It was his voice and his knowledge of music that endeared Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi to the people of Amasya. Chief muezzin of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque in the middle of the seventeenth century, this hafiz was also a poet and musician. His father Mustafa Çelebi had also been one of the mosque's muezzins; the son took his place on his death and in time rose to head the muezzins. He died from the effects of the great earthquake that shook Amasya in 1079 (1668). Among the pupils he trained, Bülbül Hâfız Ahmed Çelebi took his place at the same mosque for a generation. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's twelve-volume work contains three separate records about him; they largely confirm one another but part company over his name.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Amasyalıdır. Sultân Bâyezîd câmi-i şerîfi mü'ezzinlerinden Mustafa Çelebi mahdûmudur. Pederinin vefâtında câmi-i mezkûr mü'ezzini olup meşâhîr-i şu'arâ ve fuzalâdan Hâcezâde Abdullah Remzî Efendi'nin sohbetinde tahsîl-i ma'ârif etdi. Güzel sesi, ilm ü edebi sâyesinde Sultân Bâyezîd câmii baş mü'ezzini olup nağamât-ı latîfesiyle halkın mahbûb-ı kulûbı olduğu hâlde 1079 senesi zelzele-i şedîdesinden müte'essiren vefât etdi. Edîb, şâir, mûsikî-şinâs, kâmil, elhân-ı latîfesiyle meşhûr idi. Şâkirdi Bülbül Hâfız da meşhûr oldu.

In English: From Amasya; his father was Mustafa Çelebi, one of the muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. On his father's death he became muezzin of this mosque and acquired learning and letters in the company of Hâcezâde Abdullah Remzî Efendi, one of the famous poets and scholars. Thanks to his beautiful voice, his learning and his refinement he became chief muezzin of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque; having won the hearts of the people with his sweet melodies, he died from the effects of the violent earthquake of 1079. He was lettered, a poet, a musician, accomplished and famous for his lovely tunes. His pupil Bülbül Hâfız also became famous.

Muezzin of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque

Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi's whole life was spent at the mosque of Bayezid II's complex in Amasya. His father Mustafa Çelebi was one of its muezzins; Abdullah Çelebi took his place when his father died. Hüsameddin attributes his rise to chief muezzin to two things: his beautiful voice and his "learning and refinement". The details in his pupil's entry show that at this mosque the chief muezzin's office included the morning temcid, hymns and the recitation of the mevlid, a post whose voice filled the town. For the mosque's own history and architecture, see The Bayezid II Complex and Mosque.

His teacher Hâcezâde Abdullah Remzî Efendi was one of the best-known madrasa professors of mid-seventeenth-century Amasya. He taught for some thirty years, held professorships at most of the town's madrasas and was famous as a poet able to write verse in Arabic, Persian and Turkish; he died in Zilhicce 1063 (October-November 1653) while professor at the Hatuniye Madrasa of Tokat. Hüsameddin writes that his poems and the kaside he presented to Sultan Murad in Amasya had once been to hand but were later lost to fire. That Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi was formed "in the company" of this teacher suggests an education in a literary gathering more than in madrasa lessons. The teacher's entry can be read under Remzî Abdullah Efendi-Hâcezâde; his son Şevkî Mehmed Efendi was also a poet.

The Earthquake of 1079

Hüsameddin records the earthquake in detail in the fourth volume, where he narrates Amasya's events year by year. On the eighth day of Rebiülevvel 1079, a Friday, in the mid-morning, a violent and prolonged earthquake struck Amasya and its surroundings; the ground split open, terrible sounds were heard and the people fled to open squares. The walls of the citadel, the domes of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, masonry houses, the domes of most mosques and many parts of the covered bazaar collapsed. The right-hand minaret of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque fell towards the north and the left-hand one leaned towards the qibla. Because the tremors went on for days, the people stayed in tents set up in the squares. The date falls in August 1668, and the earthquake was the Amasya face of the great 1668 earthquake that struck northern Anatolia. Its wider toll in the region can be followed in The 1668 Great Anatolian Earthquake and Amasya.

Hüsameddin's word is "müte'essiren": Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi died affected by the earthquake, and the phrasing stops short of saying that he died in it. That the yearly record places his death months later, towards the end of the year, agrees with this wording: he may have been injured in the shock, fallen ill, or been worn down by the hardships of those days. On this point the source is silent.

The State of the Sources: Abdullah or Mehmed

Hüsameddin's book contains three records about this muezzin; all three agree in detail and differ over the name. The first is the biographical entry above: the name Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi, the father Mustafa Çelebi, muezzin of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, death after the earthquake of 1079, the pupil Bülbül Hâfız.

The second is the pupil's own entry. According to Hüsameddin, Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi was the son of Hâfız Ali Çelebi, one of the mosque's caretakers; taken on as a muezzin for his fine, high voice, he learned "the science of strings", that is, music theory, "from Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi, a master of music and a poet", and later became chief muezzin. His recitation of the mevlid and the Qur'an moved listeners to tears, and his morning temcid stirred all Amasya; his funeral set the town weeping. He fell gravely ill during the events of 1099 (1688) and died in Muharrem 1100 (October-November 1688). This record too gives the teacher's name as Abdullah.

The third is the yearly record in the section on events. Hüsameddin writes that towards the end of the same year, after the earthquake, "the poet and musician Hâfız Mehmed Çelebi, who enchanted the people with his sweet voice" died and that "his pupil Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi" took his place. In a footnote he adds that this hafiz's teacher was Hacı Mustafa Medhî Çelebi, chief muezzin of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and that he too was "a poet and musician who put life into souls".

Set side by side, the three records clearly describe the same person: the year of death, the profession, the description as poet and musician and the pupil who succeeded him are the same. The difference is that the section on events gives the name as Mehmed and presents Mustafa Çelebi as teacher rather than father. Since the two biographical entries agree on the name Abdullah, that name is followed here. Whether Mehmed is a slip of the pen or of memory, or whether the man was known by two names, cannot be determined. That Mustafa Çelebi should have been both father and teacher is not contradictory in itself; a muezzin father teaching his son voice and makam is only to be expected. Nor does the text make clear whether "Medhî" in the footnote was Mustafa Çelebi's pen name.

His Poetry

No poem of his has survived. All three records call him a poet, yet not one line of verse appears in any of them, and no text recorded under his name in an anthology or a collection of song lyrics is known. His poems may have perished in fires like those of his teacher Remzî; no record says so. The Ottoman text of the biographical entry is found under the title Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi-Hâfız Çelebi, and his pupil's entry under Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi-Hâfız.

Chronology

Zilhicce 1063 (October-November 1653): His teacher Hâcezâde Abdullah Remzî Efendi dies.

8 Rebiülevvel 1079 (August 1668): Great earthquake in Amasya; the domes of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque collapse and one of its minarets falls.

End of 1079 (spring 1669): Hâfız Abdullah Çelebi dies from the effects of the earthquake; his pupil Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi succeeds him.

Muharrem 1100 (October-November 1688): Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources