Serhoş Bâlî Efendi was a Halveti sheikh well known in Istanbul in the middle of the sixteenth century and a poet who signed his verse Cevherî. While a madrasa professor he turned to Sufism, attached himself to Ramazan Efendi, sheikh of the Ramazâniyye branch of the Halvetiyye, and died in 980 (1573). Some sources tie his nickname "Serhoş", drunk, to the dissolute life of his youth, others to his being lost in divine love. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar records him as born in Amasya, the son of a tutor of Prince Ahmed; Âşık Çelebi, however, calls him "of Aydın", and the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi gives his birthplace as Tire. Only one source, then, connects him with Amasya, and the question is taken up below with the evidence.

Hüsameddin's Account

Hüsameddin names him under the heading "Bâlî İlhami Efendi-Serhûş". The biographical part of the entry runs as follows:

Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed'in musâhib ve mu'allimi Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi bin Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi mahdûmudur. 915'de Amasya'da doğdu. 918'de pederi ile beraber Tire'ye gitdi. Orada neşv ü nemâ bulup sonra Bursa'ya geldi. Ulûm ve fünûnu tahsîl ederek dârü'l-emânî olan İstanbul'a rihlet etdi. Hâce-i Sultânî Hayreddîn Efendi'ye intisâb ve mülâzemet ederek 949'da yirmi beş akçe ile Kepengci Sinan Medresesi'ne müderris oldu. Tedrîs-i ulûm esnâsında rüyâda kendisini irşâd eden Atik Alî Paşa Zâviyesi şeyhi Ramazân Efendi'ye intisâb etdi. 951'de terk-i tedrîs ü ifâde ederek mezkûr zâviye hücerâtından birinde ikâmet ve Şeyh Ramazân Efendi'ye teslîm-i zaman-ı irâde etdi.

In modern terms: Bâlî Efendi is the son of Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi, companion and tutor of Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya. He was born in Amasya in 915 (1509-10), went to Tire with his father in 918 (1512-13) and grew up there. He then came to Bursa, studied the sciences and moved to Istanbul, attached himself to the sultan's tutor Hayreddin Efendi as his assistant (mülâzım), and in 949 (1542-43) became professor at the Kepenkçi Sinan Madrasa with twenty-five akçes. While teaching he became a disciple of Ramazan Efendi, sheikh of the Atik Ali Pasha lodge, who had guided him in a dream; in 951 (1544-45) he gave up teaching, settled in one of the cells of the lodge and surrendered his will to his sheikh.

According to Hüsameddin his sheikh did not think it right for him to give up teaching altogether, and Bâlî Efendi went on teaching students in the Atik Ali Pasha Mosque while devoting himself to remembrance (zikr). When Ramazan Efendi died in 963 (1555-56) he became sheikh of the lodge, but withdrew because of some gossip, and six months later became sheikh of the Kurşunlu Türbe lodge. Some of his words and states seemed contrary to certain sheikhs and scholars and drew criticism, and he answered them learnedly and in a Sufi manner. Because love and rapture prevailed in his life he became known as "serhûş"; he died in the month of Zilkade 980 (March 1573) and was buried in the grounds of the Kurşunlu Türbe lodge in the Sultan Selim quarter. Hüsameddin then quotes Atâyî's long praise from the Zeyl-i Şakâyık, the miracle of the graveside instruction and the tale of Pîrûze told by Kınalızâde. Hüsameddin's entry, in modern Turkish and with notes, is on the page Bâlî İlhami Efendi-Serhûş.

Bâlî Çelebi in the Anthologies

Âşık Çelebi introduces him as "Bâlî Çelebi of Aydın" and interprets his nickname like a prophecy: it was known that in the end he would be drunk with the wine of rapture, so they called him "Ser-hûş Bâlî". In his youth he was fond of wine and of beauties; he fell for a youth called Pîrûze Ali Bâlî, the darling of the gatherings, and for this reason changed the pen name Vâlihî he had used earlier to Cevherî. Pîrûze is the name of the turquoise, and cevherî means jeweller; the pen name ties itself to the beloved's name with a jeweller's interest. As Âşık Çelebi reports from Zünnûnzâde and Selîkî, one night Bâlî Çelebi saw Pîrûze in a dream and asked him for a handful of the dust of his feet, and in the morning, as he unwound his turban, a handful of earth wrapped in a paper fell out of it. This event was held to be the cause of his repentance and his turn to Sufism. Âşık Çelebi describes him in 1568 as a spiritual guide still sitting in his lodge; he writes that he cured people of addiction to opium and berş and showed an unequalled skill in interpreting dreams.

Kınalızâde gives the same story in more detail and adds that Pîrûze died at the age when down appeared on his face. According to him Bâlî Efendi became an assistant of Süleyman's tutor, attached himself to Şeyh Ramazan Efendi while professor at the Kepenkçi Madrasa with thirty akçes, and died in 980. He says it was told that, in the instruction he recited after burials, those present heard the voice of the dead, that this miracle spread widely among the people, and he quotes a couplet of the poet Azmî Efendi against those who did not believe it. Kınalızâde mentions him in another entry too: "Cevherî Efendi, known as Serhoş Bâlî" wrote a response poem (nazire) to a couplet of Mevlânâ Gubârî, and which was superior was asked like a legal question; the text of this nazire is not given.

Birthplace and Identity

The sources agree on the sheikh's identity but diverge on his birthplace, his father's name and his grave. Hüsameddin has him born in Amasya as the son of Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi and writes that he was buried at the Kurşunlu Türbe lodge. The article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi says instead that he was born in Tire, that his father was Kadı Birgivîzâde Muhyiddin Efendi, tutor of Prince Ahmed, and that he was buried in the graveyard of the Altuncuzâde lodge in Lâleli. Âşık Çelebi's epithet "of Aydın" supports Tire, since Tire lay in the sanjak of Aydın at the time.

Hüsameddin's account goes some way to explain the divergence: the child born in Amasya while his father was in Prince Ahmed's service went to Tire with his family after the prince's defeat in the struggle for the throne in 918 and grew up there. In that case his being called "of Aydın" is natural too. That both sources know the father as Prince Ahmed's tutor strengthens this reading; the father's name, however, does not agree. This is a suggested reconciliation and cannot be settled with the sources. The pen name "İlhâmî" that Hüsameddin mentions does not occur for Bâlî Efendi in the anthologies either. Kınalızâde has a different poet with the pen name İlhâmî: an Istanbul man from Naqshbandi circles who died as sheikh of Dıragman. It is possible that Hüsameddin confused the two, but this too is a guess.

His Poetry

According to the TDV article Bâlî Efendi left no divan, and it is hard to judge his poetry from the few poems that survive; the wide space given him in the anthologies shows that he enjoyed great fame in his time. Âşık Çelebi gives two couplets from a ghazal written for Pîrûze and three more couplets; Kınalızâde repeats the matla "İlm-i ahfâ" from among them and adds two pieces. Hüsameddin quotes only this matla. The six pieces, each with its own article in this category, are these: the two couplets of the Pîrûze ghazal, the matla "İlm-i iḫfâ ögredür", the couplets "Hasret-i hâlüñle" and "Mushaf-ı hüsnüñde", the couplet "İzz ise maksûd" and the two couplets beginning "Âfet-i devrân". Some of these poems bear the trace of the dissolute life, some the language of Sufism; the line between the two is no sharper than the passage in the poet's own life.

Chronology

915 (1509-10): According to Hüsameddin, born in Amasya.

918 (1512-13): Goes to Tire with his father.

949 (1542-43): Becomes professor at the Kepenkçi Sinan Madrasa.

951 (1544-45): Gives up teaching and settles in Ramazan Efendi's lodge.

963 (1555-56): Becomes sheikh of the Atik Ali Pasha lodge, then moves to the Kurşunlu Türbe lodge.

980 (1573): Dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources