Abdürrahîm Niyâzî Efendi died at thirty-two, a professor (müderris) at the Süleymaniye madrasa, and left behind eight couplets that can still be read. His death falls in Ramazan 1002 (May-June 1594); the şeyhülislam (chief jurist of the empire) Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi was his father. Two sixteenth-century tezkires, the Ottoman collections of poets' lives, present this young member of the Müeyyedzâde family of Amasya as a poet: Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi quotes a five-couplet ghazal (gazel) and three separate couplets of his, and Beyânî Mustafa repeats the same three couplets under the heading "Niyâzî-i diğer" (the other Niyâzî). The space Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar gives him is a single sentence closing his father's entry. All eight couplets come from these two tezkires.

Hüsameddin's Record

No separate entry is opened for Niyâzî in the eleventh volume of Amasya Tarihi. The entry on his father, Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi, closes, after mentioning the small mosque he had built at Eyüp, with these two sentences:

Mahdûmu Abdürrahîm Niyazî Efendi Süleymaniye müderrisi iken 1002 ramazanında otuz iki yaşında vefât etdi. Fâzıl, şâir, edîb, kerîm idi.

In English: His son Abdürrahîm Niyâzî Efendi died in Ramazan 1002, aged thirty-two, while a professor at the Süleymaniye. He was virtuous, a poet, a man of letters and generous. Whom the last sentence refers to can be debated, since the whole entry describes the father. But the sentence comes immediately after the one reporting the son's death, and there is no other record showing that the father wrote poetry. For this reason the site's page on Abdülkâdir Şeyhî Efendi attaches the word "poet" to the son; the testimony of the tezkires confirms this reading.

Life

His year of birth can be worked out from the age at death that Hüsameddin gives: someone who died in 1002 aged thirty-two must have been born around 970 (1562-63). His birthplace is unknown. In those years his father was teaching at the Sahn and Süleymaniye madrasas in Istanbul and then went on to judgeships in Damascus, Cairo and Bursa; the child may have been born at one of these postings. His name is that of his grandfather, Sheikh Abdürrahîm Efendi. This Halveti sheikh had come from Amasya to Istanbul and represented the Sufi branch of the Müeyyedzâde family; that his grandson was given the same name is hardly a coincidence.

The only firm fact known about Niyâzî's education and madrasa career is that he was a Süleymaniye professor at the time of his death. The Süleymaniye madrasas were among the highest steps of the Ottoman learned hierarchy; that someone just past thirty reached this post should be considered together with the family's weight in the ulema. Kınalızâde too speaks of him as one "possessed of countless learning and virtues while only just reaching the age of youth", and with the image of "a crescent that will soon be a full moon" writes that great hopes were placed in his future. That hope was not fulfilled.

The date of his death is read together with the second loss the family suffered in the same year. According to Hüsameddin the father died at the end of Şevval 1002, that is, a month or two after his son. Mehmet İpşirli's article in the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, however, gives the father's death as 27 Receb 1002 (18 April 1594); by this date the son died after his father. Which order is correct is not known. Where Niyâzî was buried is not recorded either.

The Entries in the Tezkires

The entry in Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi's Tezkiretü'ş-şu'arâ was written in the years when the father was şeyhülislam. The anthologist calls Niyâzî's father Şeyhî Efendi "who in these days is şeyhülislam and mufti of mankind"; since Abdülkâdir Efendi held that office between 995 and 997 (1587-1589), the record belongs to these two years. The core of the entry is this:

Nâmı 'Abdu'r-rahîmdür. Şecere-i pür-semere-i âl-i Mü'eyyedden bir nahl-i ercmend [...] Şeyhî Efendi (Hazret)lerinün ferzend-i dil-bendidür. Henüz vâsıl-ı sinn-i şebâb iken hâ'iz-i ma'ârif ü fezâ'il-i bî-hisâbdur. [...] Hakkâ ki mahdûm-ı hôş-tab' ve nîkû-hasâ'il ve şîrîn-şemâ'il tekmîl-i celâ'il ma'ârif ü tahsîl-i kemâlâta meş'ûf u mâ'ildür. Sâ'ir-i fezâ'ilinden fazla bu fende dahı iktidârı ve müzeyyen ü muvaşşah kalâ'id-i kütüb ü esfâr ba'z-ı âsârı vardur.

Paraphrased: His name is Abdürrahîm. He is a precious shoot of the fruitful Müeyyedzâde tree, the beloved son of His Excellency Şeyhî Efendi. Having only just reached the age of youth, he possesses countless learning and virtues. Truly he is a gentleman's son of pleasant temper, good nature and sweet manners, devoted to completing great learning and acquiring perfection. Besides his other virtues he also has skill in this art, that is, in poetry, and has some works that adorn the necklaces of books and volumes.

The entry in the tezkire that Beyânî Mustafa completed in 1597-98 is a shortened echo of this text. Beyânî refers to the father in the past tense as "Şeyhî Efendi, who was kazasker of Rumelia and then mufti", repeats Kınalızâde's crescent-and-full-moon image in almost the same words, and introduces the son as "a youth of fine character, pleasant disposition and possessed of insight". He does not mention Niyâzî's death. He leaves out the ghazal and gives only the three couplets that Kınalızâde lists as "another"; he writes "Matla" (opening couplet) above the first. There are word differences in the three couplets: Kınalızâde has "hâtır-ı 'uşşâkı", "gark eyleyüp", "Göze yindürdüm", "tam'-ı hâm"; Beyânî "hâtır-ı âşıkı", "gark eyledüm", "Göze yendürdün", "tama-ı hâm". The two tezkires also contain other poets named Niyâzî. Among Kınalızâde's entries are Niyâzî of Skopje, a writer of murabba (quatrain poems), and Niyâzî of Serres from the reign of Bayezid I; Beyânî's heading "Niyâzî-i diğer" was put there to distinguish Abdürrahîm from Niyâzî of Skopje.

His Connection with Amasya

There is no record that Niyâzî lived in Amasya. The connection comes through the family. The Müeyyedzâdes were one of Amasya's most deeply rooted families of learning; among Müeyyed Çelebi's grandsons were both a kazasker, Abdurrahman Efendi, and a Halveti sheikh, Niyâzî's grandfather Abdürrahîm Efendi. His father Abdülkâdir Efendi, according to Hüsameddin, was born in Amasya in 920 (1514) and brought to Istanbul a year later. Hüsameddin counts him among the great scholars Amasya produced and records his son within the same entry. Niyâzî therefore belongs to the generation of an Amasya family that grew up in Istanbul. For the other branches of the line, see The Müeyyedzâdes.

His Poetry

One ghazal and three couplets, standing one after another in Kınalızâde's tezkire, make up the whole of Niyâzî's poetry that can be read today. The ghazal has five couplets, the pen name (mahlas) appears in the last couplet, and it is built on the rhyme "-ârda"; it opens with a spring scene comparing the beloved's hair and cheek to night and day, to hyacinth and rose, and closes with Niyâzî lamenting like a nightingale. The other three couplets have the look of opening couplets, that is, both their lines rhyme; very probably they are the first couplets of other ghazals. One complains that the beloved won the hearts of the lovers and forgot him, one says that his tears swallowed the seas, and the last describes the rival eyeing unripe fruit in the garden of union. Kınalızâde's phrase "works that adorn the necklaces of books" rather suggests that he wrote poetry; no source mentions a divan. The original text, translation and commentary of all four pieces are on separate pages.

Family

The family stood close to Ebüssuûd Efendi. His paternal grandmother was the sister of Ebüssuûd Efendi; his father had also become Ebüssuûd's pupil and son-in-law. The sources do not say whether Niyâzî's mother was Ebüssuûd's daughter. His grandfather was Sheikh Abdürrahîm Efendi, who guided disciples in the Halveti and Bayrami ways, and his great-uncle was Kazasker Müeyyedzâde Abdurrahman Efendi. His grandfather's brother Abdülkerîm Efendi, who served as judge in Amasya, and Abdülkerîm's sons Abdülhay and the poet Abdî are other branches of the same line.

Chronology

c. 970 (1562-63): Born, as calculated from his age at death.

995-997 (1587-1589): His father is şeyhülislam; the entry in Kınalızâde's tezkire is written in these years.

Ramazan 1002 (May-June 1594): Dies at the age of thirty-two while a Süleymaniye professor.

1006 (1597-98): Beyânî completes his tezkire and quotes three couplets of Niyâzî.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources