Varay zu'amâsından Halîl bin Kubâd⁵⁸⁷ Bey'in oğludur. 918 senesi muharreminin on beşinci günü Amasya şehrine hâkim oldu. Amasya'ya girdiği zamân halka amân vermişdi. Bir gün sonra bütün hâneler yağmâ edildi. Merâsim-i şî'adan olarak Ebû Bekir, Ömer, Osmân gibi ashâb-ı Resûlullâh'a la'netler yağdırıldı.
Bu varta-i hevl-nâkda Hazret-i Hüseyn'in aşk ve intikâmı uğruna çok sünnîler kılıçdan geçdi. Sağ kalanlar da kendilerini şî'î göstermeğe mecbûr oldular. Muhabbet-i Alî, sünnîleri âteş gibi yakıp kavurdu. Zünnûn, bu vahşetler ile Amasya târîhinin birinci devresini hitâma erdirdi.
Şâyân-ı dikkatdir ki burada öldürenler de ölenler de Türklerdi. Bunlarda ne şu'ûr-ı millî ne de irfân-ı dînî yokdu. Şu'ûr-ı millî olsaydı Türklük nâmına kendi milletdaşlarına kıyamayacaklardı. İrfân-ı dînî olsaydı uhuvvet-i dîniyye nâmına kendi dindâşlarına acıyacaklardı.
Hayfâ ki duygusuzluk Türklüğü ve Müslümânlığı parçaladı. Bu duygusuz Türkler şî'îlik nâmına, muhabbet-i Alî uğruna Acemler'in bâzîçesi oldu. Kendi milletdaşlarını koyunlar gibi boğazladılar. [265]
Zünnûn denilen adam, serserî bir Tatar'dı. Bunun azdıranı ya'nî şeyhi de Celâl Baba dedikleri dönme bir Ermenîydi. Bu iki serserî tam on beş yıl Anadolu Türkleri'ni birbirine kırdırdılar. Pek çok Türkler'in ocaklarını söndürdüler.
Amasya bu birinci devresinde vahdet-i milliyye sâyesinde ikbâlin en yüksek zirvesine su'ûd ederek en yüksek refâh ve medeniyyet görmüş, en büyük fâtihlere, en şânlı kahramânlara vatan olmuş, gerek ilmen ve gerek iktisâden en yüksek irfân ve sa'âdete ermişdi.
Amasya bu devresinde yüksek medreseleriyle, fâzıl müderrisleriyle, âlim şâirleriyle, hâzık tabîbleriyle, mütefennin üstâdlarıyla, mâhir hattâtlarıyla muhteşem bir dâru'l-irfân, şanlı bir dâru'l-fünûn, mu'azzam bir merkez-i medeniyyet olmuşdu.
Amasya'nın bu devrede yetişdirdiği fâtih pâdişâhları, vezîr-i a'zamları, vezîrleri, kazaskerleri, beylerbeyileri, nişâncıları, mollaları, velîleri, fâzılları, kâmilleri, âlimleri, üstâdları, hattâtları bütün Türkiye târîhinin medâr-ı iftihârıdır. Bunların terâcim-i ahvâli "Bâb-ı Sânî"de arz olunur.
In Modern English
He is the son of Halîl son of Kubâd Bey, one of the zeamet holders of Varay. On the fifteenth day of Muharram 918 [1512-13] he took control of the city of Amasya. When he entered Amasya he had granted the people safe conduct. A day later all the houses were plundered. As one of the Shiite rites, curses were showered on the Companions of the Messenger of God such as Abû Bakr, Ömer and Osman.
In this terrible whirlwind many Sunnis were put to the sword in the love of, and in vengeance for, Hazrat Hüseyin. Those who survived were compelled to present themselves as Shiites. The love of Ali scorched and burned the Sunnis like fire. With these atrocities Zünnûn brought the first period of Amasya's history to an end.
It is worth noting that here both the killers and the dead were Turks. They had neither national consciousness nor religious understanding. Had there been national consciousness, they would not have put their own fellow countrymen to the sword in the name of Turkishness. Had there been religious understanding, they would have shown mercy to their co-religionists in the name of religious brotherhood.
It is a pity that insensibility tore Turkishness and Islam apart. These insensible Turks became playthings of the Acems in the name of Shiism, for the sake of the love of Ali. They slaughtered their own fellow countrymen like sheep.
The man called Zünnûn was a vagabond Tatar. The one who egged him on, that is, his sheikh, was a convert Armenian they called Celâl Baba. These two vagabonds for a full fifteen years had the Turks of Anatolia cut one another down. They extinguished the hearths of many Turks.
In this first period, thanks to national unity, Amasya had climbed to the highest peak of ascent, had seen the highest prosperity and civilization, had been the homeland of the greatest conquerors and the most glorious heroes, and had attained the highest enlightenment and happiness in both learning and economy.
In this period, with its lofty madrasas, its learned madrasa professors, its scholar-poets, its skilled physicians, its versatile craftsmen and its master calligraphers, Amasya had become a magnificent homeland of learning, a glorious university, a great center of civilization.
The conquering sultans, grand viziers, viziers, kazaskers, beylerbeyis, chancellors, mollas, saints, men of learning, accomplished men, scholars, craftsmen and calligraphers whom Amasya raised in this period are a source of pride for the whole of Turkish history. Their biographies are submitted in the "Second Part."
Notes and Research
Old Words in the Text
- zu'amâ: holders of zeamets; holders of high-income timars
- varta-i hevl-nâk: a terrifying abyss, a terrifying whirlwind; a very dangerous situation
- ashâb-ı Resûlullâh: the Companions of the Prophet
- muhabbet-i Alî: love of Ali
- şu'ûr-ı millî, irfân-ı dînî: national consciousness, religious knowledge and understanding
- uhuvvet-i dîniyye: religious brotherhood
- bâzîçe: plaything
- dâru'l-irfân, dâru'l-fünûn: house of learning; an institution of higher education, a university in today's sense
- terâcim-i ahvâl: biographies
Zünnûn's Entry into Amasya
Hüsameddin places Zünnûn's entry into Amasya on the fifteenth of Muharram 918, that is, in the spring of 1512. This date falls in the period immediately before Bayezid II withdrew from the throne and Selim became sultan on 24 April 1512. In the same year in Anatolia, it is written that Nur Ali Halife, sent by Shah İsmail, gathered the Kızılbaş Turkmens in the region of Sivas, Tokat, Amasya and Çorum (the figure varies by source between three or four thousand sipahis and twenty thousand people), had the khutba read at Tokat in Shah İsmail's name, and that Yularkısdı Sinan Bey, sent by Ahmed, governor of Amasya, could not suppress the rising. How separate or how intertwined these movements were is not clear in the sources. Hüsameddin brings Zünnûn forward on his own.
According to one study on Zünnûn, after the Şahkulu rising and Amasya's brief stay in the rebels' hands, Zünnûn withdrew via Varay toward the Iranian border with the accession of Yavuz Sultan Selim. This resembles the withdrawal Hüsameddin narrates in the following entry, but the cause and details are not the same. The "Zünnûn-nâme" in Hüsameddin's possession gives Zünnûn the title "Commander of the Faithful, supporter of the sharia and the faith, Zünnûn Shah son of Emîr Halîl son of Emîr Kubâd el-Caferî." Hüsameddin also notes that all of this work's battles and stories were written in the form of a Battal-nâme. This work itself could not be reached; quotations from it are known through Hüsameddin's narrative.
On Hüsameddin's Commentary
The assessments of national consciousness and religious understanding in the second and third paragraphs are Hüsameddin's own views, reflecting the historiography of the period in which the book was written. Today's research does not explain these risings merely by sectarianism or Safavid propaganda. For the Şahkulu movement in Antalya, the seminomadic Turkmen population of the Teke region facing settlement and tax pressure, and also the uncertainty created by the struggle for the throne among the sons of Bayezid II, are counted among the causes. For the later Kızılbaş movements in and around Amasya as well, the reaction to centralizing policies and to the tahrir (survey) is emphasized. About Celâl Baba, whom Hüsameddin calls "a convert Armenian," no information confirming this characterization was found in the sources I surveyed; the sources state only that he was a caliph from Şahkulu's circle and that Zünnûn attached himself to him.
The text closes the section of the book that narrates the first period of Amasya. It is also recorded in the research that over this long period Amasya was foremost among the sanjaks to which princes were sent to gain administrative experience, and that twelve princes served here.
Bibliography
Primary sources
- Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 3, p. 491. amasya.bel.tr
Academic studies
- Murat Alandağlı, "İnancın, Şekavetin ve Siyasetin Şekillendirdiği Bir Orta Anadolu Kazası: Zünnunabad", Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, no. 115, 2025.
- Merve Karakulak, "XVI. Yüzyılda Amasya'da Kızılbaşlık Hareketlerinin Toplumsal Yansımaları", Türk Kültürü ve Hacı Bektaş Velî Araştırma Dergisi, no. 109, 2024.
- Faruk Söylemez, "Yavuz Sultan Selim'in Taht Mücadelesi", Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü Dergisi, no. 33, 2012, pp. 63–86.
- Selim Özcan, "Amasya'da Sancak Beyliği Yapan Şehzadeler Döneminde Amasya Şehri", DergiPark.
Books
- Feridun Emecen, "Şahkulu Baba Tekeli", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, vol. 38, Istanbul 2010, pp. 284–286.
Other sources
- "Nur Ali Halife İsyanı", Wikipedia.