Seyrekzâde Emrullah Mehmed Efendi, who in his own writings always signed himself "Zeyrekzâde", was a sixteenth-century Ottoman scholar, a pupil of Taşköprîzâde, who served as judge in Baghdad, Manisa, Tripoli of Syria and Salonica. According to Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar he was born in Amasya in 945 (1539), while his father was mufti of Amasya, and died on the Night of Berat in 1008 (1600) as judge (molla) of İzmir. Hüsameddin calls him "a poet, a man of integrity" but gives no poem of his. The two short poems known under his name today are Arabic pieces found on the blank pages of manuscripts he used, published in a long study by Mehmet Kalaycı and Muzaffer Tan in 2021. Neither is certainly his. Hüsameddin's record is given in full, with notes, under the heading Emrullah Mehmed Efendi-Seyrekzâde es-Seyyid.

Hüsameddin's Record

The parts of the entry concerning his birth, death and character read as follows:

Emrullah Mehmed Efendi-Seyrekzâde es-Seyyid Amasyalıdır. Amasya'da müftü iken Amasya Vâlisi Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa'ya muallim olan Kalecikli es-Seyyid Seyrek Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Pederi Amasya Müftüsü iken 945 senesi zilka'desinin beşinci perşembe gecesi doğdu. İki yaşında iken pederinin irtihâline binâen vâlidesinin yanında büyüdü. Mukaddimât-ı ulûmu Amasya'da fâzıl-ı meşhûr Cum'a ve Müfessir Ahmed Efendilerden görüp 966'da yirmi bir yaşında İstanbul'a gitdi. [...] 1008 senesi şa'bânında İzmir mollası olduğu halde Leyle-i Berâtda dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi. Fâzıl, sâlih, erbâb-ı tarîkdan müteneffir, harîs-i fazl ve kemâl, tünd-meşreb, dellâl-ı uyûb idi. "Eşbâh ve Nezâir-i Fıkhiyye"ye ta'likâtı, "Ebu's-Su'ûd Efendi Tefsîri" kenârında kelimâtı, "Şakâyık-ı Nu'mâniye"ye zeyli vardır. Şâir, afîf idi.

Rendered into English: He is from Amasya. He is the son of Seyyid Seyrek Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi of Kalecik, who while mufti of Amasya was tutor to Şehzade Sultan Mustafa (Prince Mustafa), governor of Amasya. He was born on Thursday night, the fifth of Zilkade in the year 945, while his father was mufti of Amasya. When he was two years old his father died, and he grew up with his mother. He read the introductory sciences in Amasya with the famous scholars Cum'a Efendi and Müfessir Ahmed Efendi, and in 966, at the age of twenty-one, went to İstanbul. [...] In Şaban of the year 1008, while judge of İzmir, he died on the Night of Berat. He was virtuous and pious, averse to the people of the Sufi orders, eager for learning and perfection, of a harsh temper, and a proclaimer of other men's faults. He has notes (ta'likât) on the "Eşbâh ve Nezâir", remarks in the margins of Ebussuûd Efendi's Quran commentary, and a continuation (zeyl) of the Şakâik-ı Nu'mâniye. He was a poet and a man of integrity.

In the omitted part Hüsameddin lists one by one the madrasas he entered in İstanbul and his judgeships in Baghdad, Manisa, Tripoli of Syria and Salonica; at the end of the entry he records his sons Yunus and Ahmed Efendi, Nev'îzâde Atâyî's verdict on the continuation, "it did not become famous because most of it is abuse", and the fact that the continuation could not be found.

Life

Which prince his father Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi taught varies from source to source. Hüsameddin counts him as mufti of Amasya and tutor to Prince Mustafa. According to Kalaycı and Tan, Taşköprîzâde and Mecdî present Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi as tutor to Süleyman the Magnificent's son Prince Mehmed, while Atâyî names him among the first teachers of Prince Selim. The sources agree that the father died in 947 (1541); Emrullah was two years old. The father is also known to have taught in the madrasas of Merzifon and Tokat. His elder brother Şemseddin Ahmed was thirteen years older and played a part in his upbringing.

His arrival in İstanbul led him into the circle of Taşköprîzâde Ahmed Efendi, son of his father's teacher. According to what Kalaycı and Tan draw from his own marginal notes, he received a licence from Şeyhülislam Ebussuûd Efendi and debated with Birgivî Mehmed Efendi in a gathering of scholars. After Taşköprîzâde's death in 968 he completed his candidacy (mülazemet) with Abdülkerîmzâde Mehmed Efendi. His teaching career, which began at Hayrabolu in 971, passed through Rodosçuk, İznik, Edirne and the Sahn-ı Seman; with the judgeship of Baghdad in 995 he turned to the judiciary. During his Baghdad years he recorded in his notes that he made two visits to Karbala, where he carried out an inquiry concerning in particular the genealogy of Shah İsmail.

The sources part ways on his death. Hüsameddin writes that he died on the Night of Berat while judge of İzmir; the entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü says that he died in İstanbul in Şaban 1008 and ends his list of posts at Salonica. Kalaycı and Tan's account, based on Atâyî, joins the two: in 1008 he was offered the judgeship of Gelibolu and refused it; in the same year he was appointed judge of İzmir, but died before he could take up the post. A detail Atâyî reports offers a concrete instance of Hüsameddin's remark that he disliked the people of the orders: on his deathbed Emrullah Efendi instructed his son that his funeral should not be taken to the Fatih Mosque, that he should not be left in need of the prayers of "the people of hypocrisy", that no ceremonial mücevveze turban should be placed on his coffin, and that prayers should be said only with the poor.

His Name and the State of the Sources

The first to use the nickname "Seyrek" for his father was Taşköprîzâde; Atâyî kept it and called Emrullah Mehmed Seyrekzâde. Mecdî never uses the nickname. Emrullah Efendi himself always signed his notes "Zeyrekzâde". Kalaycı and Tan think that the word "seyrek" (sparse) may have had a slightly negative ring, that Emrullah may not have wished to be known by it, or that he may himself have changed his father's nickname; they reach no definite conclusion. Hüsameddin's spelling "Seyrekzâde" follows Atâyî's usage.

The link with Amasya also rests on a single source. Kalaycı and Tan's study does not mention Amasya; nor does the entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü. The information that Emrullah was born in Amasya and read his first lessons there is found only in Hüsameddin. Since the father's teaching in the madrasas of Merzifon and Tokat shows that the family was in the region in these years, it does not contradict Hüsameddin's record; but it does not confirm it either.

His Connection with Amasya

According to Hüsameddin, Emrullah Efendi was born in Amasya, lost his father there at the age of two and grew up with his mother. He studied in Amasya with Cum'a Efendi and Müfessir Ahmed Efendi and went to İstanbul at twenty-one. Muhaşşî Sinan Efendi, one of the teachers with whom he completed his studies in İstanbul, was also from Amasya. His son Seyyid Ahmed Efendi came to Amasya after his father's death and died, while a professor and town judge, in the seizure of the town by bandits in 1011 (1602-03); his grandson Abdurrahman Efendi endowed his books to the Sultan Bayezid Library in Amasya.

Works

Hüsameddin lists three works: notes on the "Eşbâh ve Nezâir", remarks written in the margins of Ebussuûd's Quran commentary, and a continuation of the Şakâik-ı Nu'mâniye. The entry in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü says that the notes are on al-Suyuti's el-Eşbâh ve'n-nezâir on Arabic grammar; Hüsameddin calls the book "Eşbâh ve Nezâir-i Fıkhiyye", that is, the work on jurisprudence. No copy of the continuation has been found in the libraries. Atâyî belittles it as full of abuse; the same Atâyî, when relating the life of his elder brother, mentions Emrullah in a mocking tone as "the embellisher of the Zeyl-i Şakâik and the player of the sweet-sounding melody of the lover". Whether this phrase is a hint that he occupied himself with poetry is unknown.

His Poetry

No divan or tezkire entry can be seen behind Hüsameddin's word "poet". The poems mentioned today together with Emrullah Efendi's name are two Arabic pieces that Kalaycı and Tan found in manuscripts he used:

  • The two-couplet "Verisne'l-mecde 'an âbâ'i sıdkın": on the protective leaf of the manuscript of Mirzâ Mahdûm's en-Nevâkıd, which Emrullah copied while judge of Baghdad and in whose margins he wrote his objections. The researchers state plainly that it is impossible to confirm that the piece is his; they think it may be connected with his unease over Shah İsmail's claim of descent.
  • The four-couplet "Lâ tatma'inne bi-dârin ente sâkinuhâ": written, with an attribution to him, at the beginning of a copy of his notes on el-Eşbâh ve'n-nezâir in the Süleymaniye Library. The last couplet is identical with a couplet of the famous Bânet Suâd ode that Ka'b b. Zuhayr presented to the Prophet.

The text of each piece and the question of its attribution are on separate pages. No Turkish poem of his is known.

Chronology

5 Zilkade 945 (25 March 1539): He is born.

947 (1541): His father Muhyiddin Mehmed Efendi dies.

966 (1558-59): He goes to İstanbul and joins Taşköprîzâde.

971 (1564): He begins teaching at the Rüstem Pasha Madrasa in Hayrabolu.

995 (1587): He becomes judge of Baghdad.

1004 (1596): He becomes judge of Salonica.

Şaban 1008 (February-March 1600): Appointed judge of İzmir, he dies before taking up the post.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Mehmet Kalaycı, Muzaffer Tan, "Bir 16. Yüzyıl Osmanlı Aliminin Peşinde: Zeyrekzāde Emrullāh Meḥmed Efendi ve Otobiyografik Anlatıları", Ankara Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, 62(1), 2021, pp. 1-90 (especially pp. 7-11, 72-73, 78). https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/auifd/article/865559

Books

Online sources