Sâ'î Mehmed Çelebi was a craftsman who won fame for making clocks in seventeenth-century Amasya. Because he was also skilled in astronomy and in measuring the altitude of the sun, he was appointed timekeeper of the Sultâniyye Mosque and became imam of the Ahî Receb Mosque; his feeling for literature made him a man who traded verses with the city's poets and held a place in the gatherings of scholars and men of letters. He died around 1095 (1683-84). Not a couplet of his has survived, yet his name lived on in Amasya for generations: Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar writes that in his own day there was still a lineage known as the "Sâ'atçizâdes".

Life

In the entry Sâ'î Mehmed Çelebi-Sâ'atçi Hüsameddin writes:

Amasyalıdır. Ahî Receb Mahallesi'nden Hasan'ın oğludur. Biraz tahsîl-i ma'ârif etdikten sonra sâ'atçi olup hayli şöhret kazandı. Ahî Receb evlâdından Hacı Bayramzâde Sâlih Çelebi'ye dâmâd ve ilm-i nücûm u irtifâ'a vâkıf olduğundan Sultâniyye Câmii muvakkiti ve Ahî Receb Câmii imâmı oldu. Edebiyâta âşinâlığı hasebiyle erbâb-ı şi'r u edeble müşâ'are ve musâhabe edib meclis-i ulemâ ve üdebâda bir mevki'-i mahsûs kazandı. 1095 hudûdunda vefât etdi. Şâ'ir, zarîf, halûk, ma'ârif-âşinâ, san'atında mâhir, hoş-sohbet idi. Mahdûmları el-Hâc Sâlih, Hasan, Hüseyin Efendilerdir. Evlâdından hayli a'yân u ulemâ ve meşâyih türedi. El-yevm sülâlesi vardır. "Sâ'atçizâdeler" diye meşhûrdur.

Paraphrased: The son of Hasan of the Ahî Receb quarter, he was an Amasya man. After some schooling he became a clockmaker and gained considerable fame. He was son-in-law to Hacı Bayramzâde Sâlih Çelebi, a descendant of Ahî Receb, and since he knew astronomy and the measurement of altitudes he became timekeeper of the Sultâniyye Mosque and imam of the Ahî Receb Mosque. Being familiar with literature, he exchanged verses and conversation with poets and men of letters and won a place of his own in the gatherings of scholars and writers. He died around 1095. He was a poet, elegant, good-natured, at home in learning, a master of his craft and fine company. His sons were Hacı Sâlih, Hasan and Hüseyin Efendi. Many notables, scholars and sheikhs sprang from his descendants. His lineage survives today and is known as the "Sâ'atçizâdes".

Clockmaker and Timekeeper

Two distinct skills stand side by side in the entry. Clockmaking was a craft concerned with building and repairing mechanical clocks; Hüsameddin's "gained considerable fame" shows that Sâ'î was a recognised master of it in the city. The office of muvakkit, or timekeeper, meant fixing the hours of prayer by measuring the height of the sun and the stars, and the word "irtifâ'" in the entry describes exactly that measurement. That a man versed in both clocks and the measurement of the heavens should be put in charge of the time-reckoning of a great mosque needs no explaining. Since Hüsameddin also uses the name "Sultâniyye" for the complex of Bayezid II, the building meant here is most probably the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, though this is not stated in so many words.

The pen name Sâ'î means "one who strives, who labours" in Arabic. Its closeness in sound to "sâ'at", the word that gave the poet's trade its name, is evident at first glance. Taken together with his grandson Mustafa's choice of the pen name "Sâtı'", it is tempting to think the family kept up this echo on purpose, but the source is silent on the matter.

His Gatherings and Friends

Hüsameddin writes that Sâ'î engaged in "müşâ'are" with poets, that is, in exchanging verses, but he does not name the members of these gatherings. The only friend known by name is Sâni'î Mehmed Efendi, timekeeper of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque and master of astronomy; in his entry Hüsameddin counts Sâni'î among "the intimate friends of Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi". Sâni'î died in 1107 (1695-96). The two men shared a profession, the same reckoning of the skies and the same poetic circle; which of them became timekeeper first is unknown.

Sâ'î's father-in-law, Hacı Bayramzâde Sâlih Çelebi, belonged to one of the old families of Amasya. In his first volume Hüsameddin lists the Bayramzâdes among the branches of the "Receb lineage", which produced two Şeyhülislams, Zekeriyyâ and Yahyâ Efendi; Rızâî Ali Efendi, chief judge of Cairo, also came from this family. That a craftsman of the Ahî Receb quarter married into it says something about the standing the clockmaker had won in the town.

The Sâ'atçizâdes

Hüsameddin's remark that "many notables, scholars and sheikhs sprang from his descendants" is borne out by the two entries that come just before Sâ'î's in the tenth volume. His grandson Sâtı' Mustafa Efendi, a son of Hasan, qualified as a professor through the examination in Istanbul, rose to the altmışlı grade, was also remembered as a poet, and died in 1172 (1758-59). Sâ'atî Mehmed Efendi, a grandson of his son Sâlih, joined the Şa'bânî order and received authority as a sheikh, turned the men's quarters of his house in the Ahî Receb quarter into a hall for the dhikr, and died around 1190 (1776-77) as preacher of the Ahî Receb Mosque. The family's third path was town government: Sâtı's nephew Hacı Sâlih Efendi served several terms as city steward from 1194 (1780). These records also show that, whatever the generation, the family never strayed far from the prayer niche and the pulpit of the Ahî Receb Mosque.

Poetry

No poem of Sâ'î Mehmed Çelebi's is known to survive. His presence at the poetic gatherings is the liveliest part of the entry, yet none of the couplets he spoke there made its way into it. His name does appear in Metin Hakverdioğlu's list of the poets Hüsameddin records. Abdî Efendi's lost tezkire, which collected the poets of the years 1000-1081 (1591-1671), may have covered Sâ'î's mature years; whether Hüsameddin drew his information from it is uncertain.

Chronology

Around 1095 (1683-84): Sâ'î Mehmed Çelebi dies.

1107 (1695-96): His friend Sâni'î Mehmed Efendi dies.

End of 1136 (1724): His son Hâfız Hasan Efendi, imam of the Receb quarter, dies.

1172 (1758-59): His grandson Sâtı' Mustafa Efendi dies.

Around 1190 (1776-77): His great-grandson Sâ'atî Mehmed Efendi dies.

1194 (1780): His great-grandson Hacı Sâlih Efendi becomes city steward.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources