Buhâra’nın şimâlinde kâin Cend, Kend şehri ahâlisinden Ya’kûb bin Sâlâr’ın mahdûmudur. Buhâra ve Horasan fuzalâsından Mevlânâ Tâcü’ş-şerî’a Mahmûd el-Buhârî’den ulûm-ı şer’iyye ve usûl-i fıkıh ve kelâmı ahzedib mücâz oldu. Devr-i bilâd ederek [233] Amasya’ya geldi.
Amasya ümerâsından gördüğü büyük teveccühlere binâen tevattun edib neşr-i ulûma himmet etdi. Yıllarca tedrîs-i ulûm edib Halfet Gâzizâde Emîr Celâleddîn Mehmed Pervâne Bey’in mazhâr-ı ikrâmı olarak Halîfiye-Halfet Medresesinin müderrisi oldu.
Sultân Altunbaş bin Sultân Mes’ûd Selçukî’nin eyyâm-ı saltanatında bir müddet Amasya kadı’l-kudâtı olup sonra ma’zûl ve tedrîs ü iftâ ile meşgûl olduğu hâlde 737 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i füzalâdan gâyet fakîh, usûlî, mütekellim bir imâm-ı ulûm idi. Sadru’ş-şerî’anın şerîk-i dersidir.
Mahdûmları Sadreddîn İshâk, Cemâleddîn Ya’kûp, Tâceddîn Mahmûd Çelebiler de kibâr-ı ulemâdan idiler. Bunlara ve bunların evlâdına “Ebû-İshâkoğulları” dendi. Telâmizesinden Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Mehmed es-Sinobî ve Mevlânâ Bahâeddîn Mehmed bin Hasan el-Kübrevî de meşâhîr-i fuzalâdandır.
Fâzıl-ı müşârün-ileyh şeyh, imâm, zâhid, imâmü’l-hakika, nizâmü’l-milleti ve’d-dîn, kıvâmü’l-İslâm ve’l-müslimîn Ebû Mehmed Kutluğ bin Mahmûd bin Kıtr fi’l-Cendî’den usul-i hadîs ve tefsîr okudu. Kezâ fi-zahr-i zahîreti’l-fetâvâ. Feyzullah Efendi kütübhanesinde 1025 numarada bakiyye-i sülâle-i ilmiyyesi Cemâleddîn Mehmed bin Mehmed bin Mehmed Aksarâyî tercemesinde yazılıdır.
In Modern English
He was the son of Yakub bin Salar, of the people of the city of Cend, that is, Kend, which lies north of Bukhara. He learned the sharia sciences, the principles of jurisprudence and kalam from Mevlânâ Tâcüşşerîa Mahmud el-Buhârî, one of the scholars of Bukhara and Khorasan, and received the icazet. Wandering from city to city, he came to Amasya.
Having received great attention from the beys of Amasya, he made this place his home and labored to spread learning. He taught for years; having been the recipient of the hospitality and patronage of Halfet Gazizâde Emir Celâleddin Mehmed Pervâne Bey, he became professor of the Halîfiye, that is, the Halfet Madrasa.
In the days of the reign of Sultan Altunbaş, son of the Seljuk Sultan Mesud, he was for a time chief judge (kadılkudât) of Amasya. Then he was dismissed, and while occupied with teaching and giving fatwas he died around 737 [1336-37]. He was among the well-known scholars, an extremely deep jurist, a scholar of the principles of jurisprudence and a theologian, a person regarded as an imam in the sciences. He was a fellow student of Sadrüşşerîa.
His sons Sadreddin İshak, Cemâleddin Yakub and Tâceddin Mahmud Çelebi were also among the great scholars. They and their children were called "Ebû İshakoğulları." Among his students, Mevlânâ Şemseddin Ahmed bin Mehmed es-Sinobî and Mevlânâ Bahâeddin Mehmed bin Hasan el-Kübrevî were also well-known scholars.
This distinguished person studied the principles of hadith and tafsir under Ebû Mehmed Kutluğ bin Mahmud bin Kıtr el-Cendî, who is described with the epithets "sheikh, imam, ascetic, imam of the truth, order of the nation and religion, support of Islam and the Muslims." This note is also found on the front page of a copy of the Zahîretü'l-fetâvâ. It is written in the Feyzullah Efendi Library, number 1025, in the biography of Cemâleddin Mehmed bin Mehmed bin Mehmed Aksarâyî, a continuation of his scholarly lineage.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- şimâl: north
- kâin: located, situated
- mahdûm: son
- fuzalâ: virtuous scholars (plural of the word fâzıl)
- ulûm-ı şer'iyye: religious law and the sciences related to it
- ahzetmek: to take, to read and learn lessons from someone
- mücâz: one who has received an icazet, authorized to teach
- devr-i bilâd: traveling from land to land
- teveccüh: attention, closeness
- tevattun: making a place one's home
- neşr-i ulûm: spreading learning
- tedrîs: teaching
- mazhar-ı ikrâm: one who has received hospitality and kindness
- kadı'l-kudât: head of the judges, chief judge
- ma'zûl: dismissed from office
- iftâ: giving fatwas
- usûlî: scholar of the principles of jurisprudence
- mütekellim: theologian (scholar of kalam)
- şerîk-i ders: fellow student
- telâmize: students
- zahr: the front or back of a book, the page for notes
- terceme: biography, account of a life
Tâcüşşerîa or Burhânüşşerîa
Hüsameddin names "Tâcüşşerîa Mahmud el-Buhârî" as Ebû İshak's teacher. This name points to a family that caused confusion for a long time in the history of Hanafi jurisprudence. Two brothers of the Mahbûbîs, the sadr family of Bukhara, Tâcüşşerîa Ömer (d. 709/1309) and Burhânüşşerîa Mahmud (d. 730/1329-30), were confused with each other for centuries. Mahmud, the author of Vikâyetü'r-rivâye, one of the basic texts of the Hanafi school, is called Tâcüşşerîa in some manuscripts and biographical books although his real epithet was Burhânüşşerîa. The phrase "Tâcüşşerîa Mahmud" in Hüsameddin's note can be seen as a trace of this old confusion; the person meant is most probably Mahmud, the author of the Vikâye.
These two brothers, in early 675 (June 1276), because of Mongol destruction, left Bukhara and took refuge in Kirman, under the rule of the Qutlughkhanids, where they served as professors at the Kutbiyye Madrasa and died in Kirman. If Ebû İshak was really Mahmud's student, this study would be expected to have taken place in Kirman rather than in Bukhara. Hüsameddin's saying "among the scholars of Bukhara and Khorasan" may be pointing to the teacher's origin; but this is an inference, and no other record was found of where Ebû İshak studied.
Fellow Studentship with Sadrüşşerîa
The note at the end of the text, "He was a fellow student of Sadrüşşerîa," gains meaning when tied to the same family. Sadrüşşerîa es-Sânî Ubeydullah b. Mes'ûd (d. 747/1346) was the grandson of Tâcüşşerîa Ömer and the grandson, through his daughter, of Burhânüşşerîa Mahmud. In his works he speaks of his maternal grandfather Mahmud as "my teacher," and he first abridged and then commented on his Vikâye. If Ebû İshak and Sadrüşşerîa were in the circle of lessons of the same teacher, that is, Mahmud, Hüsameddin's note of fellow studentship agrees with this information. Sadrüşşerîa's Şerhu'l-Vikâye and his works on the principles of jurisprudence, et-Tenkîh and et-Tavzîh, entered the basic books of the Ottoman madrasas in later centuries. That a teacher trained in this circle came to Amasya in the first half of the fourteenth century is an example of the link between the post-Seljuk scholarly life of the city and the Central Asian Hanafi tradition.
The Halfet Gazi Madrasa
The madrasa in which Ebû İshak served as professor is the building raised by the Danishmendid emir whose real name was Halîfet Gazi, called Hilfet Gazi among the people. According to its inscription it was built in 606 (1209-10), and its waqf deed dated 622 (1225) has survived to the present. Halîfet Gazi entered the service of the Seljuks after the Danishmendids disappeared, was made governor of Amasya in 619 (1222) in the time of Alâeddin Keykubad I, fell as a martyr in the campaign against the Georgians in 1232, and was buried in his tomb in Amasya. The madrasa and the tomb adjoining it are today in the Şamice quarter, on Torumtay Street. The south wall and the eastern part of the madrasa are partly standing; after the earthquake of 1647 the professor Hasan Efendi had the collapsed parts rebuilt in wood, and in 1888 the mufti of Amasya, Hacı Osman Hilmi Efendi, had the building thoroughly repaired. Inside the tomb is a marble sarcophagus of the Roman period decorated with erotes, winged Medusas and a sleeping female figure.
As the person who patronized Ebû İshak, Hüsameddin names "Halfet Gazizâde Emir Celâleddin Mehmed Pervâne Bey"; this name must point to an emir descended from the founder of the madrasa who headed the waqf in the fourteenth century. No other record was found of this person. In a compilation on the madrasas of Amasya a long list of the professors who taught at the Halfet Madrasa is given; Ebû İshak's name does not appear in that list.
The Time of Sultan Altunbaş
Tâceddin Altunbaş, named as the ruler of the period in which Ebû İshak served as judge, was the son of the last Anatolian Seljuk sultan, Gıyâseddin Mesud II. As is understood from his waqf deed, he ruled in Amasya and its surroundings with the title "ruler of Simre," and when he died in 1356-57 he was buried in Umurbey Village, attached to Havza. The Taceddin Tomb in the Amasya bazaar and the remains of the madrasa adjoining it must have been built afterward in his name. If the date of death, 737 (1336-37), given by Hüsameddin is correct, Ebû İshak's chief judgeship falls in the first years of Altunbaş's rule.
No information was found in other sources about Ebû İshak Cendî himself, his sons, or the line called "Ebû İshakoğulları."
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 79–80. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources