AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

Eslem Şâh Hatun (Paşa)

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 298 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Amasya kâdı’l-kudâtı Mevlânâ Rükneddîn Mahmûd bin Mehmed el-Buharî el-Bûrânî kerîmesi ve hattât-ı meşhûr Amasyalı Hamdullah Efendi’nin pederi Şeyh Mustafa [111] Çelebi’nin hemşîresidir. Aksarayîzâde Mevlânâ Kemaleddîn Mehmed Çelebi ile evlendi. Temennâ Mahallesi’nin aşağı kısmında ikâmet edib hânesi civârında mescid, mekteb, çeşme binâ etdiğinden buralar Eslem Şâh Mahallesi diye şöhret buldu.¹¹⁴ 841 tarihinden sonra vefât etdi. Mahdûmu Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi’dir. Bunun mahdûmları Şeyhülislâm Zenbilli Ali Efendi’dir.

Footnotes

  • 114 Amasya’da Temennâ Mahallesi’nde Hacı Ahmed Çelebi mescîd-i şerîf binâ edip Eslem Şâh Hâtun da Kuşköprü civârındaki bahçesiyle Alçakköprü civarındaki dükkânını bu mescîd-i şerîfin imâmına vakf ve tevliyetini de ona şart eylediği 21 Şabân 1169 tarihinde sâdır olan Fermân-ı Âlî’den anlaşıldı. Hacı Ahmed Çelebi Eslem Şâh’ın mahdûmu Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi’dir.
Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

She was from Amasya. She was the daughter of Mevlânâ Rükneddîn Mahmûd son of Mehmed el-Buharî el-Bûrânî, chief judge (kâdı'l-kudât) of Amasya, and the sister of Shaykh Mustafa Çelebi, father of the famous calligrapher Hamdullah Efendi of Amasya. She married Aksarayîzâde Mevlânâ Kemaleddîn Mehmed Çelebi. She lived in the lower part of the Temennâ quarter and had a mescid, a school and a fountain built near her house, so that these places became known as the Eslem Şâh quarter. She died after 841 [after 1437-38]. Her son was Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi. His sons are Şeyhülislam Zenbilli Ali Efendi.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • kâdı'l-kudât: chief judge, judge of judges
  • kerîme: daughter
  • hemşîre: sister
  • mahdûm: son
  • ikâmet etmek: to reside
  • hayrât: works built for the public benefit (a mescid, a school, a fountain, and the like)
  • vakıf ve tevliyet: setting aside property for a useful purpose, and the duty of administering it
  • Fermân-ı Âlî: imperial decree

The Waqf Record in the Footnote

The book's footnote gives concrete documentary information about the quarter that bears this lady's name. According to it, Hacı Ahmed Çelebi had a mescid built in the Temennâ quarter; Eslem Şâh Hâtun endowed her garden near Kuşköprü and her shop near Alçakköprü to the imam of this mescid, and made the administration of the waqf (tevliyet) a condition for him. This is understood from an imperial decree dated 21 Shaʿbān 1169 [1756]. Hacı Ahmed Çelebi is Eslem Şâh's son Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi. The document shows that the lady's waqf was still in force in the middle of the eighteenth century. The main text says the mescid was built by Eslem Şâh, while the footnote says it was built by her son Hacı Ahmed Çelebi; the two records may describe the same building, but this is an inference.

Zenbilli Ali Efendi and the Line of Descent

The şeyhülislam named in the last sentence of the entry is Zenbilli Ali Cemâlî Efendi, who held the office of mufti of Istanbul for many years. According to the Islamic encyclopedia entry, Zenbilli Ali Efendi was the son of Ahmed Çelebi, grandson of Cemâleddin Aksarâyî, who descended from Fahreddin er-Râzî. This agrees with the chain Hüsameddin builds with the names "Aksarayîzâde" and "Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi." Hüsameddin also writes that Zenbilli was born in Amasya, in the Eslem Hatun (İslâm) quarter; however, the encyclopedia entry says this should be treated with doubt, because the author tried to present many people as natives of Amasya. Some sources also record Zenbilli as a native of Karaman. His date and place of birth are not known with certainty.

Zenbilli Ali Efendi's tie to Amasya is nonetheless real. In 1486, when the Bayezid Madrasa in Amasya was completed, he went there as müderris and also took up the post of mufti of Amasya. While Şehzade Ahmed was governing Amasya, at the circumcision feast of his sons Murad and Alâeddin in 896 (1491), the prince placed his own teacher Birgivîzâde Mustafa Efendi ahead of the scholars present, and Zenbilli resigned and returned to Istanbul. In later years he became mufti of Istanbul; his time in the post reached twenty-four years, and he was also known for his charity. He died in 932 (1525-26), shortly before May-June 1526.

Hamdullah Efendi of Amasya

The calligrapher Hamdullah, named in the text as the nephew of Eslem Şâh Hâtun, is counted among the well-known figures raised in Amasya. During the lively cultural life of the princely palace, Amasya produced names such as the historian Şükrullah, Tâcî Bey and his sons the çelebis Câfer and Sâdî, Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Çelebi, Zenbilli Ali Efendi and the physician Sabuncuoğlu Şerefeddin.

What Could Not Be Verified

No information was found in other sources on Eslem Şâh Hâtun, her father the chief judge Mevlânâ Rükneddîn Mahmûd el-Bûrânî, or her husband Aksarayîzâde Kemaleddîn Mehmed Çelebi. The present-day name of the Eslem Şâh quarter could not be established either. The information in the text, together with the decree cited in the footnote, rests on Hüsameddin's record.

Bibliography

Volume 7 contents