Şücâeddîn İlyas Çelebi, a scholar and poet of Amasya in the second half of the fifteenth century, gave up the office of judge (kadı) altogether and attached himself to a shaykh in Bursa. In his poems he used the pen name (mahlas) "Niyâzî". He spent the last years of his life in Bursa, in his own dervish lodge (zaviye), as a deputy (halife) of a shaykh known as Hacı Halîfe, and died there in 914 (1508-09). What we know of him rests on the entry in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi; Hüsameddin in turn takes his information from Taşköprülüzâde's Şakâyık and from Mecdî Mehmed Efendi of Edirne, who translated that work into Turkish. A story reported by Mecdî says that the poet had a Turkish divan of a thousand ghazals; of this divan only one opening couplet has come down to us. The full text of the entry is published on the site as Şücâeddîn İlyas Çelebi-Şeyh Niyâzî.

Hüsameddin's Record

The entry is placed in the section of the eleventh volume given to the letter "şın", between the entries of two other men of Amasya bearing the same name, Şücâeddîn İlyas Çelebi nicknamed Müfred and Şücâeddîn Pasha, son of Hızır Pasha:

Amasyalıdır. Kazasker Muslihîzâde "Mevlanâ Vildân Çelebi" demekle meşhûr Amasyalı Şemseddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin Molla Beylik Abdurrahman Çelebi birâderidir. Pederi Amasya kâdı'l-kudâtıdır. Amasya'da tahsîl-i ulûm edib ders-i âm ve Bursa'da bir müddet müderris-i be-nâm oldu. Ba'dehû birâderinin kazaskerliğinde kazâ mesleğini kabûl edib ba'zı bilâd ve kasabâta kadı oldu. 886'da Sultân Bâyezîd-i Sânî'nin cülûsunda Dimetoka kazâsından infisâl edib İstanbul'a geldi. Müteâkiben kazâyı bırakıp Bursa'ya giderek "Hacı Halîfe" demekle meşhûr Kastamonulu Şeyh Abdullah Efendi'nin riyâzethânesine sığındı. Hazret-i şeyhinden sulûk ve terbiye görüp yıllarca hizmetini nîmet bildi. Ba'dehû müşârün-ileyhin terbiye-i ruhâniyyesiyle tasfiye-i derûn ederek nâil-i hilâfet oldu. Bursa'da ikâmet, umûr-ı dünyadan ferâgat ederek zâviyesinde ta'ât ve ibâdât ile meşgûl olduğu halde 914'de âlem-i kudse rihlet etdi. Bursa'da ikâmetinden dolayı Taşköprülüzâde "Şakâyık"ında Bursalı gösterilmiş olup mumâ-ileyh âlim, âmil, muhakkik, müdekkik, ilim ve ibâdetle meşgûl, makbûl bir kimse olduğu beyân edilmiştir. Ancak birâderi ve ecdâdı Amasyalı olduğu münâsebetle şeyh-i müşârün-ileyhin Amasyalı olduğunda şüphe yokdur. Hazreti Şücâeddîn Efendi ulûm-i sûfîyyede kâmil, fünûn-ı edebiyyede mâhir, "Niyâzî" mahlasıyla şâir bir zât-ı sütûde-simât idi.

In English: He is from Amasya. He is the brother of the military judge (kazasker) Muslihîzâde Şemseddîn Mehmed Çelebi, known as "Mevlânâ Vildân Çelebi"; both were sons of Molla Beylik Abdurrahman Çelebi. His father was the chief judge of Amasya. He studied in Amasya and qualified to teach (ders-i âm), and for a time taught in Bursa as a well-known madrasa teacher (müderris). Later, while his brother was military judge, he entered the judicial profession and served as judge in some cities and towns. In 886, when Bayezid II came to the throne, he left the judgeship of Dimetoka and came to İstanbul. Then, abandoning the judiciary, he went to Bursa and took refuge in the house of spiritual discipline of Shaykh Abdullah Efendi of Kastamonu, known as "Hacı Halîfe". He received training on the Sufi path from his shaykh and for years counted serving him a blessing; afterwards, having purified his inner self through the shaykh's spiritual guidance, he was made his deputy. He settled in Bursa, withdrew from worldly affairs, and died in 914 while occupied with devotion in his lodge. Because he lived in Bursa, Taşköprülüzâde shows him in his Şakâyık as a man of Bursa, stating that he was learned, one who acted on his knowledge, a careful and subtle scholar, occupied with learning and worship, and well regarded. But since his brother and his ancestors were from Amasya, there is no doubt that the shaykh was from Amasya. Şücâeddîn Efendi was accomplished in the Sufi sciences, skilled in the literary arts, a poet with the pen name "Niyâzî", and a man worthy of praise.

A footnote of Hüsameddin also gives information on the shaykh's own shaykh: Hacı Halîfe died in Bursa on the last day of Cemâziyelâhir of the year 894 and was buried beside his own shaykh, Tâceddîn İbrâhim Efendi of Manavgat.

Life

İlyas Çelebi's date of birth is unknown. His family was one of the judge and teacher families of Amasya: his father Molla Beylik Abdurrahman Çelebi was the chief judge of the city, and his elder brother Vildân Çelebi a scholar who rose as high as military judge. The first half of his career followed the path laid out by this family. He studied in Amasya, taught at a madrasa in Bursa, and turned to the judiciary while his brother was military judge. The only post Hüsameddin names is Dimetoka. That judgeship ended in 886 (1481) with the accession of Bayezid II; since changes of office were frequent at a change of sultan, his departure may have been a dismissal, but the text says only "infisâl", that is, leaving office.

The real turning point came afterwards. Having come to İstanbul, İlyas Çelebi gave up the judiciary altogether, went to Bursa and attached himself to Hacı Halîfe. Kınalızâde Hasan Çelebi, while describing another poet in his biographical anthology of poets (tezkire), counts Hacı Halîfe among the Zeyniyye shaykhs of Bursa; on that basis the path İlyas Çelebi entered was the Zeyniyye order. Since Hacı Halîfe died in 894 (1489), the poet's initiation falls between 1481 and 1489, and he must have received his deputyship in those years. The remaining twenty years of his life were spent in his lodge in Bursa, where he died in 914 (1508-09). The site of his grave is not recorded.

A story that Mecdî says he heard from the poet's descendants adds a few details about the family. One day Shaykh Niyâzî took onto his knee Emetullah, the nine-year-old daughter of his son Mehmed Çelebi, had a "Sadrü'ş-şerîa" written in his own hand and two more volumes brought, entrusted them to the girl and said: "You will have a son named Korkud Mehmed; pass these books on to him." According to the story, Emînzâde Korkud Mehmed Çelebi was indeed born, and his mother Emetullah gave him the books. Leaving aside its miraculous colouring, the story shows that the poet was a calligrapher and that his books were handed down within the family from generation to generation. Which book is meant by "Sadrü'ş-şerîa" is not clear from the text; it is likely to have been one of the works of the Hanafi jurist known by that title.

His Amasya Origin

Hüsameddin's entry also takes up a dispute. Taşköprülüzâde recorded İlyas Çelebi as a man of Bursa because he lived there. Hüsameddin objects, and on the grounds that his brother, his father and his ancestors were from Amasya, says there is no doubt that the shaykh too was from Amasya. The information he himself gives supports this conclusion: the poet studied in Amasya, and his father was the judge of Amasya. We have not had access to the Şakâyık or to Mecdî's translation, so Taşköprülüzâde's entry is known here through Hüsameddin's quotation.

Poetry

Quoting Mecdî's words, Hüsameddin reports that the poet had a Turkish divan "in his own hand, containing a thousand ghazals", that Mecdî saw this divan, and that the opening couplet he quotes was taken from it. A divan of a thousand ghazals is a large volume for the fifteenth century. Yet no poet of this name could be found in the biographical anthologies: the Niyâzî entries of Latîfî and Kınalızâde belong to other poets, from Bursa, Karaman and Siroz and from the Müeyyedzâde family. Nor could it be established whether the divan survives today in any library. The one piece that remains is an opening couplet (matla) that calls the eyebrows "hâcib", meaning both eyebrow and doorkeeper: "Ebrûsı nice hâcib ola hüsni bagına". The original text of the couplet, its English rendering and a commentary are on its own page.

Chronology

886 (1481): With the accession of Bayezid II he leaves the judgeship of Dimetoka and comes to İstanbul; he then attaches himself to Hacı Halîfe in Bursa.

894 (1489): His shaykh Hacı Halîfe dies in Bursa.

914 (1508-09): He dies in his lodge in Bursa.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources