İshak Efendi, Niğdelizâde el-Hâc

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He was the son of Niğdeli Ali Ağa, who was sipahi kethüdâyeri in Amasya. After completing his studies under Seküköylüzâde Hacı Kâşif Mehmed Efendi, he gave public lessons and became müderris (madrasa professor). Afterwards, travelling through various places as kadı (judge), he died at the end of the year 1216 [1801-02].

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• sipâhi kethüdâyeri: an official standing in for the kethüda of the sipahis
• mahdûm: son
• ikmâl-i tahsîl: completing one's studies
• ders-i âm: giving public lessons open to everyone
• devr-i bilâd: going round the towns; kadıs serving in different kazas by changing their places of post
• evâhir: the last part, the last days
• el-Hâc: one who has made the pilgrimage

From Müderris to Kadı

The life described in the entry summarizes the classical career of the Ottoman scholarly class. A person who finished madrasa studies first gave public lessons, then became a müderris, and afterwards moved on to the office of kadı. In the Ottoman scholarly class the position of müderris was one of three basic offices, together with those of kadı and mufti. Madrasa graduates waited in line for posts as müderris and kadı. This waiting period was called mülâzemet: the candidate attended the council of the Anatolian or Rumelian kazasker and had his name entered in the mülâzemet register. A person who had completed his term was regarded as dismissed (mâzul), came to Istanbul to be appointed to a new post, and waited one or two years, sometimes longer. A scholar went through several mülâzemet periods in his lifetime. Hüsameddin's "devr-i bilâd" says that İshak Efendi served as kadı in different places; it can be thought that this happened according to this system, with waiting between posts, but the book does not say so. The book does not write in which kazas and in which years he served as kadı; this information was not found in other sources either.

In the middle of the 16th century some adjustments were made to the mülâzemet procedure. By a decree issued in 1537-38, Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent asked the Rumelian Kazasker Ebüssuûd Efendi to put mülâzemet in order, and a general turn (nöbet) system once every seven years was introduced for capable candidates. In the developed system mülâzemet was obtained in several ways: high-ranking kadıs and müderrises giving mülâzıms at fixed intervals (nöbet), great kadıs and müderrises giving mülâzıms on their appointment to a post or on setting out on campaign (teşrif), and the pupils left behind by scholars who had died becoming mülâzıms were among them. Permission for the scholarly class to give mülâzıms was also issued on occasions such as the sultan's accession, his first campaign and his victories. How these rules worked down to the end of the 18th century, in which İshak Efendi lived, is a subject for separate research.

His Teacher and Family Circle

No source was found in searches concerning Seküköylüzâde Hacı Kâşif Mehmed Efendi, named as his teacher. The Seküköy in his name may be a village or a neighbourhood name in Amasya; but its location could not be determined. Hüsameddin introduces İshak Efendi's father Niğdeli Ali Ağa as "sipahi kethüdâyeri in Amasya". The nickname Niğdeli shows the family's tie to Niğde; what is known about the father's sipahi office in Amasya is limited to this. That a sipahi's child chose the madrasa path and rose to the office of kadı shows that in that period movement between the military class and the scholarly class was possible.

Time Frame

İshak Efendi died at the end of 1216, that is, toward the spring of 1802. In the same year a bureaucrat from Lâdik, who is also in this volume, died as well (İshak Efendi-Şeyhzâde). According to a study that treats the müderrises of Amasya on the basis of sources, more than forty madrasas have been identified in the city, yet studies on the lives of the müderrises have remained limited. Hüsameddin's short entries are among the rare records that fill this gap.

Bibliography

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 287–287. amasya.bel.tr
• Hasan Telli, "Meşihat arşivi'ne göre Amasya müderrisleri", Afyon Kocatepe Üniversitesi, 2024 (summary), https://acikerisim.aku.edu.tr/xmlui/handle/11630/12210