Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi was a Halveti sheikh who in the second half of the fifteenth century headed the Yâkub Pasha lodge in Amasya, known today as the Çilehane. His mother was the daughter of Râbia Hâtun, daughter of Pîr İlyâs; he is recorded as having written Sufi poems and hymns under the pen name Hüsâmî. Prince Ahmed, governor of Amasya, is said to have become his disciple and at times to have attended his sermons. His tomb, known among the people as "Aşağı Pîrler", is one of the two tombs that gave their name to today's Pirler quarter. No example of his poetry has come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Account

The fullest information on him is in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi:

Amasyalıdır. Gümüşlüzâde ve Aşağı Pîrler demekle meşhûrdur. Kubâ'da medfûn ve orada Hüsâmiye Medresesi bânisi olan kibâr-ı kudât ve sâdâttan Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi bin Abdülkâdir Çelebi bin Seydî Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Fergânî-i Hüseynî mahdûmudur. Aslında Seydî Hüsâmzâdelikle meşhûr iken Hazret-i Pîr İlyâs Halvetî'nin kerîmesi Râbi'a Hâtun'un kızı Âbide Hâtun'un mahdûmu olduğu münâsebetle Gümüşlüzâde diye iştihâr etdi. Gümüşlüzâde Mahallesi'nde 840'da doğdu.

In today's words: Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi is from Amasya and is known as Gümüşlüzâde and as "Aşağı Pîrler". His father is Mevlânâ Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi, one of the great judges and seyyids, who is buried in Kuba and built the Hüsâmiye Madrasa there; his line goes back through Abdülkâdir Çelebi to Seydî Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Fergânî. The family was originally known as "Seydî Hüsâmzâde", but because his mother Âbide Hâtun was the daughter of Râbia Hâtun, daughter of Pîr İlyâs, he became known by the name Gümüşlüzâde. He was born in the Gümüşlüzâde quarter in 840 (1436-37).

Hüsameddin goes on to write that he studied with İbrîzâde Mevlânâ Muhyiddîn Mehmed and Cendîzâde Mevlânâ Şemseddîn Ahmed Çelebi, scholars of Amasya, acquired Sufism in the company of Gümüşlüzâde Pîr Hayreddîn Hızır Çelebi and after his death became sheikh of the Yâkub Pasha lodge. When Prince Ahmed became his disciple, statesmen and common people too hastened to his company. In the sermons he gave as preacher of the Yâkub Pasha Mosque the prince was sometimes present, and his words would make the listeners weep. After fourteen years of guidance he died in 903 (1497-98) at the age of sixty-three and was buried in the sheikh's cell of the lodge. Hüsameddin presents him as an imposing, dignified sheikh and says "Hüsâmî mahlasıyla iştihâr edib şâir, edîb idi. Sûfiyâne eş'âr ve ilâhiyâtı vardır", he was known by the pen name Hüsâmî, a poet and man of letters; he has Sufi poems and hymns. The entry itself, in Hüsameddin's words, is on the page Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi-Mevlânâ Hüsâmî; the history of the lodge and the tomb and the line of its sheikhs are told in detail in our article Çilehane Mosque (Yâkub Pasha Lodge).

The Question of the Pen Name and Identity

There are several sheikhs called Abdurrahmân in the Gümüşlüzâde family, and the pen name Hüsâmî is attached in the sources to different ones among them. Hüsameddin plainly gives the pen name to Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi who died in 903. The Persian couplets carved above the prayer window of his tomb also, as Hüsameddin reports, name the sheikh "Hüsâmî" and praise him as a guide of the line of Pîr İlyâs and the "pole of the world"; these couplets come from the pen of a dervish who composed a chronogram for him.

Kadir Özköse's article on the Halveti lodges of Amasya, however, ties the pen name "Hüsâmî" to Şeyh Abdurrahmân Çelebi, the successor of Pîr İlyâs, who also served as mufti in Amasya; it writes that he was a poet given to rapture, that he had Turkish poems and loved the Sufi dance (sema), and cites Lâmiî Çelebi's translation of the Nefehâtü'l-üns and Hoca Sâdeddin's Tâcü't-tevârîh as sources. In Hüsameddin this first Abdurrahmân Çelebi is a separate person, son-in-law and cousin of Pîr İlyâs, who died in 827 (1424). Our article The Gümüşlüzâdes also distinguishes the two. It is also possible that the pen name was really used by two people in the family; the sources read do not settle the matter. In either case the pen name Hüsâmî accords with the family's old name "Seydî Hüsâmzâde" and with the name of his father Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Çelebi.

His Poetry

The poems of Pîr Abdurrahmân Çelebi Hüsâmî have not been found. Hüsameddin says that he had Sufi poems and hymns but gives no example. No entry on a poet of Amasya with the pen name Hüsâmî could be found in the anthologies of Sehî, Latîfî, Âşık Çelebi, Kınalızâde and Beyânî. No piece of the Turkish poems Özköse mentions is quoted either. The Persian couplets on the tomb are about him and were written by another hand; they have therefore not been counted among the poet's poems.

Chronology

840 (1436-37): Born in Amasya, in the Gümüşlüzâde quarter.

Around 889 (1484): According to the fourteen years of guidance Hüsameddin gives, becomes sheikh of the Yâkub Pasha lodge.

903 (1497-98): Dies and is buried in the sheikh's cell of the lodge.

Bibliography

Online sources