Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi was the son of one of the Shirvani scholars who migrated from the Caucasus to Amasya in the second half of the nineteenth century. He came to Amasya at the age of three, studied there, became a disciple of the Naqshbandi-Khalidi sheikh Mîr Hamza Nigârî and taught in Amasya to the end of his life. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar describes him in his Amasya Tarihi as a contemporary still living; he says that he had a divan in Turkish and one in Persian and a short verse hilye, and he selects couplets from the divan. Almost everything known about him comes from this single entry; his divan has not been published and its whereabouts today are unknown.

Hüsameddin's Account

Karabağ eyâleti muzâfâtından Dehne kasabası ulemâsından olup Amasya'da 1284'de vefât eden Siraceddîn Mehmed Efendi bin eş-Şeyh Mehmed bin İsrâfil mahdûmudur. Dehne'de 1278 senesi rebîülevvelinde doğdu. 1281 senesi recebinde üç yaşında iken pederiyle Amasya'ya geldi. Amasya Mekteb-i rüşdiyesinde mukaddimât-ı ulûmu görüp Şirvânî Mîr Hasan Efendi'nin halka-i tedrîsine mülâzemet ederek ikmâl-i tahsîl edib 1300'de icâzetnâme aldı. Hâlidiyye meşâyih-i kirâmından Karabâğî el-Hâc Mîr Hamza Nigârî Efendi'ye inâbe ederek bir müddet zikr ü ibâdetle iştiğâl etdi. 1304 senesi muharreminde şeyh-i müşârün-ileyhin irtihâline binâen tarîk-i tedrîse sülûk edib talebe-i ulûma takrîr-i metâlib-i ilmiyye ederek icâzet verdi. Bu esnâda ıslâh-ı medâris ve evkâf komisyonlarına a'zâ olarak temâyüz etdi. 1332'de Amasya'da açılan sultânî mektebine beş yüz kuruş maaş ile Edebiyât-ı Farîsiyye mu'allimi ve 1340'da Amasya vilâyet oldukda encümen-i vilâyet a'zâsı olup 1346'daki intihâbda mevki'ini muhâfaza etdi.

Rendered into English: Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi is the son of Sirâceddîn Mehmed Efendi, one of the scholars of the town of Dehne in the province of Karabakh, who died in Amasya in 1284 (1867-68); his grandfather was Şeyh Mehmed, whose father was İsrâfil. He was born in Dehne in the month of Rebîülevvel 1278 (September-October 1861) and came to Amasya with his father in the month of Receb 1281 (December 1864), at the age of three. He received his first instruction at the Amasya Rüştiye school, completed his studies by attending the lessons of Şirvânî Mîr Hasan Efendi and received his diploma (icazet) in 1300 (1882-83). He became a disciple of Hacı Mîr Hamza Nigârî Efendi of Karabakh, one of the sheikhs of the Khalidiyya, and for a time devoted himself to remembrance and worship. When his sheikh died in the month of Muharrem 1304 (October 1886) he took up teaching, trained students and granted diplomas. In these years he distinguished himself as a member of the commissions for the reform of madrasas and for pious endowments. In 1332 he became teacher of Persian literature at the sultaniye school opened in Amasya with a salary of five hundred kuruş; in 1340, when Amasya became a province (vilayet), he was elected to the provincial council, and he kept his seat in the election of 1346.

Hüsameddin describes him as learned, versed in Arabic and Persian literature, a fine writer of verse and prose, intelligent, gentle, loyal, truthful, widely read in history and conversation, and a patriot; he notes that his spiritual leaning was Hamzavî, that is, in Nigârî's path, and that he was of the Hanafi school. His son is Nûreddîn Ahmed Efendi, his brother Mehmed Efendi and his nephew Sirâceddîn Hâlid Efendi. The original text of the entry is on our site under Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi-Şirvânî.

The Shirvanis of Amasya and the Circle of Nigârî

Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi's family is among the Shirvani and Karabakh scholars who came from the Caucasus to Amasya in the nineteenth century. According to Hakverdioğlu, the main reason for this migration was the Naqshbandi-Khalidi sheikh İsmail Sirâceddîn Şirvânî, who settled in Amasya; hundreds of scholars and thousands of Azerbaijani Turks came to his circle. Metin Hakverdioğlu's study of the Shirvanis in Amasya gathers in a table the poets in Hüsameddin's book whose tie with Shirvan is plainly established, and counts Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi among them. The same study also names a "Hoca Bahaeddin Efendi" among the poets influenced by Mîr Hamza Nigârî; that he is our poet is likely, given his discipleship to Nigârî and his teaching, but the source does not link the two records. For the life and poetry of his sheikh Nigârî see our article Nigârî (Seyyid Mîr Hamza).

Hakverdioğlu judges Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi to be "a lover of poetry whose gift as a poet is weak". This verdict, which departs from Hüsameddin's praise of his "fine verse and prose", cannot be tested further, since only a few couplets survive today.

On the Dates

The last dates in Hüsameddin's entry, 1332, 1340 and 1346, are given without saying whether they are hijri or rumi. Counted as hijri they fall in 1914, 1921-22 and 1927-28; counted as rumi, in 1916, 1924 and 1930; since the rumi calendar was abolished in 1926, the last date must be hijri. However they are read, Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi was still alive at the end of the 1920s, and Hüsameddin describes him as a living man. The date of his death is unknown.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin says that Bahâeddîn Mehmed Efendi had a divan of Turkish poems, a Persian divan and a verse description of the Prophet (hilye-i nebeviyye) in the form of a short kıta. None of these has been published. With the words "taken from his divan" Hüsameddin gives five pieces: two single couplets, ghazal fragments of three and of two couplets, and one more single couplet. The language of Sufism prevails in all of them; familiar ideas of the Naqshbandi-Khalidi circle are worked out, such as the heart as the place of God's gaze, the training of the self and the grace of seeing the guide's face. Each of the five can be read on its own page in this category. Since the poet's date of death is unknown, the copyright status of his poems cannot be settled with certainty; his birth in 1861 makes it highly probable that he died before 1956.

Chronology

1278 (1861): Born in the town of Dehne in Karabakh.

1281 (1864): Comes to Amasya with his father.

1284 (1867-68): His father Sirâceddîn Mehmed Efendi dies in Amasya.

1300 (1882-83): Receives his diploma.

1304 (1886): His sheikh Mîr Hamza Nigârî dies; he begins to teach.

1332: Becomes teacher of Persian literature at the Amasya sultaniye school.

1340: Becomes member of the Amasya provincial council.

1346: Keeps his seat on the council in the election.

Bibliography