Merzifonludur. Amasya’da Iydîzâde el-Hâc Akif Mustafa Efendi, Lâz Hoca el-Hâc İbrâhim Efendi gibi fuzalâdan ahz-ı ulûm ederek mücâz olup Merzifon’a avdetle neşr-i ulûma himmet etdi. Orada hayli zaman tedrîs-i ulûm ederek iştihâr eylediğinden Sultâniye-i Merzifon müderrisi, ba’dehû müftü oldu.
Fakat 1188 senesinde Cânikli Hacı Ali Paşa’nın şerrinden kaçıp İstanbul’a gitdi. Orada ders-i âm olarak kendisini tanıtdı. 1193’de açılan ru’ûs imtihânını parlak bir sûrette kazanıp 1194 gurre-i muharreminde hareket-i dâhil i’tibârıyla İstanbul müderrisi olduğu hâlde sene-i mezbûre zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Fâzıl, gâyet fakîh, natûk bir zât idi.
In Modern English
He was from Merzifon. He acquired learning from scholars in Amasya such as Iydîzâde el-Hâc Akif Mustafa Efendi and Lâz Hoca el-Hâc İbrahim Efendi, received the icazet, and returning to Merzifon strove to spread learning. Because he taught there for quite a long time and gained renown, he became müderris of the Merzifon Sultâniye Madrasa and then mufti.
But in 1188 [1774-75] he fled the malice of Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha and went to Istanbul. There he made himself known by giving general lessons. He won the ruûs examination held in 1193 [1779-80] in a brilliant manner and, at the beginning of Muharram 1194 [January 1780], became an Istanbul müderris with the rank of hareket-i dâhil, and died in the Dhu al-Hijja of the same year [December 1780]. He was learned, a very good scholar of jurisprudence, and eloquent.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- fuzalâ: scholars
- ahz-ı ulûm: acquiring learning
- mücâz: one who has the icazet
- avdet: return
- tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching the sciences
- şerr: evil, harm
- ders-i âm: a lesson open to all
- ru'ûs imtihânı: the examination held on entering the müderris career
- gurre: the first day of a month
- hareket-i dâhil: one of the grades of the learned (ilmiye) hierarchy
- sene-i mezbûre: the said year
- natûk: talkative, one who knows how to speak
The Ruûs Examination and the Istanbul Professorship
Those who finished madrasa study and became mülazım entered the ruûs examination after a waiting period of seven years, and those who passed received the ruûs. The ruûs is the document of taking up a post in the learned organization. The phrase "won it in a brilliant manner" that Hüsameddin uses in this entry says that İbrahim Efendi passed this examination with a good result. In the examination, held before a learned body that included the kazasker, those who showed success were distributed to grades as müderrises.
Flight from Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha
The reason for İbrahim Efendi's flight from Merzifon in 1188 is Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha. The sanjak of Amasya had been given to the Pasha on 30 May 1772, followed by the governorship of Sivas, and the family had established pressure around Amasya. Why İbrahim Efendi became the Pasha's target cannot be understood from Hüsameddin's short sentence or from the sources I read. In the entry on Seküköylüzâde İbrahim Efendi in the same volume, another Amasyan scholar is mentioned who was killed in 1188 for speaking against the Pasha. No separate information could be found about the Sultâniye madrasa in Merzifon or the name of the mufti of Merzifon. No information on this person was found in other sources either.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 62–62. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources