Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar calls Seyyid Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi "a man of letters, a poet" and says he was known as "Ahmedî", a name that sends the reader straight to Ahmedî, the poet of the İskendernâme; the two, however, are different people. Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi headed the Rifâî dervish lodge at Ahmedsaray near Lâdik in the fifteenth century, studied in Amasya and enjoyed the favour of Şehzade Bayezid, the future Bayezid II, while the prince was governor of Amasya. Death came in Safer 879 (June-July 1474). Not one line from the pen of this Ahmedî is known.

Hüsameddin's Entry

The entry stands in the tenth volume among several men named Zeynelâbidîn; the site also publishes it separately (Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi-Kâsımzâde, es-Seyyid, Ahmedî):

Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi-Kâsımzâde, es-Seyyid, Ahmedî Lâdik kurbunda Ahmedsarây nâhiyesinde medfûn olan es-Seyyid Sadreddîn Kâsım er-Rifâ'î evlâdından es-Seyyid Abdurrahîm Çelebi bin es-Seyyid İzzeddîn Hasan Çelebi bin es-Seyyid Sadreddîn Kâsım bin Sâhibü'l-hâl es-Seyyid Ahmed el-Kebîr er-Rifâ'î mahdûmudur. Ahmedsarây'da doğdu. Amasya'da tahsîl-i ulûm edib avdet ederek pederinin irtihâlinde Ahmedsarây'da Seyyid Kâsım Zâviyesi şeyhi oldu. Ahvâl ü etvâr-ı zâhidânesi Amasya'da vâlî olan Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî'nin ma'lûmu oldukta celb ü ikrâm etdi. Ahmedsarây'ı fevka'l-âde şenlendirip 879 senesi saferinde vefât etdi. Meşâyih-i Rifâ'iyyenin sulehâsından ve ulemâsından, zâhid, halûk, mükerrem, edîb, şâir olup "Ahmedî" demekle meşhûr idi. Mahdûm-ı yegânesi es-Seyyid Yahyâ Çelebi yerine kâ'im olup 895 senesi evâsıt-ı şevvâlinde vefât etdi. Pederinin yanında medfûndur.

In today's English: His father is Seyyid Abdurrahim Çelebi, a descendant of Seyyid Sadreddin Kâsım er-Rifâî, who is buried in the district of Ahmedsaray near Lâdik; Hüsameddin traces the line through Seyyid İzzeddin Hasan Çelebi and Seyyid Sadreddin Kâsım to Seyyid Ahmed el-Kebîr er-Rifâî, whom he calls "the master of spiritual states". He was born in Ahmedsaray. He studied in Amasya, returned home, and on his father's death became sheikh of the Seyyid Kâsım lodge at Ahmedsaray. When word of his ascetic way of life reached Sultan Bayezid II, then governor in Amasya, the prince summoned him and treated him with honour. He made Ahmedsaray exceptionally prosperous and died in Safer 879. He was one of the pious and learned sheikhs of the Rifâiyye; an ascetic, good-natured, generous, a man of letters and a poet, he was known as "Ahmedî". His only son Seyyid Yahyâ Çelebi succeeded him, died in mid-Şevval 895 (September 1490) and was buried beside his father.

The rest of the entry lists Yahyâ Çelebi's sons: Seyyid Tâceddin, who died a few years after his father; Seyyid Muhyiddin Mehmed, who lived in Lâdik; and Seyyid Sâlih Çelebi, who came to settle in Hakala. Hüsameddin also mentions among the descendants of the last "the renowned scholar" Seyyid Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi.

His Connection with Amasya

Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi was not a native of Amasya; by Hüsameddin's description Ahmedsaray lies near Lâdik, which today belongs to Samsun. Three reasons for including him in Amasya Tarihi can be seen in the entry: he studied in the madrasas of Amasya, he enjoyed the patronage of Bayezid while the prince resided in Amasya, and he came of the same lineage as the Rifâî family of Hakala, a district of Amasya. The entry on Seyyid Yahyâzâde Zeynelâbidîn Çelebi, sheikh of the Hakala lodge, comes immediately before this one, and the two Zeynelâbidîns must be kept apart. The first was a sheikh who died in 826 (1422-23) and was buried in Hakala; the one called Ahmedî died some fifty years later in Ahmedsaray.

In later generations the line became more firmly tied to Amasya. In the entry Zeynî Mehmed Efendi-Kâdızâde in the tenth volume, Hüsameddin writes that this "poet among the judges", who died in 1099 (1687-88) after leaving the judgeship of Niksar, was "of the descendants of es-Seyyid Zeynelâbidîn Ahmedî Çelebi", and that his father was Abdülkerim Efendi, son of Bahâeddin Mehmed Efendi, a judge of Amasya. The last entry of the sixth volume, headed "Ahmed Zeynelâbidîn Çelebi-Ahmed Saraylı", also refers the reader to this entry; Hüsameddin closed that volume with this cross-reference on Monday, 13 Safer 1350.

The Name Ahmedî

Hüsameddin regards the poet Ahmedî, who died early in the fifteenth century and is known for his İskendernâme, as a man of Amasya and treats him in a separate entry under the name Tâceddin İbrâhim Çelebi; on this site that poet has his own page under Ahmedî (Tâceddin İbrâhim). For Zeynelâbidîn Ali Çelebi, according to the entry, "Ahmedî" was a name by which he was known; Hüsameddin does not explain whether it derived from Ahmedsaray, where he was born and served as sheikh, or from a pen name (mahlas). The cross-reference heading in the sixth volume, "Ahmed Zeynelâbidîn Çelebi", shows that the name was also associated with Ahmed.

His Poetry

Even if poems written under the pen name Ahmedî include some that belong to this sheikh, it does not seem possible to distinguish them in the shadow of the great poet who used the same name. Hüsameddin offers no help here: of the sheikh he calls "a man of letters, a poet" he quotes no couplet and names no collection of poems (divan). The poems of the sheikh of Ahmedsaray have not come down to us.

Chronology

Safer 879 (June-July 1474): Dies at Ahmedsaray.

Şevval 895 (September 1490): His son and successor Seyyid Yahyâ Çelebi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources