Amasyalıdır. Amasya’da Hâtuniye İmâmı Ahmed Efendi’nin mahdûmudur. 910’da Hâtuniye Mahallesi’nde doğdu. Amasya ve İstanbul ulemâsından tahsîl-i ulûm ederek Şükûfe-zâr-ı fünûndan deste-bend, her fende fâik-i dânişmend oldukda [385] ders-i âm oldu.
Ancak tab-ı şerîfinde tecrîd ve tasavvufa fevkalâde meyl ü muhabbet-i cây-gîr olduğundan Amasya’da medfûn Habîb-i Karamânî hazretlerinin hulefâsından Pîrî Mehmed Paşa Tekkesi şeyhi Cemâleddîn İshâk Efendi hizmetlerine vâsıl ve terbiyet-i mürşid-i kâmil ile semere-i murâda nâ’il oldu.
940’da hazret-i şeyhin vefâtında Pîrî Paşa Tekkesi şeyhi olduğu hâlde kendisine vatan muhabbeti galebe eylediğinden birkaç yıl sonra Amasya’ya avdet ve İçerişehir’de Mahmûd Çelebi Tekkesi’nde icrâ-yı meşîhât ederek fevkalâde iştihâr etdi.
Amasya valîsi Şehzâde Sultân Mustafa birkaç defa Tekkesini ziyâret etdiği gibi 965’de Amasya vâlîsi olup Şehzâde Sultân Bâyezîd de kendisini şeyh ve muktedâ ittihâz etmişdi. Bundan dolayı 966’da Şehzâde tarafından Amasya Müftüsü Molla Muhyiddîn Efendi ile Sultân Süleyman Hân’a gönderilmiş ve bunların şefâ’atiyle afvı niyâz ve istirhâm edilmişdi. [386]
Sultân Süleyman, şehzâdesinin küstâhâne hareketinden pek ziyâde müteessir olduğu cihetle her ikisi de Yedikule’de habs ve tazyîk edildi. Mu’ahharan bunların bir kabâhati olmadığı anlaşıldığından ıtlâk edilip Amasya’ya avdet edebildi.
Ba’dehû âdeti üzere gâh Hâtuniyye ve gâh Sultân Bâyezîd Câmileri’nde halka va’z ve tezkîr ve talebe-i ulûma tedrîs-i hadîs ve tefsîr ederek imrâr-ı hayât edib 976 senesi recebinde Hicaz’a gitdi. Medîne-i Münevvere’ye vardığından bir gün sonra dâr-ı kudse irtihâl etdi. Cennetü’l-bakî’de medfûndur.
Nev’îzâde Atâyî Efendi “Zeyl-i Şakâyık”da tercemesini yazdıktan sonra diyor ki: Azîz-i merkûm nuhbe-i meşâyıh-ı Rûm-ı feyz-i irşâdı nûr-bahş-ı kulûb-i kâsiye, te’sîr-i enfâsı müsahhir-sâz-ı nüfûs-i âsiye, kesîru’l-ibâde, şedîdü’z-zehâde, âlim ü âmil, kâmil ü mükemmel idi.
Kiber-i sinnî ile ekser eyyâmda sâim ve her gece yüz rek’at nâfile edâsına kâ’im, rişte-i alâka-i izdivâcı yüzden [387] ziyâde ezvâc-ı gevher-revâce silk-i intizâm ve hulk-i hüsn ve adl-i müstahsen ile herbiri mazhar-ı riâyet ve ikrâm olup dâimâ peyvend-i akd-i nikâhı dört adet sâlihâta cihet-i câmi’a ve cihâr defter-i ferhûnde-ahter-i şebistân halvetgâhında şeb-çerâğı zıyâ-gester gibi lâmi’ idi. Hakkâ ki mahz-ı kerâmet ve mu’ciz-i erbâb-ı hikmetdir.¹⁷⁸
Mahdûmları içinde eş-Şeyh Şemseddîn Ahmed, Muhyiddîn Mehmed, Cemâleddîn İshâk Efendiler pek meşhûr idiler. Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendizâde eş-Şeyh Mehmed Efendi ve bunun mahdûmu eş-Şeyh Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi de meşhûr olup Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi kibâr-ı ulemâ ve meşâyıhdan idi.
Bunun mahdûmları Ahmed, Abdülfettâh, Abdülkâdir Efendiler de ma’rûf olup eş-Şeyh Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi 1063’de vefât etdi. Mahdûmları Mehmed, Abdurrahmân, Abdüllâtîf Efendilerdir. Bunlara Şeyh Îcâdîzâdeler dendi. Abdüllâtîf Efendi’nin evlâdı meşâhîr-i ulemâ ve sâdât-ı kirâmdan olarak devâm etmişlerdi. [388]
Şeyh Îcâdî Efendi İçerişehir’de bir mescid-i şerîf binâ edib ekseriyyen orada tefsîr ve hadîs okuturdu. Hânesi de bu mescid-i şerîfin civârında idi. Evlâdı pek çok zaman bu mescid-i şerîfde imâmet ve müşârün-ileyhin vakfına tevliyet etmişlerdir.
In Modern English
He was a native of Amasya, the son of Ahmed Efendi, imam of the Hâtuniye. He was born in 910 [1504-05] in the Hâtuniye quarter. He studied under the scholars of Amasya and Istanbul, gathered a bouquet from the rose garden of the sciences, and when he had become an eminent scholar in every field, he received the authority to give public lessons (ders-i âm).
But since an extraordinary inclination and love for withdrawal from the world and for Sufism had settled in his nature, he entered the service of Cemâleddîn İshak Efendi, sheikh of the lodge of Pîrî Mehmed Paşa and one of the successors of Habîb-i Karamânî, who is buried in Amasya, and through the training of this perfect guide he reached his goal.
When the venerable sheikh died in 940 [1533-34], he had become the sheikh of the Pîrî Paşa Lodge, but since love of his homeland prevailed, he returned to Amasya a few years later and won great fame as sheikh at the Mahmûd Çelebi Lodge in İçerişehir.
Just as Prince Sultan Mustafa, governor of Amasya, visited his lodge several times, Prince Sultan Bâyezîd, who became governor of Amasya in 965 [1557-58], also took him as sheikh and leader. For this reason, in 966 [1558-59] he was sent by the prince to Sultan Süleyman Han together with Molla Muhyiddîn Efendi, the mufti of Amasya, and through their intercession a plea was made for the prince's pardon.
Because Sultan Süleyman was deeply grieved by his son's insolent conduct, both of them were imprisoned and pressed at Yedikule. Later, when it was understood that they were guilty of nothing, he was released and was able to return to Amasya.
Afterwards, as was his habit, he spent his life preaching and admonishing the people, now at the Hâtuniye Mosque, now at the Sultan Bâyezîd Mosque, and teaching hadith and Qur'anic commentary to students. In the month of Receb of the year 976 [1568-69] he went to the Hijaz. A day after reaching Medina, he passed away to the other world. He lies in the Cennetü'l-Bakî cemetery.
Nev'îzâde Atâyî Efendi, after writing his biography in the "Zeyl-i Şakâyık", says the following: the said holy man was the choice among the sheikhs of Anatolia; the grace of his guidance lit up hardened hearts, and the effect of his breath subdued rebellious souls; he was devout, firm in his abstinence, both a scholar and one who acted upon his learning, complete and perfect.
Even in old age he fasted on most days and performed a hundred cycles of voluntary prayer every night. He had entered into marriage with more than a hundred precious wives, ran these marriages with order, good character and praiseworthy justice, and each of them received care and honor. In his marriage contract there were always four righteous wives, and in the night chamber of these four fortunate women he shone like a lamp lighting up the night. This is truly a pure miracle and a wonder of men of wisdom.
Among his sons, eş-Şeyh Şemseddîn Ahmed, Muhyiddîn Mehmed and Cemâleddîn İshak Efendis were very famous. Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi's son eş-Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, and his son eş-Şeyh Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi, are also famous, while Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi was one of the great scholars and sheikhs.
His sons Ahmed, Abdülfettâh and Abdülkâdir Efendis were also well known; eş-Şeyh Hayreddîn Hızır Efendi died in 1063 [1652-53]. His sons were Mehmed, Abdurrahmân and Abdüllâtîf Efendis. They were called the Şeyh Îcâdîzades. The children of Abdüllâtîf Efendi continued as famous scholars and sayyids.
Şeyh Îcâdî Efendi built a mosque in İçerişehir and mostly taught Qur'anic commentary and hadith there. His house was also near this mosque. His children served as imams in this mosque for a very long time and held the stewardship of his waqf.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- ders-i âm: a professor authorized to give public lessons, a madrasa teacher
- tecrîd: withdrawal from worldly affairs
- hulefâ: successors (caliphs); students a sheikh has authorized
- icrâ-yı meşîhat: acting as sheikh
- muktedâ: one who is followed, a leader
- habs ve tazyîk: imprisonment and pressure
- ıtlâk: release
- va'z ve tezkîr: preaching and admonishing the public
- tedrîs: teaching
- irtihâl: death, passing away
- merkûm: the aforementioned
- nâfile: voluntary prayer, beyond the obligatory ones
- tevliyet: the duty of administering a waqf (stewardship)
The Halveti Sheikh Cemâleddin İshak and Îcâdî
The "Cemâleddîn İshak" in the text is Cemâleddin İshak Karamânî, one of the well-known sheikhs of the Halvetiyye in Anatolia. Having attached himself to Habib Karamânî and completed his path, İshak settled, on going to Istanbul, in the lodge that his relative Pîrî Mehmed Paşa had built for him in Zeyrek. The deed of endowment of this lodge is dated 1517. Pîrî Mehmed Paşa had two more lodges built in the name of the same sheikh, at Fındıkzade and at Sütlüce. It is recorded that Cemâleddin İshak died in Istanbul in 933 [1527], was buried near his lodge at Sütlüce, and that a chronogram was composed for his death. Hüsameddin, however, gives the year of death as 940; the seven-year difference between the two dates could not be explained from these sources.
According to the same source, after the sheikh, his successor known as "Şeyh İcâdî", Hayreddin Hızır Amâsî, took his place at the lodge in Sütlüce, and after staying there for a while, Hızır returned to Amasya and continued his activity there. This agrees with the course Hüsameddin describes (a return from Istanbul to Amasya). Only, Hüsameddin calls the lodge of which he became sheikh the "Pîrî Paşa Lodge"; it is not clear from the text which of the three lodges Pîrî Mehmed Paşa built is meant. If the birth year of 910 [1504-05] is correct, Hızır would have been twenty-three years old in 1527, when Cemâleddin İshak died; this calculation is an inference.
The Lodge of Mahmud Çelebi
The place Hüsameddin calls the Mahmûd Çelebi Lodge in İçerişehir is the Mahmud Çelebi Lodge, which is mentioned today as lying within the Hatuniye quarter. It is written that the lodge was built in 807 [1404] by Ammâdzâde Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi, one of the kadıs of Amasya, that it is counted among the first Naqshbandi lodges in Anatolia, and that Halveti sheikhs served there in the time of Bayezid II. Among these sheikhs is also counted Hayreddin Hızır Tokadî, one of the successors of Cemal Halvetî. This name must not be confused with Îcâdî's; the Hızır, son of the imam of the Hâtuniye, whom Hüsameddin mentions, is a different person.
The Affair of Prince Bayezid
Hüsameddin's dates of 965 and 966 coincide with the years of the governorship of Amasya of Prince Bayezid, the son of Süleyman the Magnificent. Bayezid regarded his transfer to Amasya as an insult and arrived in the city on 21 December 1558 after a long journey. Defeated by his brother Selim near Konya, he returned to Amasya and sent the mufti Muhyiddin Cürcânî to ask his father's forgiveness. The sultan did not pardon him and ordered his capture, and Bayezid left Amasya with his sons on 7 July 1559. It is highly probable that the person Hüsameddin calls "Molla Muhyiddîn Efendi, mufti of Amasya" is the same as this mufti; this is an inference, since the sources do not join the two names.
We could not find the information about imprisonment at Yedikule in the sources we read. That the sheikh was punished and later cleared after the Bayezid affair appears only in Hüsameddin. That the sheikh was Bayezid's spiritual leader could not be verified in another source either.
Other Accounts of Îcâdî
An article on the Halveti lodges of Amasya states that the person known by the nickname "Îcâdî", under the name Hayreddin Hızır b. İmam Ahmed, served as palace tutor in the time of Bayezid II, wrote about twelve books, and that his best-known works are a gloss on the Keşşâf and a commentary on the Meşârik; the article takes this from another study. These details are not in Hüsameddin, and they do not fit with his dates of birth: Bayezid II came to the throne in 1481, and someone born in 1504-05 cannot have been his tutor. Either there is a confusion here with another Hızır, or the date of birth is wrong; we could not determine which is correct.
Nev'îzâde Atâyî's work is also known under the name "Hadâ'iku'l-hakâ'ik fî tekmileti'ş-Şakâ'ik"; there is an edition by Abdülkadir Özcan from 1989. The praise Hüsameddin quotes from Atâyî could not be verified directly from this text. Because Atâyî's ornate sentence about the wives is written in a heavy style, the reading "more than a hundred wives" in the translation above is an interpretation.
The Couplet in the Footnote
Hüsameddin placed in a footnote a play on words based on the sheikh's name. "Îcâd" means creating, bringing forth, leaving a work behind; the sheikh's nickname comes from this word.
Kâmilin gitse vücûdu nice îcâdı kalır
Sen dahî anlayagör kim er ölür adı kalır
The couplet says that even if the body of a perfect person departs, many works (îcâd) of his remain behind; a man dies, but his name remains.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, pp. 380–381. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Reşat Öngören, "Karamânî, Cemâleddin İshak", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/karamani-cemaleddin-ishak
- Şerafettin Turan, "Bayezid, Şehzade", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi. https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/bayezid-sehzade
- Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", Akademiar Dergisi, no. 5, December 2018, pp. 91–118.
Books
- Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (TEİS), entry "Atâyî, Atâullah Ahmed Efendi"; its bibliography lists Nevizâde Atâyî, Hadâiku'l-Hakayık fî Tekmileti'ş-Şakâyık, ed. Abdulkadir Özcan, Çağrı Yayınları, Istanbul 1989. https://teis.yesevi.edu.tr