What keeps the name of Abdîzâde Eşref Abdurrahman Efendi alive is less his poetry than his encyclopaedic works: Tezkiretü'l-hikem, on nations, poets, Qur'an readers and scholars, and Mir'âtü's-safâ, on the merits of the holy cities. A scholar and poet who taught and served as mufti in Merzifon in the first half of the eighteenth century, he rose to the judgeship (mevleviyet) of Cyprus and died in 1151 (1738-39); the sources also call him "the Molla of Cyprus". He is also recorded as having had a divan. The page Eşref Abdurrahman Efendi-Abdîzâde gives the entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi with notes on his works.

Hüsameddin's Account

Merzifonludur. Oranın ulemâsından Mustafa Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi bin Abdî Efendi'nin mahdûmu ve şâir-i meşhûr Nedim Ahmed Efendi'nin pederi akrâbasından olup Merzifon'da Gelgiras hatîbi İbrâhim Efendi'den mukaddimât-ı ulûmu görüp Amasya'ya geldi. [...] Orada rüûs imtihânını kazanıp müderris olarak avdet ve Merzifon'da bir müddet ders-i âm oldu. Ba'dehû Sultâniye-i Merzifon müderrisi, 1136'da Merzifon Müftüsü olup 1143'de İstanbul'a gitdi. Bu esnâda Sahn'a kadar devre-i medâris-i mu'tâdeyi ikmâl etdiğinden Kıbrıs mevleviyyeti verildi. Yine Merzifon'a avdet edib 1151'de dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi. Âlim, fâzıl, şâir, kâmil, edîb bir zât idi.

In English: He was from Merzifon, the son of Mustafa Efendi, son of Mehmed Efendi, son of Abdî Efendi, one of the scholars of that town, and a relative of the father of the famous poet Nedîm Ahmed Efendi. He studied the introductory sciences in Merzifon with İbrâhim Efendi, preacher of Gelgiras, and came to Amasya. In Istanbul he passed the examination for madrasa teachers, returned as a professor and taught for a time in Merzifon. Later he became professor of the Sultâniye Madrasa of Merzifon and in 1136 (1723-24) mufti of Merzifon; in 1143 (1730-31) he went to Istanbul. Since he had by then completed the usual madrasa grades up to the Sahn, he was given the judgeship of Cyprus. He returned to Merzifon once more and died in 1151 (1738-39). He was learned, virtuous, a poet, accomplished and a man of letters.

His Life

Amasya played a large part in Eşref's education. Hüsameddin writes that after his first lessons in Merzifon he came to Amasya and completed his studies there under six teachers: Çorumlu Ahmed, mufti of Amasya, İnallı Mehmed, Eyraklı Yûsuf Efendizâde Seyyid Mehmed, Hacı Mustafa of Merzifon, Müderriszâde Seyyid Mehmed and Ayıntâbî Yûsuf Efendi, professor of the Şeyhülislâm Madrasa in Lâdik. He then went to Istanbul, became a professor by passing the rüûs examination and returned home. Most of his life was spent in Merzifon, both at the teaching chair and in the mufti's office. The judgeship of Cyprus was given to him after he went to Istanbul in 1143; Hüsameddin does not say whether he actually served in it, only that he returned to Merzifon again.

Other sources draw this life differently. M. Münir Aktepe's article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi introduces him as the son of Şerefeddin Ali of Merzifon, says that he entered the judiciary after his madrasa education and that little is known of his life. İsmail Hakkı Aksoyak's article in the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü writes that his father was one of the senior ulema, that he received his first education from his father, became a candidate under Şeyhülislâm Mehmed Efendi, left the judicial career when he did not succeed in it, and that his date of death could not be found; it places the poet in the seventeenth century. The sources do not agree on the father's name or the date of death. That all three list the same works shows that they speak of the same man.

His Works

Hüsameddin lists Eşref's works as "Mir'âtü's-Safâ", "Tezkiretü'l-Hikem", "Uyûnü'l-Ulûm", "Şerh-i Risâle-i Muammâ-yı Câmî" and "Dîvân-ı Eş'âr". According to Aktepe, Tezkiretü'l-hikem fî tabakāti'l-ümem was written in Turkish in 1728 and is an encyclopaedic work consisting of an introduction, thirty-six sections and a conclusion; it was printed in Egypt in 1252 and in Istanbul in 1291 in the margin of Şemseddin Sivâsî's verse Menâkıb-ı İmâm-ı A'zam. Hüsameddin also mentions this printing and adds that its appendix contains the biographies of Eşref's teachers. Mir'âtü's-safâ describes the merits of Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem and Hebron; Aktepe writes that it was composed in 1710 and presented to the grand vizier of the day, Nevşehirli Damad İbrâhim Pasha, but since Damad İbrâhim's grand vizierate began in 1718, the two statements do not agree. Uyûnü'l-ulûm and the commentary on Molla Câmî's treatise on riddles are also encyclopaedic in character; a treatise of moral stories is mentioned as well. Aksoyak says he wrote some hundred and fifty works and composed poetry in Turkish and Persian.

Kinship with Nedîm

Hüsameddin counts Eşref as a relative of the father of Nedîm, the great poet of the Tulip Era. Aktepe, by contrast, states firmly that some sources wrongly make Eşref Nedîm's uncle, whereas there was no kinship at all between the two. The question is also discussed, together with Nedîm's ancestors from Merzifon, on the page Nedîm (Ahmed Nedîm). That both men belonged to the circle of Damad İbrâhim Pasha and came from the same scholarly milieu of Merzifon may have prepared the ground for such a confusion; the sources do not say so, and it is no more than a plausible possibility.

His Poetry

No manuscript or edition of Eşref's divan is known. The poems that can be read today amount to four pieces. The two couplets that Hüsameddin gives "from his graceful poems" also appear in Aksoyak's article. Aksoyak further quotes a three-couplet ghazal fragment, a riddle (muammâ) on the name "Hasan", and the twenty-four couplets that Safâyî's tezkire took from the kaside with the redif "zerrîn", presented to Damad İbrâhim Pasha. The kaside moves from the appearance in a garden of the yellow spring flower whose name it bears to the praise of the vizier, and reflects the Tulip Era's passion for gardens and flowers. Each of the four is given on a page of its own, with its text and commentary.

His Family

According to Hüsameddin, his sons Mustafa and Mehmed Efendi were called "Ammizâde", because they were first cousins of Iydî Bayram Efendizâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi. Mehmed Efendi's son Mustafa Âdil Efendi was one of the judge-poets; Mustafa Efendi's sons Kâzım Abdurrahman and Kâmil İsmâil Efendi were also well known. Hüsameddin notes that there were Ammizâdes in Amasya too. Hüsameddin, who himself bore the name "Abdîzâde", draws no connection between the Abdî Efendi in Eşref's line and his own family; no such link has been confirmed.

Chronology

1710: According to TDV he writes Mir'âtü's-safâ.

1136 (1723-24): He becomes mufti of Merzifon.

1728: He writes Tezkiretü'l-hikem.

1143 (1730-31): He goes to Istanbul and is given the judgeship of Cyprus.

1151 (1738-39): He dies in Merzifon.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Books

Online sources