Yukarıda tercemesi yazılan Abdâl Ağası el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa’nın ahfâdından ve Ahi Sa’adeddîn Mahallesi halkından İsmâil bin Mehmed bin el-Hâc Ahmed Ağa’nın oğludur. Sesi gâyet güzel, hıfz u edâsı mükemmel olduğundan küçük yaşında Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii mü’ezzinlerine iltihâk edib sonra baş-mü’ezzin oldu. [223]
Otuz yıldan ziyâde ser-mü’ezzinlikle hızmet-i şer’iyyesini îfâ ederek vâlidem Zâhide Hâtun binti Hâfız el-Hâc Osmân Efendi bin Şeyhü’l-kurrâ Hâfız el-Hâc Halîl Efendi’nin vefât eylediği 1297 cumâdelâhiresinin yirmi birinci günü vefât etdi. Uzunca boylu, güleç yüzlü, halîm bir kimse idi.
Muhrik sadâsıyla, nağamât-i latîfesiyle iştihâr ederek “Sultân Bâyezîd Bülbülü” denir, bütün mahâfil-i ‘aliyye ve edebiyye de büyük hürmetler görürdü. Nöbetinde sabah namazında saflara yer bulunmaz, yanık ilâhilerine, ruh-nevâz na’tlarına doyulmaz, her dinleyeni ağlatırdı. Mahdûm-ı yegânesi İsmâil Hakkı Efendi yerini tutamadı. Bunun çırağı olan Hamâloğlu Abdulkâdir Efendi ser-mü’ezzin oldu. Bunun da sesi pek güzeldi.
In Modern English
He was a grandson of Abdal Ağası Hacı Ahmed Ağa, whose life is written above, and the son of İsmâil bin Mehmed bin Hacı Ahmed Ağa, of the people of the Ahi Saadeddin quarter. Because his voice was extremely beautiful and his memorization and recitation of the Qur'an were flawless, at a young age he joined the muezzins of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, and then became chief muezzin.
He fulfilled his religious duty as chief muezzin for more than thirty years. He died on the twenty-first day of the month of Jumada al-Akhira 1297 [late May-early June 1880], the day on which my mother, Zâhide Hatun bint Hâfız Hacı Osman Efendi bin Şeyhü'l-kurrâ Hâfız Hacı Halîl Efendi, died. He was tall, cheerful in countenance and gentle in temper.
Renowned for his heart-piercing voice and delicate melodies, he was called the "Nightingale of Sultan Bayezid" and was held in great respect in all high and literary gatherings. During his watch at the dawn prayer no place could be found in the rows; one could never get enough of his plaintive hymns and heart-soothing na'ts, and he made every listener weep. His only son İsmâil Hakkı Efendi could not take his place. His apprentice Hamaloğlu Abdülkâdir Efendi became chief muezzin; he too had a very beautiful voice.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- terceme: biography, life story
- ahfâd: grandchildren
- hıfz u edâ: the manner of memorizing and reciting the Qur'an
- iltihâk etmek: to join
- ser-mü'ezzin, baş-mü'ezzin: the head of the muezzins of a mosque
- hızmet-i şer'iyye: religious duty
- Şeyhü'l-kurrâ: the head of the Qur'an reciters and teachers of recitation in a city
- muhrik sadâ: a burning, heart-piercing voice; nağamât-ı latîfe: delicate, pleasing melodies
- mahâfil-i 'aliyye ve edebiyye: high and literary gatherings
- ruh-nevâz: soothing to the heart; na't: a poem or hymn praising the Prophet
- mahdûm-ı yegâne: the only son
The Sultan Bayezid Mosque and Its Muezzins
The Sultan Bayezid Mosque, in which İbrâhim Efendi served as chief muezzin for more than thirty years, was completed in Rajab 891 [July 1486] according to its three-part construction inscription. Inside the building is a plain muezzin's gallery resting on slender black columns; the hymns and na'ts at the dawn prayers described in the text were recited from this gallery.
In the same mosque there was another chief muezzin called a "nightingale." In another volume of the same work Hüsameddin tells of Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi, who lived about two hundred years earlier. This person, son of Hâfız Ali Çelebi, one of the custodians of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, was taken among the mosque's muezzins because his voice was very beautiful, delicate and high, and then became chief muezzin. It is written that he too stirred Amasya with the dawn temcids and hymns of his watch, and made his listeners weep with the mevlid and Qur'an he recited; he died in Muharram 1100 [October-November 1688], and his descendants were called "Bülbüloğulları." The similarity between the two accounts is striking: both chief muezzins are remembered for voices that stirred the congregation at the dawn watch and made the listener weep. This suggests that the tradition of raising fine-voiced muezzins at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque continued over the centuries.
It is also known that this tradition continued until recent times. The photographs of the Music Society (Mûsikî Cemiyeti) founded in Amasya in 1908 include hâfızs, imams and muezzins; Fatih Koca relates, as his own memory, that in 1981 hâfızs were taught in the muezzin's gallery of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque to recite the Qur'an in seven maqams.
Hüsameddin's Mother
The most striking detail of the entry is that Hüsameddin describes the day of İbrâhim Efendi's death by the day of his own mother's death. His mother Zâhide Hatun was the daughter of Hâfız Hacı Osman Efendi and the granddaughter of Hâfız Hacı Halîl Efendi, the şeyhü'l-kurrâ of Amasya; that is, on his mother's side Hüsameddin came from a leading family among the city's Qur'an reciters. Hüsameddin was born in the Çeribaşı quarter in November 1869, began his schooling in 1879 at the Balcı School in the quarter, and memorized the Qur'an. He was ten years old when he lost his mother and the "Nightingale of Sultan Bayezid" on the same day. The lines describing how no place could be found in the rows at the dawn prayer are likely the memory of someone who had heard this voice in person as a child.
No information was found in other sources about Hamaloğlu Abdülkâdir Efendi, who took over the post of chief muezzin, or about İbrâhim Efendi's son İsmâil Hakkı Efendi.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 76–77. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vols. 6-8, Amasya Belediyesi e-book, vol. 7, entry "Bülbül Ahmed Çelebi-Hâfız".
Academic studies
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, entry "Beyazıt II Camii ve Külliyesi (Amasya)" (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/beyazit-ii-camii-ve-kulliyesi--amasya).
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, entry "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar" (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/huseyin-husameddin-yasar).
- Fatih Koca, "Amasya Mûsikî Cemiyeti ve Büyükağa Medresesi'nin Amasya Dinî Mûsikîsine Katkısı", Amasya Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi Dergisi, no. 6.