Amasyalıdır. Amasya’da Mehmed Paşa’nın türbesinin bahçesinde medfûn olan kutb-ı zaman eş-Şeyh Habîb-i Karamânî hazretlerinin mahdûmudur. Pederinin halîfe-i zî-şânı Mevlânâ Seydî Alâeddîn Ali Halvetî hizmetinde tahsîl-i ilm ü irfân ederek ondan mücâz ve me’zûn oldu.
Şeyhinin 940’da vefâtı üzerine Mehmed Paşa Câmii vâ’izi, Doğrakiyye Medresesi müderrisi, Mehmed Paşa Tekkesinin şeyhi olup 948 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Meşâyîh-i Halvetiyyeden âlim, [253] zâhid, müteşerri’ bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Abdulbâkî Efendi’dir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of the revered Şeyh Habîb-i Karamânî, the pole (kutb) of his age, who is buried in the garden of the tomb of Mehmed Pasha in Amasya. Learning knowledge and spiritual insight in the service of his father's high-ranking deputy (halife), Mevlânâ Seydî Alâeddîn Ali Halvetî, he received from him a license (icazet) and permission to guide disciples.
When his sheikh died in 940 [1533-34], he became preacher of the Mehmed Pasha Mosque, müderris of the Doğrakiyye Madrasa and sheikh of the Mehmed Pasha Lodge (tekke); he died around 948 [1541-42]. He was one of the Halvetiyye sheikhs, a scholar, an ascetic and a person bound to the sharia. His son was Abdülbâkî Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- medfûn: buried
- kutb-ı zaman: in Sufism, the saint of the highest rank of his age
- halîfe-i zî-şân: a glorious deputy; a disciple whom the sheikh authorizes to succeed him and to guide others
- ilm ü irfân: outward knowledge and spiritual insight
- mücâz ve me'zûn: licensed and permitted to guide
- hudûd: vicinity, surroundings (for a date, "approximately")
- meşâyîh-i Halvetiyye: the sheikhs of the Halvetî order
- zâhid: an ascetic, a person devoted to worship who does not set his heart on the world
His Father Habîb-i Karamânî
Ebu'l-Vefâ Ahmed Efendi's father, Habîb-i Karamânî, is among the first Halvetî sheikhs active in Anatolia. He was born in the town of Ortaköy near Niğde, and since the region was then attached to the province of Karaman, he was called by the nisba Karamânî. Staying twelve years with Yahyâ-yı Şirvânî, regarded as the second pir of the Halvetiyye, he received the deputyship (hilâfet) from him; after returning to Anatolia he traveled among Ankara, Aydın, Kayseri, Konya and Karaman, and went on the pilgrimage three times. In İskilip he married Rukiye Hatun, daughter of Şeyh Yavsî, that is, the sister of Ebüssuûd Efendi; when he fell into disagreement with his father-in-law, he came to Amasya and founded a lodge (zaviye) here. He died in Amasya in 902 (1496); in some studies the date of death is given as 903 (1497).
The text does not say who Ebu'l-Vefâ's mother was. The kinship with Ebüssuûd Efendi may have been established through this marriage; but no record was found that Ebu'l-Vefâ was born of Rukiye Hatun.
The Mehmed Pasha Complex and the Lodge
The place Hüsameddin calls "the garden of Mehmed Pasha's tomb" is the complex that Hızır Paşazâde Mehmed Pasha, vizier of Bayezid II and lala (tutor) of Prince Ahmed, had built near the Yeşilırmak. According to the mosque's inscription, construction was completed in Muharrem 891 (January 1486). The lodge attached to the complex was built for Habîb-i Karamânî in 890 (1485). Outside the tomb, in front of the door, there are three graves side by side: the first belongs to Mehmed Pasha's father Hızır Pasha, the second to Mehmed Pasha, and the third to Habîb-i Karamânî. Thus the burial place Hüsameddin gives is confirmed by present-day observation. It is recorded that the grave of Habîb's deputy Seydi Halife is also in the same place. Of the complex, the mosque, the tabhane (guest-lodge) wings and the tomb have come down to the present; the madrasa and soup kitchen were destroyed by fire, and after the lodge was given as housing to Caucasian immigrants in 1879, it never returned to its original function.
A Disagreement over the Lodge's Sheikhs
According to Hüsameddin, after Habîb's death his deputy Seydî Alâeddîn Ali took over the head of the lodge, and after his death in 940 the sheikhship passed to Habîb's son Ebu'l-Vefâ Ahmed. A recent study examining the Halvetî lodges in Amasya, however, writes that after Habîb the sheikh and mütevelli was Seyyidüddin Ali Halvetî, known as İmamzâde Seydi, after him Habîb's son Hasan Efendi, and after that Mehmed Efendi, known as Yamak Şeyh; Mehmed Efendi went to Istanbul in 1554. In this sequence Ebu'l-Vefâ's name does not appear, and Hasan Efendi is mentioned as Habîb's son. Whether the two scholars point to the same person, or whether two different sons of Habîb served as sheikh in succession, cannot be resolved with the available sources.
The Doğrakiyye Madrasa
The Doğrakiyye (Doğrakiye) Madrasa, where Ebu'l-Vefâ served as müderris, is counted among the madrasas founded in Amasya in the Ottoman period, together with the Büyük Ağa, Küçük Ağa, Sultan Bayezid, Şamlılar, Çöplüce and Alaca Yahyâ madrasas. No information was found on the present state of the building.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 85–85. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Official sources
Books