[239] Fuzalâdan Kırîmî Ahmed Şemseddîn Efendi ibn-i Abdullah’ın mahdûmudur. Pederinin kaydı üzerine 841 senesi şa’bânının on altıncı günü Amasya’da doğdu. Pederinden ahz-ı ulûm edib Amasya’da ders-i âm ve müderris-i benâm oldu.
871’de pederiyle beraber İstanbul’a gidip orada müderris ve ba’dehû kibâr-ı bilâde kadı oldu. Pederinin medfûn olduğu Molla Kesteli Câmii civârındaki hazîresi ittisâlinde bir mescid-i şerîf ve kütübhâne yaptırdı. Emlâkini ve kitaplarını mescid ve kütübhânesine vakfedib 903 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. İstanbul’da “Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi” diye meşhûr, fâzıl bir kadı idi. Bunun mahdûmu Abdullah Efendi’dir. “Şakâyık” ve tercemesinde mezkûr olan ulemâdandırlar.
In Modern English
He was the son of Kırîmî Ahmed Şemseddin Efendi ibn Abdullah, one of the scholars. According to a note kept by his father, he was born in Amasya on the sixteenth day of the month of Sha'ban 841 [February 1438]. Learning the sciences from his father, he began teaching in Amasya and became a well-known professor.
In 871 [1466-67] he went to Istanbul with his father, became a professor there, and later a kadı in great cities. Next to the cemetery near the Molla Kestel Mosque, where his father is buried, he had a small mosque (mescid) and a library built. Endowing his properties and books to this mescid and library, he died after 903 [1497-98]. He was a virtuous kadı known in Istanbul as "Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi." His son was Abdullah Efendi. They are among the scholars named in the Şakâyık and in its translation.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- fuzalâ: virtuous scholars
- peder: father
- kayd: a written note, a record
- ahz-ı ulûm: learning the sciences
- müderris-i benâm: a professor whose name has become known
- kibâr-ı bilâd: great cities
- hazîre: an enclosed cemetery beside a mosque or tomb
- ittisâl: adjoining
- mezkûr: the said, aforementioned
His Father Seyyid Ahmed Kırîmî
The father, whom Hüsameddin calls "Kırîmî Ahmed Şemseddin Efendi ibn Abdullah," is Seydî Şemseddin Ahmed-i Kırîmî, one of the well-known figures of fifteenth-century Ottoman scholarly life. In the entry on the Çelebi Sultan Mehmed Madrasa in Merzifon, among the leading scholars who taught after its founding in this madrasa, called "Merzifon Sultâniyesi" among the people, Seydî Şemseddin Ahmed-i Kırîmî is counted together with Ferîdüddîn-i Dîvânî, Rükneddin Abdülkerim of Amasya and Nizâmeddin Abdurrahman-ı Âftâbî. Halil İnalcık too, describing the scholarly life of Murad II's reign, mentions Seydî Ahmed Kırîmî among the valuable scholars who came in this period from Arabia, Turkestan and Crimea.
According to details given in some sources, this scholar, whose name was Ahmed bin Abdullah, was born and raised in Crimea, studied under teachers such as Hâfızüddin Muhammed el-Bezzâzî, author of the Fetâvâ-yı Bezzâziyye, and Mevlânâ Şerefeddin Kırîmî, came to the Ottoman lands in the time of Murad II and was appointed professor to the Merzifon Madrasa. He came to Istanbul in the time of Mehmed the Conqueror, took part in the sultan's conversation gatherings, and died in Istanbul in 879 (1474), and was buried near the Fatih Mosque, in the mescid that his son Muhyiddin Efendi had built beside the Molla Kestel Mosque. Glosses on Taftazani's Şerhu'l-Akâid, Mutavvel and Telvîh, on the Baydawi tafsir, and a Persian commentary on the Gülşen-i Râz are attributed to him. This last information is taken from a biographical compilation aimed at the general public and could not be compared with an academic source.
These records agree well with what Hüsameddin relates. That the son was born in Amasya in 841 (1438) while the father was a professor in Merzifon agrees with the father's having come to the region in the time of Murad II. Hüsameddin's saying that father and son went to Istanbul together in 871 falls in the time of the Conqueror. That the son had a mescid built beside his father's grave tells the same event from two sides, as does the sources' note "he was buried in the mescid built by his son."
Molla Kestel and the Neighborhood
The Molla Kestel Mescid, beside which Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi's mescid lay, is registered today in the Fatih district of Istanbul, within the boundaries of the Kemalpaşa quarter. No information could be reached on whether the mescid and library built by Muhyiddin Çelebi still stand today.
The Şakâyık
The Şakâyık that Hüsameddin mentions is Taşköprizâde's work titled eş-Şekâik, containing biographies of Ottoman scholars; by its "translation" must be meant the Turkish translation that Fuad Köprülü cites among his sources for the scholars of Amasya as "Taşköprülüzâde Mecdî." Because these works could not be reached directly, no detail could be given on the cities in which Muhyiddin Mehmed Çelebi served as kadı or on his son Abdullah Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 81–81. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Books