Şirvân eyaletinde Şamahı kazâsı dâhilinde Kürdemîr karyesinden Mehmed bin Abdülhamîd bin Ahmed mahdûmudur. 1197’de Kürdemîr’de doğdu. Küçük yaşında Şamahı’ya gelip Kâdı Baba Mehmed Efendi’nin telâmizesinden Mehmed Nuri Efendi’nin halka-i tedrîsinde “Câmî”ye kadar okudu.
1215’de Erzincan’a azîmetle fuzalâdan Evliyâzâde Abdurrahman Efendi’den beş yıl kadar ders okudu. Bundan ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek icâzetnâme alıp Tokat’a geldi. Ramazânı burada geçirdikden sonra Burdur’a azîmet ve 1221’de Şirvân’a avdet etdi.
Şamahı’da tedrîs-i ulûma ibtidâr edib altı yıl kadar ders okuttu. 1227’de Hicâz’a gidip avdetde İstanbul’a geldi. Üç ay sonra Abdullah Dehlevî Hazretlerinin nezdine gitmek üzere Basra’ya gitdi. Burada hazret-i müşârün-ileyhin işâretiyle halîfesi olan eş-Şeyh Ziyâeddîn Hâlid Nakşibendî âsitânesine tahvîl-i azîmet ederek 1228’de [206] Bağdat’a vardı.
On ay kadar orada Hazret-i Halid Nakşibendî’nin riyâzâthânesinde tekmîl-i tarîkat ve ahz-ı hilâfet edib 1229’da Şirvân’a avdet ve Şamaha’da ikâmetle tedrîs ve irşâd-ı halka mübâşeret etdi. Bu esnâda teehhül edib talebe ve mürîdânı Ruslara korku verecek bir miktâra bâliğ oldu.
1240’da Şirvân’ı istilâ eden Ruslar’ın mezâlimine karşı kıyâm eden meşâyih-i kirâmdan Gâzi Mehmed Efendi’ye diğer meşâyihden Ahmed Efendi ile beraber iltihâk ederek Gâzi-i müşârün-ileyhin kumândası altında Ruslarla harb etdi. Alâ-rivâyetin yirmi bin mürîdi vardı.
1241’de Şeyh Ahmed Efendi, Rusları fevkalâde tazyîk ve tehdîd edecek bir vaziyet aldığından bunu harben tutup haps ederek tahliyesini Şeyh Ahmed Efendi’nin teslîm-i nefs etmesine ta’lîk etmişlerdi. 1242’de Şeyh Ahmed Efendi en ziyâde sevdiği sâhib-i tercemeyi kurtarmak için kendisini Ruslara teslîm [207] eylediğinden tahliyesi akîbinde âilesiyle beraber Şamaha’dan kalkıp Ahıska’ya geldi. Bura da Rusların istilâsına ma’rûz olduğundan kalkıp 1242 senesi zilhiccesinde Amasya‘ya geldi. Muvakkaten Sarâchâne Medresesi’ne yerleştirildi.
1243’de a’yândan mütesellim Fazlızâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Mustafa Efendi’nin kadirşinâsâne himmetiyle Yâkûtiye Mahallesi’nde iştirâ edilen bir hânede iskân edilerek tedrîse mübâşeret etdi.
Muhakkikâne tedrîsâtından fazl ve irfânı zâhir olup ulemâ arasında büyük bir mevkî kazandı.
Lâkin halka telkîn etdiği râbıta-i Hâlidiyye ulemânın efkârını teşvîş etmekte idi. Râbıta aleyhinde cevâmi’-i şerîfe kürsîlerinde vâizlerin ve ba’zı mahâfil-i fuzalâda âlimlerin itirâzlarından ve sözlerinden muğber olarak 1247’de âilesiyle beraber Sivas’a gitdi.
Burada dokuz yıl kadar ikâmet ve tedrîs ve irşâda muvâzabet etmekte iken Sivas ulemâ ve a’yânının dürüştâne muâmelesinden ve vâlî Es’ad Muhlis Paşa’nın azametinden bîzâr olup 1256 senesi evâilinde ikinci defa Amasya‘ya [208] gelip hânesinde ikâmet etdi.
Yakutiye mescid-i şerîfinde başladığı “Tefsîr-i Beyzâvî” tedrîsine ulemâ ve talebe mülâzemet ederek halk tabakası arasında büyük bir nüfûz ve şöhret kazandı. Şeyhzâde eş-Şeyh Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi’nin meclis-i âliyesine devam ederek ulemânın da teveccühâtına mazhar oldu.
Sekiz yıl kadar tefsîr ve hadîs, “Mevâkıf” derslerine nasb-ı nefs edib yüksek talebelerine icâzet verdi. 1264 senesi ramazânının onyedinci günü dâr-ı kudse irtihâl ederek vasiyeti üzerine Şamlular Mezarlığı’nın üstünde dağın sırtı üzerine defnedildi.
Gâyet fâzıl, muhakkîk, ulûm-ı akliyye ve nakliyyede mütebahhir, âbid, müttâkî, bir nıhrîr-i kâmil idi. Merhûm Amasya‘yı ulemâ ve erkânıyla pek ziyâde sever ve takdîr eder, Amasya’ya “ilim ve ulemâ yatağı” derdi. Sivas’dan ikinci defa Amasya’ya geldiğini soranlara “cehâletden kaçıp ilim yatağına sığındım” demişti.
Mahdûmları Abdülhamîd, Mehmed Rüşdü, Ahmed [209] Hulûsî, Mustafa Efendilerdir. Bir de kerîmesi var idi. Abdülhamid Efendi 1262’de bilâ-veled vefât etdi. İkinci mahdûmu Mehmed Rüşdü Paşa sadâretden ma’zûlen 1291’de vefât etdi. Üçüncü mahdûmu Kazasker es-Seyyid Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi 1306’da ve dördüncü mahdûmu rütbe-i bâlâ ricâlinden Mustafa Bey de 1316’da bilâ-veled vefât etdi.
Merhûmun hâl-i ihtizârında kendisinin medfeni hakkındaki vasiyeti şâyân-ı istîzâh görülüp oraya defni sebebi soruldukda yan tarafında bulunan mahdûmu Mehmed Rüşdü Paşa’ya işaret ederek “bu vezîr olacak, orayı şenlendirecek” demişdir.
Dâmâdı ve tilmîzi Hacı el-Hâc Îsâ Rûhî Efendi’dir. Bunun rakîb-i hâssı müşârün-ileynin tilmîz ve halîfesi el-Hâc Hamza Nîgârî Efendi’dir. Diğer tilmîzi ve en ziyâde ilmini takdîr etdiği Mustafa Efendi’dir. Bunlar meşâhîr-i fuzalâdan olup Amasya‘da neşr-i ulûm etdiler.
Şeyh-i müşârün-ileyhin silsile-i ilmiyyesi beyne’l-ulemâ pek meşhûr olup Evliyazâde Abdurrahman Efendi, [210] Allâme Ürgüplü el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi’dir. Buradan üç kola ayrılır.
1-Allâme Ebû Sa’îd Mehmed Hâdimî koludur.
2-Muhakkik Iydîzâde el-Hâc Mustafa Âkif koludur.
3-Fâzıl-ı meşhûr Laz İbrâhim Efendi koludur. Bunların üçü de silsile-i ulemâda meşhûrdur.
Silsile-i tarîkatı da şudur: Mevlânâ Hâlid Süleymanî, eş-Şeyh Abdullah Dehlevî, Şemseddîn Habîbullah Hindî, Seyfeddîn Muhammed Farûkî, Hâce Muhammed Âbid, Hâce Abdülehad, Hâce Ma’sûm Sirhindî, İmâm-ı Rabbânî Hâce Ahmed Farûkî, Hâce Muhammed Bâkî, Hâcegî-i Emkenekî, Derviş Ömer Buharî, Hâce Muhammed Zâhid.
Hâce Ubeydullah Ahrâr, Hâce Ya’kub Çarhî, Hâce Alâeddîn Attâr, Hâce Bahaeddîn Muhammed Nakşibendî-i Buhârî, Hâce Emîr Külâl, Hâce Muhammed Baba Semmâsî, Hâce Ali Râmîtenî, Hâce Mahmûd Encîrfağnevî, Hâce Arif Rivegerî, Hâce Abdülhâlık Gücduvânî, Hâce Yûsuf Hemedânî, Ebû Ali Fârmedî, Ebu’l-Hasan Ali bin Ca’fer el-Harakânî, Ebû Yezîd Bistâmî (Kaddessallâhu esrârahum) [211]
Şeyh-i müşârûn-ileyhin vasiyeti vechiyle mahdûmu Mehmed Rüşdü Paşa, menfiyyen Amasya‘ya geldiği anda medfeni etrafını bir sur içine alıp üzerine âlî bir türbe ve ittisâlinde bir câmi-i şerîf ve minâre ve bir köşesine bir kasr-ı muallâ ve kasr ile câmii ve türbe arasında güzel bir şâdırvân yaptırdı.
In Modern English
He is the son of Mehmed, son of Abdülhamîd, son of Ahmed, from the village of Kürdemir in the district of Shamakhi in the province of Shirvan. He was born in Kürdemir in 1197 [1782-83]. As a small child he came to Shamakhi and studied up to the book "Câmî" in the teaching circle of Mehmed Nuri Efendi, a student of Kâdı Baba Mehmed Efendi.
In 1215 [1800-01] he went to Erzincan and studied for about five years under the scholar Evliyâzâde Abdurrahman Efendi. After completing his studies and receiving his diploma (icazetname), he came to Tokat. He spent Ramadan there, then went to Burdur and returned to Shirvan in 1221 [1806].
He began teaching the sciences in Shamakhi and taught for about six years. In 1227 [1812] he went to the Hejaz and on his return came to Istanbul. Three months later he went to Basra to visit Abdullah Dehlevî. There, on the instruction of that same master, he turned to the lodge of Sheikh Ziyâeddîn Hâlid Nakşibendî, who was Dehlevî's deputy, and arrived in Baghdad in 1228 [1813].
He stayed about ten months in the retreat house of Hâlid Nakşibendî, completed the path and received the deputyship. In 1229 [1813-14] he returned to Shirvan, settled in Shamakhi, and began teaching and guiding the people. During this time he married, and his students and disciples grew to a number that frightened the Russians.
In 1240 [1824-25], together with Ahmed Efendi, another of the sheikhs, he joined Gâzi Mehmed Efendi, one of the esteemed sheikhs who rose against the cruelty of the Russians who had invaded Shirvan, and fought the Russians under that Gâzi's command. According to one account he had twenty thousand disciples.
In 1241 [1825-26] Sheikh Ahmed Efendi had put the Russians under extraordinary pressure and threat, so the Russians had captured the subject of this account in battle and imprisoned him, making his release conditional on Sheikh Ahmed Efendi surrendering himself. In 1242 [1826-27] Sheikh Ahmed Efendi gave himself up to the Russians to save the man he loved most, and İsmail Efendi was released. He then left Shamakhi with his family and came to Akhaltsikhe. Since this place too was exposed to a Russian invasion, he left and came to Amasya in the month of Zilhicce of 1242 [July-August 1827]. He was lodged temporarily in the Sarachane Madrasa.
In 1243 [1827-28], through the appreciative help of the notable and deputy governor Fazlızâde Seyyid Hacı Mustafa Efendi, he was settled in a house bought in the Yâkûtiye quarter and began to teach.
His superior knowledge and learning showed in his lessons, which rested on deep research, and he gained a great standing among the scholars.
However, the Khalidi practice of rabıta that he taught the people was unsettling the minds of the scholars. Offended by the objections and remarks of preachers from the pulpits of the mosques and of scholars in some gatherings of the learned, he went with his family to Sivas in 1247 [1831-32].
He stayed there about nine years, keeping up his teaching and guidance. Tired of the harsh treatment of the scholars and notables of Sivas and of the arrogance of the governor Es'ad Muhlis Pasha, he came to Amasya a second time in early 1256 [1840-41] and settled in his house.
Scholars and students followed the lessons on the Tafsir of Beyzâvî that he began in the Yâkûtiye Mosque, and he won great influence and fame among the people. He attended the assembly of Şeyhzâde Sheikh Ahmed Rüşdü Efendi and gained the regard of the scholars as well.
For about eight years he devoted himself to the lessons on Qur'anic commentary, hadith and the Mevâkıf, and gave licenses to his advanced students. He passed away on the seventeenth day of Ramadan 1264 [1848] and, as he had willed, was buried on the ridge of the mountain above the Şamlılar Cemetery.
He was an exceedingly learned man, a researcher, deeply versed in the rational and the transmitted sciences, devout, God-fearing and mature in every respect. The late sheikh loved and admired Amasya with its scholars and notables, and called it "the bed of learning and of scholars." To those who asked why he had come to Amasya a second time from Sivas he said, "I fled from ignorance and took refuge in the bed of learning."
His sons were Abdülhamîd, Mehmed Rüşdü, Ahmed Hulûsî and Mustafa Efendi. He also had a daughter. Abdülhamid Efendi died childless in 1262 [1846]. His second son, Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha, died in 1291 [1874] after being dismissed from the grand vizierate. His third son, the military judge (kazasker) Seyyid Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi, died in 1306 [1888-89], and his fourth son Mustafa Bey, one of the notables holding the Rütbe-i Bâlâ, died childless in 1316 [1898-99].
When he lay dying, his will about his burial place was thought to need explaining, and when he was asked why he should be buried there, he pointed to his son Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha beside him and said, "This one will become a vizier and will make that place flourish."
His son-in-law and student is Hacı Îsâ Rûhî Efendi. A close rival of this man is Hacı Hamza Nîgârî Efendi, student and deputy of the same sheikh. His other student, whose learning he admired most, is Mustafa Efendi. These were famous scholars and spread learning in Amasya.
The sheikh's scholarly chain is well known among the learned: Evliyâzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, the great scholar Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi. From here it divides into three branches.
1. The branch of the great scholar Ebû Sa'îd Mehmed Hâdimî.
2. The branch of the researcher Iydîzâde Hacı Mustafa Âkif.
3. The branch of the famous scholar Laz İbrahim Efendi. All three are well known in the chain of scholars.
His chain in the order is as follows: Mevlânâ Hâlid Süleymânî, Sheikh Abdullah Dehlevî, Şemseddîn Habîbullah Hindî, Seyfeddîn Muhammed Fârûkî, Hâce Muhammed Âbid, Hâce Abdülehad, Hâce Ma'sûm Sirhindî, İmâm-ı Rabbânî Hâce Ahmed Fârûkî, Hâce Muhammed Bâkî, Hâcegî-i Emkenekî, Derviş Ömer Buharî, Hâce Muhammed Zâhid.
Hâce Ubeydullah Ahrâr, Hâce Ya'kub Çarhî, Hâce Alâeddîn Attâr, Hâce Bahâeddîn Muhammed Nakşibend-i Buhârî, Hâce Emîr Külâl, Hâce Muhammed Baba Semmâsî, Hâce Ali Râmîtenî, Hâce Mahmûd Encîr-fağnevî, Hâce Ârif Rivegerî, Hâce Abdülhâlık Gücduvânî, Hâce Yûsuf Hemedânî, Ebû Ali Fârmedî, Ebü'l-Hasan Ali bin Ca'fer el-Harakânî, Ebû Yezîd Bistâmî (may God sanctify the secrets of them all).
In accordance with the sheikh's will, his son Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha, when he came to Amasya in exile, had a wall built around the grave, and over it a lofty tomb, beside it a mosque with a minaret, in one corner a grand pavilion, and between the pavilion, the mosque and the tomb a fine ablution fountain.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- mahdûm: son
- telâmize: students
- halka-i tedrîs: teaching circle
- icâzetnâme: the certificate given to those who finish their studies and gain the authority to teach
- âsitâne: dervish lodge
- riyâzethâne: a place of retreat for disciplining the self
- ahz-ı hilâfet: receiving the deputyship
- irşâd: guiding people on the right path, teaching the order
- teehhül: marrying
- meşâyih-i kirâm: esteemed sheikhs
- sâhib-i terceme: the person whose biography is being written
- mütesellim: deputy governor, one who administers a sanjak
- râbıta: a term of the Sufi orders; the disciple's inner bond with his sheikh
- bilâ-veled: childless
- nıhrîr: a master of learning, a deeply versed scholar
- kasr-ı muallâ: lofty pavilion
Who Was Şirvânî
İsmâil Sirâceddîn Şirvânî was a sheikh of the Khalidi branch of the Naqshbandi order. He was born in the village of Kürdemir in Shirvan, received his deputyship from Hâlid el-Bağdâdî, returned to his country and began to spread the order there. After the region passed to Russian rule he migrated with his family first to Akhaltsikhe and from there to Amasya. Some studies consider him the only deputy that Hâlid el-Bağdâdî sent directly to the Caucasus. The sources give his year of birth as 1782 or 1783, which agrees with Hüsameddin's 1197. His father's name is different: Hüsameddin lists his lineage with the names Mehmed, Abdülhamîd and Ahmed, while one source gives his name as İsmail son of Ahmed; this difference is not settled. His death is dated 1848, which corresponds to Hüsameddin's 1264.
Much of the itinerary that Hüsameddin lists matches other sources. His receiving a license in Erzincan from Evliyâzâde Abdurrahman Efendi, his teaching in Burdur, his pilgrimage, his setting out to join Abdullah Dehlevî and his entering the order at the side of Hâlid el-Bağdâdî also appear elsewhere. For the Amasya years there is the following information: according to an encyclopedia entry on Nigârî, Şirvânî went to Akhaltsikhe in 1827, came to Anatolia the same year, stayed four years in Amasya and moved to Sivas, lived there nine years and then returned to Amasya. This sequence roughly agrees with Hüsameddin's dates of Zilhicce 1242, 1247 and 1256. Another compilation places the move to Amasya after the war of 1828-29, when Akhaltsikhe was left to the Russians; this difference of a few years between the two accounts is not settled in the sources.
Where Hüsameddin's Account Differs
Hüsameddin writes that he stayed ten months in Baghdad with Hâlid Nakşibendî and returned to Shirvan in 1229. Some studies state instead that he stayed with Hâlid el-Bağdâdî between 1813 and 1817, received an oral permission, while the written license bears the date 1821. In place and duration the two accounts differ. One of these sources writes that Şirvânî, having reached Basra, turned to Damascus to find Hâlid el-Bağdâdî on the strength of a sign, whereas Hüsameddin names Baghdad.
On the Russian pressure in Shirvan, other sources draw a similar frame. According to the entry on Nigârî, Şirvânî was imprisoned for a time by the Russians once it became known that he was the guide of Sheikh Shamil. The event Hüsameddin relates is somewhat different: capture in battle and release in exchange for Sheikh Ahmed Efendi's surrender. This detail could not be verified in the other sources consulted. The "Gâzi Mehmed Efendi" of the text may be Ghazi Muhammad, the leader of the Caucasian resistance, who is named among the disciples of Şirvânî's line; this is an inference, and it needs to be checked separately together with the dates 1240-1242 that Hüsameddin gives. Hüsameddin himself presents the figure of "twenty thousand disciples" as a report.
His Son Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha and the Tomb
Mehmed Rüşdü Pasha went to Istanbul in 1851 and completed his studies, and starting from a teaching post he served in the ministries of Evkâf, Finance, the Privy Treasury and the Interior, and was governor of Damascus and of Syria. He became grand vizier on 16 April 1873 and was dismissed on 13 February 1874. Before that, on 30 October 1871, he had been made to reside in Amasya, and he was pardoned on 26 July 1872 and returned to Istanbul. Hüsameddin's phrase "when he came to Amasya in exile" points to this exile. Rüşdü Pasha was appointed governor of Aleppo and then of Jeddah, and on the way died at Taif on 13 September 1874. Hüsameddin's 1291 fits this date. Some sources say he was poisoned; the encyclopedia entry reports this as hearsay and also gives the account that he died of fever in the garden of the Emir of Mecca.
There are three different pieces of information about the date of the tomb. In the first volume Hüsameddin writes that Rüşdü Pasha had the tomb built in 1286 [1869-70] and arranged its endowment in 1290 [1873-74]; the structure is a whole of two domes, with a mosque in the west and the tomb in the east. Beside Şirvânî lie also his son Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi and his son-in-law Hacı Îsâ Rûhî Efendi. Other sources give 1869 for the same structure in one place and 1870 in another. The sentence in the seventh volume, however, seems to suggest that the building was put up in the exile years, around 1871-72. How the two accounts fit together is not clear; Hüsameddin may have mentioned the two events side by side, which is an inference. The building stands today in the Şamlar quarter on a terraced garden; the two-storey mansion beside it is used as a Qur'an course.
Hamza Nigârî
The Hacı Hamza Nîgârî Efendi of the text is Hamza Nigârî (about 1805-1886), a poet and Khalidi sheikh from Karabakh. Nigârî joined Şirvânî at a date after 1830, entered a retreat in the Sarachane Madrasa in Amasya in 1839, settled in Amasya in 1866 and soon afterwards moved to Merzifon. In 1885 he was exiled to Harput, died there, and by his will his body was brought to Amasya. Hüsameddin mentions him in the first volume as well, and writes that the foundation of the mosque, tomb and madrasa built in his name was laid in 1304 [1886-87] and that they were partly finished in 1310 [1892-93]. An encyclopedia entry says that the Şirvanlı Mosque was built in 1894 on the place where his grave lies; this difference in dates is not explained in the sources. The meaning of the phrase "rakîb-i hâs" in the text is uncertain as well: it seems to present Îsâ Rûhî and Nigârî as rivals of each other, and no information about this rivalry was found in other sources.
His Children
The sources say that Ahmed Hulûsî Efendi was born in Sivas in 1833, became judge of Istanbul and military judge of Anatolia, and died in 1888; this date agrees with Hüsameddin's 1306. For Mustafa Nuri Bey one source gives the span 1844-1897; Hüsameddin's 1316 [1898-99] is somewhat later than that year. Abdülhamîd Efendi's death is described as a drowning in Amasya in 1846, while Hüsameddin writes only that he died childless. The information that his daughter Şerife Fatma Hanım was married to Hacı Îsâ Rûhî Efendi agrees with Hüsameddin's "son-in-law."
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 326–327. amasya.bel.tr
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, vol. 1, "Şirvânî Türbesi" (p. 202) and the sections on the Hacı Hamza-i Nigârî Mosque.
Official sources
- "Şirvanlı İsmail Türbesi", Kültür Portalı (Amasya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü).
Other sources