Vâsi Çelebizâde es-Seyyid Habîb bin es-Seyyid Abdullah bin es-Seyyid el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’nin oğludur. Ulemâdan tahsîl-i ulûm edib bir müddet ders-i âm oldu. Bu esnâda Hacılar Meydanı’ndaki câmi-i şerîf hatîbi, ba’dehû Acem Ali Mahallesi’nde kâin mekteb-i sıbyân muallimi olduğu halde 1267 senesi zilka’desinde vefât etdi.
Âlim, sâlih, afîf bir muallim idi. Mekteb-i mezkûru kendi marifetiyle ba’zı a’yân-ı memleket müceddeden imâr eylediğinden Balcı Mektebi diye meşhûr olmuşdu. Muharrir-i fakîr, bu mektebde hocamız Hacı Hâfız Halîl Efendi’nin himmet ve gayreti sâyesinde hıfz-ı Kur’ân etdim.
In Modern English
He is the son of Vâsi Çelebizâde Seyyid Habîb, son of Seyyid Abdullah, son of Seyyid Hacı Ahmed Efendi. After studying with the scholars he gave public lessons (ders-i âm) for a time. During this time he was the preacher of the mosque in the Hacılar Square, and then teacher of the children's school (sıbyan mektebi) in the Acem Ali quarter, and he died in Zilkade 1267 [1851].
He was a scholar, good-natured and chaste, and a teacher. Because some notables of the land had the school renewed through his mediation, it had become famous as the Balcı School. This poor writer memorized the Qur'an in this school thanks to the care and effort of our teacher Hacı Hâfız Halîl Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mekteb-i sıbyân: a neighborhood school that taught children reading, writing and the Qur'an
- muallim: teacher
- hatîb: the official who delivers the Friday and festival sermon
- afîf: chaste, pure in conduct
- sâlih: devout, a good person
- müceddeden imâr: renewing, putting back into good repair
- hıfz-ı Kur'ân: memorizing the Qur'an
- muharrir-i fakîr: this poor writer; Hüsameddin means himself
The Balcı School
In the first volume Hüsameddin describes the Acem Ali School separately. The school stands in the Acem Ali quarter, near the fountain and on its west side, and was built in 873 [1468-69] by Hacı Acem Ali Ağa, who gave the quarter its name; the same man also arranged its endowment. According to Hüsameddin, Seyyid İsmail Efendi, known by the nickname "Balcı Hoca", was the teacher at this school until 1258, and for this reason the school came to be known as the "Balcı School." His own teacher Hacı Hâfız Halîl Efendi was also called "Balcı Hoca" because he was a teacher in the same school.
A distinction can be seen here. The first volume says İsmail Efendi was teaching until 1258; the entry in the seventh volume says he died in 1267 while holding this post. The nine-year difference between the two statements is not explained in Hüsameddin's texts. One possibility is that his link with the school ended in 1258; but since the entry does not say this, it is only an inference.
Hüsameddin's Own School
Hüsameddin also writes in his own biography that he studied at the same school. According to the account in the first volume, he was born on the last Friday of Receb 1286 [October 1869] in the house adjoining the west side of the mosque in the Çeribaşı quarter. In 1296 [1878-79] he first went to the Balcı School and memorized the Qur'an there, and in 1300 he moved on to the rüşdiye. The west side of the Acem Ali quarter borders the Çeribaşı quarter; the closeness between Hüsameddin's house and the school can be understood from this. Biographical sources also write that he did his primary schooling at the Balcı School in the quarter where he lived, that he became a hafiz, and that he finished the rüşdiye in 1887. That Hüsameddin names Hacı Hâfız Halîl Efendi as his teacher shows that his own memorization was completed at this school.
According to the summary of one paper from the symposium held at Amasya University in 2024, Hüsameddin writes that, as a result of the work of the dâru'l-kurrâs and the sıbyan schools, one third of the men of Amasya were hafizes. The Balcı School is an institution within this tradition, a neighborhood school that taught memorization.
No information was found in other sources about the information that he was preacher of the mosque in the Hacılar Square or about Seyyid İsmail Efendi's family. In the first volume Hüsameddin describes the Hacılar Square as a large square on the south side of the river where prayers were said for pilgrims leaving for and returning from the Hejaz.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 327–328. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, "Acem Ali Mektebi" (p. 264), "Acem Ali Mahallesi" (p. 154), the autobiographical section (p. 334-335) and the section on the Hacılar Square.
Academic studies
- Uluslararası Amasya Sosyal Bilimler Araştırmaları Sempozyumu-I (16-18 May 2024), Program Kitapçığı ve Özetler, Amasya Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, 2024, summary of the paper "Abdîzâde'nin Gözünden Amasya'da Kırâat Faaliyetleri".
Other sources
- "Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin Yasar", Biyografya.