Ebûbekir Efendi — Müftüzâde el-Hâc

In Modern English

He is from Gümüş. He was the son of Seyyid Şeyh Osmân Efendi, mufti of that place. He studied in Amasya and, on his return, won renown as a dersiâm (licensed teacher giving lectures open to all) in the town of Gümüş. There he repaired the Bolılıca Mosque in the Irgad quarter and took on its imamate. He died around 1261 [1845]. He was one of the scholars. His son Ahmed Efendi became imam; on the latter's death in 1291 [1874–75], his son Hacı Ali Efendi became imam.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mahdûm: son
• tahsîl-i ulûm: study of the sciences
• avdet: return
• imâmetini deruhde etmek: to take on the imamate
• hudûdunda: around, in the neighborhood of

The Town of Gümüş

Ebûbekir Efendi's home town Gümüş is today a quarter attached to the Gümüşhacıköy district. Until 1891 Gümüş was the district center and Hacıköy a subdistrict attached to it; Hacıköy became a municipality in 1890 and the district center in 1892, and, taking Gümüş within it, assumed the name Gümüşhacıköy. Gümüş lost its status as a belde (small town) in 2009 and was turned into a quarter. In the first volume Hüsameddin describes the town as a small and healthy-aired town on the eastern foot of İnegöl Mountain, about two kilometers south of Hacıköy, taking its name from the silver mine nearby. According to him, the town consists of three quarters, named Câmi-i Kebîr (Çinili Câmi), Darphâne and Armağan or Irgad, and comprises close to three hundred households.

The Irgad Quarter and Its Mosque

The name of the quarter is also connected with the mine. According to Hüsameddin, because Armağan Çelebi lived here as mine superintendent, the quarter was first called "Armağan," and then, since the mine workers, that is, the ırgats (laborers), settled here, its name turned into "Irgad Quarter." Again in the first volume, when those who contributed to the town's development are enumerated, it is recorded that in 1227 [1812] the mufti "Şeyh Osmân Efendizâde Ebûbekir Efendi" rebuilt and revived the mosque in the Irgad quarter and arranged its waqf. Thus the date of the repair of the mosque, which this entry says only "he repaired," is learned.

This building is known today as the Irgat (Old) Mosque. According to Neslihan Korkmaz's 2015 study, the mosque is located in the Irgat quarter in Gümüş, on Kaba Dere Street; it has no inscription and its construction date is unknown. Korkmaz, relying on Hüsameddin, writes that the building was repaired in 1812 by Mufti Şeyh Osman Efendizâde Ebûbekir Efendi and that he established a waqf; for this reason she concludes that the mosque was built before the nineteenth century. The building sits on a square plot of 9.47 x 9.47 meters outside to outside, has a hipped roof covered with alaturka tiles, and has no minaret. In the middle of the prayer hall there is a single wooden support and a wooden beamed ceiling; its most striking element is the plaster mihrab.

According to Korkmaz's findings the mosque is not registered and is in ruinous condition: the last congregation area is half collapsed, the western part of the roof has caved in, and the window frames and panes are broken. The researcher states that repair is needed to save the building from collapsing completely. The name "Bolılıca" that Hüsameddin gives was not found in another source; that this name is an old name of the same mosque is inferred from the agreement of the quarter and repair details.

Mufti Şeyh Osman Efendi

No separate information was found on Şeyh Osman Efendi, the mufti of Gümüş mentioned as Ebûbekir Efendi's father. Among the müderrises of the Halîl Pasha Madrasa in Gümüş in the first volume, Hüsameddin is seen to list an "eş-Şeyh Osmân Efendi," who became müderris for the second time in 1196 [1781–82], and "müftî-i sâbık (former mufti) Kılavuz Mehmed Efendizâde Osmân Efendi," who became müderris in 1190. It is possible that one of these was Ebûbekir Efendi's father; but since the source does not make this link, nothing definite can be said.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 101–101. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1 (section on the Gümüş Nahiye), Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022.

Academic studies

• Neslihan Korkmaz, "Amasya Gümüşhacıköy'de Kaybolmakta Olan Bir Eser: Irgat Mescidi", Gaziosmanpaşa Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları Dergisi, 10/1 (2015), p. 133-149. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/803028