Sivas hükümdârı Sultân Eratna Hân’ın kazaskeri bulunan Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Yûsuf bin Ahmed el-Muhâcirî ahfâdından Abdulhalîm bin Ahmed bin Ahi Mehmed Yegâne bin Mevlânâ-yı mezkûrun mahdûmudur. Amasya’da Abdulhalîm Çelebizâde, “Halîmoğlu” demekle meşhûrdur. Bu da hafîdi Hilmî Mehmed Çelebi’nin imzâsıyla âsârından anlaşıldı.
803’de Topal Timur’un Sivas istîlâsında peder ve ceddiyle birâderi Sivas’dan kaçıp Amasya’ya cân atdı. Burada yerleşip kaldı. Ulemâdan tahsîl-i ulûm ederek ders-i âm oldu. Amasya vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Ahmed’in ve ba’dehû Şehzâde Alâeddîn Bey’in teveccühâtını kazanıp Amasya nâibi ve Atabeg Gâzi müderrisi oldu. 847 hudûdunda vefât etdi.
Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan idi. Mahdûmları Lütfullah, Pîr Hasan Çelebiler ve Lütfullah Çelebizâde Halîmî Mehmed Çelebi de kibâr-ı kudât ve ulemâdandır. Meşhûr lûgat sâhibi, iş bu “Halîmî Çelebi” olduğu [326] kendi imzâ ve ifâdesiyle sâbittir.
In Modern English
He descends from Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed bin Yûsuf bin Ahmed el-Muhâcirî, the kazasker (chief military judge) of Sultan Eratna Han, ruler of Sivas; he is the son of Abdulhalîm, son of Ahmed, son of Ahi Mehmed Yegâne, who was the son of the said Mevlânâ. In Amasya Abdulhalîm was known as Çelebizâde, that is, "Halîmoğlu." This was understood from the works signed by his grandson, Hilmî Mehmed Çelebi.
In 803 [1400-01], during Timur the Lame's invasion of Sivas, he fled Sivas with his father, grandfather, and brother and threw himself, for his life, on Amasya. He settled here and stayed. He studied with the scholars and gained the authority to give general lectures. Having won the favor of the governor of Amasya, Prince Sultan Ahmed, and then of Prince Alâeddîn Bey, he became naib [deputy kadı] of Amasya and professor of the Atabeg Gâzi Madrasa. He died around 847 [1443-44].
He was one of the famous scholars. His sons Lütfullah and Pîr Hasan Çelebi, and Lütfullah Çelebi's son Halîmî Mehmed Çelebi, were also among the great kadıs and scholars. That the author of the famous dictionary is this "Halîmî Çelebi" is established by his own signature and statement.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kazasker: chief judge of the army and the state
- ahfâd: grandchildren, descendants
- mahdûm: son
- hafîd: grandson
- âsâr: works
- cân atmak: to take refuge in order to save one's life
- tahsîl-i ulûm: study of the sciences
- ders-i âm: a professor with authority to teach lectures open to everyone
- teveccühât: favor, kindness
- nâib: a kadı's deputy, assistant judge
- hudûdunda: around, about (a date)
- kibâr-ı kudât: great kadıs
- lügat sâhibi: author of a dictionary
The Halîmî Family and the Lexicographer Lutfullah
The main importance of this short biography is that it introduces the father of Lutfullah Halîmî, a well-known linguist of the reigns of Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II. In Lutfullah's own works his name appears as "Lutfullah b. Ebû Yûsuf el-Halîmî"; in a book of his on medicine and inheritance law he also states himself that his grandfather's name was Abdülhalîm. These two records agree exactly with the "Ebû Yûsuf, son of Abdulhalîm" line that Hüsameddin gives and with the family's being called "Halîmoğlu." Present-day research likewise accepts that the family was from Sivas and that Lutfullah was most probably born and raised in Amasya; this is consistent with the story of the move from Sivas to Amasya that Hüsameddin tells. Still, details such as the flight during Timur's invasion, the genealogy reaching back to Eratna Han's kazasker, and the professorship at the Atabey Madrasa were not found in other sources.
Lutfullah Halîmî's best-known work is his versified Persian-Turkish dictionary, Bahrü'l-garâib. The work was completed in 850 [1446-47] and presented to Prince Bayezid, governor of Amasya; because it was hard to understand, the author wrote a separate commentary on it in 872 [1467-68]. Lutfullah also wrote the Persian verse medical book Gülşen-i Zîbâ, which he presented to Mehmed the Conqueror, a dictionary of Arabic names, and an interlinear Persian translation of the Qur'an that is kept in the Topkapı Palace. While kadı of Sivas, he was slandered because he wanted to stop those who were leading Prince Bayezid into drinking and gambling; he was dismissed in 1474 and imprisoned in Tokat for about three months, and then reported his situation to the Conqueror in an Arabic qasida he presented to him. The date of his death is disputed: Kâtib Çelebi writes that he was killed in 900 [1494-95].
The last sentence of the text must be read carefully. Hüsameddin says that the author of the dictionary is "Halîmî Çelebi"; the wording can be read as also pointing to Lutfullah's son, Halîmî Mehmed Çelebi. According to present-day research, the author of the dictionary is Lutfullah himself, son of Ebû Yûsuf. Some older sources, moreover, confused him with another Halîmî Çelebi, who was a teacher of Selim the Grim and died on the Egyptian campaign of 922 [1516]; researchers stress that these two are different people.
The Atabey Madrasa
The "Atabeg Gâzi" madrasa where Ebû Yûsuf is said to have been professor must be the building known in Amasya as the Atabey Madrasa. This madrasa was built by Nasıreddin Ahmed Atabey, atabey of the Seljuk Sultan Mesud II and of his son Tâceddin Altunbaş, who was governor of Amasya between 1322 and 1327; he endowed all his land and property to it. His descendants were known as the Atabeyzades, and important statesmen of the Ottoman era, such as Yörgüç Pasha, came from this family.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 106–106. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Books