Amasya‘nın Çeribaşı Mahallesi ahâlîsinden Halil bin Ali bin İbrâhim mahdûmudur. Müfessir-i meşhûr Hızır ve Yağmurköylüzâde İsmâil, Sivas Müftüsü Tefsîrî Mehmed Efendilerden iktisâb-ı fezâ’il etdi.
İbtida Hüseyin Ağa Medresesi muîdi olarak tedrîs-i ulûma nasb-ı nefs edib Koca Mu’id demekle iştihâr etdi. Ba’dehû medrese-i mezbûre müderrisi olup üstâdü’l-ulemâ tanındı. 1120 senesi rebîülevvelinde Amasya Müftüsü olup 1123 senesi zilhiccesinde dâr-ı naîme rihlet etdi.
1107’de Ya’kub Paşa müderrisi iken bu medreseyi mahdûmu el-Hâc Halil Efendi’ye kasr-ı yed ve feragât ederek Hüseyin Ağa müderrisi olmuş¹²⁴, fâzıl, gâyet müteşerrî, kâmil, vâiz bir zât idi. Azîmü’l-cüsse olduğu münâsebetle Koca Müftü de denmişti. Diğer mahdûmu Sâdık Mehmed Efendi’dir. [150]
In Modern English
He was a man of Amasya's Çeribaşı quarter, the son of Halil, son of Ali, son of İbrâhim. He acquired learning from the renowned commentator Hızır, from Yağmurköylüzâde İsmâil, and from Tefsîrî Mehmed Efendi, mufti of Sivas.
He first devoted himself to teaching as the muid (assistant lecturer) of the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa and became known as Koca Muid. He then became müderris of the same madrasa and was known as "teacher of the scholars." In Rabi' al-Awwal 1120 [1708-09] he became mufti of Amasya and in Dhu'l-Hijja 1123 [1712] departed for the abode of bounty.
In 1107 [1695-96], while müderris of the Yakup Paşa Madrasa, he released this madrasa to his son Hacı Halil Efendi, renouncing it, and became müderris of Hüseyin Ağa; he was a virtuous, deeply devout, mature man, and a preacher. Because he was heavily built he was also called Koca Müftü. His other son is Sâdık Mehmed Efendi.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- muîd: the assistant who has students repeat a müderris's lessons
- iktisâb-ı fezâ'il: acquiring virtue and learning
- tedrîs-i ulûm: teaching the sciences
- nasb-ı nefs: devoting oneself to a task
- üstâdü'l-ulemâ: teacher of the scholars
- dâr-ı naîm: abode of bounty, paradise
- rihlet: departure, death
- kasr-ı yed ve feragât: withdrawing from a post and handing one's right to another
- müteşerri': strictly bound to the sharia
- azîmü'l-cüsse: heavily built
- nısf-ı tedrîsî: half of a teaching post
The Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa
The Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa named in the text should be the Büyük Ağa or Kapı Ağa Madrasa in Amasya. It was built in 1488 during the reign of Bayezid II at the wish of the Kapı Ağası Hüseyin Ağa. Its distinguishing feature is that the octagonal plan was used here for the first time: domed student rooms are arranged around a colonnaded octagonal courtyard, and the largest domed room served as the main lecture hall. Today the madrasa is an institution that trains hafızes. A news report published in 2016 stated that it had been training hafızes for 528 years and had 135 students.
The conclusion that the Büyük Ağa Madrasa and the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa are one and the same building is drawn not from Hüsameddin's text but from the name of the building's founder, the Kapı Ağası Hüseyin Ağa.
The Record in the Footnote
Footnote 124 of the text shows that a teaching post at the Hüseyin Ağa Madrasa could be split in halves between two people: after the death of Hüseyin Efendi, holder of half of the madrasa's teaching share, and the renunciation of the other half by Hasan Efendi, a record shows that someone became müderris of Hüseyin Ağa in Shawwal 1117 [1705-06]. The note does not give this person's name; since the subject of the sentence in the text is also unclear, it is impossible to say to whom the 1117 record belongs. It is possible that Koca Muid's son Hacı Halil Efendi came to this post, but no statement in the source confirms it.
What the Search Could Not Find
Searches on the mufti Koca Muid İsmâil Efendi, his teachers Yağmurköylüzâde İsmâil and Tefsîrî Mehmed Efendi, and the Çeribaşı quarter found no record outside this entry. No other source with information on this person was found.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 309–309. amasya.bel.tr
Other sources