Amasyalıdır. Amasya müftüsü ve medâr-ı iftihârı olan Iydîzâde el-Hâc Mustafa Âkif Efendi’nin mahdûmu olup 1128’de Karatay Mahallesi’nde doğdu. Pederinden tahsîl-i maârif edib ders-i âm oldu.
Pederinin irtihâlinde münhâl olan Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî Medresesi müderrisliği adem-i kifâyesine binâen Müftüzâde Hâfız [174] Abdurrahman Efendi’ye verildi. 1183 senesi rebiülevvelinde Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi’nin vefâtı üzerine pederinin tilmîz-i hâssı Seküköylüzâde el-Hâc Mehmed Kâşif Efendi’nin himmetiyle Sultân Bâyezîd müderrisi oldu.
1188 senesi recebinde kendisinin hâmisi olan Müftü el-Hâc Mehmed Kâşif Efendi’nin azli ve Bafra’ya i’zâmı üzerine Canikli Vezîr el-Hâc Ali Paşa’nın arz ve inhâsıyla Amasya müftüsü oldu.
Ancak müftî-yi sâbık el-Hâc Mehmed Kâşif Efendi’nin Bafra’da Kadir gecesi salben şehîd edilmesi bunun verdiği fetvânın bir neticesi olduğu meşîhat-ı İslâmiye’ye arz ve ihbâr edilmekle 1189 senesi muharreminin onbeşinde fetvâ ve tedrîsden azliyle İstanbul’a celb edildi.¹²⁶
Orada Eyüp kasabasında ikâmete me’mûr olup 1192 senesi şa’bânında vefât etdi. Ebû Eyyüb Ensârî civârında medfûndur. İlmi kalîl, gurûru fazla idi. Amcası es-Seyyid Abdurrahim Efendi’nin dâmâdı olup mahdûmu es-Seyyid Abdurrahim Efendi ve dâmâdı [175] İsmâil Kâmil Efendi fuzalâ ve ricâldendir.¹²⁷
In Modern English
He is from Amasya. He is the son of Iydîzâde Hacı Mustafa Âkif Efendi, mufti of Amasya and the pride of the city, and was born in 1128 [1715-16] in the Karatay quarter. He studied under his father and became a teacher giving lessons open to all.
The professorship of the Sultan Bayezid II Madrasa, left vacant by his father's death, was given to Müftüzâde Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi on grounds of inadequacy. When Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi died in Rebiülevvel 1183 [1769-70], he became professor of the Sultan Bayezid Madrasa through the efforts of Seküköylüzâde Hacı Mehmed Kâşif Efendi, his father's own pupil.
In Receb 1188 [1774-75], when his patron, the mufti Hacı Mehmed Kâşif Efendi, was dismissed and sent to Bafra, he became mufti of Amasya on the petition and recommendation of the Vizier Hacı Ali Pasha of Canik.
However, when it was reported and submitted to the office of the şeyhülislam that the former mufti Hacı Mehmed Kâşif Efendi's killing by hanging at Bafra on the Night of Power was a consequence of a fatwa he had given, he was dismissed from both fatwa and teaching on the fifteenth of Muharram 1189 [1775-76] and summoned to Istanbul.
There he was ordered to reside in the town of Eyüp and died in Şaban 1192 [1778-79]. He is buried near Ebû Eyyûb el-Ensârî. His learning was slight and his pride great. He was the son-in-law of his uncle Seyyid Abdurrahim Efendi; his son Seyyid Abdurrahim Efendi and his son-in-law İsmâil Kâmil Efendi are among the scholars and notables.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- medâr-ı iftihâr: source of pride
- ders-i âm: a scholar authorized to give lessons open to all
- münhâl: vacated (of a post)
- adem-i kifâye: inadequacy
- tilmîz-i hâss: personal pupil
- hâmî: protector, patron
- azl: dismissal
- i'zâm: sending away
- arz ve inhâ: reporting and recommending to a higher authority
- salben şehîd: put to death by hanging
- meşîhat-ı İslâmiyye: the office of the şeyhülislam
- celb: summoning, bringing in
- bilâ-veled-i zükûr: without a male child
The Sultan Bayezid Madrasa and the Office of Mufti
The Sultan Bayezid II Madrasa, where İsmâil Kâmil Efendi taught, is part of the Bayezid complex built in 1486. According to its inscription the mosque of the complex was completed in Receb 891 (July 1486). The madrasa has a U plan and is used today as the Provincial Public Library. According to Hüsameddin, the professorship of this madrasa was reserved for the muftis of Amasya, and its first teacher was the famous Şeyhülislam Zenbilli Ali Efendi. This explains the course of events in the entry: İsmâil Kâmil Efendi's father Iydîzâde Mustafa Âkif Efendi was both mufti and professor, and he himself became first professor and then mufti. A detailed list of the madrasa's professors is in Cahit Baltacı's Osmanlı Medreseleri; we could not consult that list.
Canikli Ali Pasha and Amasya
The man called "Vizier Hacı Ali Pasha of Canik" in the text was, according to Yücel Özkaya's article, born in Istanbul in 1720-21 and was the son of Fatsalı Ahmed Ağa. For his services in the Russian wars that began in 1768 he was given the rank of vizier. The Amasya sanjak was granted to him as a malikâne on 1 June 1772; on 24 March 1774 he was also given the province of Erzurum and the Kars command and was entered in the register of viziers. Hüsameddin's linking of the change of mufti in 1188 (1774-75) to him fits this period: at that date Canikli was a powerful figure who both held the Amasya sanjak and bore the rank of vizier. Özkaya records that in November 1776 the people of Amasya complained of the oppression and cruelty of Canikli Ali Pasha and his sons and asked for the malikâne to be abolished.
The Death of Kâşif Mehmed Efendi
Hüsameddin describes the event that led to İsmâil Kâmil Efendi's dismissal in a single sentence; further information is given in a footnote. According to the footnote, Canikli Hacı Ali Pasha would have had Kâşif Efendi killed whether or not he gave a fatwa; by forcibly extracting the fatwa from him he physically killed Kâşif Efendi and morally killed İsmâil Kâmil Efendi. For that reason the office of the şeyhülislam was content with dismissing İsmâil Kâmil alone. No record of Kâşif Efendi's death was found in Yücel Özkaya's article on Canikli Ali Pasha; as far as we could find, the event is known only from Hüsameddin. The content of the fatwa and the reason for Kâşif Efendi's being sent to Bafra are also absent from the text.
The footnote also states that İsmâil Kâmil Efendi's other sons were Seyyid Serverî Mehmed and Ferid İbrâhim Efendi. No information was found in other sources on the present equivalent of the Karatay quarter or on his grave in Eyüp.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 316–317. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
Other sources