İsrâil Çelebi, İsrâilzâde

In Modern English

He was the son of Halil Çelebi, son of Kâtib İsrâil Çelebi, whose biography is given. After learning from the scholars of his age he gave public lessons and, a renowned müderris (madrasa professor), died toward the year 827 [1423-24]. He was a jurist and preacher. His son is Nasûh Çelebi.

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• mahdûm: son
• ulemâ-yı asr: the scholars of the age, scholars living at the same time
• ders-i âm: giving public lessons open to everyone
• müderris-i benâm: a müderris whose name and fame had spread
• dâr-ı bekâya rihlet: dying; "migrating to the abode of eternity"
• fakîh: a scholar who knows Islamic law
• vâiz: preacher; an official who advises the public and gives religious talks in a mosque

The Third Generation of the Benî İsrâil Line

İsrâilzâde is the grandson of Hacı Kâtib İsrâil Çelebi, described in the previous entry: İsrâil Çelebi, son of Halil Çelebi, son of the Kâtib. In Hüsameddin's family list this person is the first of the trio counted as İsrâil, Dursun and İbrâhim Ebrî among the grandsons of the sons Halil, İbrâhim and Hasan of İsrâil el-Kâtib. Thus this entry shows that a family that began in Amasya in the middle of the 14th century with clerkship and calligraphy, and continued in müderrisship and judgeship, turned in its third generation to teaching and preaching.

Amasya in 827 [1423-24]

The years near the date of İsrâilzâde's death are the period in which Amasya had newly entered Ottoman administration and princes served as sanjak governors there. After the death of Hacı Şadgeldi, Yıldırım Bayezid, at the request of his son Ahmed, struggled against Kadı Burhâneddin and added Amasya to Ottoman lands in 1398; he left the administration of the city to his son Çelebi Mehmed. From Çelebi Mehmed onward, Murad II, Mehmed the Conqueror and Bayezid II were sanjak governors here. After becoming sultan, Çelebi Mehmed continued building works in the area: the Çelebi Mehmet Madrasa at Merzifon, begun in 1414 and finished in 1417, also called the Sultaniye Madrasa, is a square-plan building with four iwans whose first müderris was Ferîdüddîn-i Dîvânî; according to its inscription its construction began on the order of Sultan Çelebi Mehmed, was completed by Umur Bey, son of Ali, and it was repaired in 1418-1419. The Hacı Halil Pasha (Halîliye) Madrasa at Gümüşhacıköy was built between 1413 and 1415 by the beylerbeyi Hacı Halil Pasha, son of Kadı Ahmed of the Kutlubeyzâde family of Amasya.

Hüsameddin does not write in which madrasa İsrâilzâde taught. For this reason it would not be right to link him with one of the madrasas above; but knowing that madrasa building continued in the Amasya area in the same years shows the setting in which he might have been called a "müderris-i benâm". In addition, his being a jurist and preacher indicates that he was known both for his knowledge of law and for his duties of advising the public.

From the second half of the 14th century to the end of the 16th, Amasya was among the foremost of the sanjaks to which princes were sent as sanjak governors to gain administrative experience. Twelve princes served there, and the city reached its peak in this period with its mosques, bedesten and market. Hüsameddin's book has also recorded the genealogies of scholarly families that grew up in this setting.

A Note on the Date

Hüsameddin gives the date of death in a softened phrase, "toward the year 827", so the year is not certain. Who Nasûh Çelebi was and what he did is not told in the book outside this family tree. If Hacı Kâtib İsrâil Çelebi is accepted as having died around 767 [1365-66], it follows that his grandson died about sixty years later; this span is reasonable for two generations.

Bibliography

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 288–288. amasya.bel.tr