Dervîş Mehmed Çelebi was a professor (müderris), mufti, judge (kadı) and poet from Merzifon who lived in the first half of the sixteenth century. Âşık Çelebi calls him "Halebîzâde dimekle ma'rûf", Dervîş Çelebi known as Halebîzâde; Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar records him under the family name "Kâdızâde". His lineage goes back to a scholar whom Timur brought from Aleppo to Anatolia; three members of the family taught as professors at the Sultaniye Madrasa of Merzifon. He wrote his poems mostly in Persian and occasionally also in Turkish. Four pieces have come down to us in Âşık Çelebi's biographical anthology (tezkire); the best known of them is the reply he wrote in Persian to a kıta by Molla Câmî about the Prophet and Nûşirevân.

Hüsameddin's Entry

The poet's record in Amasya Tarihi stands in the ninth volume under the heading "Derviş Mehmed-Çelebi Kâdızâde":

Merzifonludur. Abdurrahman Çelebi bin Mehmed Çelebi bin Çelebi Ömer Çelebi mahdûmudur. Ceddi Ömer Çelebi Haleb'den gelip Merzifon'da ikâmet etmişdi. Bunun mahdûmu Mehmed Çelebi Kâdı-i Merzifon idi. Sahîb-i terceme Amasya'da ikmâl-i tahsîl edib İstanbul'a gitdi. Orada Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi'nin halka-i tedrîsine mülâzım olup müşârün-ileyhin Edirne kâdısı olduğu esnâda Sultâniye-i Merzifon müderrisi olarak vatanına avdet etdi. Ba'dehû Merzifon müftüsü olup 918'de azl ve İstanbul'a i'zâm edildi. 922'de Kefe kâdısı olup on yıl kadar orada kaldı. 933 senesi evâilinde azl edilib İstanbul'a vusûlünde tekâüd edilerek Şeyh Vefâ civârında ikâmet etdi. Bir Dârü't-ta'lim yaptırıb beş yüz cild kitâblarını oraya vaz' ü vakf etdikden sonra 938'de vefât eyledi. Fâzıl, fakîh şâir idi.

Put simply: He was from Merzifon, the son of Abdurrahman Çelebi son of Mehmed Çelebi son of Çelebi Ömer Çelebi. His great-grandfather Ömer Çelebi had come from Aleppo and settled in Merzifon; Ömer's son Mehmed Çelebi was judge of Merzifon. Dervîş Çelebi completed his education in Amasya and went to Istanbul. There he joined the teaching circle of Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi and became his candidate (mülazım); while his teacher was judge of Edirne he returned to his home town as professor of the Sultaniye Madrasa of Merzifon. He then became mufti of Merzifon, and in 918 was dismissed and sent to Istanbul. In 922 he became judge of Kefe and stayed there for about ten years. Early in 933 he was dismissed; on reaching Istanbul he retired and lived near Şeyh Vefâ. He built a school (dârü't-ta'lîm), endowed his library of five hundred volumes to it, and died in 938. He was a virtuous man, a jurist and a poet.

At the end of the entry Hüsameddin adds Câmî's kıta and Dervîş Çelebi's reply in Arabic script, naming Âşık Çelebi as his source.

Family and the Halebîzâdes

In a footnote Hüsameddin also gives the family's story. Ömer Çelebi was a learned man in Aleppo; Timur took him to Samarkand, and in 804 (1401-02) he came to Anatolia with him and stayed in Amasya. When Çelebi Sultan Mehmed became an independent ruler, Ömer became professor at the madrasa built by Bayezid I (Yıldırım) in Edirne, and later died in Merzifon as professor of its Sultaniye Madrasa. His son Mehmed Çelebi also taught in Merzifon, became tutor to Mehmed II (the Conqueror), then passed to the judiciary and died in Merzifon. His son Abdurrahman Çelebi was one of the great judges; he died around 905 as judge of Kütahya and was a close friend of Molla Lutfî of Tokat. The entry that Hüsameddin devotes in his seventh volume to Bahâeddîn Mehmed Çelebi, known as "Arab Çelebi", gives the same lineage: Mehmed Çelebi, son of Ömer of Aleppo, studied in the Arab lands, came to Merzifon, became professor of the Sultaniye and judge of Merzifon, and died around 863; his son was Abdurrahman Çelebi and his grandson "mevâlîden Derviş Mehmed Çelebi", Dervîş Mehmed Çelebi of the high judicial rank.

The family story told by Âşık Çelebi is one generation shorter. According to him, Monlâ Halebî was the small son of a learned man in Aleppo when Timur came to the city; Timur's soldiers carried him off to Samarkand, he came with them to Rûm and stayed there, studied, and became professor at the Kazancılar Madrasa built by Bayezid I inside the citadel of Edirne. For this reason the madrasa came to be called the "Halebî Madrasa". Mehmed II took him as his tutor, and Abdurrahman Çelebi was the son of this Monlâ Halebî. Âşık Çelebi thus merges the child brought by Timur and the Conqueror's tutor into one person, whereas Hüsameddin separates them as father and son. Which account is right cannot be determined from the sources at hand.

Life and the Points Where the Sources Differ

Dervîş Çelebi's year of birth is unknown. The chain of posts Hüsameddin gives draws a detailed life: study in Amasya, candidacy under Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi in Istanbul, the professorship of the Sultaniye of Merzifon, the office of mufti of Merzifon, dismissal in 918 (1512-13), the judgeship of Kefe in 922 (1516-17), retirement early in 933 (1526-27) and death in Istanbul in 938 (1531-32). His teacher Müeyyedzâde was a scholar from Amasya formed in the circle of Prince Bayezid there; according to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi he was sent to the judgeship of Edirne in 899 (1494), which places Dervîş Çelebi's professorship in Merzifon in the years after 1494. The sources say Müeyyedzâde had a library of seven thousand volumes; that scholar's life is the subject of the article Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi. The pupil's endowment of his own library of five hundred volumes to a school recalls this passion of his teacher.

Âşık Çelebi's account is shorter and differs from Hüsameddin's on two points. The anthologist writes that after teaching at one or two madrasas he chose the judiciary, that in justice and integrity he outstripped the judges of his generation, that as a judge too he spent his time on learning, and that he was judge of the great cities of Kefe and Siroz. Hüsameddin does not mention the judgeship of Siroz. According to Âşık Çelebi, Dervîş Çelebi died in Kefe; Hüsameddin, on the other hand, says that he was dismissed from Kefe, retired in Istanbul and died there. Hüsameddin does not state the source of these details. Another small snag lies in the date of the Kefe judgeship: Latîfî and Kınalızâde write that the judge of Kefe at the time of Selim I's campaign against the Arab lands was Kara Şemsî of Bursa. Since that campaign falls in 922-923, it does not fully match the date 922 given by Hüsameddin; a shift of a year, or two judges serving one after the other, could explain the difference.

Connection with Amasya

Dervîş Çelebi was born in Merzifon, in the sanjak of Amasya, and completed his education in Amasya. Three members of his family taught at the Sultaniye Madrasa founded in Merzifon in the time of Çelebi Sultan Mehmed, and he himself was professor at this madrasa and mufti of Merzifon. The history of the Sultaniye and the other madrasas of Merzifon can be followed in the article Education and Learning in Merzifon.

Poetry

Âşık Çelebi writes that he now and then tried his hand at verse, that he inclined more to Persian and sometimes also wrote in Turkish, and quotes four pieces. The first is a Persian ghazal (gazel) of five couplets written for a barber: the handsome barber's face makes the shop mirror shine, his comb turns all teeth from craving, and the poet's heart is split like a comb. The second is the Persian kıta written in reply to Câmî. In a kıta in his Bahâristân, Câmî says that the Prophet declared, "my freedom from oppression comes from my being born in the reign of the just Nûşirevân". Dervîş Çelebi finds this saying contrary to good manners; in his view the Prophet cannot have taken the blessing of justice from a Zoroastrian (Mecusi), and on the contrary the Chosroes was purified of oppression because Mustafa was born in his reign. Âşık Çelebi praises this reply as "sihr-i helâl", lawful magic. Hüsameddin gives the same kıta in Arabic script in nine couplets; in Âşık Çelebi's edition it has twelve.

Of his Turkish poems Âşık Çelebi records a ghazal of three couplets and a single couplet. In the ghazal the poet is a lover who says that he will light Mecnun's lamp himself; in the single couplet he likens the world to an old hag and counts as a true man the one who sends her packing. Each of the four pieces has its own page in the poet's category, where the original text, an English rendering and a commentary stand together.

Chronology

804 (1401-02): Arrival in Anatolia with Timur of Ömer Çelebi, ancestor of the family (according to Hüsameddin).

918 (1512-13): Dismissal from the office of mufti of Merzifon.

922 (1516-17): Judgeship of Kefe (according to Hüsameddin).

Early 933 (autumn 1526): Dismissal from Kefe and retirement.

938 (1531-32): Death (in Istanbul according to Hüsameddin; in Kefe according to Âşık Çelebi).

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources