İshak Çelebi — İmâdzâde

In Modern English

He was the son of Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi, son of Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, who had a zâviye in Amasya. He studied and became a müderris and a judge. In 867 [1462-63] he was counted among the great judges, and afterwards he died. His brother is Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, famous as "Çakal Kadı".

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• zâviye: a small lodge where dervishes gathered and travellers also stayed
• mahdûm: son
• -zâde: son of; added to the end of a name it gives the meaning "son of so-and-so"
• tahsîl-i ulûm: studying the sciences
• müderris: a teacher who gave lessons in a madrasa
• kibâr-ı kudât: great judges, leading judges
• birâder: brother

The Family: From Grandfather to Grandson

İshak Çelebi, the subject of this entry, belongs to the third generation of the İmâdzâde family. For his grandfather Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, named in the entry, Hüsameddin wrote a separate entry in the seventh volume. According to it, Mahmûd Çelebi was the son of the chief judge Müeyyideddîn Mehmed; he received the authority to give public lessons in 771 [1369-70], became müderris of the Halifiyye-Halfet Gâzi Madrasa in 776 [1374-75], and at his father's death was made chief judge of Amasya. He was later dismissed and became judge of Tokat; when he returned to Amasya in 805 [1402-03] he had a zâviye and a soup kitchen built in the inner city, endowed his property to this charity in 807 [1404-05], and died in 808 [1405-06]. His grave is in the Tomb of the Judges opposite the Tomb of Halfet Gâzi. His sons were Pîr Mehmed, Ali and Ahmed Çelebis, all of them famous judges. The İshak Çelebi of this entry is the son of Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi, one of them.

The subject of the 54th entry of the same volume, Sadreddîn İshak Çelebi, also has this Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi as his brother. The İshak Çelebi of this entry is therefore the grandson of Sadreddîn's brother, and the family known as İmâdzâde carried on judgeship and teaching for three generations.

Çakal Kadı

The "Çakal Kadı" mentioned in the last sentence of the entry has an entry of his own in the seventh volume of the book. According to it, Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi (he shares the name with his grandfather) was the grandson of the Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi whose zâviye was in the inner city, and the son of Alâeddîn Ali Çelebi. He studied under the virtuous scholars of Amasya, gave public lessons, then served as judge in small settlements, became military estate divider (kassâm-ı askerî) in Amasya in 871 [1466-67] and judge of Amasya in 883 [1478-79], and died in 890 [1485-86]. Hüsameddin describes him as a refined scholar who knew history and was good company, writes that he was close in Amasya to Sultan II. Bayezid and his son Prince Ahmed, and that he was known for his witty remarks and the curious tales of his age. His descendants were called "Çakal Kadızâdes", briefly "Çakaloğulları" and "Çakallar"; his sons were Hacı Ali, Sa'dullah and Sinan Çelebis.

This line remained influential in Amasya in later centuries. In Hüsameddin's third volume "Çakal Kadızâde Şemseddîn Ahmed Efendi bin Mahmûd Çelebi" is named among the companions of Prince Ahmed, and these companions were called the "Şemsler" (Suns). In the fourth volume, Çakalzâde Mehmed Paşa, of the descendants of Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi famous as "Çakal Kadı", is shown as the man who opens the third historical period of Amasya. Çakal Kadızâde Sinan Paşa was a statesman who served as treasurer of Sofia and as beylerbeyi. When the descendants of Çakal Kadı dwindled, trusteeship of the waqf passed to the Rahtuvân Mehmed Paşazâdes.

The Traces of the Zâviye

For this family waqf a recent study surveys the Amasya waqf records (hurufat registers). According to the records, a zâviye was built in 807 [1404] in the Karatay Quarter within the inner city of Amasya by Ammâd-zâde Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi, who belonged to the Naqshbandi path, and it was called the "Mahmud Efendi Zâviyesi". According to this record, which rests on Hüsameddin's book (2022 edition, p. 154-155), the revenues of some villages and farmsteads in the Argoma district were attached to the zâviye's waqf, and the zâviye had doorkeeper, reciter of the daily Qur'an portion and cook. In the same records the zâviye is here and there also called the "Hacı Mahmud Çelebi lodge and zâviye", and it is seen that the post of sheikh of the zâviye was handed over to different persons from generation to generation. The studies we read give no information on whether it survives today.

No source other than Hüsameddin's book was found on the life of this İshak Çelebi himself or on the places where he served as judge.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 283–283. amasya.bel.tr
• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, 2022, vol. 7, entries "Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi-İmadzâde el-Hâc", p. 411–412, and "Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi-Çakal Kadı", p. 412; vol. 3, entry "Sultân Ahmed (1)"; vol. 4, entries "Üçüncü Devre-i Târihiyye" and "Mehmed Paşa".

Academic studies

• Murat Alandağlı, "Hurufat Kayıtlarında Amasya Zaviyeleri", Turkish Studies, 19/1 (2024), p. 1–27, https://isamveri.org/pdfdrg/D03262/2024_1/2024_1_ALANDAGLI.pdf