İbrâhim Efendi — Mar'aşlı

In Modern English

He was the son of Mehmed bin Abdullah, of the people of Maraş. He came to Amasya, completed his studies under Malatyalı Sûfî Mehmed Efendi and Payaslızâde Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi, received the icazet (license), and gained the authority to teach. He became professor (müderris) of the Abdullah Pasha Madrasa in place of Seyyid Ebûbekir Efendi bin Seyyid Mehmed Efendi, son of Hacı Osman Efendi, professor of the Abdullah Pasha Madrasa, who died in mid-Jumada al-Awwal 1290 [July 1873], and he died in that post in the month of Rajab 1294 [July-August 1877]. He was among the scholars; he was a preacher, content with little and gentle in temper.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's education
• mücâz: one who has received an icazet, authorized to teach
• ders-i âm: a professor who gives lessons open to all in a mosque or madrasa; a scholar who has gained this authority
• evâsıt: the middle days of a month (the 11th to the 20th)
• müderris: madrasa professor
• vâ'iz: one who preaches; kâni': content with little; halîm: gentle in temper

The Abdullah Pasha Madrasa

The Abdullah Pasha Madrasa, İbrâhim Efendi's last post, stands in the Sofular quarter of Amasya, in the courtyard of the Abdullah Pasha Mosque. It was built in 890 [1485] by Sinanoğlu Hacı Abdullah Pasha as a dârülhadis, that is, a madrasa devoted to the teaching of hadith, and its waqf deed was drawn up in 907 [1501] by his son Abdî Bey. According to Osman Keskiner's description, the madrasa consists of two rooms on each side of the open space in front of the mosque's inner door; the space is covered by a large dome, the rooms are small, and the mosque itself is used as the lecture hall. Studies on the teaching of hadith cite this building as one of the rare dârülhadis to have survived, with its inscription and original structure, from the time of Bayezid II; it is known among the people as the Sofular Mosque, and the word "dârülhadis" can be read plainly in its inscription.

Among the madrasa's professors, hadith scholars such as Şermîzâde Takıyyüddin Efendi and Abdî Efendi are counted; the professorship was rated as a rank of the 50-akçe grade. Maraşlı İbrâhim Efendi's coming to this chair in 1873 shows that a student who came from the provinces and was trained in Amasya could rise to a teaching post in an old-established madrasa of the city. His tenure lasted about four years and ended with his death in the summer of 1877, while the War of '93, which began in April, was continuing.

His Teachers

Payaslızâde Hacı Abdülhalîm Efendi, named in the text, belongs to a family of scholars known in Amasya as Payaslızâde. Among the information Hüsameddin gives elsewhere is that the house of Payaslızâde Hacı Hakkı Efendi, of the same family, was in the Devehane quarter, and that Mîr Hamza Nigârî stayed in this house for a few months in 1298 [1881]. No information was found in other sources about Malatyalı Sûfî Mehmed Efendi or about İbrâhim Efendi's predecessor Ebûbekir Efendi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 6, p. 76. amasya.bel.tr

Academic studies

• Osman Keskiner, "Amasya Dâru'l-Hadisleri ve Kültürümüzdeki Yeri", Anadolu'da Hadis Geleneği ve Dâru'l-Hadisler Symposium, Samsun 2011.
• TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, entry "Dârülhadis" (islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/darulhadis).
• Metin Hakverdioğlu, "Mir Hamza Nigârî ve Süfyânîler", Alevilik Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 12, 2016.

Other sources

• Türkiye Maarif Ansiklopedisi, entry "Amasya" (turkmaarifansiklopedisi.org.tr/amasya).