In the Dursunzâde family, where his grandfather and his father had both been muftis of Amasya, Sâ'ib Ali Efendi took another road: while a madrasa teacher he gave up the madrasa and turned to the career of deputy judge and judge. He was a poet who wrote a fine ta'lik hand, and a pupil of the famous exegete Hızır Efendi. He died some time after 1094 (1683). Hüsameddin counts him "among the well-known scholars, accomplished, a poet", yet nothing of his verse has come down to us.

Life

In the eleventh volume, the first entry of the sixteenth section of Amasya Tarihi, devoted to names beginning with the letter "sâd", belongs to him:

Esbak Amasya müftüsü Mustafa Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi bin Dursun Efendi'nin oğludur. Üstâd-ı meşhûr müfessir Hızır Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm ve ba'dehû müderris oldu. Ba'dehû tahvîl-i meslek ederek nâib ve kadı olup 1094 sâlinden sonra vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan kâmil, şâir, tâ'lîk nüvîs bir zât idi.

In modern terms: The former mufti of Amasya, Mustafa Efendi, son of Mehmed Efendi and grandson of Dursun Efendi, was his father. Under the famous master, the exegete Hızır Efendi, he brought his studies to completion, obtained a teaching licence and later became a madrasa teacher. Afterwards he changed his calling, became a deputy judge and judge, and died after the year 1094. He was one of the well-known scholars, accomplished, a poet and a writer of ta'lik.

The entry sets out in a few steps the usual path of a son of a learned family: a licence from his teacher, teaching as a ders-i âm, a madrasa post. The phrase "tahvîl-i meslek", change of calling, is the turning point. A scholar who moved from madrasa teaching to the deputy judgeship had left the road that led up through the great madrasas to the mufti's office and turned to judicial work in the small towns. Hüsameddin does not give the reason for this decision.

The Dursunzâde Family

The founder of the family, Dursun Efendi, was a son of Abdullah Ağa of Çankırı. He came to Amasya in his youth, studied with Müfessir Ahmed Efendi and Fâzıl Cuma Efendi, taught at the Atabeg, Halfet and Hızır Pasha madrasas, and died in 993 (1585) as teacher at the Hüseyin Ağa madrasa, known as "Büyük Ağa". Hüsameddin writes that he saw in the Amasya court registers that Dursun Efendi came from Çankırı; in the annals, however, he mentions a "Dursun Efendi of Taşköprü" who died in the same year and names his sons as Abdullah, Abdülbâkî and Mehmed. The two notices seem to describe the same man, with his home town given differently.

Dursun Efendi's son Mehmed Efendi, Sâ'ib Ali's grandfather, became mufti of Amasya in 1024 (1615) while teaching at the Büyük Ağa madrasa; after being dismissed and reinstated several times he moved on in Zilhicce 1032 (October 1623) to the judgeship of Konya. His father Mustafa Efendi held the mufti's office of Amasya again and again in the mid-seventeenth century. He became mufti in Ramadan 1045 (February 1636) in place of Şeyh Ya'kûbzâde Hacı Mustafa Efendi, returned to office at the beginning of 1049 (1639), and came back once more in 1056 (1646) on his rival's death. In 1058 he was denounced because of the gossip about him and dismissed, and his son's teacher Hızır Efendi was appointed in his place; in the following years the two exchanged the office several times. That Sâ'ib Ali was trained in the circle of the exegete who was his father's rival shows how closely the learned world was interwoven despite these quarrels.

Pîr Mehmed Efendi-Dursunzâde, whose life Hüsameddin gives in the seventh volume, introduces his father in the same words, "the mufti of Amasya el-Hâc Mustafa Efendi bin Mehmed Efendi bin Dursun Efendi". Since the chain of descent is identical, Pîr Mehmed must have been Sâ'ib Ali's brother; Hüsameddin does not state the relationship outright. Pîr Mehmed became mufti of Amasya in 1091 (1680) and in 1098 (1687), withdrew from the office during the great disturbance of 1099, and died in Şevval 1107 (May 1696). The family thus produced muftis for three generations, while Sâ'ib Ali stepped out of the line.

His Teacher

Hızır Efendi the exegete (1006-1084 / 1597-1674) was one of the most famous scholars of seventeenth-century Amasya. He was mufti four times, his lessons in Qur'anic exegesis at the Sultan Bayezid Mosque drew large audiences, and he wrote works on exegesis, legal theory, rhetoric and the law of inheritance. Hüsameddin says that many judges, madrasa teachers and muftis came out of his school. The poet Şeyhî Mehmed Efendi of the Şeyh Ya'kûbzâde family also came out of this circle; he was Hızır Efendi's brother-in-law and for a short while mufti of Amasya.

Poetry and Calligraphy

None of Sâ'ib Ali Efendi's poems has been found. Hüsameddin describes him as a poet and a scholar who wrote ta'lik, but shows no couplet, no work and no specimen of his hand. Ta'lik is a slanting script of Persian origin, used in the Ottoman world for chancery correspondence, court registers and poetry anthologies; a judge's being counted a master of it is a skill that also suits his profession. The pen name "Sâ'ib" means "one who hits the mark, who speaks rightly".

The entry that follows directly in Hüsameddin's section belongs to another Amasya man also named Sâ'ib, Fazlızâde Sâ'ib Mehmed Efendi; he was a judge who died around 1246 (1830-31) and is to be kept apart from Dursunzâde.

Chronology

993 (1585): His great-grandfather Dursun Efendi dies.

1024 (1615): His grandfather Mehmed Efendi becomes mufti of Amasya.

1045 (1636): His father Mustafa Efendi becomes mufti of Amasya for the first time.

1058 (1648): His father is removed from office and replaced by his teacher Hızır Efendi.

1084 (1674): His teacher Hızır Efendi dies.

After 1094 (1683): Sâ'ib Ali Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources