Decades after his death, Sheikh Hakkı İbrâhim Efendi's hymns were still being sung in his own lodge. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar does not use the past tense of him; he writes "his hymns are sung in his lodge". The son of a man of Amasya named Ali, this Halveti sheikh received his licence (hilafet) from Seyyid Sheikh Osman Efendi, one of the deputies of Sinânî Hasan Efendi; in 1244 (1828-29) he became sheikh of the Ak Hasanzâde lodge (zaviye), built next to the Abdüllatif Efendi Library, and after guiding the people there for some ten years he died on 17 Receb 1250 (19 November 1834). Hüsameddin portrays him as a poet of the âşık temperament and a man of ecstasy who carried the congregation away during the zikr.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Amasyalı Ali mahdûmudur. Eş-Şeyh Hasan Sinanî Efendi'nin hulefâsından es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh Osmân Efendi'nin halka-i zikr ü irşâdında tahsîl-i irfân ve tekmîl-i sülûk ederek mûmâ-ileyhden hilâfet aldı. Bâ'dehû a'yândan esbak Amasya mütesellimi Ak Hasanzâde Hâfız el-Hâc Hasan Ağa'nın 1244'de Abdüllatîf Efendi Kütübhânesi ittisâlinde yaptırdığı zâviyesi şeyhi olup on yıl kadar burada tezkîr ve irşâd-ı halk ile iştigâl ederek 1250 senesi recebinin on yedinci günü dâr-ı naîme irtihâl etdi. Âlim, sâlih, münzevî, mazınneden bir zât-ı sütûde-simât idi. Şâir, âşık-meşreb olup tekkesinde İlâhiyâtı okunur. Zikr ü tevhîd esnâsında halk-ı teshîr edecek hâlât ü vecd irâe ederdi. Vaaz ü nefesi müessir, bükâsı gâlib idi. Hulefâsından es-Şeyh Mansur Efendi yerini tutdu.

In English: His father was Ali of Amasya. He acquired mystical knowledge and completed the spiritual path in the circle of remembrance and guidance of Seyyid Sheikh Osman Efendi, one of the deputies of Sheikh Hasan Sinânî Efendi, and received his licence from him. Afterwards he became sheikh of the lodge which the notable and former mütesellim of Amasya, Ak Hasanzâde Hâfız el-Hâc Hasan Ağa, built in 1244 next to the Abdüllatif Efendi Library. For about ten years he preached there and guided the people, and on the seventeenth day of Receb 1250 he passed to the abode of bliss. He was a learned, righteous and retiring man, believed to work wonders, of praiseworthy character. He was a poet of the âşık temperament, and his hymns are sung in his lodge. During the zikr and tevhid he showed states and ecstasies that captivated the people. His preaching and his breath were moving, and he wept much. Sheikh Mansur Efendi, one of his deputies, took his place.

The text under the title Hakkı İbrâhim Efendi-Halvetî es-Seyyid eş-Şeyh explains its old words one by one.

A Sheikh from the Sinânî Circle

Hakkı İbrâhim's spiritual lineage reaches back to one of the liveliest Halveti centres in Amasya in the second half of the eighteenth century. Sinânî Hasan Efendi of Çorum became sheikh of the Çevikçe lodge in 1180 (1766), filled the Yâkub Paşa Mosque with his sermons and died in 1209 (1795). Hakkı İbrâhim's master, Seyyid Sheikh Osman Efendi, was one of this sheikh's deputies; this entry gives no further information about him. Hakkı İbrâhim was thus the deputy of a deputy of Sinânî Hasan Efendi, the third generation of the path.

Another poet of the same circle had also written hymns. Huzûrî Mehmed Efendi, keeper of the Kemal Paşa tomb, attended Sinânî Hasan Efendi's conversations and had the hymns he wrote sung in the Çevikçe lodge. Set side by side, the two records show that in this Halveti milieu it was an established habit for sheikhs and their followers to have their own hymns sung in the gatherings of remembrance.

The Ak Hasanzâde Lodge

The lodge where Hakkı İbrâhim served as sheikh for ten years was the zaviye that Ak Hasanzâde Hâfız Hacı Hasan Ağa, a former mütesellim from among the town's notables, had built in 1244 next to the Abdüllatif Efendi Library. The Ak Hasanoğlu lodge, counted among the lodges of Amasya and later turned into a madrasa like many others in the town, is in all likelihood this same zaviye. Whether Hakkı İbrâhim was its first sheikh is not stated outright, but the founding of the lodge and the start of his sheikhdom fall in the same year. For the place of this lodge in the town's dervish life, see Sufi traditions in Amasya.

After his death his deputy Sheikh Mansur Efendi succeeded him. That his hymns were still sung in the lodge in Hüsameddin's day, at the beginning of the twentieth century, points to the sheikhs after Mansur Efendi having kept these texts in the order of the ritual.

His Poetry

Not a line of his poetry has survived. Of the hymns recorded as being sung, not a single quatrain made its way into the entry. What became of these texts, sung in the lodge from memory or from an anthology (cönk), after the closure of the lodges in 1925 is not clear. Should a hymn with the pen name "Hakkı" turn up in a collection of Amasya's Halveti zikr hymns or in a local cönk, the possibility that it is his would need separate assessment; since other poets used this pen name too, the name alone is not enough.

Chronology

1180 (1766): Sinânî Hasan Efendi becomes sheikh of the Çevikçe lodge.

6 Şevval 1209 (April 1795): Sinânî Hasan Efendi dies.

1244 (1828-29): Ak Hasanzâde Hasan Ağa builds a lodge next to the Abdüllatif Efendi Library; Hakkı İbrâhim is appointed its sheikh.

17 Receb 1250 (19 November 1834): Hakkı İbrâhim Efendi dies; Sheikh Mansur Efendi succeeds him.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources