Erzurûmîzâde Hâfız Emîn Ali Mehmed Efendi earns a footnote in literary history less for himself than for his elder brother: Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar writes that he could not obtain from him a single ghazal of that brother, Hüsnî Yûsuf Efendi, who had a divan of his own. Emîn Ali himself was a jurist. He graduated first in his class from the Amasya rüşdiye (middle school), completed the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb in Istanbul and, after serving as judge in several districts of Anatolia, died in 1337 (1918-19) as judge of Sinop. His father was Erzurumî Ömer Efendi, whom Hüsameddin calls "ferâizin üstâd-ı yegânesi", Amasya's foremost teacher of the law of inheritance. The son the historian presents as "âlim, müdebbir, gâyet zekî, muktedir, usûl-âşinâ, şâir bir zât": learned, prudent, very clever, capable, versed in method, and a poet. A glossary of Hüsameddin's text, with notes on the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb and on his teachers, is gathered on the page Emîn Ali Mehmed Efendi-Erzurûmîzâde Hâfız.

Hüsameddin's Entry

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 hıfz-ı Kur'ân edib 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.

The entry in today's English: an Amasya man, he was born to Erzurumî Ömer Efendi, the sole master of the law of inheritance and doyen of the scholars, whose father was Emîn Ağa. He was born in 1286 (1869-70) in the Üçler quarter. He memorised the Qur'an with Kara Müezzin İbrâhim Efendi, teacher at the Sultan Bayezid school, and in 1298 (1880-81) entered the rüşdiye. In 1302 (1884-85) he graduated first in his class; he then attended the study circle of Köprülü Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Tevfik Efendi and the lessons of Mecdîzâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi, and in 1314 (1896-97) received a licence (icazet) from both. During this time he also learned a great deal from his elder brother Mustafa Ziya Efendi. In 1315 (1897-98) he went to Istanbul, followed the classes of several teachers and in 1319 (1901-02) entered the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb. In Rajab 1323 (September 1905) he graduated with a fourth-class diploma and served in turn as judge of the districts of Bâlâ, Gürün, Çal and Merzifon. In 1334 (1915-16) he was promoted to the third class and became judge of the sanjak of Sinop, and he died in that post in 1337. He was learned, prudent, very clever, capable, versed in method, and wrote poetry. In Amasya he had married the daughter of Gürcü Muharrem Ağa, of the barley dealers' guild.

A Family of Inheritance Lawyers

From what Hüsameddin tells us, three sons of Erzurumî Ömer Efendi are known. Mustafa Ziya Efendi was the elder brother with whom Emîn Ali studied. The middle son, Hüsnî Yûsuf Efendi, was born in 1283 (1866-67) in Saka Street in Üçler; he too graduated first from the rüşdiye, went to Istanbul and joined the army, and, according to his entry, won a literary reputation through polemics in print with Muallim Nâcî. He fell ill and died on the road home to Amasya in 1307 (1889-90). Emîn Ali was the youngest of the family; a short entry in the eleventh volume, headed "Âlî Mehmed Emîn Efendi-Erzurûmîzâde", introduces him as "the younger son of the inheritance lawyer Erzurûmî Ömer Efendi" and refers the reader to the main entry in volume seven.

That the two younger brothers graduated first from the Amasya rüşdiye one after the other shows the family's place among the school's first generations. The article The Rise of Education in Amasya, on the school in these years, likewise names Hüsnî Yûsuf, who graduated in 1301, beside Emîn Ali, who graduated in 1302. Hüsameddin finished the same school in 1304; he must have known the two brothers from the school benches.

Teachers and Years as a Judge

The two teachers Emîn Ali followed after the rüşdiye stood at the centre of Amasya's learned circle at the end of the century. Köprülü Hacı Hâfız Mustafa Tevfik Efendi would later become mufti and deputy of Amasya and write commentaries on prosody. Mecdîzâde Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi was mufti of Amasya and wrote poetry as Kâmil. Since no source other than Hüsameddin mentions Emîn Ali as a poet, we cannot tell whether he turned to poetry in the company of these teachers.

The Mekteb-i Nüvvâb he entered in Istanbul was the school, attached to the office of the Şeyhülislam, that trained the religious judges called naibs. A reform of 1883 had extended its course to four years, with lessons in law, inheritance, the drafting of legal documents, composition and calligraphy. Emîn Ali's entry in 1319 and graduation in 1323 fit this four-year course. The grades Hüsameddin calls "râbia sınıfı" and "sâlise sınıfı" can be understood within the system that, since 1855, had ranked naibs in five classes by learning and seniority; on this reading Emîn Ali began as a fourth-class naib and was raised to the third class eleven years later. His posts stretched from Bâlâ near Ankara to Gürün in Sivas, from Çal in Denizli to Merzifon near his home town. The judgeship of the sanjak of Sinop was the last stop of his career; he died there, still in office, in 1918-19.

His Poetry

We have none of his poems. Another piece of information Hüsameddin gives about him makes this absence all the more striking. He ends the entry on the elder brother Hüsnî Yûsuf with the words "Dîvân-ı eş'ârı vardı. Küçük birâderi Emîn Alî Efendi'den ricâ ve ısrârıma rağmen bir gazelini bile alamadım": he had a divan of poems; despite my requests and insistence I could not obtain even one of his ghazals from his younger brother Emîn Ali Efendi. The brother's divan was in Emîn Ali's hands or within his knowledge, and he would not share it despite the historian's insistence. Perhaps his own poems stayed within the family in the same way. The year in which Hüsameddin made his request is not known, and nothing is known of the fate of Emîn Ali's papers after his death.

Chronology

1286 (1869-70): Birth in the Üçler quarter of Amasya.

1298 (1880-81): After memorising the Qur'an, enters the Amasya rüşdiye.

1302 (1884-85): Graduates first from the rüşdiye.

1314 (1896-97): Receives licences from Mustafa Tevfik and Abdurrahman Kâmil Efendi.

1319 (1901-02): Enters the Mekteb-i Nüvvâb in Istanbul.

Rajab 1323 (1905): Graduates with a fourth-class diploma; serves as judge in Bâlâ, Gürün, Çal and Merzifon.

1334 (1915-16): Promoted to the third class, becomes judge of the sanjak of Sinop.

1337 (1918-19): Dies while judge of Sinop.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources