Several of the hymns sung in Ârifî Mehmed Efendi's lodge were once in the hands of Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar; recording him as a poet in Amasya Tarihi, the author also reports that these hymns were burned, and notes that the sheikh signed his name in his own hand as "Mehmed Ârifi". This son of Amasya served for some thirty years, in the first half of the nineteenth century, as a Naqshbandi sheikh in a lodge he opened in the men's quarters (selamlık) of his own house in the Acem Ali quarter, and died in 1265 (1848-49). Because his father descended from Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, city steward (şehir kethüdası) of Amasya in 1118, the family was known as "Şehir Kethüdâsızâde". Not a single line of this sheikh's poetry is in hand today. Hüsameddin's entry is reproduced on this site as Ârifî Mehmed Efendi-Şehir Kethüdâsızâde.

Hüsameddin's Record

Where the eleventh volume of Amasya Tarihi lists the people of Amasya whose names begin with the letter "ayn", this record comes immediately after Ârifî Hüseyin Efendi of the Çorumluzâde family:

Ârifî Mehmed Efendi-Şehir Kethüdâsızâde 1118'de Amasya şehir kethüdâsı olan Hacı Hüseyin Ağa ahfâdından Hüseyin Ağa'nın mahdûmudur. Ulemâdan ve hâssaten Canikli Mehmed Efendi'den tahsîl-i ilim edib Nakşibendiyye meşâyih-i kirâmından Hicâbî Abdulbâki Efendi'nin hizmetinde tefeyyüz ederek hulefâsından oldu. Acem Ali Mahallesi'nde kâin hânesinin selâmlık kısmını zâviye ittihâz ederek bu zâviyesi şeyhi oldu. Otuz yıl kadar zikir ve tevhîd, halkın tehzîb-i ahlâkına himmet ederek 1265'de vefât etdi. Uzunyol Mezârlığının dağ tarafında kâin bahçesinde medfûndur. Şeyh-i müşârün-ileyh, âlim, âbid, gâyet müteşerri', asrının kutbu idi. Cuma geceleri zâviyesi bir mahfil-i ulemâ ve meşâyih olup sohbetinde ruhâniyet-i Muhammediye neş'esi duyulurdu. Samt ve sükûtu gâlib, vakûr, sözünde ve özünde Nakşibendiyye haşmeti görülürdü. Ulemâ ve meşâyih arasında "Aziz Efendimiz" unvânıyla anılır, herkes sözlerini can kulağıyla dinler, meclisinde lağviyyât ve hicviyyâta ait sözler işitilmez, gâyet nezîh olup mesâvîden hoşlanmazdı. Bütün ma'nâsıyla âlî-himmet, pâk-sîret, mazınne-i kerâmet bir zat idi. Kaddesallahu sırrahu'l-azîz. Hazret-i aziz, şâir idi. Kendi kalemiyle imzâsını "Mehmed Ârifi" diye yazardı. Tekkesinde esnâ-yı zikir ve tevhidde Üzümcü Hâfız'ın gâyet yanık ve tiz sadâsıyla okuduğu nuût-ı şerîfesini göz yaşıyla dinlerdi. İlahiyât'ından elde etdiğim birkaç tanesi maalesef yandı. Kalbi rakîk, merhameti gâlib, eli açıktı. Bütün vâridâtını zâviyesinde fukarâyı it'âma hasretmişdi. Mahdûmu Şeyh Ahmed Kâmil Efendi'dir.

In English: His father was Hüseyin Ağa, one of the descendants of Hacı Hüseyin Ağa, who was city steward of Amasya in 1118. He studied with scholars, especially with Canikli Mehmed Efendi, reached spiritual maturity in the service of Hicâbî Abdülbâki Efendi, one of the Naqshbandi sheikhs, and became one of his deputies (halife). He turned the men's quarters of his house in the Acem Ali quarter into a lodge (zaviye) and became its sheikh. For about thirty years he devoted himself to remembrance of God (zikr) and to the moral training of the people, and died in 1265; he is buried in his garden on the mountain side of the Uzunyol Cemetery. He was learned, devout and very strict in observing the sacred law; he was regarded as the pole (kutb) of his age. On Friday nights his lodge became a gathering of scholars and sheikhs, and in his conversation one felt the spiritual joy of love for the Prophet. Silence prevailed in him and he bore himself with dignity; the majesty of the Naqshbandi order was seen in his words and his being. Among scholars and sheikhs he was called "Aziz Efendimiz", our saintly master, and everyone listened to his words with the ear of the soul. Idle talk and satire were never heard in his company; he was of very pure character and disliked wickedness. He was a poet; he signed his name in his own hand as "Mehmed Ârifi". In his lodge, during the zikr, he listened in tears to the hymns in praise of the Prophet (naat) sung by Üzümcü Hâfız in his very plaintive, high voice. Hüsameddin had obtained several of his hymns, but they were burned. He was tender-hearted, compassionate and open-handed, and had devoted all his income to feeding the poor in his lodge. His son is Sheikh Ahmed Kâmil Efendi.

Life and Lodge

When Mehmed Ârif was born is nowhere recorded; in his training, however, two names stand out: Canikli Mehmed Efendi, from whom he received his madrasa learning, and the Crimean Naqshbandi sheikh Hicâbî Abdülbâki Efendi, who guided him on the Sufi path. Hicâbî was a sheikh who had founded a lodge at Ziyâre (today the small town of Ziyaret); Mehmed Ârif worked as his deputy in the city of Amasya. Hüsameddin's list of lodges records that this place, known as the "Şehir Kethüdâsıoğlu Tekkesi", stood in a dead-end street east of the Acem Ali Fountain, and that in 1238 (1822-23) the sheikh had a lodge built next to his house and served as its sheikh. This record and the entry's phrase "he made the selamlık a lodge" complement each other: part of the family house seems first to have become a place of zikr, with a separate building later added beside it. The span from 1238 to 1265 comes close to Hüsameddin's "about thirty years".

The family was not known in Amasya only for its lodge. According to Hüsameddin, the endowment of the Quran school (dârülkurrâ) founded in Amasya by İldi Hatun, wife of Bayezid II, was in the hands of Şehir Kethüdâsızâde Mehmed Ârif Efendi and his descendants. From this trusteeship Hüsameddin concludes that the Şehir Kethüdâsıoğulları must have descended from one of İldi Hatun's children; this is his own guess and is not supported by any document.

The place where the sheikh was buried is given under two different names in two places. His own entry places him "in his garden on the mountain side of the Uzunyol Cemetery". The list of tombs in the first volume of the book, however, locates the "Ârif Efendi Türbesi" in a garden south of the road running through the Çeribaşı Cemetery; there Mehmed Ârif lies beside his son Ahmed Kâmil Efendi and his relatives, and according to the inscription on the stone at the sheikh's head, Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, from the beginning of the tenth Hijri century, is also buried here. The tomb of Malatyalı Sûfî Mehmed Efendi is likewise described as "adjoining the tomb of Mehmed Ârif Efendi". Whether the two names are different designations of the same cemetery or point to two separate places cannot be determined from the source.

His Poetry

Since Hüsameddin counts him a poet and says that he signed his name "Mehmed Ârifi", the pen name (mahlas) "Ârifî" comes from this signature; the name in the heading of the entry reflects it as well. In the entry of his grandson Ziyâüddîn Yûsuf Efendi the head of the family is again called "Şeyh Mehmed Ârifî Efendi". The only clue to the kind of poetry he wrote is Hüsameddin's phrase "several of his hymns that I obtained": Ârifî wrote hymns (ilahi) to be sung at the zikr gathering. The mention of his listening to naat sung by Üzümcü Hâfız in his lodge also shows the setting in which these poems were performed.

Because the few hymns in Hüsameddin's hands were burned, Ârifî's poetry cannot be reached today. The author reports the loss briefly as "unfortunately they burned", without saying when or where the fire happened. There is no record that he had a divan or a collection of poems.

Confusion with a Namesake

Another poet of the same name who died in the same year can easily be confused with him. The person in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi article "Kethüdâzâde Mehmed Ârif Efendi" was born in İstanbul in 1185 (1771), used the pen name Ârif in his poems, died on 5 Rebîülâhir 1265 (28 February 1849) while holding the honorary rank of kazasker of Anatolia, and was buried in the cemetery of the Yahya Efendi Dergâhı at Beşiktaş. He had a small divan printed in 1271 (1855) and a hagiography (menakıbname) compiled by his student; he was also closely involved with Naqshbandi lodges. The Şehir Kethüdâsızâde of Amasya, by contrast, served as sheikh in Amasya, died and was buried there, and his poems were never printed. The word "kethüda" in the two names also has different origins: the İstanbul Ârif's family name comes from his grandfather Yûsuf Ağa's post as steward (kethüda) of Mihrişah Vâlide Sultan, the Amasya sheikh's from his ancestor's office of city steward. The poems in Kethüdâzâde Ârif's divan do not belong to the sheikh of Amasya.

Family

After the sheikh's death the lodge remained in the family. His son Sheikh Ahmed Kâmil Efendi succeeded him. According to the list of lodges, in 1299 (1881-82) Ahmed Kâmil Efendi's youngest son Yûsuf Ziyâeddîn Efendi, and after him his middle son Mehmed Bahâeddîn Efendi, became sheikh. According to the entry on Ziyâüddîn Yûsuf Efendi, this grandson followed the path of Hicâbî, preserved the lodge's old reputation for learning and Sufism, went on pilgrimage at the age of thirty and died in Mecca in a cholera epidemic. His year of death is given as 1312 in that entry and as 1313 in the entry on Bahâeddîn Efendi, while the list of lodges gives 1312 as the year Bahâeddîn became sheikh. Bahâeddîn Efendi died after 1321 (1903-04); Hüsameddin writes of him that "although not a scholar" he knew the rites and customs of the Naqshbandi order.

Chronology

1118 (1706-07): The sheikh's ancestor Hacı Hüseyin Ağa is city steward of Amasya.

1238 (1822-23): Mehmed Ârif Efendi has a lodge built next to his house in the Acem Ali quarter.

1265 (1848-49): He dies in Amasya.

1299 (1881-82): His grandson Yûsuf Ziyâeddîn Efendi becomes sheikh of the lodge.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources