Bağdadlıdır. Abdullah oğludur. Orada tahsîl-i maârif edib seyâhatle Amasya‘ya geldi. Burada gördüğü nimet ve izzete binâen tavattun edib Türkmen Şeyh demekle iştihâr etdi. Otuz yıldan ziyâde Amasya’da kalıp 743’de vefât eyledi. Sulehâdan [77] kâmil bir şeyh idi.
Mahdûmları eş-Şeyh Salih, Hüseyin Çelebilerdir. Eş-Şeyh Salih Çelebizâde eş-Şeyh Emîneddîn Cibril er-Rumî 794 senesi zilhiccesinde vefât etdi. Kibâr-ı ulemâ-yı Hânefiyyeden idi. Eş-Şeyh Hüseyin Çelebizâde eş-Şeyh Mikâil er-Rumî de ulemâdan idi. Tercemeleri aşağıda gelir.
In Modern English
He was from Baghdad. He was the son of Abdullah. After studying there and travelling, he came to Amasya. Because of the kindness and respect he met with here, he settled and became known as the Türkmen Sheikh. Remaining in Amasya for more than thirty years, he died in 743 [1342-43]. He was a sheikh, one of the mature among the virtuous.
His sons were Sheikh Salih and Hüseyin Çelebi. Sheikh Salih Çelebi's son, Sheikh Emîneddîn Cibril er-Rumî, died in the month of Dhu al-Hijjah of the year 794 [1392]. He was among the great Hanafi scholars. Sheikh Hüseyin Çelebi's son, Sheikh Mikâil er-Rumî, was also one of the scholars. Their biographies come below.
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- tahsîl-i maârif: studying, acquiring learning
- seyâhat: travel, journey
- nimet ve izzet: kindness, hospitality and respect
- tavattun: settling in a place and making it one's homeland
- iştihâr: becoming famous
- sulehâ: the righteous, virtuous people
- kâmil: mature, accomplished
- mahdûm: son
- kibâr-ı ulemâ-yı Hanefiyye: the great scholars of the Hanafi school
- er-Rumî: from the land of Rum (Anatolia)
From Baghdad to Amasya
The name of the person Hüsameddin calls the Türkmen Sheikh is İsrâil Çelebi, and his father's name is Abdullah. After studying in Baghdad he came to Amasya by travel and settled here. Considering that he stayed in Amasya for more than thirty years and died in 743 [1342-43], he must have arrived in the city by the early 1310s at the latest; no exact date of arrival is given in the entry. The date of his death falls in the middle of the Eretna period: on the death of Abu Said Bahadur Khan in 1335, Alâeddin Eretna gained power and laid the foundations of his principality. When Eretna died in 1352, the places in his hands included Sivas, Kayseri and Amasya.
Where the name "Türkmen Sheikh" comes from is not written in the entry. Hüsameddin says he became famous under this name. This designation suggests that a sheikh who had come from Baghdad may have been called thus in the Türkmen circles of Amasya; but this is an inference and could not be verified in the sources.
Türkmens and Zawiyas in Amasya
Amasya was a place where Türkmens had gathered at an early date. In the 13th century the Türkmens, dissatisfied with Anatolian Seljuk rule, had come to Anatolia from western Iran, Azerbaijan and northern Iraq, and unrest had arisen among them. Baba İlyas, at the zawiya in the village of Çat in Amasya, was the one who raised his voice in this atmosphere of unrest. According to the study of the zawiyas of Amasya, the zawiyas in the region were generally institutions run by dynasties of sheikhs or custodians descended from their founders and kept alive by waqfs. The same study states that the Seyyid Yahya Zawiya at Hakala was founded in 764 [1362-63] by the Rifâ'î sheikh Seyyid Necmeddin Yahya; this date falls about twenty years after the death of İsrâil Çelebi and shows that Sufi circles in Amasya were lively in the 14th century.
The same study notes that most studies on Amasya rest on the records of the 15th-16th and 19th centuries, and that studies on the 17th and 18th centuries are few. For this sheikh, who lived in the first half of the 14th century, no more information than what Hüsameddin relates was found in the sources read.
No information was found in the sources read on whether İsrâil Çelebi founded a tekke, zawiya or tomb, or whether it stands today.
His Sons and Grandsons
The family information in the entry can be summarized as follows: İsrâil Çelebi has two sons, Sheikh Salih and Hüseyin Çelebi. Salih's son Emîneddîn Cibril er-Rumî died in 794 [1392] and was counted among the great Hanafi scholars. Hüseyin's son Mikâil er-Rumî was also a scholar. One point to note is that this İsrâil Çelebi is distinct from the İsrâil Çelebis of the next two entries: Hacı Kâtib İsrâil Çelebi is the son of Erdoğdu Çelebi of Amasya and died around 767 [1365-66]. This entry, by contrast, describes İsrâil Çelebi, son of Abdullah, of Baghdad.
Bibliography
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 287–287. amasya.bel.tr
- Murat Alandağlı, "Hurufat Kayıtlarında Amasya Zaviyeleri", Turkish Studies, 19/1 (2024), p. 1–27.