In the second half of the seventeenth century Selîmzâde Emnî Süleyman Çelebi, a calligrapher and poet from Amasya, put his pen first at the service of a pasha's divan in Egypt and Damascus, then of the upper ranks of the finance administration in Istanbul. In retirement he joined the Kadiri order, and he died in 1110 (1698-99). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar says he drew his life from official records, and bears witness to his poetry with a quotation from Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn, the biographical dictionary of calligraphers; the only poem by Emnî that has come down to us is the quatrain in that quotation. Who Firârî Mustafa Pasha was is investigated, together with Hüsameddin's entry, on the page Emnî Süleyman Çelebi-Selîmzâde.

Hüsameddin's Account

Amasyalıdır. Amasya'da Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî evkâf-ı mütevellîsi iken l079'da vefât eden mîrlivâ Amasyalı el-Hâc Selîm Bey bin Mirza Bey'in mahdûmudur. Amasya'da doğdu. Bir müddet Hatûniye hatîbi Fazlullah Efendi'den temeşşuk-ı hatt etdi. Ba'dehû İstanbul'a gidip bir tarafdan tahsîl-i maârif ve diğer tarafdan sülüs, nesîh, tevkî', dîvânî hatlarını hattât-ı meşhûr Seyyid Haşimî Çelebi'den ahz ve temeşşuk ederek mücâz oldu. Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn ketebesinden iken Mısır vâlisi Firârî Mustafa Paşa'ya dîvân kâtibi oldu. [...] Tekâüd edildikden sonra Tarîkat-ı Kâdirîyyeden inâbe etmiş şâir, zarîf, hattât-ı mâhir idi. Buna Emîn Süleyman Çelebi de denirdi.

In English: He was from Amasya, the son of Hacı Selîm Bey of Amasya, a sanjak governor (mirliva) who died in 1079 (1668-69) while administering the endowments of Sultan Bayezid II in Amasya; his grandfather was Mirza Bey. He was born in Amasya. For a time he practised calligraphy under Fazlullah Efendi, preacher of the Hatuniye Mosque. Then he went to Istanbul, where he pursued his studies on the one hand and, on the other, learned the sülüs, nesih, tevkî and divanî scripts from the famous calligrapher Seyyid Hâşimî Çelebi and received his licence. While a secretary of the Imperial Council he became divan secretary to Firârî Mustafa Pasha, governor of Egypt. After his retirement he joined the Kadiri order; he was a poet, a man of refinement and a skilled calligrapher. He was also called Emîn Süleyman Çelebi.

His Life

Emnî's life was tied to the rising and falling fortunes of his master, Firârî Mustafa Pasha. When the pasha was dismissed from the governorship of Egypt in Şaban 1067 (May 1657) and fled, Emnî stayed for a time in Damascus and in 1071 (1660-61) became secretary of the Damascus accounts office. The pasha, who owed the nickname "Firârî", the fugitive, to these years in hiding, reappeared in 1073; according to Hüsameddin, when he became governor of Damascus in 1074, Emnî again travelled from city to city as his divan secretary. When the pasha died at Basra in 1082 (1671-72), Emnî returned to Istanbul. Through the favour of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha he became superintendent of barley supplies, in 1090 (1679) chief accountant and in 1095 (1683-84) head of the tax-farm office. He retired in 1099 (1687-88) and died in 1110.

In writing this life Hüsameddin also makes a correction. Müstakimzâde Süleyman Sâdeddin Efendi's Tuhfe-i Hattâtîn describes Emnî as "divan secretary to Firârî Hasan Pasha, governor of Egypt". Hüsameddin points out that there was no vizier called Firârî Hasan Pasha at that time, that the right name is Firârî Mustafa Pasha, and that his own biography is taken from official records. Who Emnî's calligraphy teacher Seyyid Hâşimî Çelebi was could not be established.

His Connection with Amasya

Emnî was born in Amasya and came from one of its leading families. His father Hacı Selîm Bey was a man of Amasya holding the rank of mirliva and had administered the endowments of Bayezid II in Amasya; the name "Selîmzâde" comes from this father. He took his first steps in calligraphy in Amasya too, under Fazlullah Efendi, preacher of the Hatuniye Mosque and one of the well-known calligraphers of the day. Whether he ever returned to the town after leaving it is unknown; the rest of his life was spent between Egypt, Damascus and Istanbul.

His Poetry

No source attributes a divan to Emnî. Two sources speak of him as a poet: Hüsameddin's description "poet, man of refinement" and Müstakimzâde's mention of him as "a refined poet of the Kadiri path". In the lines Hüsameddin quotes, Müstakimzâde also gives a song text (güfte) written by Emnî. These four lines praise Abdülkâdir-i Geylânî, founder of the Kadiri order, and end with a pen-name couplet in which the poet addresses himself. Müstakimzâde's sentence immediately before the quatrain mentions a tahmîs (a poem expanding another into five-line stanzas) and the date 1110, but in the form in which it is quoted it is obscure and what it describes cannot be made out clearly. The text of the quatrain and its commentary are on the page "Kadri gâyetde a'lâdır Şeyh Abdülkâdirin".

Chronology

Şaban 1067 (May 1657): Firârî Mustafa Pasha is dismissed from the governorship of Egypt and flees; Emnî stays in Damascus.

1071 (1660-61): He becomes secretary of the Damascus accounts office.

1079 (1668-69): His father Hacı Selîm Bey dies in Amasya.

1082 (1671-72): Firârî Mustafa Pasha dies at Basra; Emnî returns to Istanbul.

1090 (1679): He becomes chief accountant.

1099 (1687-88): He retires.

1110 (1698-99): He dies.

Bibliography

Online sources