Amasyalıdır. Ferâiz’in üstâd-ı yegânesi şeyhü’l-ulemâ Erzurumî Ömer Efendi bin Emîn Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. Üçler Mahallesi’nde 1286’da doğdu. Sultân Bâyezîd Mektebi muallimi Kara Müezzin İbrâhim Efendi’den hızf-ı Kur’ân edib [337] 1298’de Rüşdiye Mektebi’ne girdi.
1302’de birincilikle mektebden şehâdetnâme alıp Köprülü Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Tevfik Efendi’nin halka-i tedrîsine mülâzemet etdiği gibi Mecdîzâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi’nin dersine de muvâzabet ederek 1314’de her iki fâzıldan icâzetnâme aldı. Bu esnâda birâderi Mustafa Ziya Efendi’den hayli istifâde etdi.
1315’de İstanbul’a gidip ba’zı zevâtın derslerine devam ederek 1319’da mekteb-i nüvvâba girdi. 1323 senesi recebinde râbia sınıfından şehâdetnâme alıp Bâlâ, Gürün, Çal, Merzifon kazâlarına sırasıyla kadı oldu.
1334’de sâlise sınıfına terfî’ edilip Sinop sancâğına kadı oldu. 1337’de kadı olduğu halde vefât etdi. Âlim, müdebbir, gâyet zekî, muktedir, usûl-âşinâ, şâir bir zât idi. Amasya‘da Arpacı esnâfından Gürcü Muharrem Ağa’nın kerîmesiyle teehhül etmişdi.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Erzurumî Ömer Efendi, the unique master of ferâiz (the law of inheritance) and şeyhü'l-ulemâ (chief of the scholars); Ömer Efendi was the son of Emîn Ağa. He was born in 1286 [1869-70] in the Üçler quarter. He memorized the Qur'an with İbrâhim Efendi Kara Müezzin, teacher at the Sultân Bâyezîd School, and in 1298 [1880-81] entered the Rüşdiye School.
In 1302 [1884-85] he received a diploma from the school with first place; he joined the teaching circle of Köprülü Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Tevfik Efendi and also attended the lessons of Mecdîzâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi, and in 1314 [1896-97] he received licences from both of these learned men. During this time he also benefited greatly from his brother Mustafa Ziya Efendi.
In 1315 [1897-98] he went to Istanbul and attended the lessons of several persons, and in 1319 [1901-02] he entered the Nüvvâb School (the school that trained naibs, that is, sharia judges). In the month of Receb 1323 [1905] he received a diploma from the fourth class and became kadı (judge) of the districts of Bâlâ, Gürün, Çal and Merzifon in turn.
In 1334 [1915-16] he was promoted to the third class and became kadı of the sanjak of Sinop. In 1337 [1918-19] he died while serving as kadı. He was a learned man, prudent, very intelligent, capable, versed in procedure, and a poet. He had married in Amasya the daughter of Gürcü Muharrem Ağa of the barley merchants' guild.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- ferâiz: the law of inheritance
- üstâd-ı yegâne: the unique master, a teacher without equal
- şeyhü'l-ulemâ: the sheikh of the scholars, the chief of the scholars
- hıfz-ı Kur'ân: memorizing the Qur'an
- şehâdetnâme: a diploma
- mülâzemet: training by joining a teacher's teaching circle
- muvâzabet: attending regularly
- icâzetnâme: a document showing the right to teach and to transmit learning
- mekteb-i nüvvâb: the school that trained naibs (sharia judges)
- râbia, sâlise: fourth, third class
- kadı: a sharia judge
- muktedir: capable, able
- usûl-âşinâ: familiar with procedure and method
- teehhül: marriage
The Nüvvâb School
The school Erzurumîzâde entered in Istanbul was the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb, founded in the Tanzimat period to train sharia judges. At first the school was the two-year Muallimhâne-i Nüvvâb; in 1883 its name was changed to Mekteb-i Nüvvâb, the number of students was raised from fifty to ninety and the length of study from two years to four. Subjects such as fıkıh, ferâiz, composition, calligraphy, orthography and arithmetic were taught at the school. That Erzurumîzâde entered in 1319 and received his diploma from the fourth class in 1323 fits this four-year arrangement. After 1908 the school was called Mekteb-i Kudât, and it ceased its activities when the sharia courts were closed in 1924. Under the regulation of 1855 judges had been divided into five classes by knowledge and ability, the first being the highest and the fifth the lowest. The phrase "sâlise sınıfına terfî" in the text indicates promotion to the third class within this classification; however, the sources do not state that the class names Hüsameddin uses match this arrangement one to one, so this is an inference.
His Teachers and His Circle in Amasya
Köprülü Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Tevfik Efendi, named in the entry, was born in Köprü in 1858 according to a study based on the Meşîhat Archive documents, and is known as "Köprülü Hacı Hâfız". He became a hâfız at the Abdulgânizâde School in Köprü before the age of ten, studied at the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa in Amasya, received a licence from Harputî Ali Efendi in 1883, settled in Amasya in 1884 and began to teach. Between 1900 and 1904 he was a member of the Amasya court of first instance, and he wrote commentary and gloss notes on books taught at the madrasas. This information agrees with the licence of 1314 [1896-97] that Hüsameddin gives: Mustafa Tevfik Efendi was training pupils in Amasya in those years.
His other teacher, Mecdîzâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi, became müderris at a madrasa in 1305 [1887-88] in Hüsameddin's book, and in the same period is also named as mufti of Amasya (when describing his own education Hüsameddin names Abdurrahman Kâmil as the mufti of Amasya of that time). The names of Mustafa Tevfik Efendi and Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi are also counted among the teachers of another müderris in the Meşîhat Archive, Süleyman Sadeddîn Şevki Efendi of Ordu; that is, the two teachers of Erzurumîzâde were persons teaching the same circle in Amasya during that pupil's studies between 1880 and 1892.
No record outside the book was found on the fame of his father, Erzurumî Ömer Efendi, in ferâiz.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, 7. Cilt, p. 366. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Giriş, pp. 15–17; vol. 1, pp. 161–167.
Academic studies
- İlhami Yurdakul, "Mekteb-i Nüvvâb", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, EK-2, Ankara 2019, pp. 240–241. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/mekteb-i-nuvvab
- Hasan Telli, "Meşihat Arşivi'ne Göre Amasya Müderrisleri", Kocatepe İslami İlimler Dergisi, 7/2, 2024, pp. 732–758. https://doi.org/10.52637/kiid.1512049