Amasya mahkemesi kâtibi olup 1156’da vefât eden Gümüşlü [180] Mehmed Efendi bin İbrâhim’in mahdûmu ve esbak Amasya Müftüsü Kayyımzâde el-Hâc İsmâil Efendi’nin kerîmezâdesidir. İstanbul’da Amasyalı demekle meşhûrdur. Amasya’da Iydîzâde el-Hâc Âkif Mustafa, Taşâbâdî el-Hâc Ahmed Efendilerden mukaddemât-ı ulûmu görüp İstanbul’a gitdi.
Orada allame Yûsufzâde Abdullah Hilmi, Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendilerden ve Şam’da eş-Şeyh Mehmed bin Hasan el-Hânefî ve Mekke-i Mükerreme’de eş-Şeyh Ömer bin Ahmed el-Basrî’den ulûm-ı Arabiyye ve akliyye, usûl-i hadîs ve tefsîr ahzederek İstanbul’a avdetle ders-i âm ve 1164 rebiülevvelinde bi’l-imtihân müderris-i benâm oldu.
Fatih Sultân Mehmed Câmii şerîfinde yıllarca tedrîs-i ulûm ederek iki defa talebesine icâzet verdiği esnâda medâris-i mu’tâdeyi devrederek 1193’de Eyüp ve 1198’de Şam Mollası olup 1200 senesi gurre-i ramazânında Medine-i Münevvere kadısı oldu.
Bir buçuk yıl kadar Medine-i Münevvere’de icrâ-yı hükûmet-i şer’iyye edib 1201 senesi zilhiccesinde orada dârü’l-kudse [181] irtihâl etdi. Bakî’de medfûndur.
Meşâhir-i fuzalâdan âlim, muhakkik, muhaddis müfessir, her ulûmda mâhir bir zât olduğu İbn Âbidin merhûmun “Kitâbü’s-Sebet”inde muharrerdir. Bilâd-ı Şâmiye ve Hicâz’da pek çok telâmizesi vardı. İbn Âbidin cümle-i telâmizesinden olup silsile-i ilmiyesini kitâbında tafsîl etmişdir.
Mahdûmu Feyzullah Efendi de bade’t-tahsîl 1200 senesi rüûs imtihânını kazanıp müderris oldu. Tedrîs-i ulûm esnâsında devr-i medâris ederek Mûsıle-i Sahn’a kadar geldiği halde 1214’de vefât etdi. Bu da fuzalâdan idi.
In Modern English
He was the son of Gümüşlü Mehmed Efendi, son of İbrâhim, a clerk of the Amasya court who died in 1156 [1743-44], and the grandson, through his mother, of Kayyımzâde Hacı İsmâil Efendi, a former mufti of Amasya. In Istanbul he is known as "the Amasyan." In Amasya he studied the elementary sciences under Iydîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa and Taşâbâdî Hacı Ahmed Efendi, and then went to Istanbul.
There he studied under the great scholar Yûsufzâde Abdullah Hilmi and Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi; in Damascus under Sheikh Mehmed bin Hasan el-Hanefî; and in Mecca under Sheikh Ömer bin Ahmed el-Basrî. He learned the Arabic sciences and the rational sciences, the principles of hadith, and Quranic exegesis, and returned to Istanbul. He taught open lectures and in Rebiülevvel 1164 [1750-51] became a well-known müderris by examination.
He taught for years at the Mosque of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror. Having twice granted his students the licence to teach, and having completed the ordinary ladder of madrasas, he became Molla (kadı) of Eyüp in 1193 [1779-80] and of Damascus in 1198 [1783-84]; on the first day of Ramadan 1200 [1785-86] he became kadı of Medina.
For about a year and a half he administered the sharia in Medina, and in Zilhicce 1201 [1786-87] he departed for the holy abode there, that is, he died. He is buried in the Baqi cemetery.
The late Ibn Âbidîn wrote in his work "Kitâbü's-Sebet" that he was among the renowned scholars, a learned man and researcher, a scholar of hadith and exegesis, and expert in every science. He had many students in Damascus and the Hijaz. Ibn Âbidîn was one of his students and set out his chain of learning in detail in his book.
His son Feyzullah Efendi, after finishing his studies, passed the müderris examination in 1200 [1785-86] and became a müderris. While teaching he moved up through the madrasas step by step as far as Mûsıle-i Sahn, and died in 1214 [1799-1800]. He too was among the learned.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- kerîmezâde: daughter's son, grandson
- esbak: former, previous
- mukaddemât-ı ulûm: the elementary sciences taught at the start of study
- ders-i âm: a teacher giving open lectures
- bi'l-imtihân müderris-i benâm: becoming a well-known müderris by examination
- icâzet: licence or permission granting a student the right to teach and transmit learning
- medâris-i mu'tâde: the ordinary graded series of madrasas
- mollâ: the kadı of a major centre such as Eyüp or Damascus
- icrâ-yı hükûmet-i şer'iyye: carrying out the rulings of the sharia, that is, serving as kadı
- telâmize: students
- rüûs imtihânı: the examination for becoming a müderris
- Mûsıle-i Sahn: the müderris grade preceding the Sahn-ı Semân madrasas
On the Link with Ibn Âbidîn
Hüsameddin writes that İsmâil Efendi died in Medina in 1201 [1786-87] and that the Damascene scholar Ibn Âbidîn counted him among his teachers and mentioned him in his book. According to Ahmet Özel's entry, however, Muhammed Emîn Ibn Âbidîn, one of the leading Hanafi jurists of the late period, was born in Damascus in 1198 (1784) and died in 1252 (1836). By these dates Ibn Âbidîn was only about three years old when İsmâil Efendi died, and being his student seems impossible. The same entry, when listing Ibn Âbidîn's teachers, does not mention an Amasyan İsmâil Efendi; the teachers named there are chiefly Muhammed Saîd el-Hamevî and Muhammed Şâkir el-Akkād of Damascus.
It is also unclear which work Hüsameddin means by "Kitâbü's-Sebet." The list of works in the entry includes a book titled "el-ʿUḳūdü'l-leʾâlî fi'l-esânîdi'l-ʿavâlî," concerning the chains of transmission of his teacher Muhammed Şâkir and the biographies of the teachers who licensed him; but it could not be verified that this is the same work Hüsameddin had in mind. The record may therefore stem from a confusion with another Ibn Âbidîn or another İsmâil Efendi, or from hearsay; it could not be resolved with the sources at hand.
Information Sought in Other Sources
Searches for İsmâil Efendi Kâtibzâde's tenure as kadı of Medina, his posts as Molla of Damascus and Eyüp, or his professorship at the Fatih Mosque turned up no record of this person himself. No detail was found on his grandfather Kayyımzâde İsmâil Efendi's term as mufti of Amasya, nor on his teachers Yûsufzâde Abdullah Hilmi and Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi. The information above therefore rests on Hüsameddin's account.
Bibliography