Of Sârim Mustafa Efendi's divan a single ghazal remains, and the anthologist who preserved it set a harsh verdict beside it. Known as "Sarı Müderris", the fair-haired teacher, this Amasya scholar belonged to a family that had held the teaching chair of the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa for generations, and he was the fourth generation to fill it; in 1232 (1816-17) he took over the chair inherited from his father, and he died in Shaban 1259 (August-September 1843). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar calls him "edebiyât-ı Arabiyye ve Fârisiyye'de mâhir, edîb, şâir, sâhib-i divân", master of Arabic and Persian letters, man of letters, poet and author of a divan, and says that he could not find the divan. The only example of his verse to reach us is a five-couplet ghazal in the Hâtimetü'l-Eş'âr of Fatîn Dâvud, regarded as the last of the classical Ottoman biographical anthologies of poets. Fatîn credits its author with learning in Arabic and Persian, but finds his poetic path a strange one.

The Entry in Amasya Tarihi

Hüsameddin's entry Sârim Mustafa Efendi-Sarı Müderris gives the family, the teachers and the source together:

Amasyalıdır. Ya'kûb Paşa müderrisi "Uzun Müderris" demekle meşhûr ve tercemesi yukarıda yazılan Müezzinzâde Hacı Süleyman Efendi ahfâdından Hâfız es-Seyyid Abdullah Efendi bin Hâfız es-Seyyid Mustafa Efendi bin Hacı Süleyman Efendi'nin oğludur. Meşâhîr-i fuzalâdan Şeyhzâde Abdullah Vecîh ve Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Kıyasî Efendilerden ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm ve 1232'de mevrûs-ı peder Ya'kûb Paşa müderrisi oldu. İki defa icâzet vermeye muvaffak olup 1259 senesi şâbânında vefât etdi. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan fâzıl, edebiyât-ı Arabiyye ve Fârisiyye'de mâhir, edîb, şâir, sâhib-i divân bir zât idi. Fatîn Efendi "Tezkîresi"nde muhtasar tercemesi yazılıdır. Evlâd ve ahfâdı varsa da "Divân"ı bulunmadı.

In simplified form: a native of Amasya, descended through his father Hâfız Seyyid Abdullah Efendi from Müezzinzâde Hacı Süleyman Efendi, teacher at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa, known as "Uzun Müderris" (the tall teacher), whose life has been written above; Abdullah Efendi was the son of Hâfız Seyyid Mustafa Efendi, and he of Hacı Süleyman Efendi. He completed his studies with the noted scholars Şeyhzâde Abdullah Vecîh and Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Kıyâsî Efendi, became a ders-i âm, and in 1232 succeeded to the Ya'kûb Paşa chair inherited from his father. He was able to grant licences twice and died in the month of Shaban 1259. One of the noted scholars, virtuous, a master of Arabic and Persian literature, a man of letters, a poet and author of a divan. Fatîn Efendi's tezkire contains a short biography of him. Although he had children and grandchildren, his divan was not found.

The Teachers of the Ya'kûb Paşa Madrasa

The story of Sârim's family can be pieced together from entries scattered through the later parts of Hüsameddin's history. The great-grandfather who gave the family its name, Hacı Süleyman Efendi, was the son of Mustafa, muezzin of the Ya'kûb Paşa Mosque, and was therefore called "Müezzinzâde". He was trained in the circle of Iydîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi, became teacher at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa in 1183 (1769-70), devoted the end of his life to teaching Qur'anic exegesis and hadith, and died on 7 Shaban 1192 (31 August 1778) at the age of eighty. Hüsameddin refers to him by the nickname "Uzun Müderris" and with the title "şeyhü'l-ulemâ", elder of the scholars. On his death the chair was divided in halves between his sons Hâfız Mustafa and Abdullah.

When Sârim's grandfather Hâfız Seyyid Mustafa Efendi died in 1208 (1793-94), his share passed to his three sons, Abdullah, Mehmed and Hasan. Sârim's father Abdullah Efendi had been trained in the circle of Ürgüplü Hacı Ahmed Efendi, taught for years at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa after 1208, and died in 1232. Sârim then took over his father's chair. His uncle Hasan Efendi was also a teacher at the same madrasa and died around 1236 (1820-21). Sârim had completed his studies with two of the well-known teachers of Amasya in those years, Şeyhzâde Abdullah Vecîh Efendi and Payaslı Hacı Mehmed Kıyâsî Efendi. During his tenure he held a licensing ceremony twice. This means that he granted a group of students he had trained the right to teach. He died in Shaban 1259.

His Record in Fatîn's Tezkire

Fatîn Dâvud completed the Hâtimetü'l-Eş'âr in 1269 (1853) and had it printed in 1271 (1855); it gathers the poets from 1134 (1721-22), where Sâlim's tezkire had stopped, down to Fatîn's own day. Fatîn gives each poet first a poem, then a short biography. Sârim's record likewise opens with a ghazal and continues with these sentences:

Nâzım-ı mûmâ-ileyh Mustafa Sârım Efendi cânib-i Anadolu'da vâki medîne-i Amasya'da kadem-nihâde-i sâha-i vücûd olup medîne-i mezkûrede hâfız-ı ketebelik hizmetinde bulunduğu hâlde bin iki yüz elli dokuz târîhlerinde dâr-ı bekâya intikâl eylemiştir. Mûmâ-ileyhin bâlâda muharrer gazeline nisbetle Arabî ve Fârisiye dâir fünûn u kavâ'idde oldukça ma'lûmât u behresi olduğu zâhir u nümâyân ise de şi'rce kendiye mahsus olan vâdiy-i garîbeye pûyân olduğundan eş'âr-ı mevcûdesi çendan istihsâna şâyân-ı makûleden olmadığı müstağni-i ta'rîf u beyândır.

Translated: the poet in question, Mustafa Sârım Efendi, was born in the city of Amasya on the Anatolian side, and passed to the next world around the year 1259 while serving in that city as "hâfız-ı ketebe". Judging by the ghazal written above, it is plain that he had considerable knowledge and share in the arts and rules of Arabic and Persian; but because in poetry he ran down a strange valley of his own, it hardly needs saying that his surviving poems are not of the kind that deserves much admiration.

Fatîn's verdict makes sense when read alongside the ghazal itself. Sârim's couplets contain a body wasted by weakness into a reed pen, a picture drawn with a single hair for a brush, two Qur'anic verses written on the silver finial of a green banner in place of the beloved's eyebrows, two Indians swimming in a sea of quicksilver in place of the moles on her forehead, and a sky pictured as a juggler who hides the moon and the sun in the cups of night and day. The "strange valley" Fatîn speaks of is most probably these unusual comparisons. This ghazal is the only document that still lets us hear Sârim's distinctive voice.

The State of the Sources

Fatîn and Hüsameddin describe the same man: both give the name Mustafa, the pen name Sârim, Amasya and the year 1259, and Hüsameddin refers explicitly to Fatîn's tezkire. They differ, however, on his occupation. Hüsameddin presents Sârim as teacher at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa. Fatîn, as the edition reads him, says that he served in Amasya as "hâfız-ı ketebe". This is not a familiar title. The word in the Arabic-script text could also be read "kütüb", which would give "hâfız-ı kütüb", keeper of a library; but this is a suggested reading, and the edition does not have it. It is also possible that besides his teaching post he served as librarian of an endowed library. Fatîn, writing far from Amasya, may also have heard this detail wrongly.

A second confusion concerns the nickname "Sarı Müderris". In the tenth, eleventh and twelfth volumes Hüsameddin gives it to Sârim Mustafa Efendi. In the entry Hasan Efendi-Sarı Müderriszâde, however, the man known as "Sarı Müderris" is Sârim's grandfather Hâfız Mustafa Efendi; Hasan Efendi is that Mustafa Efendi's son, and therefore Sârim's uncle. Since grandfather and grandson bore the same name, the nickname may have been transferred by mistake from one to the other. It is also conceivable that the family was called "Sarı Müderris" in both generations. Most of Hüsameddin's own entries give the nickname to the grandson.

Third, there was another poet named Sârim Mustafa in Amasya in the same period. Sârim Mustafa Efendi of the Emîr İmâmzâde family, who in 1213 (1798-99) took over the keepership of the Emîr İmâm library together with his brothers Hükmî Mehmed Efendi and Tâhir Abdullah Efendi, was, according to Hüsameddin, a poet who exchanged verses with his brothers. The entry on Sârim Mehmed Efendi, evidently his son, records that his father Hâfız Seyyid Mustafa Efendi, son of Sa'dullah Efendi, died in Shaban 1226 (August-September 1811). The library service Fatîn mentions calls this family to mind, but the date of death does not fit; Fatîn's Sârım died around 1259. The record in the tezkire therefore belongs to Sârim Mustafa Efendi of the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa, but the two namesakes need to be kept apart in future work.

Poetry

Sârim Mustafa Efendi's divan is lost. Hüsameddin writes that although Sârim had children and grandchildren, he could not find the divan. The only poem left today is the five-couplet ghazal Fatîn places before his biographical note. The ghazal is built on the redif "var" and the rhymes "hâlet, harâret, âyet, sebâhat, hayâlet". The pen name "Sârım" appears in the closing couplet, and the poem ends with the image of the sky as a juggler hiding the moon and the sun.

Chronology

1183 (1769-70): His great-grandfather Hacı Süleyman Efendi becomes teacher at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa.

7 Shaban 1192 (31 August 1778): Hacı Süleyman Efendi dies.

1208 (1793-94): His grandfather Hâfız Mustafa Efendi dies; his share of the chair passes to Sârim's father Abdullah Efendi and his brothers.

1232 (1816-17): His father Abdullah Efendi dies; Sârim Mustafa becomes teacher at the Ya'kûb Paşa madrasa.

Shaban 1259 (August-September 1843): He dies.

1269 (1853): Fatîn Dâvud completes the Hâtimetü'l-Eş'âr, which contains Sârim's ghazal and short biography.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources