Amasyalıdır. Kadı’l-kudât eş-Şeyh Cemaleddîn İbrâhim bin İlyâs bin Ali el-Aksarâyî mahdûmudur. Pederi Amasya‘da müderris iken doğdu. Pederinden ve Amasya’da sadrü’l-ulemâ eş-Şeyh Şerefeddîn Mehmed el-Herevîden ve Erzincân’da Allâme Vecihüddîn Ömer bin Abdülmuhsin el-Erzincânî’den tahsîl-i ulûm ederek ders-i âm oldu.
Amasya‘da yıllarca tedrîs-i ulûm edib nice şâkirdân-ı fazl u irfân yetiştirdi. Üstâzının irtihâlinde [256] sadrü’l-ulemâ, ya’nî me’zûn bi’l-iftâ oldu. Amasya hükümdârı Hacı Kutlu Şâh ve mahdûmu Şadgeldi Pâdişâh devri hükûmetlerinde pek muhterem ve müderris-i Torumtay olduğu halde 767 senesi saferinde dâr-ı bekâya irtihâl etdi.
Gâyet fâzıl, muhakkik, ulûm-ı nakliyye ve akliyyede mâhir, müteşerrî bir müftî-i benâm idi. Ok Meydanı’nda kâin mezârlığın ortasındaki türbenin ittisâlinde dört duvarla muhât bir türbe içinde Fahreddîn Mehmed Cevherî yanında medfûndur. Mahdûmları Şemseddîn Mehmed, Alâeddîn Ali Çelebilerdir.
Hacı Mehmed Çelebi, Amasya‘nın a’yânından olub mahdûmu Hacı İbrâhim Çelebi’dir. Bunun oğulları Mehmed, Mahmûd Çelebilerdir. Mehmed Çelebizâde Kemaleddîn Ahmed Çelebi ve Mahmûd Çelebizâde eş-Şeyh Cemaleddîn Mehmed Çelebi pek meşhûr idiler. Bunların evlâdı ricâl-i ma’rûfedendir.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of the kâdılkudât (chief judge) Şeyh Cemâleddîn İbrâhîm bin İlyâs bin Ali el-Aksarayî. He was born while his father was müderris in Amasya. After studying with his father, with Şeyh Şerefeddîn Mehmed el-Herevî, the sadrü'l-ulemâ (head of the scholars) in Amasya, and with the great scholar Vecîhüddîn Ömer bin Abdülmuhsin el-Erzincânî in Erzincan, he became a scholar giving public lessons.
He taught for years in Amasya and trained many students eager for knowledge and learning. On the death of his teacher he became sadrü'l-ulemâ, that is, a scholar authorized to issue fatwas (me'zûn bi'l-iftâ). He was held in great respect in the governments of Hacı Kutlu Şâh and his son, Padişah Şadgeldi; he died in the month of Safer of the year 767 [1365] while müderris of the Torumtay Madrasa.
He was an extremely virtuous, thorough scholar, a master of the transmitted and the rational sciences, devoted to religious law, and a mufti of wide repute. He is buried next to Fahreddîn Mehmed Cevherî in a tomb enclosed by four walls, adjoining the tomb in the middle of the cemetery at Ok Meydanı. His sons were Şemseddîn Mehmed and Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi.
Hacı Mehmed Çelebi was one of the notables of Amasya; his son was Hacı İbrâhîm Çelebi. His sons were Mehmed and Mahmûd Çelebi. Kemâleddîn Ahmed Çelebi, son of Mehmed Çelebi, and Şeyh Cemâleddîn Mehmed Çelebi, son of Mahmûd Çelebi, were very famous. Their children are among well-known people.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- kâdılkudât: judge of judges, chief judge
- ders-i âm: a public lesson
- sadrü'l-ulemâ: head of the scholars
- me'zûn bi'l-iftâ: authorized to issue fatwas
- müderris: a teacher who gives lessons in a madrasa
- dâr-ı bekâ: the abode of eternity, the afterlife; "irtihâl etmek" means to die
- ulûm-ı nakliyye ve akliyye: the sciences based on revelation and those based on reason
- müteşerri': bound by religious rulings
- müftî-i benâm: a mufti of wide repute
- ittisâl: adjacency
- a'yân: the notables of a city
- ricâl-i ma'rûfe: well-known people
The Aksarayî Family and Şadgeldi Pasha
İlyâs Çelebi was one of the teachers of the Amasya emir Hacı Şadgeldi Pasha. According to a paper on Şadgeldi Pasha's life, the emir was born and raised in Amasya and took lessons from the scholars of the city where he grew up, for example Fahreddîn İlyâs Rûmî, son of Cemâleddîn İbrâhîm Aksarayî, and Mevlânâ Abdülmelik. This must be the person Hüsameddin calls "Mevlânâ Fahreddîn Ebü'l-Mahâmid İlyâs Çelebi." The information in the paper also rests on Hüsameddin's Amasya Tarihi. The same paper reports that when Şadgeldi Pasha became emir he appointed his fellow student Cemâleddîn Muhammed Aksarayî first judge of Amasya and müderris of the Dâr'ül-ilm, then kazasker of Amasya, and that Aksarayî presented him with his works "Es'ile ve Ecvibe" and "Teferrücü'l-ümerâ." The death date of 767 [1365] that Hüsameddin gives for İlyâs Çelebi falls after Şadgeldi became emir in 760 [1359] and fits the note that he "was held in respect in the time of Kutlu Şâh and Şadgeldi." It appears in the paper that Şadgeldi Pasha was also known by the title "Padişah"; Hüsameddin's "Şadgeldi Pâdişâh" agrees with this usage.
The summary of the paper gives the death year 729 [1328] for Cemâleddîn İbrâhîm Aksarayî, while the English summary seems to attach the same year to the son İlyâs. If İlyâs taught Şadgeldi and died in 1365, the year 729 must belong to the father; this is an inference. The paper does not speak of a kinship between Cemâleddîn İbrâhîm and his fellow student Cemâleddîn Muhammed; that both bear the nisba "Aksarayî" does not show a link.
The Torumtay Madrasa
The phrase "müderris of Torumtay" in the text must relate to the building in Amasya known as the Gökmedrese or Torumtay Mosque; this is an inference. The building is also called the Torumtay Mosque after its founder Seyfeddin Torumtay; because its entrance section was used as a madrasa it is known as the Gökmedrese, and beside it stands a tomb decorated with purple-turquoise tiles and glazed bricks. Torumtay was appointed governor of Amasya in the time of Gıyâseddin Keyhusrev the Second and lies in the tomb he had built in 677 [1278-79]. Because the construction inscription could not be found, the exact date of the building is not known; Torumtay's endowment deed is dated 665 [1266-67], and construction is accepted to have been completed by that year at the latest. This shows that in the mid-fourteenth century, when İlyâs Çelebi taught, the building was about a hundred years old; but that the phrase "müderris of Torumtay" refers to this building has not been verified.
No information was found in the sources read on the cemetery and tomb at Ok Meydanı, on Fahreddîn Mehmed Cevherî, Şerefeddîn Mehmed el-Herevî and Vecîhüddîn el-Erzincânî, or on the line beginning with Hacı Mehmed Çelebi.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 341–341. amasya.bel.tr
- Mehterhan Furkani, "Siyasî ve İlmî Bir Kişilik: Amasya Emiri Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa ve ed-Dürerü'l-mensûretü fi'l-furûʻ Adlı Eserin Kendisine Nispeti", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı I, Amasya, 2017.