Mustafa Efendi, imam of the Kocacık Mosque, stands out in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's short entry above all for his wit: "latîfe-gû, nâdire-dân şâir", a poet who spoke in witticisms and knew rare and curious things. He was the son of Seyyid Ali Rızâ Dede, one of the sheikhs of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge (Mevlevîhâne). He became imam of the mosque in 1247 (1831-32) and died in Şevval 1278 (April 1862). Although he grew up in a family of sheikhs, he seems never to have reached a post in the lodge and to have contented himself with his quarter's mosque. Nothing of his poetry remains.

His Life

Hüsameddin's record Sâgıb Mustafa Efendi-Hacı Çelebizâde in the eighth volume opens directly with his father, without the usual words "he was from Amasya":

Amasya mevlevîhânesi şeyhi es-Seyyid Alî Rızâ Dede bin eş-Şeyh Hüseyin Dede'nin oğludur. Biraz tahsîl-i ma'ârif edib pederinin zamân-ı meşîhatinde 1247'de Kocacık mescidi imâmı olup 1278 senesi şevvâlinde vefât etdi. Latîfe-gû, nâdire-dân şâir idi. Mahdûmu Hüseyin Ârif Dede Boğaziçi'nde değirmen sâhibi, rind-meşreb, ehl-i keyf bir mevlevî idi.

Translated: He was the son of Seyyid Ali Rızâ Dede, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge; Ali Rızâ Dede was the son of Şeyh Hüseyin Dede. After some schooling he became imam of the Kocacık Mosque in 1247, during his father's sheikhship, and died in the month of Şevval of the year 1278. He was a poet who spoke wittily and knew rare things. His son Hüseyin Ârif Dede was a Mevlevî who owned a mill on the Bosphorus, carefree in temper and fond of his pleasures.

The Kocacık Mosque, where he served as imam, took its name, according to Hüsameddin's first volume, from Hoca Hacı Ahmed Çelebi, known as "Kocacık", who lived in the quarter in the fifteenth century. Ahmed Çelebi built a mosque, a school and a fountain here in 871 (1466-67); the mosque was repaired in 1071 (1660-61) by Hacı Beyzâde Mehmed Bey, burned again later, and in 1230 (1814-15) was rebuilt from the ground up by the merchant Hacı Feyzullah Ağa of Bender, who added a madrasa on its qibla side and a school beside it. Mustafa Efendi became imam of this new building seventeen years later. Other familiar names appear in the mosque's past: Bilâl Efendi, its muezzin some hundred and thirty years earlier, was a man of conversation who rose to the sheikhship of the Mevlevî lodge, and the saz poet Âşık Ahmed Çelebi was the son of one of its earlier imams.

His Family

Mustafa Efendi's grandfather Şeyh Hüseyin Hüsnî Dede was the son of Hacı Mehmed Dede; his sons Mehmed, Hasan and Ali Rızâ were Mustafa's two uncles and his father. The family name "Hacı Çelebizâde" in the heading ties this household to the Hacı Dedezâde family, which held the sheikhship of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge for a long time, if with interruptions. Going by Hüsameddin's entry "Ebû Sa'îd Ahmed Dede Efendi-Hacı Dede", the family split in two after Saîd İbrâhim Dede, son of Ebû Saîd Ahmed Dede. Mustafa Efendi belongs to Hüseyin Hüsnî's branch; in the other stand Gavsî Ahmed Dede and his son Kâmî Mehmed Dede, followed by Sâbit Mehmed Dede and Ahmed Sâlim Dede.

The dispute over the sheikhship between the two branches had set Mustafa Efendi's closest relatives against each other. His uncle Seyyid Mehmed Dede took the sheikhship from Sâbit Mehmed Dede when Kâmî Dede died in 1227, held the post for some fifteen years and was killed on the road back from Konya in 1244 (1828-29). The sheikhship then passed to the other branch, to Ahmed Sâlim Dede; after Sâlim it was given to Mustafa Efendi's other uncle Hasan Dede, and after him to his father Ali Rızâ Dede. According to the first volume, Ali Rızâ was succeeded as sheikh by his son Mehmed Sıdkî Dede; the entry in the sixth volume, however, names Mehmed Sıdkî as Ali Rızâ's brother rather than his son. In the years when Hüsameddin was writing, the sheepskin was held by Cemâleddin Mehmed Dede of this branch.

The State of the Sources

The entry's words "pederinin zamân-ı meşîhatinde 1247'de" (in 1247, during his father's sheikhship) do not agree with Hüsameddin's other records. According to the list of the lodge's sheikhs and the entry for Ahmed Sâlim Dede, the sheikh from 1243-1244 until 1254 (1838-39) was Ahmed Sâlim Dede; Ali Rızâ Dede took the post only after him and after his own brother Hasan Dede. Either the date of the imamate belongs to a time after 1247, or the phrase "during his father's sheikhship" is wrong; which record is correct cannot be determined.

The name itself is a problem. The entry stands in the "Sâ" section, where Hüsameddin gathers names beginning with the Arabic letter "se" (ث), and the entry before it belongs to "Sâkıb Osmân Efendi". The form "Sâgıb" corresponds to no Arabic word; the name in the heading was most probably written "ثاقب" and read once as "Sâkıb" and once as "Sâgıb" in the edition. In that case Mustafa Efendi's pen name too should be Sâkıb. A similar name appears once more in the same family: the entry for Ahmed Sâlim Dede writes that his son was "Mustafa Sakıp Dede" and that he died in 1281 (1864-65). The two Mustafas have different fathers and their death years are three years apart; whether one person entered the two records in different forms, or whether they were two cousins with the same pen name, cannot be settled from the sources.

His Poetry

Not a single couplet of Mustafa Efendi's has been quoted; nor does Hüsameddin mention any divan or anthology (mecmua) he wrote. What remains, the description "latîfe-gû, nâdire-dân", presents his poetry rather from the side of conversation and wit. His poems have not come down to us. In compiling the poets of Amasya Tarihi, Metin Hakverdioğlu took the name in the heading's spelling, "Sâgıb Mustafa Efendi-Hacı Çelebizâde", into his list of those named in the eighth volume.

Chronology

1230 (1814-15): The Kocacık Mosque is rebuilt by Hacı Feyzullah Ağa of Bender.

1244 (1828-29): His uncle Seyyid Mehmed Dede is killed; the sheikhship passes to Ahmed Sâlim Dede.

1247 (1831-32): He becomes imam of the Kocacık Mosque.

Şevval 1278 (April 1862): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources