o zamanın sudûr-ı kirâmı olan Candarlızâde Vezîr İbrâhim Paşa Rûmeli Kazaskeri Hacı Hasanzâde Mehmed Efendi, Anadolu kazaskeri Çorumluzâde Ali Efendi üstâzü’l-fudalâ Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Efendi, Molla İzârî gibi zevâtı gücendirdi. Çünkü Molla Lütfî, bunları pek ziyâde techîl ve tezyîf eder, Hatîbzâde’nin âsârını pek çürütürdü.
901’de mülâzımı olduğu hâmîsi Mevlânâ Musliheddîn Kestellî’nin vefât etmesi ve bundan evvel istinâdgâhı olan Mü’eyyedzâde (Abdurrahman Efendi)’nin Edirne kadısı olarak İstanbul’dan gitmesi üzerine hâmîsiz kaldı. Bununla beraber tedrîs-i ulûma giresi vardı. Sudûr-ı kirâm, kendisine bir mülâzemeti bile çok gördü.³²
903’de ufak bir hâdiseden dolayı Sadr-ı a’zam Candarlızâde İbrâhim Paşa’yı da gücendirdi. Bu hâdiseyi Âşık Çelebi, Nûr-ı Osmâniyye kütübhanesinde 3719 numarada mukayyed “Meşâirü’ş-Şu’arâ” adlı tezkire-i şuârâsında sâhib-i tercemenin kendisinden naklen şöyle anlatıyor:
“Molla-yı merhûm “Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân”da Uğurluoğlu [428] Ahmed³³ tercemesinde yazar ki, çünkü Mirzâ Ahmed diyâr-ı acemde şehîd oldu. Haber-i mevti Rûm’a erdi. Cümle halk-ı Rûm umûmen ve hem sohbetlerine husûsan mâtem olup her biri alem-i âhı felek-i hâvere dikip âvaz-ı nefîr ü figân ve sadâ-yı tabl sîne-yi ‘ayyuka irgürdü.”
“İttifâk ol esnâda Halîl Paşa oğlu İbrâhim Paşa’ya vardım. Benim Mirzâ’ya ihtisâsım ve anın haber-i mevtinden âyîne-i hâtırda olan pâsım biliyordu. Merhûmla adâvet-i sâbikası³⁴ olduğu cihetden fevtinden sürûr arz eder.”
“Âhir ta’n ü tanz eder yüzünden bana hitâb etdi. Ve istihzâ ile bana etdiğine zâhir Mirzâ’nın dostları fevtine mersiye demişlerdir. Ve zehr-i firâk-ı merâretin def’i için şeker ü şîrle sabır helvaları yemişlerdir. Siz dahî dediniz mi? diyecek bî-ihtiyar-ı bedîhe ve bilâ raviyye bu matla hâtırıma geldi. Dedem bu matla’ı okudu.
Ben demezdim ki sana dehr ide bîdâd görem
Dostlar gamda ola düşmenini şâd görem”
[429] “Harîf-i müte’essir olup şâdîyken nâlân oldu. Ve dediği söze ve yediği herzeye pişman oldu.” (Varak 43)
904’de Sultân Bâyezîd’in Mora vilâyeti dâhilinde Moton ve Koron kalelerinin fethine gitdiğini fırsat bilen Karamânoğlu Mustafa Bey, ilticâ etdiği İran hükûmetinin muâvenetiyle Sivas ve Tokat arasından geçip Karaman vilâyetine girmiş, İçel (Silifke)’de ilân-ı hükûmet etmişdi.
Bu esnâda Molla’nın pederi (Süleyman Bey) Tokat sancağı Beyi idi. Erbâb-ı garaz, Mustafa Bey’in Karaman vilâyetine girmesini Süleyman Bey’in gizli muhâberât ve muâvenetine haml ve isnâd-ı töhmet ederek İstanbul’a şikâyet etmişlerdi. Bîçâre Süleyman Bey, bu töhmetle mukayyeden İstanbul’a celb ve Yedikule’de hapsedildi.
905’de Sultân Bâyezîd’in muzafferan avdetinde uzun tahkîkâtdan sonra Hadım Ali Paşa’nın iltimâs ve şefâ’ati üzerine Süleyman Bey, afv ve ıtlâk edilerek ders-i âmlık vazîfesi kat u tedrîsten azledilen sâhib-i terceme ile beraber [430] Amasya’ya gönderildi. Vüsûlünden birkaç ay sonra vefât etdi.
Kemâl Paşazâde Ahmed Şâh Çelebi, ammizâdesi sâbiku’t-terceme İbrâhim Bey bin Halîl Bey’in hânesinde ikâmet ve kerîmesini tezevvüc edib bir tarafdan tedrîs-i ulûma, diğer tarafdan üstâdı Bahşî Efendi’nin tefsîr ve hadîs derslerinden istifâdeye koyuldu. Bu suretle âlâm u ekdârını teskîn edebildi. Fakr u zarûrete düştü.
907 senesi cumâdelûlâsında Hadım Ali Paşa³⁵ Sadr-ı a’zam ve birkaç ay sonra Mü’eyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi Anadolu Kazaskeri olduğunu haber aldıkta tedârikâtını görüp 908’de yine İstanbul’a gitdi.
Edirne’de “Taşlık Medresesi” denmekle meşhûr Ali Bey Medresesi mahlûl olduğunu işitip Rumeli Kazaskeri Hacı Hasanzâde Mehmed Efendi’den müderrisliğini taleb etdi.
Âşık Çelebi bunun tafsîli hakkında “Tezkire-i Şu’arâ”sında diyor ki: “Ol vakit ki Hacı Hasanzâde Rumeli Kazaskeri Mü’eyyedzâde Anadolu Kazaskeri imiş. [431] Merhûm hakkında Hacı Hasanzâde süst ve Mü’eyyedzâde hukûk-ı kadîmesi³⁶ sebebiyle nimetperveri imiş.
“Bu hâle Edirne’de Taşlık Medresesi mahlûl olup varıp taleb etdikte Hacı Hasanzâde “medrese hevâsından geç, sana bir kadılık verelim kabulünde eyleme, geç” der. Merhûm mağmûm ve mehmûm Mü’eyyedzâde’ye gelip arz-ı hâl eyler.”
“Mü’eyyedzâde var rızâ sûretin göster; Arz edecek hayr evladır.” “Onun sözüyle varıb kazâya rızâ verdim” der. Hacı Hasanzâde bu sözü gerçek hayâl anlar, ertesi gün pâdişâha kazâ arz eyler.”
“Mü’eyyedzâde “Saadetli pâdişâh! Ol bir kâbil-i şândır. Nâdiru’d-devrân fâ’îku’l-akrândır. Kazâ ile zâyi olmasın, Taşlık Medresesi mahlûldür. Ona sadaka buyurun ki ilme meşgûldür.” diye envâ-ı terbiye edib Pâdişâh-ı vakt Sultân Bâyezîd, medreseyi i’tâ eder.”
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. As is understood from the official records, he was the son of Şucâeddîn Süleyman Bey, sanjak bey of Tokat, son of the vizier Kemâleddîn Ahmed Pasha, son of el-Hâc Tâceddîn İbrâhim Çelebi, son of Hayreddîn Halîl Çelebi, son of el-Hâc İbrâhim Bey, son of Hâce Alâeddîn Ali Şâh, son of el-Hâc Nûreddîn Kutlu Bey, son of Cemâleddîn Fîrûz Bey, son of Şemseddîn Mahmûd et-Tuğrâî, son of Baba İlyâs Horasânî. He was called Ahmed Şâh Çelebi.
Because Ahmed Şâh Çelebi was a very great scholar, a leader and a mujtahid attached to a school of law, one rarely matched among the Turks raised in the Ottoman State, each historian has attached him to a different homeland according to his own opinion and taste, calling him a man of Amasya, of Edirne, or of Tokat.
As there is disagreement over the birthplace and lineage of many famous people, so in this man's case too a disagreement is seen, especially over his birthplace. His student and contemporary Taşköprülüzâde Ahmed İsâmeddîn Efendi, author of the Şakâyık-ı Nu'mâniyye, who died in 968 [1560-61], is silent in the Şakâyık about this man's birthplace and the place where he was born and raised; he does not write where he was born or where he was from.
But Mecdî Mehmed Efendi of Edirne, one of the kadıs, who translated the Şakâyık into Turkish and died in 999 [1590-91], says at the beginning of his biography, "They belong to the protected city of Edirne"; thus he hints that he was from Edirne and was born in Edirne. Mehmed Süreyyâ Bey, accepting this in his "Sicill-i Osmânî," says "He was born in Edirne."
However, the person who wrote that Kemal Paşazâde was from Edirne was an Edirne man who never saw him and was not his contemporary; he documented this information neither by inquiring of him nor of his students and contemporaries. So his being from Edirne was put forward out of zeal for a fellow townsman.
Mehmed Mecdî Efendi must himself have weighed this claim, wholly devoid of historical documents, for he says of him "They belong to Edirne" and does not write that he was born in Edirne or was an Edirne man.
For the man in question read and taught in Edirne, so he really does have a tie to Edirne. That he lived there is historically established. In respect of this tie, "they belong to Edirne" can be said.
From this it does not follow that he was originally from Edirne or was born in Edirne. Moreover, none of the historians who came before Mecdî Efendi of Edirne writes that he was from Edirne.
Latîfî Efendi of Kastamonu, who died in 990 [1582], says in his "Tezkire-i Şu'arâ," recorded under no. 3725 in the Nuruosmaniye Library:
"The sultan of the later scholars, the last of the mujtahid jurists, the sun of religion and the nation, heir to the knowledge of the prophets and messengers, the exalted sultan at the head of the scholars of the land of Rum, that is, Kemal Paşazâde Ahmed Çelebi Efendi (may God exalt his rank among the company of scholars and make his soul a companion to the souls of the jurists). He is the son of the son of Kemal Paşazâde Süleyman Çelebi (!). They were born while holding a zeamet in the sanjak of Tokat (!). That is, their blessed birth took place in Tokat (!), and their upbringing was in Edirne. Most people are unaware of this (!) and ignorant in their heedlessness (!). What the trustworthy agree on is that in the land of Rum no one like him or equal to him, gathering the sciences and arts together, a scholar of deep and encompassing knowledge and many sides, has appeared." (Leaf 37)
This remark of Latîfî Efendi is very subtle and worth noting. When transmitting an opinion, a historical claim, that all historians and contemporaries are presumed unaware and ignorant of, it was necessary to show the details and historical evidence that would prove the report.
The author's death date shows that he did not live to meet Kemal Paşazâde. To say that a man he never met was from Tokat, a clear report is surely needed. Otherwise his being from Tokat remains an opinion, an unsupported claim. Those "most people unaware of this and ignorant in their heedlessness" he means are presumably Mehmed Mecdî Efendi, who claimed that Kemal Paşazâde was from Edirne.
As for Latîfî Efendi's claim: as is understood from the signature "Ahmed bin Süleyman Kemal Paşazâde" that Kemal Paşazâde Ahmed Çelebi himself placed on all his fatwas, treatises and works, and from the records of all the historians contemporary with him, he is not "the son of the son of Kemal Paşazâde Süleyman Çelebi" but his direct son.
Had Latîfî given Kemal Paşazâde's birth date, the words "they were born while his father Süleyman Bey was holding a zeamet in Tokat" could have been better examined and clarified, it would be understood that his "mevlid-i mübarek," his blessed birth, "took place in Tokat," and some meaning could be given to the words "their upbringing was in Edirne."
The work "Dürrü'l-habeb fî Târîh-i Haleb" by Muhammed bin İbrâhim el-Halebî, written in 965 [1557-58] and recorded in the Nuruosmaniye Library under no. 3293, in writing the biography of Muhaşşî Sinan Efendi of Amasya, chief judge (kadılkudat) of Aleppo, reports that Kemal Paşazâde too was from Amasya, as follows:
An Arabic record meaning: "The kadı of Aleppo, known as Sinan Çelebi, the chief judge Sinânüddîn Yûsuf, son of el-Hüseyn, son of İlyâs, son of Hasan, son of the exemplary Shaykh Hüsâmüddîn el-Amâsî el-Hanefî, took lessons from Ibn Kemal Pasha of Amasya, the Hanafi, mufti of the land of Rum and even of the Muslim lands." (Leaf 340)
That is to say: "The chief judge Sinâneddîn Yûsuf, known as Sinan Çelebi of Amasya, kadı of Aleppo, son of the exemplary Shaykh Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin, son of İlyâs, son of Hasan el-Hanefî, became a student of Kemal Paşazâde el-Hanefî of Amasya, mufti of the Ottoman land and perhaps of all the Muslim lands, and acquired learning from him."
It is quite natural that the Aleppo historian Muhammed bin İbrâhim el-Halebî wrote this record by inquiring of Sinan Efendi of Amasya himself, who became kadı of Aleppo in 946 [1539-40]. He also relates it from the conversations he had with Sinan Efendi in the course of the biography. Sinan Efendi surely knows where his own teacher was from better than Mecdî and Latîfî Efendis, who never met his teacher.
As will be seen in the historical information to be quoted below from the tezkire of Âşık Çelebi and from other sources, Kemal Paşazâde's long-standing bonds of friendship with Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahmân Efendi of Amasya and with Göde Ahmed Bey, son of Uğurlu Mehmed Pasha, who was with Sultan Bayezid when he was governor in Amasya and was his son-in-law, the fact that his grandfather and father served as lala (tutor-guardian) to Sultan Bayezid, governor in Amasya, and that he is buried beside Shaykh Mahmûd Efendi of Amasya, show very clearly and convincingly where he was from and where he was born and raised.
In two şer'î hüccets (court documents) given by the Amasya Court, dated 875 [1470-71] and 878 [1473-74], copies of which I found in the document storehouse of the Sublime Porte and published, with some historical assessments, in the İkdâm newspaper, presenting them to the attention of historians, it is clearly written that Kemal Paşazâde's father, "Şücâeddîn Süleyman Bey, son of Kemal Pasha, pride of the noble beys," was among the beys in the retinue of Sultan Bayezid II when he was governor in Amasya, and this is certain.
These hüccets state clearly that Candarlızâde "Tâceddîn İbrâhim Pasha, son of Halîl Pasha," was the lala and vizier of Sultan Bayezid, that he was the agent of the Vâlide Sultan who bought property in the Süveydâ (Sevâdiye) neighbourhood, and that one of the witnesses of this agency was "Şücâeddîn Süleyman Bey, son of Kemal Pasha."
That Süleyman Bey was in 882 [1477-78] the central garrison commander of the province of Amasya is found in the commentary on the qasida of Halîmî Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, which I found in the Fatih Library, presented to Mehmed the Conqueror and containing a complaint against the notables of Amasya; it is also known from records that after the investigation of this he was removed from Amasya in 883 [1478-79] as sanjak bey of Tokat.
That his grandfather Kemâleddîn Ahmed Pasha, while lala and vizier of Sultan Bayezid, governor in Amasya, died in Amasya at the end of 874 [1470] and lies buried in his tomb on the west side of the Yakub Pasha Mosque north of the sultan's palace is likewise established by the testimony of the registers of the Amasya Court.
That his grandfather's father, Hacı İbrâhim Çelebi, son of Halîl Çelebi, was among the divan scribes of Sultan Murad II, governor in Amasya until 824 [1421], and in 841 [1437-38] served as treasurer to Sultan Fatih when he was governor of Amasya, is recorded in the court registers. These historical data show that both the subject of this biography himself and his ancestors were from Amasya.
Let us investigate Kemal Paşazâde's being from Amasya a little from his own pen, in his "Târîh-i Âl-i Osmân." On page 223 of the printed third volume of our history, the following was written, quoted from the seventh defter of the Târîh-i Âl-i Osmân:
The late Kemal Paşazâde says: "Amasya, called Harcene in the old histories, is a famous city: whoever enters it grieving becomes glad, and his soul is freed from the bond of grief; it has become the rarity of the age, the renown of the world. It astonishes Egypt itself, and the river before it makes the Nile envious."
The meaning of the Persian verse that follows is roughly this: "I do not say it is the equal of Egypt and the Nile; that place is paradise, and its river is Salsabil. The banks of its river are everywhere sown fields; the waterwheels upon it turn ceaselessly like the heavens. Its villages and farmsteads are boundless on every side." As the last line is corrupt in the printed text, its meaning could not be made out. The Turkish verse is this:
Cûyinin suyu âb-ı kevserdir
Hâk-i pâkî abîr u anberdir
Gel Sevâdiyesini seyr eyle
Kasr-ı ıtr içre gör ne manzardır
Merdüm-i ayn-ı âlem ve yâhûd
Hâl-i ruhsâr-ı heft kişverdir
(The water of its stream is the water of Kevser; its pure soil is fragrant abir and amber. Come, behold its Sevâdiye; see what a view it is among the perfumed palaces. Amasya is the pupil of the world's eye, or the beauty mark on the cheek of the seven climes.)
In the margin of page 224 of the said volume I had written this note: "These ardent praises and precious writings are also clear proof that the great scholar Kemal Paşazâde was from Amasya, was born in the Sevâdiye neighbourhood of Amasya, and was attached to his birthplace with a most sincere love."
Had the late man been from Tokat, as Latîfî Efendi claims, he could not have praised Amasya so ardently, nor shown such attachment to the (Sevâdiye, Süveydâ) neighbourhood in particular among the other neighbourhoods of Amasya; he would also have written something about Tokat. Yet in his "Târîh-i Âl-i Osmân" he did not praise Tokat so much, nor show such attachment to Tokat.
Âlî Bey, in his history "Künhü'l-Ahbâr," recorded under no. 3406 in the Nuruosmaniye Library, writing of the scholars of the time of Sultan Selim I, says:
"Among the scholars of his time, Mevlânâ Şemsüddîn Ahmed, son of Süleyman, son of Kemal Pasha (may God gladden his soul). Since their fathers were sanjak beys and their grandfathers beylerbeyis, he grew up in abundant comfort and heaps of wealth; after reading through the basic textbooks he entered the path of the sipahi." (leaf 257)
It is noteworthy that Âlî Bey in this same history, writing of the poets of the time of Sultan Süleyman, says: "They said that Mevlânâ Latîfî, being from Kastamonu, wrote the poets whose homeland he did not know as being from there. They even called the title of his tezkire 'Kastamonu-nâme.' Yet what they did is plain malice. Their words are a terrible slander confirming the saying 'He who writes a work becomes the target of criticism.'"
Even more astonishing is this: Köprülüzâde Mehmed Fuâd Bey, who laughed at my having written in the first volume of my history that the subject of this biography was from Amasya, though himself a deep researcher and scholar, nevertheless, following Latîfî Efendi, wrote in his works that Kemal Paşazâde was "from Tokat."
Yet all the historians, men of merit and works up to 1100 [1688-89] gave no value or importance either to Mehmed Mecdî Efendi's calling him "of Edirne" or to the senseless and unsupported words of Abdüllatîf Latîfî Efendi. They did not even call him an Istanbul man. For this reason Kemal Paşazâde Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Şâh Çelebi is rooted in Amasya both by birth and by lineage passed down from generation to generation. His father was not a mere zaim "holding a zeamet in Tokat," as Latîfî Efendi says, but a sanjak bey holding the sanjak of Tokat. His grandfather Kemal Pasha(zâde) was a vizier buried in Amasya. He was born on the fifth day of Dhu al-Qa'da 873 [17 May 1469] in the (Süveydâ, Sevâdiye) neighbourhood of Amasya.
In a collection of münşeat (model letters) that I found during my research in the Yerebatan Library, the birth date of the said Mevlânâ was written, transmitted from his father, as follows: "The birth date of Kemal Paşazâde Ahmed Şâh Çelebi, son of Süleyman, transmitted from his father's handwriting: the fifth of Dhu al-Qa'da of the year eight hundred seventy-three, in Süveydâ of Amasya."
He grew up in comfort and indulgence while his father was palace guard commander in Amasya. When in 883 [1478] his father became sanjak bey of Tokat, he went there with him. In 886 [1481], when his father came to Amasya and was assigned to Prince Sultan Ahmed, he returned, and from the Amasya scholars Şeyhîzâde Abdî, İbrîzâde Abdurrahmân and Ya'kûbzâde Bahşî Efendis he read the basic books of the sciences of morphology (sarf), syntax (nahiv), rhetoric (meânî), logic and lexicon.
At this time he also read the rules of Persian, the Gulistan and the Persian dictionary with Sibekzâde Ahmed, Şirvânî Ebu'l-hayr and Kutbeddînzâde Ahmed Câmî Efendis, and acquired the competence to speak Arabic and Persian. Then, a zeamet being given to him, he entered military service. He went to Edirne and was enrolled in the special retinue company of Sultan Bayezid Han.
But his greatest pleasure was reading and study. For his mother was the sister of Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi, son of Mecdeddîn Abdülmecîd Çelebi, son of Abdülkerîm el-Kâdirî, known as Küpelioğlu, the kazasker of Amasya, one of the renowned scholars. She greatly encouraged her son to pursue learning and very much wished him to enter the scholars' profession.
There is a famous story here. According to the account of Ahmed İsâmeddîn Efendi, author of the Şakâyık, its summary is this:
"Mevlânâ Ahmed Şâh Çelebi had gone on campaign with Sultan Bayezid. During the campaign, Evrenos Beyzâde Ahmed Bey, one of the great beys, came and sat in the assembly of Vizier Candarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha. At this moment Mevlânâ (Lütfî Çelebi), müderris of Plovdiv (Filibe), whose daily pay was thirty akçe, came in dervish garb and sat above Ahmed Bey.
"Kemal Paşazâde was extremely astonished and amazed at this, and asked the reason why this low-ranking müderris sat above so glorious a bey as Ahmed Bey. One of his companions said: 'Scholars are more worthy of respect and honour than beys. Though this Lütfî Çelebi is in appearance a müderris of thirty akçe, his scholarly rank and the rank of knowledge is very high.'
"Mevlânâ Şâh Çelebi thought: 'For me there is no possibility of reaching the rank of the glorious bey Ahmed Bey (!). But I can work and earn the rank of this virtuous müderris,' and he entered the ilmiye career."
This story surely resembles a legend. For Kemal Paşazâde was at that time neither so ignorant as to be unable to tell the value of learning and scholars from the beylik rank of a sanjak bey, nor so heedless and naive as not to foresee that a vizier's son with intelligence, wit, learning and virtue could rise to the office of vizier and grand vizier.
For this reason Niksârîzâde es-Seyyid Mustafa Cenâbî Efendi, after telling this story in his history "el-Aylemü'z-zâhir," recorded under no. 3149 in the Nuruosmaniye Library, says in a note he put in the margin:
"It is clear that this story is surely invented. For persons like Kemal Paşazâde are too lofty and far above wearying themselves to acquire learning for the sake of an ordinary worldly rank and a passing state."
To satisfy his taste for reading and study, Kemal Paşazâde resigned from military service and applied himself to the study of the sciences and arts with extraordinary zeal. He attended the lessons of Musliheddîn Mustafa Efendi, son of Haydar, known as "Molla Kestelli," famed in Istanbul for his virtue and perfection, of Ma'rûfzâde Sinânüddîn Yûsuf Efendi, son of Ali, the sultan's teacher, and of Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Muhammed Efendi, son of İbrâhim.
At this time he also went to the lessons of Molla Lütfî of Tokat and Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi of Amasya and read the Metâli' and the Makâsıd. Likewise he took and learned Persian knowledge from Halîmî Mehmed Çelebi, son of Lütfullah, son of Ebî Yûsuf, of Amasya, author of the Lügat-i Fârisiyye, and sought to widen his knowledge. He also benefited considerably from Kâsım Efendi of Germiyan, known as Molla İzârî.
In 899 [1493-94] he began teaching as mülazım of his teacher Molla Kestellî. While he was a ders-i âm, when on the twenty-fifth day of Rabi' al-Thani 900 [23 January 1495] his teacher Molla Lütfî Çelebi was put to death as a martyr on the charge of irreligion and heresy, he told the date of his death and the injustice he suffered in Persian couplets. The meaning of the couplets is this: "Lütfî the slain, pride of the virtuous, was unmatched in all virtues in the whole land. When the envious killed him out of bigotry, the date of his death was 'Ve lekad mâte şehîd' (And truly he died a martyr)."
These couplets of Kemal Paşazâde offended those who took Lütfî Efendi's life and were the great men of state and learning of that time: Vizier Candarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha, the Rumeli Kazasker Hacı Hasanzâde Mehmed Efendi, the Anadolu Kazasker Çorumluzâde Ali Efendi, Hatîbzâde Muhyiddîn Efendi, master of the virtuous, and persons such as Molla İzârî. For Molla Lütfî accused them very much of ignorance, belittled them, and thoroughly refuted the works of Hatîbzâde.
In 901 [1495-96], upon the death of his protector Mevlânâ Musliheddîn Kestellî, whose mülazım he was, and before that the departure from Istanbul of his supporter Mü'eyyedzâde (Abdurrahman Efendi) as kadı of Edirne, he was left without a protector. Nevertheless he had the right to enter teaching. But the great men of the state found even a mülazemet too much for him.
In 903 [1497-98], through a small incident, he also offended Grand Vizier Candarlızâde İbrâhim Pasha. Âşık Çelebi tells this incident, in the poets' tezkire "Meşâirü'ş-Şu'arâ," recorded under no. 3719 in the Nuruosmaniye Library, relating it in the subject's own words:
"The late Molla writes in the biography of Uğurluoğlu Ahmed in the 'Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân' as follows: When Mirza Ahmed was martyred in the land of Persia, news of his death reached Rum. All the people of Rum in general, and those who had kept his company in particular, put on mourning; each planted the banner of sighs on the eastern sky and raised the sound of lament and wail and the sound of drums to the highest of the heavens.
"Just then I went to İbrâhim Pasha, son of Halîl Pasha. He knew my closeness to the Mirza and the rust left on the mirror of my heart by the news of his death. Because of his old enmity with the late one, he showed that he was glad of his death.
"At last he addressed me by way of taunt and mockery; making sport of me he said: 'The Mirza's friends have recited elegies on his death and eaten the halva of patience made with sugar and milk to remove the bitter poison of separation. Have you recited one too?' Whereupon, involuntarily, at that very moment and without thinking, this matla came to my mind and I recited it:
Ben demezdim ki sana dehr ide bîdâd görem
Dostlar gamda ola düşmenini şâd görem
(I never thought I would see time deal unjustly with you, and see your enemy glad while your friends are in grief.)
"The one before me was moved; from glad he turned to groaning. He regretted what he had said and the mistake he had made." (Leaf 43)
In 904 [1498-99], taking advantage of Sultan Bayezid's going to the conquest of the fortresses of Modon and Koron in the province of Morea, Karamanoğlu Mustafa Bey, with the help of the Iranian government where he had taken refuge, passed between Sivas and Tokat, entered the province of Karaman, and proclaimed his rule at İçel (Silifke).
At this time the Molla's father (Süleyman Bey) was sanjak bey of Tokat. Ill-intentioned persons attributed Mustafa Bey's entering the province of Karaman to Süleyman Bey's secret correspondence and aid, accused him, and complained to Istanbul. Poor Süleyman Bey, on this accusation, was brought to Istanbul in chains and imprisoned at Yedikule.
In 905 [1499-1500], on Sultan Bayezid's victorious return, after a long investigation and at the request and intercession of Hadım Ali Pasha, Süleyman Bey was pardoned and released, and was sent to Amasya together with the subject of this biography, whose ders-i âm post had been cut and who had been dismissed from teaching. A few months after his arrival he died.
Kemal Paşazâde Ahmed Şâh Çelebi lived in the house of his paternal cousin İbrâhim Bey, son of Halîl Bey, whose life was written earlier, and married his daughter; he set about teaching on the one hand and benefiting from his teacher Bahşî Efendi's lessons in tafsir and hadith on the other. Thus he was able to soothe his pains and sorrows. He fell into poverty and hardship.
In Jumada al-Ula 907 [1501], learning that Hadım Ali Pasha had become grand vizier and, a few months later, that Mü'eyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi had become kazasker of Anatolia, he made his preparations and in 908 [1502] went to Istanbul again.
Hearing that the Ali Bey Madrasa in Edirne, known as the "Taşlık Madrasa," had fallen vacant, he asked the Rumeli Kazasker Hacı Hasanzâde Mehmed Efendi for the professorship of this madrasa.
Âşık Çelebi tells the detail of this in his "Tezkire-i Şu'arâ" as follows: "At that time Hacı Hasanzâde was kazasker of Rumeli and Mü'eyyedzâde kazasker of Anatolia. Hacı Hasanzâde was cold toward the late one, while Mü'eyyedzâde, because of old rights of friendship, was one who did him good.
"At this time, when the Taşlık Madrasa in Edirne fell vacant and he went and asked for it, Hacı Hasanzâde said: 'Give up your yearning for a madrasa; we will give you a kadılık, do not be slow in accepting it.' The late one, grieved and worried, came to Mü'eyyedzâde and told him his situation.
"Mü'eyyedzâde said: 'Go, appear to be agreeable; what [the kazasker] submits will turn out well.' [Kemal Paşazâde] says: 'On his word I went and consented to the kadılık.' Hacı Hasanzâde, taking this to be true, submitted the kadılık to the sultan the next day.
"Mü'eyyedzâde, giving all manner of support, said: 'My fortunate sultan, he is a great talent; the rarity of the age, above his peers. Let him not be wasted on a kadılık. The Taşlık Madrasa is vacant; since he is occupied with learning, grant it to him,' and Sultan Bayezid, the sultan of the time, gave him the madrasa."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kuyûd-ı resmiyye: official records
- allâme: a very learned great scholar
- ya'sûb: leader, chief (originally: queen bee)
- müctehid-i mensûb: a scholar who exercises ijtihad while remaining bound to a school of law
- mevlid: birthplace, birth
- maskat-ı re's: the place of birth and upbringing
- tilmîz: student
- muâsır: contemporary
- ihsâs etmek: to hint, to suggest
- tevsîk: confirmation by a document
- mücerred ve ârî: devoid, bare
- neşv ü nemâ: growing up, upbringing
- hüccet-i şer'iyye: an official document issued by a kadı's court
- sitâyiş: praise
- merbûtiyyet: attachment
- muhtasarât: the basic, short textbooks taught in the madrasa
- mülâzım: one who trains under a great scholar as a candidate for a müderrisship
- ilhâd ve zendeka: deviation from religion and heresy
- techîl ve tezyîf: accusing of ignorance and belittling
- sudûr-ı kirâm: the greatest men of the state and the ilmiye (kazaskers, viziers)
- matla': the opening couplet of a ghazal
- mahlûl: an office left vacant because its holder departed
Where the Birthplace Debate Stands Today
Kemalpaşazâde's birthplace is one of the longest-running disputes of the Ottoman biographical tradition, and Hüsameddin has entered historiography as one of the parties to this dispute. On the birth date the sources nearly agree: the encyclopedia entry written by Şerafettin Turan gives it as 3 Dhu al-Qa'da 873 (15 May 1469); the date Hüsameddin bases on the record transmitted from the father's handwriting is two days later, 5 Dhu al-Qa'da 873. For the birthplace the same entry says that some sources name Tokat and others Edirne, that his being from Amasya has also been put forward, and for this last view it cites Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi directly.
The clearest defender of the Tokat view is İsmet Parmaksızoğlu. According to him, the Edirne tradition arose from Kemalpaşazâde's being raised in this city and spending most of his life there; the family's origin, and especially the fact that his maternal grandfather Küpelioğlu Muhyiddin Mehmed came from Iran and settled in Tokat, strengthens the Tokat tradition. Şerafettin Turan, who published the VII. defter of Kemalpaşazâde's history, finds neither the Tokat nor the Amasya view sufficient. He notes that the grandfather's settling in Tokat would not require the grandson to have been born there too, and that his father Süleyman Çelebi's sanjak bey post in Tokat falls in 883 [1478], ten years after his son's birth. It is noteworthy that Turan takes this date from Hüsameddin. As for Hüsameddin's Amasya view, according to Turan one's praising a city does not prove one is from there; indeed Ibn Kemal praised Edirne and also Sinop, with which he had no family tie. Considering that all the sources agree that his childhood passed in Edirne, Turan finds it more correct to accept that, even if of Tokat origin, he was born in Edirne. Among the researchers who published other defters of Kemalpaşazâde's history, Ahmet Uğur considers Tokat, and Koji Imazawa considers Edirne and Tokat, strongly probable.
Fatih Erkoçoğlu, in a paper presented in Amasya in 2017, took up this debate from the standpoint of Hüsameddin's historiography. According to Erkoçoğlu, the criticisms directed at Hüsameddin dwell only on the matter of Kemalpaşazâde's praising Amasya; yet Hüsameddin presented this praise only as an additional proof after many documents such as the hüccets of 875 and 878 given by the Amasya Court, the record of the Aleppo historian el-Halebî, the birth note transmitted from the father's handwriting, and Kemalpaşazâde's old ties with the people of Amasya. Erkoçoğlu thinks the critics did not see Hüsameddin's vol. VI text translated here, that the author carefully assessed the documents in his hands within the conditions of his time, and that Fuad Köprülü's laughing at his view led Hüsameddin to write this biography at such length.
The point the reader should not overlook today is this: the strongest of Hüsameddin's proofs, the birth note, as he admits in his own footnote, could not be found again because the notes whose number he had recorded burned in the Taşmusluk fire. The hüccets he published in the İkdâm newspaper show that Süleyman Bey was in Amasya in 875 and 878; this is earlier than the record placing his appointment to the Amasya garrison command in 879 [1474] according to Turan, and strengthens the inference that the father of the child born in 873 was in Amasya in those years. But no document available today directly proves where the child was born.
Differing Records on the Family
The encyclopedia entry writes that his father Süleyman Çelebi died in Istanbul and that his father Kemal Pasha was buried in his tomb near the Eski Odalar in Istanbul. Hüsameddin, however, says that Süleyman Bey was sent to Amasya after 905 and died there a few months later, and that the grandfather Kemâleddîn Ahmed Pasha also lies in his tomb west of the Yakub Pasha Mosque in Amasya. In a footnote he argues, on the basis of waqf deeds, that the "Kurşunlu Türbe" in Istanbul in fact belongs to Vizier Kemâleddîn İsmâil bin Abdullah ed-Defterî, who died in 899, and that this person was not Kemalpaşazâde's grandfather. The Istanbul records also show the matter to be confused: in the Waqf Survey Register the Kemalpaşa neighbourhood in Laleli appears as the "Kemal Pasha Tomb Neighbourhood"; the Hadîkatü'l-cevâmi' writes that the founder of the mosque there was Kemal Pasha and that he is buried there, while Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi notes that neither of the two mosques in the neighbourhood was built by Kemal Pasha and that the Hadîka erred on this. Another piece of information supporting Hüsameddin's view is that Dukakinzâde Ahmed Pasha, after being killed in Amasya in 1515, was buried in "the tomb in Amasya of Kemal Pasha, grandfather of Ibn Kemal"; this record is also found in today's encyclopedia. In one place the text gives the grandfather's name as "Kemâl Paşazâde"; from the context it is clear that Kemal Pasha is meant.
There is also a difference on the mother. Mecdî, and the present-day encyclopedia entry relying on him, say the mother was the daughter of Kazasker Küpelioğlu Muhyiddin Mehmed. Hüsameddin, however, claims that the phrase "he had two sisters" appears for Küpelioğlu in all copies of the Şakâyık, that one of them married Hızır Beyzâde Hâce Sinan Pasha and the other Süleyman Bey, and so counts the mother as Küpelioğlu's sister; he adds that, though he searched much, he could not find her name.
Is the Lütfî Story True?
The story of Molla Lütfî that set Kemalpaşazâde on the path of learning is given in today's encyclopedia entry as an event Taşköprizâde "relates from him": on seeing, in the assembly of Grand Vizier Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha, Molla Lütfî, the thirty-akçe müderris of Plovdiv, sit above the akıncı commander Evrenosoğlu Ahmed Bey, he resolved to pass to the ilmiye. Hüsameddin, and before him Cenâbî Mustafa Efendi, regard this story as invented. The chronological objection Hüsameddin advances in a footnote is noteworthy: in Kâtib Çelebi's account, which ties the story to the Modon campaign, the Modon campaign took place between Ramadan 905 and Muharram 906 (April-August 1500), while Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha had died before this date and Molla Lütfî had been killed in 900. This objection refutes Kâtib Çelebi's dating, but it does not rule out that the event Taşköprizâde reports took place on an earlier campaign. The report that the story is transmitted in Kemalpaşazâde's own words is a point that weakens Hüsameddin's verdict of "legend."
The Execution of Molla Lütfî and an Elegy
Molla Lütfî, the teacher for whose death Kemalpaşazâde composed a chronogram, was a scholar born in Tokat, who studied with Sinan Pasha and Ali Kuşçu, served as keeper of books (hâfız-ı kütüb) in the palace library of Fatih, and was müderris in Plovdiv, Edirne, Istanbul and Bursa. Tried on the charge of heresy and deviation from religion, he was executed by beheading at the Atmeydanı on 25 Rabi' al-Thani 900 (23 January 1495) and buried at Eyüp near the Defterdar Mahmud Çelebi Mosque. Nearly all the sources attribute the real cause of the execution to the envy of his opponents; Hatibzâde Muhyiddin Efendi and Molla İzârî were on the panel that heard the case. Nearly all the chronograms composed on Lütfî's execution call him a martyr. Kemalpaşazâde's line "Ve lekad mâte şehîd" is also from this tradition, and Hüsameddin's comment that these couplets offended those involved in the case, such as Hatîbzâde, İzârî and the kazaskers of the time, is apt in this respect. On the other hand, present-day researchers writing on Hatibzâde find the claim that he gave the fatwa for Lütfî's death implausible.
Mirza Ahmed: Göde Ahmed Bey
The "Mirza Ahmed" whose death news arrives in the event quoted from Âşık Çelebi is the Akkoyunlu ruler Göde Ahmed Bey. He was the son of Uzun Hasan's son Uğurlu Mehmed and Fatih's daughter Gevherhan Sultan; when his father was killed, Fatih had him brought to Istanbul with his mother, and Ahmed was raised first in the palace of Fatih and then in that of his maternal uncle Bayezid II, and became Bayezid's son-in-law. In 1497 he took the Akkoyunlu throne with a kapıkulu unit given by Bayezid II, the hutbe was read in his name in Tabriz in June 1497, but about a year later, in the winter of 1497, he was killed near Isfahan as a result of the treachery of his emirs. Hüsameddin's placing the event in 903 [1497-98] agrees with this date. In a footnote Hüsameddin says that Ahmed Mirza grew up together with Kemalpaşazâde in Bayezid's palace in Amasya and that he was the cause of Çandarlı İbrâhim Pasha's dismissal from the lalalık in Amasya; these two pieces of information were not found in other sources.
From the Taşlık Madrasa to the Şeyhülislamate
The entry ends with Kemalpaşazâde's appointment to the Ali Bey (Taşlık) Madrasa in Edirne; the rest of his life is told in the next entry. Present-day sources confirm that this first professorship carried thirty akçe a day and was achieved with the support of Anatolian Kazasker Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman; the cunning help Âşık Çelebi describes agrees with this record. In the same period he was granted 33,000 akçe and commissioned to write an Ottoman history in Turkish; the Tevârîh-i Âl-i Osmân, containing the lines praising Amasya, is the product of this commission. Kemalpaşazâde later rose to the kadılık of Edirne, the kazaskerlik of Anatolia, and in Shaban 932 (May 1526) to the office of şeyhülislam; while in this post he died on 2 Shawwal 940 (16 April 1534) and was buried in the cemetery of the Mahmud Çelebi Zaviye outside Edirnekapı. The chronogram composed on his death, "İrtehale'l-ulûmu bi'l-Kemâl" (The sciences departed with Kemal), shows the value his contemporaries gave him.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 130–137. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
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- Fatih Erkoçoğlu, "Hüseyin Hüsameddin'in Kemalpaşazâde'nin Amasyalı Olduğu İddiasını İspat Çabasına Tarihçilik Açısından Bakış", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı, II, Amasya 2017, p. 413-423. https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00226/2017/2017_ERKOCOGLUF.pdf
- Halil Taşpınar, "İbn Kemal'in Cebr ve Kader Tartışmalarına Katkısı Ya Da Çözümsüzlüğün Bir Parçası Olması", Uluslararası Geçmişten Günümüze Tokat'ta İlmî ve Kültürel Hayat Sempozyumu Bildirileri, I, Tokat 2018, p. 429 ff. https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/G00477/2018/2018_TASPINAR.pdf
- Furkan Ramazan Öğe, "16. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Şeyhülislâmlarından Kemalpaşazâde'ye Dair İlmî-Akademik Literatür ve Değerlendirmesi", Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 20 (2021), p. 321-354. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/2016816
- "Molla Lutfi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/molla-lutfi
- "Hatibzâde Muhyiddin Efendi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/hatibzade-muhyiddin-efendi
- "Tâcîzâde Câfer Çelebi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (for the history of the Modon and Koron campaign). https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/tacizade-cafer-celebi
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Official sources