Tosyalı Mevlânâ Hacı Yûsuf Çelebizâde Eflânî Kadısı Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur.¹⁶ Ceddi Kastamonu kadısı iken 854’de doğdu. Eflânî’de büyüdü. 873’de Amasya’ya gelip Hatîb Kâsım Efendi’den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm oldu.
Otuz yıl kadar Amasya’da tedrîs-i ulûm edib birkaç medreseye müderris olduktan sonra Yörgüç Paşa müderrisi iken 917 senesi evâ’ilinde Zünnûn Baba vak’asında vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan vâ’iz, müteşerri’ bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Mehmed Efendi ve birâderleri Seydî Mahmûd, Mustafa, Mü’eyyed Efendilerdir.
In Modern English
He was the son of Mehmed Çelebi, judge (kadı) of Eflani, who was the son of Mevlânâ Hacı Yûsuf Çelebi of Tosya. He was born in 854 [1450-51], while his grandfather was judge of Kastamonu. He grew up in Eflani. In 873 [1468-69] he came to Amasya, completed his studies under Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, and became a ders-i âm (a müderris who gives general lectures).
After teaching in Amasya for some thirty years and serving as müderris in several madrasas, he died, while müderris of the Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa, in early 917 [1511], during the incident of Zünnûn Baba. He was among the well-known scholars, a preacher and a person strictly bound to the sharia. His son was Mehmed Efendi; his brothers were Seydî Mahmûd, Mustafa and Mü'eyyed Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- cedd: grandfather, ancestor
- ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's studies
- ders-i âm: a müderris who gives lectures open to all in a mosque or madrasa
- tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching the sciences, giving lessons
- evâ'il: the first days, the beginning (of a month or year)
- vak'a: event, disturbance
- meşâhîr-i ulemâ: well-known scholars
- müteşerri': strictly bound to the sharia
- birâder: brother
Hüsameddin's Source
Hüsameddin states the basis of this short biography openly in a footnote: Ebu'l-Leys Efendi wrote, on the back of a book that came into his hands, his own birth, his ancestry, his brothers, and his coming and settling in Amasya. The year of birth in the entry, the offices of the grandfather and father, and the brothers' names rest on this record. Since the word "ihvân" (brothers) appears in the footnote, it is understood that Seydî Mahmûd, Mustafa and Mü'eyyed Efendi at the end of the text are Ebu'l-Leys's own brothers and not his son's; the original sentence lends itself to two readings.
His Teacher Hatîb Kâsım Efendi
Hatîb Kâsım Efendi, under whom Ebu'l-Leys was trained in Amasya, is the head of one of the city's long-established scholarly families. His son Hatîbzâde Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi was born in Amasya on 27 Şaban 864 (17 June 1460), received his first education from his father, served as müderris in the madrasas of Amasya, Bursa, Istanbul and Edirne, tutored Prince Ahmed, and died in 940 (1534). When Ebu'l-Leys came to Amasya in 873, Muhyiddin Mehmed was a child of eight or nine; that is, Ebu'l-Leys belongs to the generation that, in Hatîb Kâsım's house and lessons, witnessed the rise of this family. The genealogy of the same family is traced up to Halfet Gâzi in the entry on Ebûbekir Bey, a little further on in the book.
The Yörgüç Pasha Madrasa
The madrasa that was Ebu'l-Leys's last post is part of the complex that Yörgüç Pasha, lala (tutor) of Murad II, had built in 1430 in the Gökmedrese neighborhood on the bank of the Yeşilırmak. The complex consisted of a mosque, a madrasa, a bath, an inn (han), a tomb and a soup kitchen (imaret), and is regarded as the first Ottoman complex built after the city passed to Ottoman administration. Today only the mosque and the tomb to the west of the entrance iwan of this group survive; the madrasa has not come down to us.
The Problem of the "Incident of Zünnûn Baba"
Hüsameddin gives the date of death as the beginning of 917 and links it to the "incident of Zünnûn Baba." The uprising known in the history books as Baba Zünnûn, however, broke out in Bozok (Yozgat) in August 1526, and Baba Zünnûn was defeated and killed by the forces of Pîrî Bey, sanjak governor of Adana, on 26 September 1526; this falls in the Hijri year 932. The year 917 [1511], on the other hand, is the year of the Şahkulu uprising for the Amasya region: the revolt began in April 1511 in the province of Teke, spread as far as Kütahya, and Şahkulu and the Grand Vizier Hadım Ali Pasha met near Sivas on 2 July 1511. In the same years, after Prince Ahmed left Amasya, the Safavid caliphs (halifes) took control of Tokat, and the disorder subsided only when the rebels were driven out of Amasya. Whether the event Hüsameddin mentions was the Bozok uprising of 1526, or a local event in the disturbances of 1511 led by a baba named Zünnûn, cannot be settled with this information. It must be noted that the date and the name do not agree with each other.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 84–85. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Books
Other sources