Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi dervişânından Mehmed’in mahdûmudur. Mevlevî-hâne şeyhi Hasan Kutsî Dede Efendi hizmetinde perver-şiyâb-i kemâl olup zâkirbaşı oldu. 1095 senesinde Şeyh Cu’î Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi ve mesnevî-hânı ve bir yıl sonra ilâveten Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi ve mesnevî-hânı oldu.
1099’da Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi meşîhatı uhdesinden ref’ edilip eş-Şeyh Alâeddîn Dede Efendi’ye verildi. Şeyh Cu’î Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi olduğu hâlde 1114 senesi evâ’ilinde vefât etdi. Amasya Mevlevî-hânesinde Mesnevî okutur, âlim Arab ve Acem edebiyâtına vâkıf, mü’eddeb, vakûr, müteşerri’ bir zât idi.
Eş-Şeyh Hasan Kutsî Dede kendisine “Ebû Sa’îd” künyesini verdi. Mahdûmu Sa’îd İbrâhim Dede Efendi de Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi [314] oldu. Bunun mahdûmları Lütfullah, Ahmed Gavsî, Mehmed Efendilerdir. Bunlara “Hacıoğulları”, “Hacı Dedezâdeler” dendi. Lütfullah Efendi, kudâtdandır.
Amasya Mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi el-Hâc Gavsî Ahmed Dede Efendi 1190’da vefât edib mahdûmları es-Seyyid Feyzullah, Abdullah, Mehmed Kâmî Efendilerdir. Hacı Mehmed Dedezâde eş-Şeyh Hüseyin Hüsnî Dede de mevlevî-hâne şeyhi oldu. Bunun mahdûmları es-Seyyid Mehmed, Hasan, Ali Rıza Efendiler olup Mehmed Kâmî Dedezâde es-Seyyid Sâbit Mehmed Dede Efendi de şeyh oldu. Es-Seyyid Mehmed Sıdkı Dede Efendi, birâderi es-Seyyid Ali Rızâ Dede Efendi’den sonra şeyh oldu. Bunun mahdûmu es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ahmed Dedezâde es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Cemâleddîn Dede Efendi ber-hayâtdır.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mehmed, one of the dervishes of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge. He was raised and matured in the service of Hasan Kutsî Dede Efendi, sheikh of the lodge, and became zâkirbaşı (head of those who recite the hymns at the ceremony). In 1095 [1683–84] he became sheikh and mesnevîhan (teacher who recites the Mesnevî) of the Şeyh Cu'î Mevlevî Lodge, and a year later, in addition, sheikh and mesnevîhan of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge.
In 1099 [1687–88] the sheikhship of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge was taken from his charge and given to Şeyh Alâeddîn Dede Efendi. He died in early 1114 [1702–03] while sheikh of the Şeyh Cu'î Mevlevî Lodge. He would have the Mesnevî read at the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge; he was learned, knew Arabic and Persian literature well, and was well-mannered, dignified and firmly bound to the rulings of religion.
Şeyh Hasan Kutsî Dede gave him the kunya "Ebû Sa'îd." His son Sa'îd İbrâhim Dede Efendi also became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge. His sons are Lütfullah, Ahmed Gavsî and Mehmed Efendi. They were called "Hacıoğulları" and "Hacı Dedezâdes." Lütfullah Efendi was one of the judges.
El-Hâc Gavsî Ahmed Dede Efendi, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge, died in 1190 [1776–77]; his sons are es-Seyyid Feyzullah, Abdullah and Mehmed Kâmî Efendi. Şeyh Hüseyin Hüsnî Dede, son of Hacı Mehmed Dede, also became sheikh of the lodge. His sons are es-Seyyid Mehmed, Hasan and Ali Rızâ Efendi. Es-Seyyid Sâbit Mehmed Dede Efendi, son of Mehmed Kâmî Dede, also became sheikh. Es-Seyyid Mehmed Sıdkı Dede Efendi became sheikh after his brother es-Seyyid Ali Rızâ Dede Efendi. The son of es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Ahmed Dede, who was his son, es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Cemâleddîn Dede Efendi, is still alive.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- dervişân: dervishes
- perver-şiyâb-i kemâl: raised so as to attain maturity
- zâkirbaşı: the person who leads the dhikr and hymns in the lodge
- mesnevîhân: the teacher who recites and explains Rumi's Mesnevî
- meşîhat: the office of sheikh
- ref' edilmek: to be removed from office
- evâ'il: the beginnings (of a month or year)
- mü'eddeb: well-mannered, cultured
- vakûr: dignified
- müteşerri': scrupulously observing the rulings of religion
- künye: a respectful name formed with "Ebû …" or "Ümmü …"
- kudât: judges
- ber-hayât: alive, living
The Amasya Mevlevî Lodge
The Amasya Mevlevî Lodge, of which Ebû Sa'îd Ahmed Dede was sheikh, was one of the oldest dervish buildings of the city. The founder of the building, which appears in old records as "the Mevlevî lodge of the late Alâeddin Pervâne," is Alâeddin Ali Pervâne Bey; it is told that its waqfs were arranged in 1314, and that the content of its waqf deed, lost in 1661, was reconstructed from the oral statements of those who had seen it. The presence of the Mevlevis in Amasya is older than this building: relying on old documents, it is reported that a khalifa was sent to the city in the time of Sultan Veled, and that Veliyüddin Ahmed Dede in 1276, Alâeddin Ali Dede in 1284 and Celâleddin Mehmed Dede in 1300 were here as Mevlevi sheikhs. The lodge stood east of the Saraçhane quarter, on the bank of the Yeşilırmak near the Hükümet Bridge.
The later fortunes of the building are important for understanding Ahmed Dede's period. During the bandit disturbances of 1602 the lodge burned, and its sheikh also died at this time. When Mehmed Arif Dede, son of Şeyh İbrahim Çelebi, presented the situation to the former grand vizier Bayram Pasha, Bayram Pasha in 1637 had water brought to Amasya at his own expense, built a caravanserai and a new Mevlevî lodge, and enlarged the waqfs. In the new building the sheikhs were, in order, Mehmed Arif Dede, his son-in-law Mahmud Dede, Abdülkadir Dede and Alâeddin Dede. This sequence agrees with what Hüsameddin relates: Ahmed Dede's short sheikhship between 1096 and 1099 [1684–88] falls between Abdülkadir Dede and Alâeddin Dede, and the text states clearly that in 1099 the sheikhship was given to Alâeddin Dede. It is also reported that Alâeddin Dede died in 1700 and that Bilal Efendi then became sheikh.
From the sharia court registers it is understood that in a large room inside the Mevlevî lodge were buried sheikhs named Mehmed Arif Dede, Alâeddin Ali Dede, Osman Sâkıb Dede, Arap Sâlih Dede, Ahmed Dede and Mehmed Sıdkı Dede. The Ahmed Dede here may be Gavsî Ahmed Dede, who is mentioned in the text and died in 1190, or Ahmed Dede, the father of Cemâleddîn Dede; Mehmed Sıdkı Dede is the sheikh Hüsameddin counts among the last generations. That these names are seen in the registers tends to confirm that the family of the Hacı Dedezâdes held the sheikhship of the lodge for more than a hundred and fifty years.
The Şeyh Cu'î Mevlevî Lodge
The Şeyh Cu'î Mevlevî Lodge, whose sheikhship Ahmed Dede held until the end of his life, was a village lodge outside the city. Şeyh Mehmed Cu'î Dede, whose real name was Mehmed, was sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge in the time of Şâdgeldi Pasha and in the first years of Ottoman administration. Later, leaving the city, he had a Mevlevî lodge, a tekke, a school and a fountain built in his own village in 1414, endowed all the land of the village to the lodge, and on his death was buried there. For a long time the village was called Şeyhcui after him. In this village, whose official name is today Yuvacık, the Tomb of Şeyh Cu'î Baba stands beside the mosque and the fountain the sheikh had built still exists; the people still call the village also by its old name. The years in which Ahmed Dede directed both the lodge in the city and the one in the village together show that the tie between the two institutions continued at the end of the seventeenth century.
The Last Sheikh of the Family
Cemâleddîn Dede Efendi, of whom Hüsameddin says "is still alive," was the sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî Lodge in its last period. In some studies it is written that Cemâleddin Efendi took charge of the lodge after Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, served for a time as mayor of Amasya, was in the delegation that invited Mustafa Kemal from Havza to Amasya, and was among the founders of the Amasya Association for the Defense of Rights. In Veled Çelebi's list of 1912 enumerating the active Mevlevî lodges and their sheikhs, for Amasya the name of Ahmed Cemâleddin Efendi, nicknamed "Kara Şeyh Dede," appears. While Hüsameddin gives him as the son of Ahmed Dede, some sources mention him as the son of Şeyh Mehmed Efendi; this disagreement could not be resolved. The lodge building was demolished after 1925, when the lodges were closed, and during the opening of a square in the city, most probably in the part where today's Yavuz Selim Square stands.
Bibliography
Primary sources
Other sources