Amasyalıdır. Sipahilerden Ali Ağa bin İsa Çelebi bin Ali Ağa’nın mahdûmudur. Amasya‘da allâme-i meşhûr Müfessir Hızır Efendi’nin halka-i tedrîsinde ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm oldu. Tedrîs-i ulûm esnâsında Amasya medreselerini devrederek ll06 cumâdelûlâsının evâsıtında Mehmed Efendi’nin ref’inden Hâtuniye-i Tokat müderrisi oldu.
ll07 senesi zilka’desinde bunun azlinden Mehmed Efendi iâde edildiği münâsebetle Amasya’ya avdet edib tekâüd vazîfesi verildi. 1111 senesi zilhiccesinde dâr-ı bekâya [271] rihlet etdi. Meşâhir-i fuzalâdan muhakkik, usûl ve fürû’da mâhir bir zât idi. Mahdûmu Râzî Yûsuf Efendi kibâr-ı mevâlîdendir.
Garîbe
l307 senesi zilka’desinde “Dersi tamâm” demekle meşhûr Müftîzâde Ömer Efendi’yi rüyâda gördüğüm esnâda üstâdını sormuşdum. Üstâdının sâhib-i terceme olduğunu ve muhtasar tercemesini beyân etdikden sonra bu zâtın tarih-i vefâtını sordum. Yazdığım tarihde vefât etdiğini ve Sultân Bâyezîd Mektebi bahçesinde caddeye nâzır pencerenin önünde medfûn olduğunu beyân ederek kabrini gösterdi.
Fi’l-hakika pencerenin önünde seng-i mezârını gördüm. Bâlâda yazdığım tarihin seng-i mezârında aynen mahkûk olduğunu müşâhede etdim. Bu zâtın adını ve tercemesini ve tarih-i vefâtını nerede bulabileceğimi sordum. Herhalde bunları hakkıyla ararsan bulursun demişti. Tarihime bu zâtı ihtiyâten yazmamışdım. Çünkü mezkûr bahçede kabîr yoktu.
Aradan yirmi altı yıl geçti. Evkâf mahzen evrâkını [272] tetkîke me’mûr oldum. l333’de esnâ-yı tedkîkâtımda “Tokat Mâliye ve Tekâüd Defterleri” elime geçdi. Tekâüd Defteri’nde;
مدرس خاتونيهء توقاد موالان الياس افندى بن على عن رفع موالان حممد افندى اواسط مجاذى االوىل سنة ٦٠١١¹⁶³
Ve diğer bir mahallinde;
متقاعد موالان الياس افندى بن على عن خاتونيهء توقاد ذو القعده سنة ٧٠١١ در اماسيهمقيم¹⁶⁴
Ve bunun bâlâsında;
در اماسيه۱۱۱۱ فوت شد ىف زى احلجه سنة¹⁶⁵
diye yazılı bulundu.¹⁶⁶ Bu kayıtları görünce gördüğüm rü’yâ hâtırıma geldi. O kadar sevindim ki hâneme avdetimle derhal hazret-i fâzılın ism-i şerîfini ve tercemesini ve tarih-i vefâtını Ders-i tamâm Ömer Efendi Hazretlerinin bana tarif ve beyânı vechile tarihime yazdım. Rüyâmın sıdkından dolayı Cenâb-ı Hakk’a teşekkür etdim.
In Modern English
He was from Amasya. He was the son of Ali Ağa, one of the sipahis; Ali Ağa was the son of İsa Çelebi, and İsa Çelebi the son of Ali Ağa. In Amasya he completed his studies in the teaching circle of the famous great scholar Müfessir Hızır Efendi and became a müderris (madrasa professor) giving public lectures (ders-i âm). While teaching he made his way through the madrasas of Amasya, and in the middle of Cumâdelûlâ 1106 [1694-95], on the removal of Mehmed Efendi, he became müderris of the Hâtuniye Madrasa in Tokat.
In Zilkade 1107 [1695-96], since Mehmed Efendi was restored to his post, he returned to Amasya and was given a retirement (tekâüt) appointment. In Zilhicce 1111 [1699-1700] [271] he departed this world. He was one of the famous learned men, a researcher, and a master of usûl and fürû'. His son Râzî Yûsuf Efendi is among the müderrises of high rank.
Garîbe (A Strange Event)
In Zilkade 1307 [1889-90], while I saw in a dream Müftîzâde Ömer Efendi, famous as "Dersi tamâm," I asked him about his teacher. After he said that his teacher was the subject of this entry and told me his brief biography, I asked him for the date of this man's death. He said that he had died on the date I had written, and that he was buried in the garden of the Sultan Bayezid School, in front of the window facing the street, and showed me the grave.
Indeed I saw the gravestone in front of the window. I also saw that the date I had written above was carved exactly on the gravestone. I asked where I could find this man's name, his biography and the date of his death. He had said: "If you search for them properly, you will find them." I had not entered this man in my history, as a precaution, because there was no grave in the garden in question.
Twenty-six years passed. I was assigned to examine the papers in the waqf archive (evkâf mahzeni) [272]. In 1333 [1914-15], during my examinations, the "Tokat Finance and Retirement Registers" came into my hands. In the Retirement Register there was a record in the following sense: "For the müderris of the Hâtuniyye in Tokat, Mevlânâ İlyâs Efendi son of Ali; on the removal of Mevlânâ Mehmed Efendi, the middle of Cumâdelûlâ of the year 1106."
In another place too there was a record in the following sense: "Retired from the Hâtuniyye in Tokat, Mevlânâ İlyâs Efendi son of Ali, residing in Amasya, Zilkâde of the year 1107."
Above this was written, in the following sense: "He died in Amasya in Zilhicce of the year 1111." It was found written thus. When I saw these records, the dream I had seen came to my mind. I was so glad that on returning home I immediately wrote into my history the blessed name of this learned man, his biography and the date of his death, just as Ömer Efendi, the one of "Dersi Tamâm," had described and told me. I thanked God for the truth of my dream.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- halka-i tedrîs: teaching circle, the community of students gathered around a teacher
- ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's studies
- ders-i âm: a müderris who gives public lectures
- ref': removal; here, dismissal from a post
- azl: dismissal
- iâde: giving back, restoring to a post
- tekâüd: retirement
- muhakkik: researcher, a scholar who establishes the correct view
- usûl ve fürû': the principles of jurisprudence and its branches of detail
- kibâr-ı mevâlî: müderrises of high rank
- garîbe: a strange, extraordinary event
- seng-i mezâr: gravestone
- terceme: biography
- evkâf mahzeni: waqf archive, a depository of documents
- mütekâid: retired
The Hâtuniye Madrasa in Tokat
The Hâtuniye in the text is the madrasa belonging to the Hatuniye Complex in Tokat. The complex was built in 1485 in the name of Gülbahar Hatun, mother of Bayezid II, and consists of a mosque, an imaret and a madrasa. The Hatuniye Mosque of Amasya, which bears the same name, is a different building and was built by Bülbül Hatun, one of the wives of Bayezid II; the madrasa spoken of in the text is the one in Tokat. Footnote 166 of the book, drawing on these records, states that the müderris of the Hâtuniye received sixty akçe and the retired one forty akçe.
The records show that a professorship could change hands quickly through dismissal and restoration: İlyâs Efendi was appointed in the middle of Cumâdelûlâ 1106, and in Zilkade 1107, when Mehmed Efendi returned to his post, he was assigned a retirement stipend and appears as residing in Amasya. About a year and a half lies between appointment and retirement; whether İlyâs Efendi was actually in Tokat during this time cannot be told from the records.
His Teacher and Pupils
According to another entry of Hüsameddin, Müfessir Hızır Efendi was mufti of Amasya, and at least three people trained in his teaching circle are mentioned in separate entries. In the entry written for Mütevellîzâde Ahmed Efendi it is stated that Ahmed Efendi completed his education, after Müfessir Hızır, under İlyâs Efendi, müderris of the Hâtuniyye in Tokat, who died in Amasya in 1111; this İlyâs Efendi is the subject of the present entry. İlyâs Efendi's genealogy (Ali Ağa son of İsa Çelebi son of Ali Ağa) carries the same names as İsa Çelebi son of Ali Ağa, the father of İlyâs Ağa in entry no. 288; for this reason he is most probably of the Mütevellîzâde family. The book does not say so explicitly; this is an inference.
The Entry That Came by a Dream
In the "Garîbe" section Hüsameddin tells how he wrote this entry. In a dream Ömer Efendi, "Dersi tamâm," informed him of İlyâs Efendi's year of death and the location of his grave, and when Hüsameddin examined the Tokat registers in 1333 he found the records. According to the book this entry was written when the death date told in the dream (1111) also appeared in the register. The dream account is Hüsameddin's own testimony; no independent record of the gravestone or of the present state of the garden could be found. The person in the dream may be the same as the scholar called Abdurrahmân Efendizâde "Dersitamâm" Ömer Efendi in another entry of Hüsameddin; that entry presents him as a descendant of Dursunzâde Pîr Mehmed Efendi, who died in 1107. This link is a guess. The difference between the epithet "Müftîzâde" given in the dream and "Abdurrahmân Efendizâde" is also left unexplained.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 346–347. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 6, entry "Ahmed Efendi-Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc"; vol. 7, entry "Pîr Mehmed Efendi-Dursunzâde el-Hâc."
Books
- İ. Aydın Yüksel, "Hatuniye Camii (Amasya)", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 1997.
Other sources