Sinoplu Mehmed oğludur. Amasya’da Mevlânâ Ebu İshâk İsmâil Sâlârî hizmetinde tahsîl-i kemâlât edib tedrîse mücâz olarak neşr-i ulûma başladı. Yıllarca ders-i âm [247] olup “Ebu’l-Fazl Sinobî” demekle iştihâr etdi. 721’de Tavâli’-i Isfahânî’yi müddekikâne şerh edib şöhret-i ilmiyyesi yükseldi.
Bir müddet Amasya kadı’l-kudâtına niyâbet ederek kendisini tanıtdı. Ba’dehû Amasya kadı’l-kudâtı da oldu. 741 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Fâzıl, muhakkik, üstâzü’l-ulemâ bir zât-ı sütûde-simât idi. Mahdûmu Mevlânâ Hâfızeddîn Mehmed Çelebi de kibâr-ı ulemâdandır.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mehmed of Sinop. In Amasya he matured in learning under Mevlânâ Ebû İshak İsmail Sâlârî, obtained permission to teach, and began to spread knowledge. For years he served as ders-i âm and became known as "Ebu'l-Fazl Sinobî." In 721 [1321] his scholarly fame rose when he wrote a careful commentary on Isfahânî's Tavâli'.
For a time he made himself known by serving as deputy (naib) to the chief judge of Amasya. He then became chief judge of Amasya himself. He died after 741 [1340-41]. He was a virtuous man, a thorough researcher into questions, a teacher of scholars, a person worthy of praise. His son Mevlânâ Hâfızeddin Mehmed Çelebi was also one of the great scholars.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tahsîl-i kemâlât: attaining maturity in learning
- tedrîse mücâz: one who has received a license (icazet) to teach
- neşr-i ulûm: spreading knowledge, teaching
- iştihâr: becoming known, gaining fame
- müddekikâne: meticulously, carefully
- şerh: a commentary explaining a work
- kadı'l-kudât: head of the judges, chief judge
- niyâbet: deputyship, the office of naib
- sâl: year
- muhakkik: a scholar who investigates questions in depth
- üstâzü'l-ulemâ: teacher of the scholars
- zât-ı sütûde-simât: a person praised for fine character
His Teacher Sâlârî and Amasya under the Ilkhanids
Ebu'l-Fazl Sinobî was a scholar raised in the years when Amasya was under Ilkhanid rule. Hüsameddin's second volume tells that with the death of the governor of Amasya, Şehabeddin Şâdî Bey, in 736 (1335), the Ilkhanids' seventy-eight-year domination of the region came to an end. The biography of his teacher Kemâleddin Ebû İshak İsmail Sâlârî is in the same volume. According to it, Sâlârî was the son of Yakub bin Sâlâr of the city of Jend, north of Bukhara; he studied under Tâcüşşerîa Mahmud el-Buhârî, traveled from city to city and came to Amasya, became müderris of the Halfet Gazi Madrasa and for a time chief judge of Amasya, and died around 737. "Mevlânâ Şemseddin Ahmed bin Mehmed es-Sinobî" is counted among his students.
This record points to a noteworthy confusion of names. Hüsameddin refers to the same person at different places in the book by different epithets and kunyas: in this entry "Ebu'l-Fazl Rükneddin Ahmed Çelebi," in the Sâlârî entry "Şemseddin Ahmed bin Mehmed es-Sinobî," in the Ziyârî entry "Ebu'l-Fazl Ahmed bin Mehmed es-Sinobî," and in one other cross-reference "Ebu'l-Berekât Rükneddin Ahmed Çelebi." This last reference must be a slip; the entry in the book that bears the kunya Ebu'l-Berekât belongs to another scholar, known as Güloğlu, Şemseddin Ahmed bin el-Verdî. In the third volume, where the famous scholars of Amasya are listed at the time of the death of the Ilkhanid ruler Ebû Saîd Bahadır Han, the name "Mevlânâ Rükneddin bin Muhammed Sinôbî" also appears. Since the father's name (Mehmed), the nisba (Sinobî), the teacher (Sâlârî) and the period coincide in all of them, it is understood that they are the same person. Among Sinobî's students is also Şemseddin Ahmed ez-Ziyârî, who later became chief judge of Amasya.
The Tavâliu'l-envâr and Isfahânî's Commentary
The work Hüsameddin calls "Tavâli'-i Isfahânî" relates to the theology (kelâm) book of Kādî Beyzâvî (d. 685/1286), Ṭavâliʿu'l-envâr min meṭâliʿi'l-enẓâr. Consisting of an introduction and three parts, this work treats logic, being, substance and accident, theology proper and prophethood concisely, and so became the subject of a great many commentaries and glosses. The first commentary on the book belongs to İbrî; its most famous commentary is the Meṭâliʿu'l-enẓâr of Şemseddin Mahmûd b. Abdurrahman el-İsfahânî. In the Ottoman madrasas Beyzâvî's text was taught as a textbook together with İsfahânî's commentary; many scholars from Seyyid Şerîf el-Cürcânî to Hocazâde wrote glosses on this commentary.
The expression "Tavâli'-i Isfahânî" can be understood in two ways: either Sinobî commented directly on Beyzâvî's text and Hüsameddin cited the text together with the commentary commonly taught with it, or he wrote a gloss on İsfahânî's commentary. Among the commentaries and glosses written on the Tavâli', Sinobî's name was not found in the sources; no information could be found on a manuscript of this commentary dated 721 either. Hüsameddin's record therefore has value as local testimony that the work was read and discussed in Amasya in the first quarter of the fourteenth century.
The Chief Judgeship
The title "kadı'l-kudât," which Hüsameddin uses for the Seljuk and Ilkhanid periods, describes the person at the head of Amasya's religious-law judiciary. That Sinobî first became deputy of the chief judge and then himself chief judge is the very path his teacher Sâlârî followed. No information was found in other sources on his son Hâfızeddin Mehmed Çelebi; Hüsameddin, however, calls Ahmed Çelebi, known as "Hâfızoğlu," the "son of Mevlânâ Hâfızeddin Mehmed Çelebi" and writes that he is seen in the records in 807 with the title "Umdetü'l-Fuzalâ." Whether this Hâfızeddin is Sinobî's son does not follow with certainty from the text.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 83–83. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 3, "Dokuzuncu Fasıl" (Ninth Chapter), p. 394–399; vol. 6, entry "Ebû İshâk İsmâil Cendî-Mevlânâ Kemâleddîn Sâlârî", p. 79–80; entry "Ebû Sa'îd Ahmed Çelebi-Mevlânâ Şemseddîn ez-Ziyârî", p. 102; entry "Ahmed Bey-Nâsıreddîn Atabeg", p. 109; entry "Ebu'l-Berekât Şemseddîn Ahmed bin el-Verdî", p. 81; entry "Ahmed Çelebi-Mevlânâ Şemseddîn", p. 117.
- Turgut Akpınar, "Amasya Tarihi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 3, 1991. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya-tarihi
Academic studies