Horasanlıdır. Es-Seyyid Cemâleddîn Ahmed bin Utbe Umdetü’t-Tâlib fi Neseb-i Âl-i Ebî Tâlib adlı eserinde peder ve sülâle-i tâhiresini şöyle beyân ve sevk ediyor: “Mûmâ ileyh es-Seyyid Ebu Tâlib Ali el-Horasânî, es-Seyyid Azizeddîn Yahyâ bin Ebil-fazl Mehmed bin [315] Fahreddîn Ali el-Murteza bin Muhammed el-Mutahhar zil-fahr bin Zekiyyeddîn Ebil Hasan Ali bin Ebilfazl Muhammed bin Ebihaşim Ali bin Muhammed bin Hamza bin Ahmed er-Dâc bin Muhammed bin İsmâil bin Muhammed el-Erkat bin Abdullah el-Bâhir bin Zeynel Abidin Ali bin Hüseyin eş-Şehîd bin emîri’l-mü’minin Ali bin Ebî Tâlib mahdûmudur.”
Evâ’il-i hâlinde Sivas’a gelip oranın emîr ü hâkimi olan Kadı Burhâneddîn Ahmed Kayseri’den hürmet ve ri’âyet gördü. Sivas’ın Yıldırım Sultân Bâyezîd Hân eline geçdiği esnâda şehzâdesi Sultân Süleyman’ın da ri’âyetini gördü. Fakat Türkistan hükümdârı olan Topal Timur Hân’ın Sivas’ı vurduğu esnâda 803’de Sivas’dan kaçıp Amasya’ya ilticâ etdi. Amasya hükümdârı Çelebi Sultân Mehmed Hân’ın da mazhar-ı iltifât ve ikrâmı olup 823 senesi hilâlinde Amasya’da vefât etdi. Sâdâd-ı Hüseyniyyeden âlim, müteşerri’, pek muhterem bir zât idi. Bunlara “Âl-i Mutahhar” denirdi. Mahdûmu es-Seyyid Mutahhar Çelebi Amasya’nın a’yân-ı sâdâtındandır. İlk Amasya nakîbü’l-eşrâfı budur.
In Modern English
He is from Khorasan. Es-Seyyid Cemâleddîn Ahmed bin Utbe, in his work Umdetü't-Tâlib fî Neseb-i Âl-i Ebî Tâlib (The Mainstay on the Lineage of the House of Abu Talib), lists his father and his pure lineage as follows: "The said es-Seyyid Ebû Tâlib Ali el-Horasânî is the son of es-Seyyid Azîzeddîn Yahyâ; Yahyâ of Ebu'l-Fazl Mehmed; he of Fahreddîn Ali el-Murtazâ; he of Muhammed el-Mutahhar Zi'l-Fahr; he of Zekiyyeddîn Ebu'l-Hasan Ali; he of Ebu'l-Fazl Muhammed; he of Ebû Hâşim Ali; he of Muhammed; he of Hamza; he of Ahmed ed-Dâc; he of Muhammed; he of İsmâil; he of Muhammed el-Erkat; he of Abdullah el-Bâhir; he of Zeynelâbidîn Ali; he of the martyr Hüseyin; and he is the son of the commander of the faithful Ali bin Ebî Tâlib."
In the early part of his life he came to Sivas and received respect and favor from Kadı Burhâneddîn Ahmed Kayserî, who was the emir and ruler there. When Sivas passed into the hands of Sultan Bâyezîd Han Yıldırım, he also enjoyed the protection of his prince Sultan Süleyman. But when Topal Timur Han, the ruler of Turkestan, struck Sivas, in 803 [1400–01], he fled Sivas and took refuge in Amasya. He also enjoyed the favor and hospitality of the ruler of Amasya, Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Han, and died in Amasya in the course of 823 [1420–21]. He was one of the Husaynid seyyids, a scholar, bound to the rulings of religion and highly esteemed. This family was called "Âl-i Mutahhar" (the Mutahhar family). His son es-Seyyid Mutahhar Çelebi is one of the leading seyyids of Amasya. He was the first nakîbüleşraf of Amasya (head who looks after the affairs of the seyyids).
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- sülâle-i tâhire: the pure lineage; the line going back to the family of the Prophet
- beyân ve sevk etmek: to explain and set out in order
- mûmâ ileyh: the said person
- evâ'il-i hâl: the beginnings of one's life
- ri'âyet: regard, protection
- ilticâ etmek: to take refuge
- mazhar-ı iltifât ve ikrâm: one who has received attention and hospitality
- hilâl: in the course of (a year)
- sâdât-ı Hüseyniyye: the seyyids descended from Imam Husayn
- a'yân-ı sâdât: the foremost of the seyyids
- nakîbü'l-eşrâf: the head who keeps the genealogical records of the seyyids and sharifs and looks after their affairs
The Source of the Genealogy: Ibn Inaba and the Umdat al-Talib
The author whom Hüsameddin calls "Cemâleddîn Ahmed bin Utbe" is Ibn Inaba, one of the well-known names in the science of genealogy. It is known that his name is also read as Ibn Uqba, Ibn Utba and Ibn Anbasa; Hüsameddin's spelling rests on one of these readings. Born in Hilla in 748 [1347], he made scholarly journeys to Isfahan, Herat, Samarkand, Balkh and Mecca, and died in Kerman on 4 Safer 828 [26 December 1424]. He descends from Hasan, son of Ali; on his mother's side he is at times counted as Husaynid.
The Umdat al-Talib fi ansab Al Abi Talib that Hüsameddin used is a detailed genealogical book on the line of Abu Talib, especially the descendants of Ali, and exists in three separate recensions. The first is an extensive text presented to Timur in 802 [1400]; the second is the short recension written in 812 [1409–10] for the genealogist Naqib Celâleddin Hasan b. Amîdüddin Ali el-Hüseynî, and when the work is spoken of today it is this text that is meant; the third was prepared a year before the author's death for the Mushasha'i ruler. The years in which the work was written coincide with the years Ebû Tâlib Ali el-Horasânî was alive; in this respect the chain of descent in the text has value as the record of a contemporary who knew the person himself. That the chain includes the names Ali el-Murtazâ and Muhammed el-Mutahhar also explains why Hüsameddin says the family was called "Âl-i Mutahhar."
From Sivas to Amasya
Kadı Burhâneddin, with whom the seyyid took refuge in Sivas, was a ruler who governed a state centered on Sivas and Kayseri from 782 [1381] to 800 [1398], combining judgeship, emirate and poetry. He was taken prisoner in a war with the Akkoyunlu Karayülük Osman Bey and was killed before the walls of Sivas, probably in Zilkade 800 [July 1398]. Thereupon the people of Sivas, against the Turkmen and Timurid threat, asked for help from Bayezid the Thunderbolt, and Bayezid sent his son Süleyman Çelebi; the Ottoman forces defeated Karayülük and took control of the city, and Tokat, Niksar and Kayseri also passed under Ottoman administration. Hüsameddin's words "when Sivas fell into Yıldırım's hands he enjoyed the protection of his prince Süleyman" match this event exactly.
The seyyid, who took refuge in Amasya in 803 [1400–01] when Timur took Sivas, came under the protection of Çelebi Mehmed here. It is known that Çelebi Mehmed made Amasya his center throughout the Interregnum and left the city to his lala Yörgüç Pasha after becoming sultan in 1413. Hüsameddin's calling him "ruler of Amasya" reflects this local tie.
On the Phrase "First Nakîbüleşraf of Amasya"
Hüsameddin counts the seyyid's son Mutahhar Çelebi as the first nakîbüleşraf of Amasya. It is known that an office concerned with seyyids and sharifs was first established among the Ottomans in the time of Bayezid the Thunderbolt, in Ramazan 802 [May 1400], and that Seyyid Muhammed Nattâ' el-Hüseynî of Bursa was brought to it. The title "nakîbüleşraf" began to be used officially only when Bayezid II in 900 [1494] appointed Seyyid Mahmud to this post with a salary; before him the officeholders were called "nâzır." Besides the nakîbüleşraf at the center, in other cities there were deputies of the nakîbüleşraf chosen from among the seyyids. Accordingly, Mutahhar Çelebi's office in Amasya should be thought of as a local representation of the seyyids in the years when the institution was only taking shape; Hüsameddin must have named this post with the title of the later period. No information was found in other sources on Ebû Tâlib Ali el-Horasânî himself or on his son.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 103–103. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies