When the Amasya Mevlevî lodge, burned down by bandits in 1011 (1602-03), was rebuilt, the first sheikh to take its post was Ârif Mehmed Dede. He had been trained at the Galata Mevlevî lodge under İsmâil Ankaravî, the great commentator on the Mesnevî, and had become a Mesnevî reader there. He took charge of the new lodge built by Bayram Pasha, led it for about eleven years, went to Istanbul after his dismissal and died there in 1061 (1650-51). According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar he was "Arap ve Acem edebiyâtına vâkıf, şâir, natûk, mizacgîr": versed in Arabic and Persian literature, a poet, eloquent and a fine judge of people's temperaments. Üveys Dede, who served under him, later became sheikh of the same lodge, and the post passed after him to his son-in-law Mahmûd Dede; his own descendants kept a say in the lodge's sheikhdom and endowment for nearly a century.

The Original Entry

Mevlevî dervişlerinden Amasyalı Ahmed Dede'nin oğludur. Galata Mevlevîhânesi şeyhi Ankaralı İsmail Dede'nin himâyesinde tahsîl ve terbiye görüp Mesnevîhân olmuştu. Bayram Paşa Amasya Mevlevîhânesi'ni binâ etdikde buranın şeyhi olarak Amasya'ya geldi. On bir yıl kadar icrâ-yı meşîhat edib 1058'de maktûlen vefât eden Amasya mutasarrıfı Hüseyin Paşa'dan dolayı azl ve gadredildi. İkinci defa İstanbul'a gidip ilm ü sinnine hürmeten Sultân Fatih Vakfı fuzalâsından yevmî otuz akçe vazîfe verildi. 1061'de vefât etdi. Âlim, kâmil, Arap ve Acem edebiyâtına vâkıf, şâir, natûk, mizacgîr idi. Mahdûmu Abdulbâki Dede'dir.

Put into English: Ahmed Dede of Amasya, one of the Mevlevî dervishes, was his father. He was educated and trained under the protection of Ankaralı İsmâil Dede, sheikh of the Galata Mevlevî lodge, and became a Mesnevî reader. When Bayram Pasha built the Amasya Mevlevî lodge, he came to Amasya as its sheikh. After serving as sheikh for about eleven years he was dismissed and wronged because of Hüseyin Pasha, governor of the sanjak of Amasya, who was killed in 1058. He went to Istanbul a second time; out of respect for his learning and his age he was granted a daily stipend of thirty akçe from the share of the endowment of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror reserved for scholars. He died in 1061. He was learned, accomplished, versed in Arabic and Persian literature, a poet, eloquent and a good judge of temperaments. His son is Abdülbâkî Dede.

From Galata to Amasya

Ârif Dede's teacher, İsmâil Rusûhî Ankaravî, had joined the Mevlevî order at Konya while a sheikh of the Bayramî order, became sheikh of the Galata Mevlevî lodge in 1610 and remained in the post for twenty-one years until his death in 1041 (1631). His commentary on the Mesnevî had earned him the title "Hazret-i Şârih", His Holiness the Commentator. Ârif Dede's qualification as a Mesnevî reader was earned in this circle, and he must have been at Galata before Ankaravî's death.

His return to Amasya went together with the rebuilding of the lodge. According to the account of the lodge in Hüsameddin's first volume, the old building had burned in the bandit raid of 1011 and its sheikh İbrâhim Çelebi had died in the same events. Ârif Dede laid the matter before Bayram Pasha, who in 1047 (1637-38) had the lodge rebuilt and its endowments enlarged; Ârif Dede became the first sheikh of the new building. The chronicle in the fourth volume lists the same undertaking among Bayram Pasha's other works of charity in Amasya: the pasha brought water to the town from far away, built a stone mosque in İçerişehir on the site of the Kadı Ali Çelebi Mosque, "a charming Mevlevî lodge" on the site of the present one and a large inn in the Lower Market later called Vakıf Han, and appointed "meşâhir-i zurefâdan Amasyalı Bâkî Dedezâde Ârif Mehmed Dede Efendi" sheikh of his lodge. Hüsameddin gives these records among the events of 1046 and adds that the pasha left Amasya for Tokat in the middle of Zilhicce (May 1637) and had most of his charitable works completed after his departure; the date 1047 in the first volume fits this completion.

Sheikhdom and Dismissal

The men trained at his side show his place in the lodge. Üveys Dede of the Taşçızâde family rose in his service from head cook to steward and then to Mesnevî reader, and became sheikh of the lodge in 1067 (1656-57). Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi, son of the gardener Ali, also became a Mesnevî reader under him and was known for his verse and prose. Hacı Mehmed Çelebi, son of the Mevlevî dede Süleyman Dede, was trained by him and in 1057 (1647) became sheikh of the Şeyh Cûî lodge. Mahmûd Dede, who took the post after Ârif Dede, was his son-in-law; Mahmûd Dede's sons Senâyî İbrâhim Efendi and Sâbir Ahmed Dede are among the lodge's poet Mesnevî readers.

The date and cause of his dismissal appear in two different forms. According to the chronicle in the fourth volume, Ârif Mehmed Dede was removed in Receb 1057 (August 1647) "because of certain conduct and actions", the Mesnevî reader Mahmûd Dede became sheikh in his place, and Ârif Dede went to Istanbul with his son Abdülbâkî Dede. His entry in the eleventh volume instead ties the dismissal to Hüseyin Pasha, the governor of Amasya killed in 1058 (1648), and with the word "gadredildi" stresses that he was wronged. In the entry on his son Abdülbâkî Dede, father and son leave for Istanbul in 1058. What passed between Hüseyin Pasha and the sheikh is not told. From 1047 to 1057 is ten years and to 1058 eleven; the entry's "about eleven years" fits either date.

In his last years in Istanbul Ârif Dede received thirty akçe a day from the endowment of Mehmed the Conqueror. Hüsameddin writes that the stipend was granted "ilm ü sinnine hürmeten", out of respect for his learning and advanced age, which shows that he was an old man when he left Amasya. He died in 1061 (1650-51). In the first volume, on the authority of the Islamic court registers, "eş-Şeyh Mehmed Ârif Dede" is recorded as buried in the tomb chamber inside the Amasya Mevlevî lodge. How a sheikh who died in Istanbul came to lie in the Amasya tomb is not explained; either his body was brought back, or the record belongs to another sheikh of the same name.

His Father's Name

Hüsameddin gives Ârif Dede's father three different names in three places. In the entry in the eleventh volume the father is "Ahmed Dede of Amasya, one of the Mevlevî dervishes". In the account of the lodge in the first volume and in the entry İbrâhim Dede Çelebi in the sixth volume, he is the son of İbrâhim Çelebi, sheikh of the lodge from 995 (1586-87) to 1011, who died in the bandit raid. The fourth volume calls him "Bâkî Dedezâde". The third form may have been confused with the name of his son Abdülbâkî. If his father was İbrâhim Çelebi, the lodge's former sheikh, that would also explain why Ârif Dede worked to have the burned lodge rebuilt; but which record is correct cannot be shown from documents.

His Descendants

His son Abdülbâkî Dede went with him to Istanbul and stayed at the Galata lodge, later became sheikh of the Mürre Hüseyin Paşa Mevlevî lodge in Beşiktaş, and died in 1086 (1675-76). Abdülbâkî's son Alâeddîn Dede returned to his grandfather's post, becoming sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge in Şaban 1091 (August-September 1680). Among Alâeddîn Dede's sons were the poet Sâkıb Osman Efendi, who struggled for the lodge's sheikhdom, and Ârif Mehmed Efendi, who bore his great-grandfather's name and became attached to the Yenikapı Mevlevî lodge in Istanbul. The family's name "Ârif Dedezâde" comes from this ancestor.

His Poetry

Ârif Mehmed Dede's verse is lost. His knowledge of Arabic and Persian literature was the equipment one would expect of a sheikh who taught the Mesnevî, and Hüsameddin sets the word "poet" beside it. Yet not even a ghazal or a chronogram is in hand. Hakverdioğlu's volume-by-volume inventory of poets is likewise content to record his name.

Chronology

1011 (1602-03): The Amasya Mevlevî lodge burns in a bandit raid; its sheikh İbrâhim Çelebi dies.

1041 (1631): His teacher İsmâil Ankaravî dies at Galata.

1047 (1637-38): Bayram Pasha has the lodge rebuilt; Ârif Mehmed Dede becomes sheikh.

1057 (1647): His pupil Hacı Mehmed Çelebi becomes sheikh of the Şeyh Cûî lodge.

Receb 1057 (August 1647): According to the fourth volume he is dismissed; his son-in-law Mahmûd Dede succeeds him.

1058 (1648): According to the eleventh volume and his son's entry he is dismissed and leaves for Istanbul with his son Abdülbâkî.

1061 (1650-51): He dies in Istanbul.

Bibliography

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