According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Ârif Mehmed Efendi served for many years as sheikh of the Yenikapı Mevlevî lodge in Istanbul, yet his name is missing from the known succession of that lodge's sheikhs. A Mevlevî poet, he was a son of Alâeddîn Dede, sheikh of the Amasya lodge, and belonged to the branch of that family of sheikhs that went to Istanbul. He began his training in the order with his father, completed it at the Mevlânâ lodge in Konya and died in 1137 (1724-25). He evidently took his name from his great-grandfather Ârif Mehmed Dede, who had the lodge re-established in the seventeenth century. Hüsameddin's short entry presents him as "learned, a poet, of perfect literary knowledge".

Hüsameddin's Notice

Amasya Mevlevîhânesi şeyhi Alâeddîn Dede'nin mahdûmudur. Pederinden tahsîl ve terbiye görüp Konya'ya gitdi. Orada ikmâl-i tarîk edib İstanbul'da Yenikapı Mevlevîhâne şeyhi oldu. Yıllarca burada îfâ-yı meşîhat edib 1137'de vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, edebiyâta vukûfu mükemmeldi.

In translation: Son of Alâeddîn Dede, who led the Mevlevî lodge of Amasya. He studied and was trained under his father and went to Konya. There he completed his training in the order and became sheikh of the Yenikapı Mevlevî lodge in Istanbul. After serving as sheikh there for years he died in 1137. He was learned and a poet, and his literary knowledge was perfect.

Family

Ârif Mehmed Efendi's line is bound up with the seventeenth-century sheikhs of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge. His great-grandfather Ârif Mehmed Dede had been the first sheikh of the lodge rebuilt by Bayram Pasha in 1047 (1637-38); dismissed, he went to Istanbul and died there in 1061. His grandfather Abdülbâkî Dede had gone to Istanbul with his father, stayed at the Galata lodge, later became sheikh of the Mürre Hüseyin Paşa Mevlevî lodge in Beşiktaş, dying there in 1086 (1675-76). His father Alâeddîn Dede tied the family to Amasya once more: when the sheikh Kudsî Hasan Dede died in Şaban 1091 (August-September 1680), this man, whom Hüsameddin calls "es-Seyyid Alâeddîn Dede of the descendants of Ali", became sheikh of the Amasya lodge. Between 1096 and 1099 the post passed briefly to Ebû Saîd Ahmed Dede and was then given back to Alâeddîn Dede. His death is dated to the last days of Zilhicce 1111 (June 1700) in the chronicle and to 1112 in other entries.

One of Ârif Mehmed Efendi's brothers was the poet Sâkıb Osman Efendi, who contended for the lodge's sheikhdom and endowment. In Sâkıb's entry Hüsameddin names only Abdülbâkî Efendi as his brother; that Ârif Mehmed Efendi was a brother of the two is inferred from all three being recorded as sons of Alâeddîn Dede. The family's name "Ârif Dedezâde" points to their ancestor Ârif Mehmed Dede. "Dedezâde" in the heading means the same thing, "the son of the Dede". It has nothing to do with the Dedezâdes of Köprü, the family of Köprülü Mehmed Pasha's wife Ayşe Hanım; in Mevlevî families of sheikhs, "dede" is the sheikhs' title.

Konya and Yenikapı

Training begun under one's father and completed at Konya was a familiar path in the Mevlevî order. The Konya lodge, home of Mevlânâ's tomb, was the centre of the order, and dervishes who completed their novitiate there and became dedes could be sent as sheikhs to other lodges. In the same years Ebûbekir Dede of Amasya completed his novitiate at Konya, became head cook, and in 1112 was sent to Amasya as sheikh on the death of Alâeddîn Dede.

Hüsameddin writes that Ârif Mehmed Efendi then became sheikh of the Yenikapı Mevlevî lodge in Istanbul and remained there for years. This does not agree with the known succession of Yenikapı's sheikhs. M. Baha Tanman's encyclopedia article on the Yenikapı Mevlevî lodge names its sheikhs from the first, Kemal Ahmed Dede, down to Seyyid Ebûbekir Dede, who died in 1775: the dedes Doğanî Ahmed, Sabûhî Ahmed, Câmî Ahmed, Kārî Ahmed, Nâci Ahmed, Pendârî Ahmed, Seyyid Nesîb Yûsuf, Peçevî Ahmed, Mesnevîhan Ahmed, Sâfî Mûsâ and Köçek Ahmed. No sheikh named Ârif Mehmed appears in this list. It is possible that Ârif Mehmed Efendi was at Yenikapı as one of the lodge's dedes or Mesnevî readers without holding the sheikh's post; nor can it be ruled out that Hüsameddin confused another Istanbul lodge with Yenikapı. No document at hand settles either question.

His Poetry

No poems by Ârif Mehmed Efendi have been found. Hüsameddin confines himself to praising his literary knowledge and quotes neither the title of a work nor a couplet. In Hakverdioğlu's inventory of the poets of Amasya Tarihi the two brothers fall into different volumes: Sâkıb Osman under the eighth, Ârif Mehmed under the eleventh.

Chronology

1047 (1637-38): His great-grandfather Ârif Mehmed Dede becomes sheikh of the rebuilt Amasya Mevlevî lodge.

1086 (1675-76): His grandfather Abdülbâkî Dede dies as sheikh of the Mürre Hüseyin Paşa Mevlevî lodge in Beşiktaş.

Şaban 1091 (August-September 1680): His father Alâeddîn Dede becomes sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge.

Zilhicce 1111 (June 1700): Alâeddîn Dede dies; other entries give the year of death as 1112.

1137 (1724-25): Ârif Mehmed Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources