Amasya’da Hızır Paşa Câmii hatîbi Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendizâde Hâfız Abdullatîf Efendi’nin oğludur. Ürgüplü el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’den ikmâl-i tahsîl edib mücâz ve ders-i âm oldu. 1179’da pederinin kasr-ı yediyle Hızır Paşa hatîbi ve 1188’de Gümüşlüzâde Câmii imâmı oldu.
Gümüşlü Câmiinde tedrîs-i ulûm edib 1216’da Mehmed Paşa Câmii ittisâlindeki Fatıma Hâtun Medresesi müderrisi ve Ilısu Malikânesi mutasarrıfı olduğu hâlde 1224 senesi şevvâlinin yedisinde vefât etdi. Âlim, kâmil, şeyhü’l-kurrâ bir imâm idi. Mahdûmu es-Seyyid Abdullatîf Efendi’dir. [303]
In Modern English
He was the son of Hâfız Abdullatîf Efendi, son of Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi, preacher (hatib) of the Hızır Pasha Mosque in Amasya. He completed his studies with Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi, received his icazet (license), and became one of the müderrises who gave general lectures (ders-i âm). In 1179 [1765–66], when his father handed the post over to him, he became preacher of the Hızır Pasha Mosque, and in 1188 [1774–75] imam of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque.
He taught at the Gümüşlü Mosque; in 1216 [1801–02] he became müderris of the Fatıma Hâtun Madrasa adjoining the Mehmed Pasha Mosque, and while still enjoying the income of the Ilısu mâlikâne, he died on the seventh day of Şevval 1224 [15 November 1809]. He was a learned and mature imam, regarded as the leader of the scholars of qira'at (Quranic recitation). His son is es-Seyyid Abdullatîf Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- hatîb: the official who delivers the sermon (hutbe) at Friday and festival prayers
- ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's studies
- mücâz: one who has received an icazet
- ders-i âm: a müderris who gave public lectures open to all in a major mosque
- kasr-ı yed: withdrawing from a post of one's own will and leaving it to another
- tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching the sciences
- ittisâl: adjoining, being next to
- mâlikâne: a source of revenue granted to be held for life
- mutasarrıf: (here) one who holds the right to use a revenue
- kâmil: mature, virtuous
- şeyhü'l-kurrâ: the head of those who recite the Quran in the different recitations, a leading teacher of the science of qira'at
The Hatîbzâdes: A Family of Preachers
Ebûbekir Efendi came from a family that carried on the preachership of the Hızır Pasha Mosque from generation to generation. In the same volume Hüsameddin wrote a separate entry for his grandfather. According to it, his grandfather Ebûbekir Efendi was the son of Hacı Hâfız Abbâs; staying at the Hızır Pasha Madrasa he acquired learning from the scholars of Amasya, and became preacher of the Hızır Pasha Mosque in 1115 [1703–04], preacher (vaiz) of the same mosque in 1121 [1709–10], deputy müderris of Hızır Pasha in 1141 [1728–29], and died on the eleventh of Şaban 1149 [December 1736]. His son Hâfız Abdullatîf Efendi became preacher in his father's place and in 1179 handed the preachership over to his son Hâfız Ebûbekir Efendi. Hüsameddin writes that this family was called "Hatîbzâde" and that Ebûbekir Efendi's son Seyyid Abdullatîf Efendi was chief clerk of the court. It is also notable that the names Ebûbekir and Abdullatîf recur alternately from grandfather to grandson.
In the grandfather's entry there is one more striking detail: Hüsameddin says there that when the grandson Ebûbekir Efendi became imam of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque in 1188 he left the preachership to Hâfız Ahmed Efendi, and that he died in 1216. In this entry, however, the date of death is given as the seventh of Şevval 1224, with day and month specified; 1216 is here the year he was appointed müderris of the Fatıma Hâtun Madrasa. Given that the date 1224, given with day and month, rests on a record, it is probable that the 1216 in the grandfather's entry was confused with the date of the müderrisship.
The Hızır Pasha Mosque
The Hızır Pasha Mosque, where the family served as preachers, is today one of the surviving early Ottoman buildings of Amasya. According to the records, the mosque was built in 1466 by Hayrüddin Hızır Pasha, brother of Yörgüç Pasha, the lala (tutor) of Murad II. The building was part of a complex made up of a bath, a madrasa and an ablution fountain (şadırvan); today only the mosque and the bath stand. Like the Bayezid Pasha and Yörgüç Pasha mosques in Amasya, it is one of the zaviyeli (with side rooms), inverted-T plan mosques; however, because of the slope of its site, its entrance is from the east rather than the north.
According to Muhammet Okudan's study based on archival documents, Hızır Pasha established three waqfs in Amasya in 870/1465, built a madrasa and a mosque, and created various posts for their needs. According to the waqf deed, agricultural lands, vineyards and gardens in Suluova, Doğantepe, Ladik and the center of Amasya, two hans and a bath were endowed; in 1493 Hızır Pasha's son Mehmed Pasha added to his father's waqf thirteen villages, two mezras (hamlets), seven mills and other revenues. The same study notes that the waqfs continued to exist until the Republican period and that during this time problems arose, such as appointments being made to posts not found in the waqf deed. That the Hatîbzâde family handed the preachership from father to son for nearly a century is a concrete example of the tendency of such waqf posts to remain within a family. In the Hızır Pasha quarter surrounding the mosque, 54 Muslim households lived according to the 1840 population register.
The Gümüşlü Mosque and the Fatımiye Madrasa
The Gümüşlü (Gümüşlüzâde) Mosque, where Ebûbekir Efendi served as imam and taught, is also open for worship today. It stands on a rise opposite the Hükümet Bridge, looking down slightly onto Yavuz Selim Square. According to the Ministry of Culture records, the mosque was first built in 1326 by Taceddin Mahmud Çelebi; the mosque, with its wooden roof, was destroyed in the 1419 earthquake, rebuilt in 1491 by Defterdar Mahmut Bey, repaired after the fire of 1612 by Şemseddin Pasha, in 1688 by Gümüşlüzâde İbrahim Bey, and after the fire of 1721 by Mustafa Ağa, the waqf's mütevelli (administrator). It is stated that the mosque took its present name from this Gümüşlüzâde repair. Another source gives the first construction date as 1325, says that according to the inscription the rebuilding was completed in 1485 and that the one who rebuilt it was Defterdar Ahmed Bey; dates and names appear with small differences between sources.
The Fatıma Hâtun Madrasa, of which Ebûbekir Efendi became müderris in 1216, is described in a study of the madrasas of Amasya under the name "Fatımiye Madrasa." According to it, the madrasa stood southeast of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque, on the site of the Gümüşlüoğlu Tekke, and was built of wood in 1740 by Fatma Hatun of Amasya, one of the palace women of Sultan Mahmud I, and the revenues of the Sarıalan and Ortaköy mâlikânes were endowed to it. The building, known by the names "Medrese-i Hâtuniye," "Medrese-i Fâtımiye" and "Gümüşlü Madrasa," fell into ruin around 1863. This information agrees with what Hüsameddin gives in the first volumes of the book; there too Hüsameddin places the madrasa southeast of the Gümüşlüzâde Mosque and writes that the building was built in 1153 [1740] and its endowments arranged in 1158 [1745].
In this entry, however, the madrasa is shown as "adjoining the Mehmed Pasha Mosque." The Mehmed Pasha Mosque is a separate building belonging to Hızır Pasha's son Mehmed Pasha; in the 1840 population register, too, Gümüşlüzâde and Mehmed Pasha are recorded as two separate quarters. That Fatma Hatun's madrasa is shown beside the Gümüşlü Mosque both in the first volumes of the book and in present-day research suggests that the "Mehmed Pasha" record here is an error. That Ebûbekir Efendi first taught at the Gümüşlü Mosque and then became müderris of the madrasa beside the same mosque also supports this interpretation.
The Ilısu Mâlikâne and Teaching of Qira'at
The Ilısu mâlikâne that Ebûbekir Efendi held shows that the revenue of a village or farm had been left to him for life. In the later volumes of Hüsameddin's book there is mention of a bey who built a bath over the hot spring in the nahiye of Geldiklan and in 987 [1579] endowed, together with this bath, the "Ilısu farm" to his descendants. Whether Ebûbekir Efendi's mâlikâne was the same place is uncertain.
Hüsameddin's describing Ebûbekir Efendi as "şeyhü'l-kurrâ" accords with the family's tradition of hâfızlık (memorizing the Quran): starting from his great-grandfather, nearly every generation of the family is called by the title "Hâfız." As for Ebûbekir Efendi's teacher Ürgüplü Ahmed Efendi, according to Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm's biographical dictionary he became müderris at the Hızır Pasha Madrasa by examination, taught at the Sultan Bayezid and Enderun mosques, and died in 1213 [1799] as mufti of Amasya, having held that office for the last seven years of his life. Thus it is seen that Ebûbekir Efendi was tied to the Hızır Pasha complex both through his family and through his teacher.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 99–99. amasya.bel.tr
- Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm el-Amâsî, el-Mecmû' fi'l-Meşhûd ve'l-Mesmû': Âkifzâde'nin Ulemâ Tezkiresi, Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları, İstanbul, 2026.
Academic studies
Official sources
- "Hızır Paşa Camii - Amasya", Kültür Portalı, T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı. https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/gezilecekyer/hizir-pasa-cam
- "Gümüşlü Camii", Kültür Portalı, T.C. Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı. https://www.kulturportali.gov.tr/turkiye/amasya/gezilecekyer/gumuslu-cam
- "Medreselerde Eğitim, Yönetim ve Organizasyon Faaliyetleri: Amasya Medreseleri Açısından Bir Değerlendirme", I. Amasya Araştırmaları (13-15 Haziran 2007), 2. Kitap, ed. Yavuz Bayram, Amasya Valiliği Yayınları, 2007.
Other sources