The pen name Cû'î, from the Arabic "cû'", hunger, was one Mehmed Çelebi chose for himself because of his severe fasting. Bearing the honorific Cemâleddîn and remembered among the people as Şeyh Cui Baba, he was sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge at the beginning of the fifteenth century; he was a professor whose lessons Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) attended, and he founded the village of Şeyh Cui, known today as Yuvacık. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar calls him "man of letters" and "poet"; even so, not one line bearing this pen name has survived. He died in Zilhicce 819 (January-February 1417) and was buried in the tomb he had built in his village. His tomb, his endowment in the village and the later sheikhs of the lodge are described in detail in the article Tomb of Sheikh Cui Baba and the Yuvacık Mevlevi Lodge; the emphasis here is on his place in the world of learning and letters.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin says he saw the sheikh's deed of endowment and his certificate of succession with his own eyes. His entry also includes a passage quoted from a history written in Aleppo:

Cû'î Mehmed Çelebi-eş-Şeyh Cemâleddîn Mevlevî Amasyalıdır. Kibâr-ı fuzalâdan Mevlânâ Fahreddîn Osmân bin Abdullah et-Türkmânî mahdûmudur. Fuzalâdan Hüsâmeddîn Hasan Hoyî, Mevlevî-hâne şeyhi Celâleddîn Mehmed, diğer Mevlevî şeyhi Zileli Nusretzâde Cemâleddîn Habîb Çelebilerden tahsîl-i ulûm ve iktisâb-ı fezâ'il etdi. Amasya Mevlevî-hânesinde yıllarca mesnevî-hân olup ma'ârif-i sûfiyyenin neşr ü ta'lîmine hizmetler etdi. Mu'ahharan şeyhi olan Hüsâmzâde Celâleddîn Mehmed Dede'nin irtihâli üzerine Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi oldu. Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Han devrinde hadîs ve tefsîr ve mesnevî tedrîsinde fevka'l-âde iştihâr edib Sultân-ı müşârün-ileyh aralık aralık dersini dinler, kendisine hürmetler ve iltifâtlar ederdi. Amasya'nın garbında kâ'in Kelkis karyesiyle bütün bâğları kendisine taraf-ı pâdişâhîden temlîk edildi. Mezkûr karyede bir câmi-i şerîf, yanında bir zâviye-i mevleviyye ve imâret ve kendisine bir de türbe binâ edib emlâkini bu hayrât-ı şerîfesinin mesâlihine 817'de vakf ve zâviyesine dâmâdı olan eş-Şeyh Ahmed Yoğurtçu Dede'yi şeyh nasb edib 819 senesi zilhiccesinde dâr-ı kudse intikâl etdi. Meşâhîr-i fuzalâ-yı meşâyihden müttakî, müteşerri', edîb, şâir, sâlih bir zât-ı sütûde-simât idi. Riyâzât-ı şedîdesinden dolayı Cû'î mahlasını kabûl ve bu mahlasla iştihâr etmiş, kâmil, ulûmda mütebahhir bir müderris idi. "Telvîh"i otuz defa okuyub okutmuş, Kur'ân-ı Kerîm'e güzel bir tefsîr yazmışdı. Haleb müverrihi Hanbelîzâde Mehmed Efendi "Dürrü'l-Habeb fî Târîh-i Haleb" adlı eserinde diyor ki: "İbrâhim bin Alî eş-Şeyh Burhâneddîn el-Karsevî sümme'l-Halebî tilmizi Şemseddîn bin Bilâl demiştir ki: Mûmâileyhin şuyûhundan ve esâtizesinden biri sâhib-i tefsîr eş-Şeyh Cû'î er-Rûmî ki tefsîri "Şeyh Tefsîri" diye ma'rûfdur. Bu zât telvîhi kâmilen otuz def'a kırâ'at etmişdir." Hazret-i Şeyh Cû'î tab'an zarîf, latîf, i'mâra mâ'il bir zât olduğundan Kelkis karyesini fevka'l-âde i'mâr ederek Şeyh Cû'î Karyesi nâmını vermiş, bâğları dahi cennet misâli çiçeklerle ve meyveli ağaçlarla tezyîn ve ihyâ ederek "Şeyh Cû'î Bağları" diye şöhret bulmuştu. Bugün avâm dilinde "Cığcığı" denilmektedir. Hazreti Cû'î'nin vakfiyesi ve hilâfet-nâmesi görüldü. Şeyhi Celâleddîn Mehmed Dede, bunun pederi Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Dede vâsıtalarıyla Sultân Veled ve diğer koldan Nusretzâde Cemâleddîn Habîb Dede, Ulu Ârif Mehmed Dede vâsıtalarıyla yine Sultân Veled demekle meşhûr eş-Şeyh Bahâeddîn Ahmed Çelebi'ye müntehîdir. Hulefâsından mahdûmu Âbid Ahmed Çelebi, Yoğurtçu Pîr Ahmed Dede, eş-Şeyh Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Dede meşhûrdur. Vakfının tevliyeti ve zâviyesinin meşîhat ve mesnevî-hânlığı kayden evlâdının ıslâhına tevcîh edile gelmiştir.

In modern English: He was from Amasya, the son of Mevlânâ Fahreddin Osman bin Abdullah et-Türkmânî, one of the great scholars. He acquired learning and virtue from the scholar Hüsameddin Hasan Hoyî, from Celaleddin Mehmed, sheikh of the Mevlevi lodge, and from another Mevlevi sheikh, Nusretzâde Cemaleddin Habib Çelebi of Zile. For years he served as mesnevîhan in the Amasya Mevlevi lodge, spreading and teaching the knowledge of the Sufis. Later, when his sheikh Hüsamzâde Celaleddin Mehmed Dede died, he became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge. In the reign of Sultan Mehmed Çelebi he won great fame teaching hadith, exegesis and the Masnavi; the sultan would attend his lessons from time to time and showed him respect and favour. The village of Kelkis to the west of Amasya, together with all its vineyards, was granted to him as freehold by the sultan. In that village he built a mosque, beside it a Mevlevi lodge and an imaret, and a tomb for himself; in 817 he endowed his property for the upkeep of these pious works, appointed his son-in-law Sheikh Ahmed Yoğurtçu Dede as sheikh of his lodge, and died in Zilhicce 819. He was one of the famous scholar-sheikhs, God-fearing, observant of the law, a man of letters, a poet, righteous and worthy of praise. Because of his severe ascetic discipline he took the pen name Cû'î and became known by it; he was an accomplished professor, deeply versed in the sciences. He had read and taught Teftâzânî's Telvîh thirty times and had written a fine commentary on the Qur'an. The Aleppo historian Hanbelîzâde Mehmed Efendi says in his work Dürrü'l-Habeb fî Târîh-i Haleb: "Şemseddin bin Bilal, pupil of Sheikh Burhaneddin İbrahim bin Ali el-Karsevî of Aleppo, said that one of his master's teachers was Sheikh Cû'î er-Rûmî, whose commentary is known as 'the Sheikh's Commentary'. This man read the Telvîh through thirty times." Being by nature refined, gentle and fond of building, the Hazret-i Sheikh Cû'î made the village of Kelkis exceedingly prosperous and gave it the name Sheikh Cû'î Village; he adorned and revived its vineyards with flowers and fruit trees like a garden of paradise, so that they became famous as the "Sheikh Cû'î Vineyards". Today the common people call them "Cığcığı". Hazret-i Cû'î's deed of endowment and certificate of succession were seen: his chain goes back through one line, by way of his sheikh Celaleddin Mehmed Dede and the latter's father Hüsameddin Hüseyin Dede, to Sultan Veled, and through the other line, by way of Nusretzâde Cemaleddin Habib Dede and Ulu Ârif Mehmed Dede, again to Sheikh Bahaeddin Ahmed Çelebi, known as Sultan Veled. Among his successors his son Âbid Ahmed Çelebi, Yoğurtçu Pîr Ahmed Dede and Sheikh Burhaneddin İbrahim Dede are well known. By the terms of the endowment, the trusteeship of his foundation and the sheikhship and Masnavi readership of his lodge have been given to the fit among his descendants.

Life

That his father Fahreddin Osman et-Türkmânî is counted among the "great scholars" shows that Cû'î grew up in a family of learning; when he was born, however, was never recorded. All three of his teachers were in Amasya and two of them were Mevlevis, so madrasa learning and Sufi training ran side by side in his life from the start. Serving for a long time as mesnevîhan in the lodge meant that his task was to teach and expound the Masnavi. On the death of his sheikh Celaleddin Mehmed Dede he took over the lodge.

The most brilliant period of his life coincides with the years when Mehmed I made Amasya his base. According to Hüsameddin the sultan now and then attended his lessons on hadith, exegesis and the Masnavi and showed the sheikh favour; the grant of the village of Kelkis together with its vineyards was a result of this closeness. Cû'î built a mosque, a lodge, an imaret and a tomb in the village, endowed his property to them in 817 (1414-15), and placed his son-in-law Yoğurtçu Ahmed Dede at the head of the lodge. He died some two years after the endowment. Hüsameddin's date does not agree with local accounts holding that the sheikh lived on in his village for many years; this discrepancy is discussed in the article on the tomb.

The Aleppo record calls for separate attention. The "Sheikh Cû'î er-Rûmî", that is, Sheikh Cû'î of Anatolia, mentioned in Ibn al-Hanbali's work appears as a teacher of the teacher of an Aleppo scholar, and his commentary was known as "the Sheikh's Commentary". The Aleppo text does not name his home town. It is Hüsameddin who identifies him with the Mevlevi sheikh of Amasya, and his basis is that both sources speak of the Telvîh being read thirty times. The resemblance is strong, but the identification remains an opinion. No copy of the commentary is known today.

Pen Name and Poetry

The most concrete trace Cû'î left in literary history is his pen name itself. In the divan tradition the pen name is the name spoken in the last couplet of a poem, and a person's taking a pen name suggests that he at least composed verse under it. According to Hüsameddin, the sheikh adopted the name "Cû'î" because of an ascetic discipline spent in long hunger and fasting, and "became famous by this pen name", that is, he was known by it. The strength of the name is clear from the way it passed after his death to the village, the vineyards and today to a neighbourhood of the city; in popular speech it has worn down as far as "Cığcığı" and "Cıcui".

The pen name lived on, but the poems that carried it were lost. Hüsameddin's epithets "man of letters, poet" occur within a series of praises introducing him and are not supported by an example. It is known that in Mevlevi circles the readers of the Masnavi lived closely with Persian and Turkish poetry, but there is no information on Cû'î's own verse beyond this general picture. The loss of his commentary and of his deed of endowment has also deprived us of the two texts that might have let us know his language and style.

Connection with Amasya

Hüsameddin explicitly counts him as a native of Amasya. He was educated in Amasya, became mesnevîhan and sheikh of the city's Mevlevi lodge, and turned Kelkis, on the western slope of Amasya, into a village called by his own name. His tomb in Yuvacık village, the name of the Şeyhcui neighbourhood and the rain prayer that still continues in the village bind him to the everyday memory of Amasya.

Chronology

817 (1414-15): Founds his endowment for the mosque, lodge, imaret and tomb in the village of Kelkis.

Zilhicce 819 (January-February 1417): His death.

Bibliography

Online sources