Fixing the times of prayer in Amasya by observing the sky was a specialist's craft, and at the end of the seventeenth century its master in the city was Sâni'î Mehmed Efendi. Though a scholar who had taught in the madrasas, he won his real reputation as the muvakkit, the timekeeper, of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. He studied books on astronomy and taught Harîrî's Maqāmāt; Hüsameddin describes him as a man known in Amasya as a "master of astronomy". This timekeeper, who died in 1107 (1695-96), is also named in the source among the poets.

Life

In the lines Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar gives him in Amasya Tarihi, his knowledge of the heavens outweighs his teaching:

Amasya'da Şeyh Mehmed Ağa Dârülkurrâ'sı şeyhi Hâfız Sun'ullah Efendi'nin oğludur. Müfessir Hızır, Uzun Müderris Mehmed Efendilerden ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm ve müteaddid medreselerde müderris oldu. Ancak ilm-i nücûmda mahâreti, ulûm-ı edebiyyede ihtisâsı olduğundan Sultân Bâyezîd Câmii muvakkiti olarak iştihâr etdi. "Makâmât-ı Harîri" okutur, hey'et ve nücûma dâir kitâpları tetkîk ederdi. Saatçı Mehmed Çelebi ehibbâsından idi. 1107'de vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, nâdire-dân ulûm-i garîbe'ye vâkıf, târih ve muhâzarâta âşinâ idi. Amasya'da ilm-i hey'et üstâdı tanınırdı.

Rendered into English: He was the son of Hâfız Sun'ullah Efendi, sheikh of the Şeyh Mehmed Ağa school of Qur'an recitation (darülkurra) in Amasya. He completed his studies with the Qur'an commentator Hızır Efendi and with Uzun Müderris Mehmed Efendi, became a ders-i âm, a teacher giving public lessons in the mosque, and taught in several madrasas. Because of his skill in the science of the stars and his expertise in the literary sciences, however, he became best known as timekeeper of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque. He taught Harîrî's Maqāmāt and examined books on astronomy and the stars. He was one of the close friends of Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi. He died in 1107. He was learned, a poet, a connoisseur of witty sayings, versed in the occult sciences, and familiar with history and the lore of conversation. In Amasya he was known as a master of astronomy.

The muvakkit was the official in a great mosque who determined prayer times, the calendar and the direction of Mecca by measuring the height of the sun and stars; a good timekeeper needed instruments as much as arithmetic and knowledge of the heavens. The Maqāmāt that Sâni'î taught is one of the most demanding works of Arabic prose: its tales, woven of wordplay, were read at the upper stage of instruction in language and rhetoric in the madrasa. Hüsameddin is therefore right to mention him in connection with both "the science of the stars" and "the literary sciences". The phrase "ulûm-ı garîbe" was the general name for fields such as cifr and vefk, which dealt with the hidden meanings of letters and numbers.

Family

His father, Hâfız Sun'ullah Efendi, ranks among the important names in Amasya's tradition of Qur'an recitation. Hüsameddin's separate entry gives his father as Hasan of Amasya; after memorising the Qur'an he went to Istanbul and learned the readings and their variants (vücûh) from the palace imam Evliyâ Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, and on his return became well known for teaching recitation to memorisers and Arabic literature to students. Hacı Efendizâde Şeyh Mehmed Ağa built a darülkurra for him near the Mustafa Bey Bath and had him appointed its sheikh. Formerly imam of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque and sheikh of its soup kitchen, Sun'ullah Efendi died in 1081 (1670-71). Hüsameddin writes that the Istanbul manner of reciting the Qur'an came to Amasya through him.

The same entry names only one son of Sun'ullah Efendi, Hâfız Hasan Efendi. Hasan Efendi's son Sun'î Mehmed Efendi was also a poet: known for his fine voice, drawn to poetry, epistolary prose and music, he attended the gatherings of Rahtuvân Paşazâde İbrâhim Bey and Ömer Paşazâde Osman Bey, and died in 1147 (1734-35) while imam of the Hayreddîn Efendi Mosque in the Mehmed Paşa quarter. Sâni'î would then have been Sun'î's uncle; the source does not link the two entries, and the kinship is inferred from the family names. Both pen names were probably formed from the root "sun'" (creation, art) in the family name Sun'ullah. The dates of death separate uncle and nephew, whose names are so close: Sâni'î died in 1107, Sun'î in 1147.

Friendship with Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi

Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi, whom Hüsameddin counts among Sâni'î's "ehibbâ", his intimate friends, came from the Ahî Receb quarter, where his father Hasan lived. He made a name as a clockmaker and, being skilled in the science of the stars and the measurement of altitudes, became timekeeper of the Sultâniyye Mosque and imam of the Ahî Receb Mosque. This refined man, who exchanged verses with poets and had a place in the gatherings of scholars and men of letters, died around 1095 (1683-84). Since Hüsameddin also uses the name "Sultâniyye" for the madrasa of the Bayezid II complex, the likeliest reading is that the Sultâniyye Mosque is the Sultan Bayezid Mosque; if so, the two friends kept the time for the same mosque, and this was the ground of their closeness. Whether Sâni'î took over the post from Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi or the two worked side by side for a time is not known.

Poetry

No poem of Sâni'î's has been located. What Hüsameddin based his calling him a poet on is also unclear, since the entry names neither a couplet nor a tezkire. The name of a man of Amasya who died in 1107 falls at the far edge of the tezkire of Abdî Efendi, which collected the poets who flourished between 1000 and 1081 (1591-1671); because that tezkire was burned, it cannot be known whether Sâni'î was included. A lost tezkire cannot resolve the doubt. His name nonetheless appears in the list of Metin Hakverdioğlu, who compiled the poets' biographies given by Hüsameddin.

Chronology

1081 (1670-71): His father Hâfız Sun'ullah Efendi dies.

Around 1095 (1683-84): His friend Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi dies.

1107 (1695-96): Sâni'î Mehmed Efendi dies in Amasya.

1147 (1734-35): Sun'î Mehmed Efendi, apparently his nephew, dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources