Amasyalıdır. Emîr-i kebîr Devâtdâr Ahmed Paşa Çelebi devrinde Amasya kazaskeri olan Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi bin [464] Ahî Hüsameddîn Hüseyin bin Mevlânâ umdetü’r-râsihîn Şemseddîn Ebu’l-Hüseyin Ahmed bin İdrîs bin İsmâîl en-Niğdevî mahdûmudur.
Ceddi Mevlânâ Hüsameddîn Hüseyin en-Niğdevî meşâhîr-i ulemâdan olup Amasya’da iştihâr etmişdi. Üçler Mezarlığı’nda medfûndur. Bunun pederi Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ebu’l-Hüseyin Ahmed en-Nahcivânî ekâbir-i ulemâdan olup Niğde’de yerleşmişti. Orada medfûndur.
Pederi Amasya’da Niğdelioğlu demekle meşhûr olup Üçler Mezarlığı’nda medfûndur. Amasya’da Mevlânâ İzzeddîn Mehmed ve Mevlânâ Saîdeddîn Mevhûb Çelebiler’den tahsîl-i ulûm edib ders-i âm ve Atabeg Gâzi müderrisi iken 792’de Edirne’ye gitdi.
Orada tedrîs-i ulûma muvâzabet ederek hüsn-i ahlâkı ilm ü fazlı Yıldırım Sultân Bâyezîd Hân’ın nazar-ı dikkatini celbeylediğinden Üç Şerefeli Medresesi müderrisliğini verdi. Şehzâdesi Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’a mu’allim nasbetdi. Edirne’de ikâmet etdiği mevki’e Sofu Mahallesi dendi. [465]
801 senesi evâhirinde Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân ile Amasya’ya gelip müşâvîr-i hâssı oldu. 804’de Topal Timur’un harbinde beraber bulundu. 805’de Çelebi Sultân Mehmed’in Bolu’dan Amasya’ya da’vet edilmesinde ve Amasya’ya gelmesinde bâ’is-i müstakîl olarak Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyhin fevkalâde muhabbet ve i’timâdını kazandı.
Amasya’ya geldikten sonra Topal Timur Hân’ın nezdine Çelebi Sultân Mehmed tarafından sefîr olarak gidip geldikde Amasya’da Şeyhülislâm ve müsteşâr-ı saltanât oldu. Dokuz yıl kadar mevki-i ikbâlinde mekîn olup 814 senesi zilka’desinde dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi. Üçler’de medfûndur.
Âlim, fâzıl, fakîh, kâmil, müdebbir, âkil, gâyet müteşerri’ bir sûfî-i âmil idi. Üçler Mahallesi’nde bir hâne derûnunda amcası Niğdelizâde Mevlânâ Feyzullâh Çelebi yanında medfûndur. Diğer amcası Ya’kûb Çelebi de yanlarındadır.
Mahdûmları Şerefeddîn Hamza, Salâhaddîn Mûsâ, Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin, Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebilerdir. Bunlara ve [466] bunların ikâmet etdikleri mahalle Sofuzâde dendi. Hamza Çelebizâde Yûsuf Çelebi, Nişâncı Salâhaddîn Mûsâ Çelebizâde Bâyezîd Çelebi, Mahmûd Çelebizâde Ahmed, Hüseyin Çelebiler ma’rûftur. Hüseyin Çelebizâde Nişâncı Mehmed Paşa ve Abdî Ağa bin Hüseyin Çelebizâde diğer Mehmed Paşalar da meşhûrdur.
In Modern English
He is a native of Amasya. He is the son of Mevlânâ Celâleddîn Yûsuf Çelebi, who was kazasker of Amasya in the time of the great emir Devâtdâr Ahmed Pasha Çelebi. Yûsuf Çelebi is the son of Ahî Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin; Hüseyin is the son of Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ebu'l-Hüseyin Ahmed, the pillar of those firmly grounded in learning; and Ahmed is the son of İsmâîl en-Niğdevî, son of İdrîs.
His grandfather Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin en-Niğdevî was one of the famous scholars and had gained renown in Amasya. He is buried in the Üçler Cemetery. His father, Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ebu'l-Hüseyin Ahmed en-Nahcivânî, was one of the great scholars and had settled in Niğde. He is buried there.
His father, famous in Amasya as Niğdelioğlu, is buried in the Üçler Cemetery. After studying in Amasya under Mevlânâ İzzeddîn Mehmed and Mevlânâ Saîdeddîn Mevhûb Çelebi, and while giving public lectures and serving as professor (müderris) of the Atabeg Gâzi madrasa, he went to Edirne in 792 [1390].
While continuing to teach there, his good character, learning and merit drew the attention of Sultan Bâyezîd Yıldırım Khan, who gave him the professorship of the Üç Şerefeli Madrasa. He appointed him tutor to his prince, Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan. The place where he lived in Edirne came to be called the Sofu quarter.
Toward the end of 801 [1399] he came to Amasya with Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Khan and became his personal adviser. In 804 [1402] he was with him in the war against Timur the Lame. In 805 [1402-03], as the single decisive influence in summoning Çelebi Sultan Mehmed from Bolu to Amasya and in his coming to Amasya, he won the sultan's extraordinary affection and trust.
After the sultan came to Amasya, when he went to and fro as envoy sent by Çelebi Sultan Mehmed to Timur the Lame Khan, he became şeyhülislam in Amasya and counsellor of the sultanate. Remaining in this honored position for some nine years, he died in the month of Dhu al-Qa'da 814 [1411-12]. He is buried in Üçler.
He was a scholar, a man of merit, a jurist, a man of perfection, prudent, wise, and a Sufi extremely devoted to the sharia and acting on what he knew. He is buried inside a house in the Üçler quarter beside his uncle Niğdelizâde Mevlânâ Feyzullâh Çelebi. His other uncle, Ya'kûb Çelebi, is also beside them.
His sons are Şerefeddîn Hamza, Salâhaddîn Mûsâ, Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin and Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi. They and the quarter where they lived came to be called Sofuzâde. Yûsuf Çelebi son of Hamza Çelebi, Bâyezîd Çelebi son of the chancellor (nişancı) Salâhaddîn Mûsâ Çelebi, Ahmed son of Mahmûd Çelebi, and the Hüseyin Çelebis are well known. Nişancı Mehmed Pasha son of Hüseyin Çelebi, Abdî Ağa son of Hüseyin Çelebi, and the other Mehmed Pashas are also famous.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kazasker: army judge, one of the highest judicial officers of the learned class
- emîr-i kebîr: great emir, the ruler at the head of a region
- mahdûm: son
- umdetü'r-râsihîn: pillar of those firmly grounded in learning (an honorific)
- ceddi: his grandfather
- meşâhîr-i ulemâ: famous scholars
- medfûn: buried
- ders-i âm: giving public lectures, general lecturer
- müderris: professor teaching in a madrasa
- tedrîs: teaching
- mu'allim: teacher, tutor
- müşâvîr-i hâss: personal adviser
- sefîr: envoy
- müsteşâr-ı saltanat: counsellor of the sultanate
- dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl: death (literally, departing to the abode of permanence)
- müteşerri': devoted to the sharia
- sûfî-i âmil: a mystic who acts on what he has learned
- nişancı: chancellor who affixed the sultan's signature to decrees, head of the divan's secretariat
Sofu Bâyezîd, Tutor of Çelebi Mehmed
Some sources describing Çelebi Mehmed's education state that Ahmed, son of Ibn al-Jazari, taught him Arabic and the science of Qur'anic recitation, and that "İmâmüddîn Ali Çelebi, known as Sofu Bâyezîd" taught the other rational and transmitted sciences. According to the same sources, this tutor did not leave Mehmed Çelebi's side in Amasya either, is named among the greatest helpers there, and Çelebi's contact with the scholars continued through him. Yahşî Beyzâde Bâyezîd Pasha is also counted among the helpers. The name Hüsameddin gives in the heading is "Sofu İmâdüddîn"; since the other source writes "İmâmüddîn Ali Çelebi", there seems to be a difference between the two names. Whether this arises from a difference of spelling or from different names could not be verified. That both accounts contain the nickname Sofu and the fact of being Çelebi Mehmed's tutor suggests that the same person is meant (inference).
The Ambiguity of the Pronouns
The first sentence of the entry introduces Bâyezîd Çelebi as the son of the kazasker Yûsuf Çelebi. In the following sentences, however, it is "his father" who studied in Amasya, went to Edirne, drew Yıldırım Bâyezîd's attention and became Çelebi Mehmed's tutor; then, in sentences that name no subject, the return to Amasya, the advisership and the death are narrated. According to the text, the man who went to Edirne and gave his name to the Sofu quarter is directly Bâyezîd Çelebi's father Yûsuf Çelebi; but the heading, and the fact that the name "Sofuzâde" was given to Bâyezîd Çelebi's line, suggest that the subject is Bâyezîd Çelebi. This ambiguity comes from the text itself and could not be resolved; whether the tutor of Çelebi Mehmed was father or son could not be verified.
The Problem of the Üç Şerefeli Madrasa
Hüsameddin writes that the man who went to Edirne in 792 [1390] was appointed by Yıldırım Bayezid to the professorship of the Üç Şerefeli Madrasa. The Üç Şerefeli Mosque in Edirne, however, was built by Murad II between 841 and 851 [1437-1447]. The mosque and madrasa did not yet exist in Yıldırım's time. The name in the text must therefore denote some other madrasa that existed in Edirne at that time, or a name of a later period has been carried back; which of the two is correct could not be verified. The existence of a Sofu quarter in Edirne could not be verified in the sources examined either.
Çelebi Mehmed in Amasya
In June 1399 [801 Shawwal] Çelebi Mehmed was sent as governor to the province of Rum, which included Amasya, Tokat, Sivas and Ankara. Between 1402 and 1413 he dominated the Tokat and Amasya region, establishing his superiority there with the support of the scholars and the notables of the town. When in 806 [1403-04] he lost Bursa and Ankara to his brother Süleyman Çelebi, he was forced to withdraw to the Tokat-Amasya base. Hüsameddin's detail of an "invitation from Bolu in 805" fits this general framework but could not be separately verified. Whether the title "şeyhülislam" in the text corresponded to an actual office in Amasya in those years could not be verified either.
Niğdelioğlu and the Atabeg Madrasa
That the family came from Niğde is understood from its being called "Niğdelioğlu" and "Niğdelizâde" (inference); the grandfather Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin, who gained renown in Amasya, and the relatives buried in Üçler show the family's settling in Amasya. The expression "professor of the Atabeg Gâzi madrasa" in the text may point to the Atabeg Madrasa built by Nâsıreddîn Ahmed Atabey, who served as governor of Amasya between 1322 and 1327; this is an inference. No information was found in the sources examined on the Üçler Cemetery and the Üçler quarter.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 402–403. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Halil İnalcık, "Mehmed I", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 2003, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mehmed-i
- M. Tayyib Gökbilgin, Semavi Eyice, "Edirne", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 1994, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/edirne
- "Atabeyzadelerin Amasya'nın Siyasi ve Sosyal Tarihindeki Yeri ve Önemi", MANAS Sosyal Araştırmalar Dergisi, https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/pub/mjss/article/485672
Books