Gümüşhâneli Ya’kûb’un oğludur. Diyârbekir ve Adana ulemâsından ahz-ı ulûm etdikden sonra Amasya’ya gelip muhakkik-i meşhûr Ürgüplü el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek mücâz ve Sultân Bâyezîd Câmiinde ders-i âm oldu.
Ba’dehû Ebûbekir Paşa Medresesi dershanesinde tedrîs-i ulûm edib Ya’kûb Paşa Medresesi müderrisliğine ta’yîn edildi. Amasya müftüleri olan Hâfız Abdurrahman ve Hacı İsmâil Efendilere müsevvid ve emînü’l-fetvâ ve 1192 ve 1195’de iki def’a Amasya nâibi oldu.
Amasya kadısı Ankaralı Mehmed Şâkir Efendi kendisini beğenip kerîmesini tezvîç ederek 1197’de Ankara’ya beraber götürdü. Orada binâ eylediği medresesine müderris yapdı. Lâkin Şâkir Efendi’nin kerîmesiyle bir türlü [292] imtizâc edemediğinden tatlîka mecbûr olup medreseyi de terk ederek Kastamonu’ya gitdi.
Burada müftü bulunan Şeyhülislâm Mustafa Âşir Efendi, fazl u meziyyet-i ilmiyyesini takdîr ederek pederinin medresesi müderrisliğini verdi. 1206’da müşarün ileyh Âşir Efendi ma’fûvven İstanbul’a gitdikde Kastamonu ulemâsının dedikodularından bî-zâr olarak bu medreseyi de terk edib Amasya’ya avdet etmek üzere hareket etdi.
1207’de Havza’ya vusûlünü müte’âkip hastalanıp beş gün sonra vefât etdi. Hamâm civârında medfûndur. Bu tercemeyi yazan tilmizi Âkifzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahîm Efendi Kitâbü’l-Mecmû’ mine’l-Meşhûr ve’l-Mesmû’ adlı eserinde diyor ki: “Müşârün-ileyh fâzıl, ulûm-ı şer’iyye ve akliyyede muhakkik, Arab ve Acem edebiyâtında mâhir, gâyet muhâsib, muhâzarâta vâkıf, tecemmülâta mâ’il, mûsâllî, sahî bir zât idi.”
In Modern English
He is the son of Ya'kûb of Gümüşhane. After studying under the scholars of Diyarbakır and Adana, he came to Amasya and completed his studies with the famous and deeply learned scholar Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi; he received his icazet (license) from him and became one of the müderrises who give general lessons (ders-i âm) in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque.
Later he taught in the lecture hall of the Ebûbekir Pasha Madrasa and was appointed to the professorship of the Ya'kûb Pasha Madrasa. He worked beside the Amasya muftis Hâfız Abdurrahman and Hacı İsmâil Efendis as the clerk who wrote the fatwa drafts (müsevvid) and as fetva emini; in 1192 [1778] and 1195 [1780-81] he twice became naib (deputy kadı) of Amasya.
Ankaralı Mehmed Şâkir Efendi, the kadı of Amasya, liked him and married him to his daughter, and in 1197 [1782-83] took him along to Ankara. There he brought him in as müderris of the madrasa he had built. But since he could never get along with Şâkir Efendi's daughter, he was obliged to divorce; leaving the madrasa too, he went to Kastamonu.
There, Şeyhülislam Mustafa Âşir Efendi, who was serving as mufti, appreciating his scholarly superiority and worth, gave him the professorship of his father's madrasa. When in 1206 [1791-92] Âşir Efendi was pardoned and went to Istanbul, Ebûbekir Efendi, tired of the gossip of the Kastamonu scholars, left this madrasa too and set out to return to Amasya.
After reaching Havza in 1207 [1792-93], he fell ill and died five days later. He is buried near the bath. His pupil Âkifzâde es-Seyyid Abdurrahîm Efendi, who wrote this biography, says in his work Kitâbü'l-Mecmû' mine'l-Meşhûr ve'l-Mesmû': "The said person was a virtuous scholar; a researcher who made deep inquiry in the religious and rational sciences, a master of Arabic and Persian literature, very gifted in arithmetic, one who knew the finer points of conversation and wit, who liked to dress well, was devoted to prayer and generous."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- ahz-ı ulûm: acquiring learning, studying
- muhakkik: a scholar who investigates a subject in depth, a researcher
- ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's studies
- mücâz: one who has received from his teacher permission to teach (icazet)
- ders-i âm: a müderris who gives public lessons open to all in a great mosque; a scholar holding this authority
- tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching, giving lessons
- müsevvid: the clerk who prepares fatwa drafts on behalf of the mufti
- emînü'l-fetvâ: the official who looks after fatwa affairs and checks the correctness of fatwas
- nâib: the kadı's deputy, one who carries out judicial work in his name
- kerîme: daughter
- tezvîç: marrying off
- imtizâc: getting along, harmony
- tatlîk: divorce
- ma'fûvven: having been pardoned
- bî-zâr: tired, fed up
- tilmîz: pupil
- tercüme: (here) life story, biography
- muhâzarât: apt speech in conversation, knowledge of witticisms and anecdotes
- tecemmülât: adornment, dressing well
- sahî: generous
The Main Source of the Biography: Âkifzâde's Tezkire
Hüsameddin wrote this entry, as he also names at the end, on the basis of the Arabic tezkire of scholars by Ebûbekir Efendi's pupil Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm Efendi (d. 1231/1816). The work's full title in the published copy is el-Mecmû' fi'l-Meşhûd ve'l-Mesmû', that is, "Compilation of What Was Seen and Heard"; the form Hüsameddin gives differs slightly. This tezkire, which Âkifzâde wrote in 1221 [1806], brings together scholars and shaykhs in whose company he had been or whose anecdotes he had heard. In early 2026 it was published by the Turkish Manuscripts Institution (Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu) with a critical text and a Turkish translation. Thanks to this publication it is possible today to read the information Hüsameddin passed on in abridged form directly in its source.
Âkifzâde begins his work by describing first the teachers who trained him, and he mentions Gümüşhaneli Seyyid Ebûbekir Efendi, right after his first Qur'an teacher, as "the first person before whom I knelt for instruction and to whom I said 'May God be pleased with you'." In the tezkire his name appears as Ebûbekir Efendi b. Yakub el-Ârifî el-Gümüşhânevî. From him Âkifzâde writes that he read the instrumental sciences beginning with the grammar book Emsile, Devvânî's Şerhu'l-Akâidi'l-Adudiyye, Ibn Hisham's Muğni'l-Lebîb on syntax, Hatîb Kazvînî's Telhîsü'l-Miftâh with Taftazani's commentary, Nesefî's versified work on fıkıh, treatises on prosody (aruz), Harîrî's Makâmât and nearly half of the divan of al-Mutanabbi. He also mentions two treatises on metaphor (istiare) and a prosody treatise called Zühretü'l-Arûz as his teacher's own writings; the editors of the tezkire add to these a commentary written on Birgivî's Avâmil.
Differences Between the Two Accounts
The translation of the tezkire largely confirms the outline of life that Hüsameddin relates: that he was born in Gümüşhane, studied in Diyarbakır and other cities, completed his studies with Ürgüplü Ahmed Efendi, held the professorship of the Yakup Pasha Madrasa, taught at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and the Bekir Pasha Madrasa, served for a time as fetva clerk in Amasya, went to the madrasa that the kadı Şâkir Efendi built in Ankara, then moved to Kastamonu at the invitation of Âşir Efendi and, on the way back, died at Havza and was buried beside the bath, are in both accounts. The year of death is also the same: 1207 [1792-93].
In details, however, clear differences appear. According to the translation, when Şâkir Efendi left the kadılık of Amasya, Ebûbekir Efendi went with him to Ankara, married there "a woman of the people of Ankara," then left the madrasa and returned to Amasya with his wife. The information Hüsameddin gives, that he married the kadı's daughter and divorced because of incompatibility, is not found in this text. The reason for leaving Kastamonu is also different: Âkifzâde says that his teacher left that city "because its climate did not suit his nature" and does not mention the gossip of the Kastamonu scholars. He also states explicitly that Âşir Efendi was in Kastamonu not as mufti but in exile. It is not known whether on these points Hüsameddin drew on another source, perhaps what was told within the family; so in reading the story of the marriage and the departure the two accounts should be held side by side.
The tezkire's description of the moment of death is also noteworthy. According to Âkifzâde his teacher fell ill on the road, came to Havza sick, and died after performing the full ablution (gusül) and washing at the pool; Âkifzâde recalls him as one who died "thirsty, a stranger, a traveler, and eager to teach learning." The "five days later" recorded by Hüsameddin was not seen in the translation of the tezkire.
A small note must also be made on Hüsameddin's dates for the deputyship. The entry says that Ebûbekir Efendi became naib of Amasya twice, in 1192 and 1195. Yet in the first volumes, where Hüsameddin tells the annual events of Amasya, it is also recorded that in Ramazan 1187 [1773] İsmâil Es'ad Efendi, the kadı of Amasya, appointed "Gümüşhâneli Ebûbekir Efendi, müderris of Ya'kûb Pasha" as naib. According to this, Ebûbekir Efendi's deputyship may not have been limited to two times.
Qur'an Reciter, Copyist and Teacher
The short praise Hüsameddin relates at the end is the summary of a much broader portrait in the tezkire. Âkifzâde relates that after his teacher finished his studies and received his icazet, he memorized the Qur'an and knew the modes of recitation (kıraat), that many students read recitation with him and received their icazet before a large gathering in the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. He writes that he was a master of literature, that one day he told him he knew by heart thousands of Arabic couplets beginning only with the letter alif, that he put the rules of grammar into verse, and that his command of grammar was such that he could be counted "the Sibawayh of his time." That he was made fetva clerk because of his knowledge of inheritance law (ferâiz) and arithmetic also explains Hüsameddin's phrase "very skilled at accounts."
The tezkire also reports that Ebûbekir Efendi earned his living by writing books. He copied bulky works such as the Tafsir of Baydawi, the Mutavvel and Abu'l-Baqa's Külliyât, wrote Qur'an copies in whose margins he entered the variant readings, and knew illumination and binding as well. Âkifzâde relates that one day at an excursion ground his teacher wrote out the whole of the Şâfiye and gave it to him as a gift. He is described as generous, modest, cheerful, jocular, well dressed, one who fed his pupils, who did not mix with the administrators and did not listen to the gossip of the city; it is also recorded that his weeping while reciting the Qur'an led him to give up the imamate and that in the last years of his life he stopped teaching and spent his nights reciting the Qur'an. The qualities Hüsameddin summarizes as "inclined to dress well" and "devoted to prayer" are distilled from these details.
His Teacher Ürgüplü Ahmed Efendi and the Madrasas Where He Taught
Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi, called "famous researcher" in the entry, is according to the same tezkire Ahmed b. Hasan el-Ürgübî. He received icazet from scholars such as Ebû Saîd Hâdimî, became by examination müderris of the Hızır Pasha Madrasa in Amasya, and taught in the Sultan Bayezid and Enderun mosques. Ürgübî, who was mufti of Amasya in the last seven years of his life, died on 9 Şevval 1213 (16 March 1799) in his eighties and was buried in the cemetery of the Tomb of Şeyh Abdurrahman near the Yakup Pasha Zaviye. That is, Ebûbekir Efendi died about six years before his teacher.
The Yakup Pasha Madrasa, where Ebûbekir Efendi taught, belongs to the complex of buildings that Yakub Pasha had founded in 1412 as a Halvetî tekke, near the tomb of Pîr İlyas; in 1031 [1622] a madrasa was established there. In the list of müderrises given in a study on the Amasya madrasas more than one "Ebu Bekir Efendi" appears; it is likely that one of them is Gümüşhaneli Ebûbekir Efendi, but since the list gives no dates a definite matching cannot be made. The place called "Ebûbekir Pasha Madrasa" in the text is the Bekir Pasha Madrasa in the Köprübaşı quarter. This madrasa was built as a darülhadis in 1751 by Bekir Beyzâde Hacı Osman Bey of Amasya, and since after his death his son Ebûbekir Pasha became trustee of the waqf, the building was called by his name.
The Link with Mustafa Âşir Efendi
Mustafa Âşir Efendi (1729-1804), who invited Ebûbekir Efendi to Kastamonu, is the scholar who later became şeyhülislam in the time of Selim III and is known for the library he founded at Bahçekapı in Istanbul. He is the son of Reîsülküttâb Mustafa Efendi; the place Hüsameddin calls "his father's madrasa" is, as Âkifzâde also notes, the madrasa of this Mustafa Efendi in Kastamonu. Âşir Efendi became kazasker of Rumelia in 1789, was dismissed after a time, and in the time of Şeyhülislam Hamîdîzâde Mustafa Efendi was obliged, without any reason being given, to reside in Kastamonu. When Hamîdîzâde left office he returned to Istanbul in 1791, and while he stayed in Kastamonu he also had charitable works built there. These dates agree with the year 1206 [1791-92] that Hüsameddin gives. By contrast, Hüsameddin's showing Âşir Efendi in Kastamonu as "mufti" fits neither Âkifzâde's record of "exile" nor today's biographies of Âşir Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 96–97. amasya.bel.tr
- Âkifzâde Abdürrahîm el-Amâsî, el-Mecmû' fi'l-Meşhûd ve'l-Mesmû': Âkifzâde'nin Ulemâ Tezkiresi, trans. and critical text Ömer Aslan, Muhammed Aslan, Mehmet Fatih Soysal, ed. Derya Örs, Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlığı Yayınları, İstanbul, 2026. https://ekitap.yek.gov.tr/Uploads/ProductsFiles/f41550d9-1caf-4279-8e0f-4f65e47f0269.pdf
Academic studies
Official sources
- "Medreselerde Eğitim, Yönetim ve Organizasyon Faaliyetleri: Amasya Medreseleri Açısından Bir Değerlendirme", I. Amasya Araştırmaları (13-15 Haziran 2007), book 2, ed. Yavuz Bayram, Amasya Valiliği Yayınları, 2007.
Other sources