Amasyalıdır. Yörgüç Paşa vakfı mütevellîsi ve Amasya mütesellimi Hakalacı Mustafa Bey’in dâmâdı ulemâdan Yeğen Osmân Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. Şeyh Ya’kûbzâde el-Hâc Mustafa ve Sultân Bâyezîd İmâmı Fâzıl Hasan Efendilerden [245] ahz-ı ulûm ederek ders-i âm ve müderris oldu.
Amasya medreselerini sırayla devrederek 1070 senesi ramazânında Sultân Bâyezîd Medresesi müderrisi ve Amasya müftüsü oldu. 1072’de tedrîs ü fetvâdan azliyle Kilâri Süleyman Ağa vakfı mütevellîsi ve 1076 zilhiccesinde sânîyen Sultâniyye müderrisi ve Amasya müftüsü olup 1078 senesi muharreminde ma’zûlen İstanbul’a gitdi. Sene-i mezbûre receb gurresinde Sofya müftüsü oldu.
1081 şevvâlinde Kıbrıs mollası olup 1082 şevvâlinde ma’zûl ve arpalık vechile ba’zı kasabâta kadı ve 1088 şevvâlinde Trablusşâm mollası oldu. Orada 1089 senesi zilka’desinde vefât etdi. Şeyhî Mehmed Efendi Zeyl-i Zeyl-i Şakâyık’da diyor ki: “Âlim, afîf, pâk i’tikâd idi.” Mahdûmu Mehmed Paşa ve hafîdi Ali Bey’dir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya. He was the son of the scholar Yeğen Osman Efendi and son-in-law of Hakalacı Mustafa Bey, mütevelli (trustee) of the Yörgüç Pasha foundation (waqf) and mütesellim (deputy governor) of Amasya. He acquired learning from Şeyh Yakubzâde Hacı Mustafa Efendi and from Fâzıl Hasan Efendi, imam of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and became a ders-i âm and müderris (madrasa professor).
Serving in turn in the madrasas of Amasya, in the month of Ramadan 1070 [1660] he became müderris of the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa and mufti of Amasya. In 1072 [1661-62], when he was dismissed from his teaching and fatwa duties, he became mütevelli of the foundation of Kilârî Süleyman Ağa. In Zilhicce 1076 [1666] he became for the second time müderris of the Sultaniye and mufti of Amasya; in Muharrem 1078 [1667], having left office, he went to Istanbul. On the first day of Receb of the same year he became mufti of Sofia.
In Şevval 1081 [1671] he became molla of Cyprus. In Şevval 1082 [1672] he was dismissed and was appointed judge (kadı) of certain towns as an arpalık (a stipend-bearing post). In Şevval 1088 [1677] he became molla of Tripoli in Syria. He died there in Zilkade 1089 [1678]. Şeyhî Mehmed Efendi says of him in the Zeyl-i Zeyl-i Şakâyık, "He was a scholar, chaste and pure in faith." His son was Mehmed Pasha and his grandson Ali Bey.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mütevellî: the official who administers a foundation (waqf)
- mütesellim: a deputy who governs the city on behalf of the sanjak governor
- dâmâd: son-in-law
- ahz-ı ulûm: acquiring learning, studying
- tedrîs ü fetvâ: teaching and issuing fatwas
- azl: dismissal from office
- sânîyen: for the second time
- ma'zûlen: having been dismissed from office
- gurre: the first day of the month
- molla: judge of a large city, a high-ranking judge
- arpalık: a judgeship or income given as a livelihood to a member of the scholarly class left without office
- afîf: chaste, honorable
- pâk i'tikâd: pure in belief
- hafîd: grandson
Traces in Hüsameddin's Chronicle
Yeğenzâde Ebussuud Efendi's years of service in Amasya can also be followed step by step in Hüsameddin's record of annual events in the fourth volume, and the two accounts agree. In 1068, when the mufti Fâzıl Hızır Efendi was dismissed and summoned to Sivas, "Yeğen Osman Efendizâde el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi" became mufti of Amasya in his place; this Mehmed Efendi is Ebussuud Efendi's brother. In the same volume, when the famous scholars teaching in Amasya are listed, "Mufti Yeğenzâde Mehmed Efendi" and "Yeğenzâde Ebussuud Efendi" are named side by side. It is evident that Yeğen Osman Efendi's two sons stood at the head of the city's scholarly life in the same years, and that the office of mufti passed between the two brothers at short intervals.
Ebussuud Efendi's first muftiship, in Ramadan 1070, coincided with a turbulent period for the city. According to the biography of the exegete Hızır Efendi, on the third of the same month Hızır Efendi had been dismissed after complaints instigated by the city steward (kethüda) Mumcuzâde Seyyid Ahmed Ağa, convicted on the testimony of false witnesses, and sent to Cyprus. Ebussuud Efendi thus came to the post that this quarrel had left vacant. On the tenth of Zilhicce 1076, immediately after the festival prayer, when the mufti Yeğenzâde Hacı Mehmed Efendi died, "the former mufti Ebussuud Efendi" was made mufti and müderris of the Sultaniye again. On the first day of Muharrem 1078, the chronicle writes that Ebussuud Efendi "resigned" from the fatwa office and went to Istanbul, and that Hızır Efendi was installed in his place for the fourth time. The small difference between the entry's "ma'zûlen" (dismissed) and the chronicle's "resigned" suggests that the departure may have been, in appearance, a resignation but in reality a forced withdrawal.
The Yörgüç Pasha Foundation
The Yörgüç Pasha foundation, of which Ebussuud Efendi's father-in-law Hakalacı Mustafa Bey was trustee, is one of the oldest foundations of Amasya. Yörgüç Pasha was the statesman whom Çelebi Sultan Mehmed gave as lala (tutor) to the twelve-year-old Prince Murad when he sent him to Amasya in 1414. When Murad II came to the throne, he became beylerbeyi of Rum in 826 (1423), brought the unruly lords of the region under obedience, and rose to the rank of vizier. He died in Zilhicce 845 (April-May 1442) and was buried in the tomb of the mosque he had built in Amasya. As is clear from the endowment deeds and the survey registers (tahrir defters), he had built in Amasya a mosque, a madrasa, a soup kitchen (imaret) and two baths. Hüsameddin's chronicle shows that in the seventeenth century the trusteeship of the foundation circulated among members of the Yörgüç Pashazâde family through adoption; Hakalacı Mustafa Bey's place in this chain could not be seen in any other source.
The Kilârî Süleyman Ağa Mosque
The foundation of Kilârî Süleyman Ağa, of which Ebussuud Efendi became trustee after being dismissed from the muftiship, is attached to the mosque in the Amasya bazaar. In the cultural inventory the building is recorded as a masonry mosque with a single dome and a single minaret, dated 1489, in the Dere neighborhood on Mustafa Kemal Paşa Street, opposite the bedesten. There is an inscription above the small arch of its door, and the transition to the dome is made with corner squinches; the building is still used as a mosque and is the responsibility of the Directorate of Foundations (Vakıflar).
A noteworthy detail is that when Hüsameddin describes this mosque in the first volume, he calls its founder "Kilârî Selîm Ağa." There he says that the mosque was completed in 890, that the Arabic couplets above its door give this date, and that the endowment deed was drawn up in 900. In this entry, however, the same foundation appears as the "foundation of Kilârî Süleyman Ağa." Today the building is known as Kilari Süleyman Ağa; whether the name "Selîm" in the first volume is a slip or a different reading is uncertain.
Cyprus, Sofia and Tripoli
Ebussuud Efendi's life after Amasya shows the usual path of seventeenth-century members of the scholarly class: the muftiship, then mollaships in the islands and distant provinces, and in the intervening years of being left without office, small judgeships given as arpalık. Şeyhî Mehmed Efendi (d. 1144/1731), whom Hüsameddin cites, is the author of the Vekāyiu'l-fuzalâ, the continuation of Nev'îzâde Atâî's supplement. The work covers scholars, sheikhs and poets who died between 1042 and 1144 (1632-1731) and was completed in 1130 (1718). At the end of each sultan's reign Şeyhî added a list of those who served as judges in many cities, including Sofia, Tripoli and Nicosia. That a molla of Tripoli who died in 1089 appears in this work is therefore to be expected. The original text containing the words "scholar, chaste, pure in faith" that Hüsameddin quotes could not be seen in this study.
No information was found in other sources on the son Mehmed Pasha and the grandson Ali Bey mentioned at the end of the entry.
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. 1, Mukaddime (Kilârî Mosque), p. 123–132; vol. 4, entry "Ahmed Paşa", p. 580–581; entry "Ali Bey", p. 581–582; entry "Ferhad Paşa", p. 589–590; vol. 9, entry "Hızır Efendi-Müfessîr el-Hâc", p. 117–118.
Academic studies
Official sources