Ebûbekir Efendi — Ayntâbîzâde el-Hâc

In Modern English

He was the son of Hoca Ayntâbî el-Hâc Mustafa Efendi, one of the scholars of Amasya. He studied under his father, under Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi and under Çorumlu Hâfız es-Seyyid Mehmed Efendi, and became a ders-i âm. In 1136 [1723-24] he became müderris (madrasa professor) of the Yakub Pasha Madrasa, and he died around 1153 [1740-41]. He was one of the great scholars.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• ulemâ: scholars, men of religious learning
• mahdûm: son
• peder: father
• tahsîl-i ulûm: acquiring learning, completing one's studies
• ders-i âm: a certified müderris authorized to give public lessons open to all in a mosque
• müderris: madrasa professor
• hudûdunda: around, in the vicinity of
• kibâr-ı ulemâ: the great among the scholars

The Yakub Pasha Madrasa

The Yakub Pasha Madrasa, where Ebûbekir Efendi served as müderris, is a madrasa set up inside the Yakub Pasha Tekke, popularly known as the Çilehane. The tekke was built in the Pîrler quarter of Amasya in 815 [1412] by Pazarlıoğlu Yakub Pasha, the beylerbeyi of Ankara, as a lodge of the Halvetî order, and its waqf deed was registered in Zilkade 815 [February 1413]. In 1031 [1622], to end a years-long dispute over the shaykhship between the tekke's preacher Şeyh Hüsâmeddin Efendi and Şeyh Abdi Efendi, the mesjid and its attached halvet cells were declared a madrasa and the professorship was given to Abdi Efendi, while tekke life continued in the tevhidhâne and the shaykh's room and the shaykhship was left to Hüsâmeddin Efendi. In the first volume of his work, Hüsameddin writes that this madrasa was later placed in the "kırklı" (erbaîn) grade in the ranking of madrasas and was given to scholars who were ders-i âm.

The building stands today. It is counted among the rare early Ottoman dervish buildings to have survived in its original form; it was damaged in the 1939 Erzincan earthquake and repaired in 1967. On both sides of the domed mesjid there are six halvet cells and dervish cells each. The rooms where Ebûbekir Efendi taught were most likely these small masonry units converted into a madrasa cell in 1622.

Discrepancy in the Dates

In this entry Hüsameddin says that Ebûbekir Efendi became müderris of Yakub Pasha in 1136. Yet the list of professors in the first volume has the entry "in 1121, Ebûbekir Efendi from among the ulema, and after him Müftîzâde es-Seyyid Ebûbekir Efendi." If the first Ebûbekir Efendi named in the list is the subject of this entry, then his appointment date is given as 1121 [1709-10]; which record the fifteen-year difference rests on could not be understood. The second name in the list, that is Müftüzâde es-Seyyid Ebûbekir Efendi, is the man described in the next entries, who was the son-in-law of Hoca Ayntâbî. Thus the madrasa's chair seems to have passed from the Ayntâbî family to the son-in-law.

His Teachers and the Ayntâbî Scholars

Of his teachers, Çorumlu Hâfız es-Seyyid Mehmed Efendi, according to Hüsameddin's list of madrasas, became müderris of the Mehmed Pasha Madrasa after 1095 [1684] and of the Ayas Ağa Madrasa in 1132 [1719-20], and died in 1143 [1730-31]. No information was found in other sources on Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi.

The nisba "Ayntâbî" shows that the family came from Ayıntab (Gaziantep). Hüsameddin speaks of other scholars bearing this nisba in Amasya in the same period: among the events of 1117 [1705-06] he records the death of Ayntâbî el-Hâc Yûsuf Efendi, mufti of Lâdik and müderris of the Şeyhülislam Madrasa; he also mentions Ayntâbî el-Hâc Kara Osman Efendi, who served as mufti of Amasya and müderris of the Hüseyniyye. It is not clear whether these names have any kinship with Ebûbekir Efendi's family. No information on Ebûbekir Efendi was found in other sources.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 92. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 1-4, Amasya Belediyesi e-book, vol. 1, p. 176-177 (the Ayas Ağa, Mehmed Pasha and Yakub Pasha madrasas) (amasya.bel.tr).

Academic studies

• M. Baha Tanman, "Yâkub Paşa Tekkesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yakub-pasa-tekkesi).

Books

• "Amasya", Türk Maarif Ansiklopedisi (turkmaarifansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya).