Remembered as a poet, yet without a single surviving poem, İnepazarlızâde Seyyid Hacı İsmâil Hakkı Efendi taught in Amasya in the mid-nineteenth century, became the first professor of the Kapancızâde Madrasa and the fatwa clerk of the Amasya mufti's office, and died at Mecca during the pilgrimage in 1273 (1857). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar calls him "a man of letters and a poet" and records him a second time, under the pen name "Hakkı", among the poets listed by pen name. Hüsameddin writes plainly that he was said to have poems in Turkish and Arabic but that, for all his searching, he could not find them. What survives is a treatise he presented to the sultan in his own hand, and within this treatise stands an Arabic kıt‘a (short poem). Readers who want the entry and the full text of the treatise can turn to İsmâil Hakkı Efendi-İnepazarlızâde.

Hüsameddin's Account

Amasyalıdır. 1244'de vefât eden ulemâdan İnepazarlı es-Seyyid Hasan Efendi bin el-Hâc Ömer bin Resul'ün mahdûmudur. Amcası es-Seyyid Şâkir Abdullah, Hacı Ahmed Efendizâde es-Seyyid Mustafa, Canikli el-Hâc Mehmed, Şeyhü'l-ulemâ Sipâhi Hâfız Ömer Efendilerden ulûm-ı nakliyye ve akliyyeyi ahz ve ikmâl ederek Canikli el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi'den mücâz oldu. Sultân Bâyezîd Câmi-i şerîfi'nde tedrîs-i ulûma nasb-ı nefs edib Payaslızâde Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi'ye dâmâd olarak fazl ve irfânıyla iştihâr etdi. [...] Fâzıl, ulûm-ı şer'iyye ve edebiyyede mâhir, edîb, şâir, fünûn-ı akliyyede kâmil, tab'an latîf, cesîm, müşekkel, mehîb bir zât idi. Eş'âr-ı Türkiyye ve Arabiyyesi olduğu mervî ise de bir türlü bulunamadı. Medresenin vakıfnâmesi bunun âsâr-ı bedîasındandır.

In English: He was from Amasya, the son of İnepazarlı Seyyid Hasan Efendi, a scholar who died in 1244 (1828-29); his grandfather was Hacı Ömer, whose father was Resul. He studied and completed the transmitted and rational sciences under his uncle Seyyid Şâkir Abdullah, Hacı Ahmed Efendizâde Seyyid Mustafa, Canikli Hacı Mehmed and Sipâhi Hâfız Ömer, the doyen of the scholars, and received his licence (icazet) from Canikli Hacı Mehmed Efendi. He began to teach at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, became the son-in-law of Payaslızâde Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi and grew famous for his learning. He was virtuous, skilled in the religious and literary sciences, a man of letters, a poet, accomplished in the rational sciences, charming by nature, large, handsome and imposing. It is related that he had poems in Turkish and Arabic, but they could not be found. The endowment deed of the madrasa is one of his fine works.

His Life

İsmâil Hakkı's year of birth is unknown; his father's death is recorded in 1244. After completing his studies in Amasya he taught at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. He became the first professor of the madrasa built by Kapancızâde Hacı Hüseyin Zeki Efendi and completed in 1258 (1842), and he drafted its endowment deed. In 1264 (1847-48), when his teacher's son and fellow student Caniklizâde Hacı Hâfız Mehmed Hilmi Efendi became mufti of Amasya, İsmâil Hakkı joined him as the clerk who made fair copies of the fatwas (müsevvid) and as fatwa secretary. In other parts of Hüsameddin's work he also appears as professor at the Osman Çelebi Dârülhadis and the Gök Medrese. In 1273 he went on the pilgrimage, died at Mecca during the days of teşrik and was buried in the Cennetü'l-Muallâ cemetery.

Hüsameddin illustrates with two anecdotes how very witty he was by nature, despite his large and imposing build. While he was fatwa clerk, a villager came and asked whether a husband who suckled his wife's milk would harm his marriage; he answered with a rhyming quip: "You'll suckle it and bury it. Nothing at all will come of it." Another day, as he passed in front of the Gök Medrese, a woman who met him sat down on the ground and turned her back to keep herself from his sight; he walked on, saying, "We have seen no good from her front, so why should we from her back?"

Müzekkiretü'l-Evkâf

Because İsmâil Hakkı was eloquent and quick-witted, he was sent to Istanbul in 1256 (1840-41) to have the endowment tithes of the district of Amasya exempted from state tax-farming and to rescue the endowments from the tax farmers. He set out his petition in a treatise he called "Müzekkiretü'l-Evkâf", presented it to Sultan Abdülmecid and also explained it in person; according to Hüsameddin he obtained the exemption. Hüsameddin says he searched for this petition for a long time and finally found it with the help of Payaslızâde Eşref Bey. The document is written in the author's own hand and sealed, with a note dated 8 Zilhicce 1265 at the end, and he signs himself "İsmâil Hakkı el-Amâsî", İsmâil Hakkı of Amasya. The nine-year gap between the date of the journey to Istanbul and the date of the treatise is not explained in the text. The treatise objects, with Qur'anic verses, hadiths and the rule that "the founder's stipulation is like the text of the Lawgiver", to endowment revenues being farmed out to others by treasury officials.

His Connection with Amasya and His Family

İsmâil Hakkı was a native of Amasya, and his whole education and career were spent in the madrasas of Amasya. The name İnepazarlı shows that the family came from a place called İnepazarı; his father, under this name, is counted among the scholars of Amasya. His sons Mustafa and Mehmed Nuri Efendi were born of the daughter of Molla Haliloğlu Hacı Mehmed Ağa. Mustafa Efendi died in 1294 and his sons were Ahmed and Abdülkerîm Efendi. Mehmed Nuri Efendi, nicknamed "Kıllı", died in 1314; one of his sons was given his grandfather's name, İsmâil Hakkı.

His Poetry

Hüsameddin's two notices show that İsmâil Hakkı was known as a poet in his circle: in the seventh volume he uses the words "man of letters, poet", and in the ninth he includes him among the poets under the pen name "Hakkı". Even so, his Turkish and Arabic poems have not been found; Hüsameddin too says that he could not find them.

The only piece of verse that can be connected with him is the four-line Arabic kıt‘a in the introduction to the Müzekkiretü'l-Evkâf. The kıt‘a stands at the point where the text passes from the praise of God and the Prophet to the praise of the sultan. Its author is not named: it may be İsmâil Hakkı's own poem, or it may be taken from another poet. That Hüsameddin does not count it among his poems strengthens the second possibility, but is not enough to decide the matter. With this uncertainty noted, the kıt‘a has been given a page of its own under the title "Cenâbuke mislü ravzâti'l-cinânî".

Chronology

1256 (1840-41): He is sent to Istanbul to obtain the exemption of the endowment tithes.

1258 (1842): The Kapancızâde Madrasa is completed; he becomes its first professor.

1264 (1847-48): He becomes müsevvid and fatwa secretary in the mufti's office of Amasya.

8 Zilhicce 1265 (25 October 1849): The date written beneath the copy of the Müzekkiretü'l-Evkâf.

1273 (1857): He dies at Mecca during the pilgrimage.

Bibliography

Online sources