A teacher at the Torumtay Madrasa and later judge of Mecidözü, Şâkir Abdullah Efendi ended his life as a judge in provincial towns; he was an İnepazarlızâde who lived in the first half of the nineteenth century. Of this scholar from one of Amasya's learned families Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar says "âlim, şâir, edîb, kâmil bir zât", a learned man, a poet, a man of letters, accomplished. Even his death in 1248 (1832-33) the author could learn only from a written record. Though remembered as a poet, he has left no verse that anyone knows.

Hüsameddin's Entry

Hüsameddin set the entry Şâkir Abdullah Efendi-İnepazarlızâde in the eleventh volume of his work, between two other men who used the same pen name, Şâkir Süleyman Bey and Şâkir Mehmed Efendi. The text runs:

Amasyalıdır. İnepazarlızâde el-Hâc Ömer Efendi bin Ahmed bin Resûl'ün mahdûmudur. Amasya ulemâsından Sarı Ahmedzâde Müftî el-Hâc Mehmed, Âkifzâde es-Seyyid Abdürrahîm Efendilerden ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm oldu. Yıllarca tedrîs-i ulûm edib 1237'de Torumtay müderrisi, ba'dehû Mecidözü kadısı oldu. Sonra diğer kasabâta kadı olduysa da 1248'de vefât etdiği kayden anlaşıldı. Mahdûmu Abdullah Efendi Torumtay müderrisliğine kanâat ederek vaaz ve tedrîs ile meşgûl olduğu halde 1266'da vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, edîb, kâmil bir zât idi.

Its meaning in today's words: a man of Amasya, he was born to İnepazarlızâde Hacı Ömer Efendi, whose father was Ahmed, whose father was Resûl. He completed his studies with two scholars of Amasya, Sarı Ahmedzâde Hacı Mehmed Efendi the mufti and Âkifzâde Seyyid Abdürrahîm Efendi, and became a ders-i âm, a teacher licensed to give public lessons in a mosque. After teaching for years he became teacher of the Torumtay Madrasa in 1237 (1821-22) and then judge of Mecidözü. He later served as judge in other towns as well; that he died in 1248 (1832-33) was learned from a record. His son Abdullah Efendi contented himself with the Torumtay post, occupied himself with preaching and teaching, and died in 1266 (1849-50). He was a learned man, a poet, a man of letters, accomplished.

The last sentence of the entry returns to the father after the son's death; that the praise "learned, poet, man of letters, accomplished" belongs to Şâkir Abdullah Efendi is also clear from the son's separate entry, which calls him only "learned, a preacher".

Life

Both of Şâkir's teachers were scholars of Amasya itself, so he seems to have received his whole education in the town; when he was born we do not know. After years of teaching as a ders-i âm, he became teacher of the Torumtay Madrasa in 1237. Having held this post for some time, he moved into the judiciary and went as judge to Mecidözü, today in the province of Çorum. Hüsameddin writes that he afterwards served as judge in "other towns", that is, in other small towns, but does not name them.

The note that his date of death "was learned from a record" shows that Hüsameddin took it from a register of appointments or a court record. The date has a second witness: according to his son's entry, Abdullah Efendi was given the Torumtay post in 1248, when it fell vacant on his father's death. From this it appears that Şâkir kept the Torumtay teaching post even after entering the judiciary, and that at his death it passed to his son; the entry does not say so outright.

Family

The İnepazarlızâde were one of the scholarly families of nineteenth-century Amasya. Şâkir Abdullah Efendi's son Abdullah Efendi completed his studies with Canikli Hacı Mehmed Efendi and preached and taught in the Torumtay post inherited from his father until his death in 1266. The best-known member of the family, however, is Hakkı İsmâil Efendi, son of Şâkir's brother Seyyid Hasan Efendi. In Hakkı İsmâil's entry Hüsameddin names "his uncle es-Seyyid Şâkir Abdullah" first in the list of his teachers. Hakkı İsmâil Efendi, first teacher of the Kapancızâde Madrasa, who was sent to Istanbul over the pious endowment revenues of the sanjak of Amasya, was also a poet; he is said to have left poems in Turkish and Arabic, but they have not been found.

The two entries give the family's lineage with a small difference. In Şâkir's entry his father appears as "Ömer Efendi bin Ahmed bin Resûl"; in Hakkı İsmâil Efendi's entry Hasan Efendi is called the son of "el-Hâc Ömer bin Resûl", and the Ahmed in between is left out. The second entry also adds the title "es-Seyyid" before Şâkir's name.

Poetry

Şâkir Abdullah Efendi's poems have not been traced. His own entry was given no sample couplet. The words Hüsameddin uses of the nephew's poems, that they "could not be found at all", suggest that the author searched the family's papers in person and found nothing left. Şâkir Süleyman Bey and Şâkir Mehmed Efendi, who flank him in the book, show that the pen name had more than one owner in Amasya among lords and scholars alike; a poem signed "Şâkir" could be tied to him only by new evidence.

Chronology

1237 (1821-22): He becomes teacher of the Torumtay Madrasa, then judge of Mecidözü.

1244 (1828-29): His brother Seyyid Hasan Efendi dies.

1248 (1832-33): Şâkir Abdullah Efendi dies; the Torumtay post passes to his son Abdullah Efendi.

1266 (1849-50): His son Abdullah Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources