AMASYA 05

Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar · İKİNCİ BÂB · BİRİNCİ FASIL

İsmâil Çelebi (İsrâfilzâde)

Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 7, p. 302 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Safi ARPAGUŞ- Prof. Dr. Ahmet Hakkı TURABİ

Original Text (Ottoman Turkish)

Amasyalıdır. Kibâr-ı kudâtdan Abdülmecid Çelebi bin eş-Şeyh Nasûh Çelebi bin Tâcü’ş-şerî’a İsrâfil el-Lâdikî mahdûmudur. Ulemâdan tahsîl-i ulûm ederek müderris, kadı olup 911 senesi hilâlinde vefât etdi. Kibâr-ı kudâtdan idi. Mahdûmu Fahreddîn Mehmed Çelebi’dir.

Our Research Article Editor: Mevlüt Erdem Öztürk

In Modern English

He was from Amasya. He is Abdülmecid Çelebi, one of the great kadıs, son of Şeyh Nasûh Çelebi and grandson of Tâcü'ş-şerî'a İsrâfil el-Lâdikî. Having studied under the scholars, he became a müderris and kadı; he died at the beginning of the year 911 [1505]. He was one of the great kadıs. His son is Fahreddîn Mehmed Çelebi.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

  • kibâr-ı kudât: the great kadıs, the leading kadıs
  • mahdûm: son
  • Tâcü'ş-şerî'a: crown of the sharia; an honorific title given to scholars
  • el-Lâdikî: from Lâdik
  • ulemâ: scholars
  • tahsîl-i ulûm: study of the sciences
  • müderris: a high-ranking teacher in a madrasa
  • hilâl: the new moon; here, the start of the year

Lâdik and the Lâdikî Attribution

The "el-Lâdikî" added to İsrâfil's name means being from Lâdik. In Ottoman times Lâdik was a town attached to the sanjak of Amasya, and today it belongs to the province of Samsun. In an entry on the music theorist Mehmed Çelebi of Lâdik, who bears the same attribution, it is stated that the reports that he was born at Lazkiye or at Lâdik near Denizli are wrong and that his attribution points to the town of Lâdik in the sanjak of Amasya. This shows that the "Lâdikî" attribution can be tied to a settlement known around Amasya. In Amasya's seventeenth- and eighteenth-century hurufat records Lâdik is counted among the districts with the most zâviyes; so the region was also known for religious activity.

Müderris and Kadı

Müderris is the name given to the highest-ranking teacher in the madrasas, and from the Seljuks onward it gained the character of an official post. Müderrises often also carried out duties such as kadı and mufti; their pay was set according to the waqf income of the madrasa where they served. Hüsameddin's saying "müderris, kadı" for İsrâfilzâde Abdülmecid shows that these two offices could be united in one person. Because Amasya hosted princes in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries it was also famous for its madrasas; the existence of more than forty madrasas has been established to date.

A Scholar Bearing the Same Name

In the sources there is an author known as Abdülmecîd b. Şeyh Nasûh b. İsrâîl Amasî. It is recorded that this person wrote a tafsir treatise called "el-Fevzü'l-azîm" in 957 [1550]. The same person is described as a scholar who was affiliated with a Sufi order, included allusive interpretations as well, and drew on exegetes such as Zamakhsharī, Bayżāwī and Rāzī. His line of descent resembles the one Hüsameddin gives, only the grandfather's name is written in the form İsrâîl; but Hüsameddin shows him as having died in 911, that is, in 1505. A person who wrote a work in 957 cannot have died in 911. There are two possibilities: the year of death Hüsameddin gives is wrong, or there are two different persons of the same name in the same lineage. The sources say nothing definite on this, so it should not be claimed that the two are the same person.

Şeyh Nasûh and İsrâfil

About the lives of the persons named Nasûh and İsrâfil we have no information other than the line of descent Hüsameddin gives. İsrâfil's being called "Tâcü'ş-şerî'a" suggests that he was a well-known jurist of his time, but in which period and for what reason this title was given is not known.

What Could Not Be Verified

In searches about Abdülmecid Çelebi, his father Şeyh Nasûh, his grandfather Tâcü'ş-şerî'a İsrâfil and his son Fahreddîn Mehmed Çelebi, no source confirming the death date of 911 was found. The places where he served as kadı and his müderris posts are not known.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Other sources

Volume 7 contents