Sâtı' Mustafa Efendi was the first madrasa professor in an Amasya family that had made its name in clockmaking. His grandfather Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi was a craftsman and mosque timekeeper, his father Hâfız Hasan Efendi the imam of the Ahî Receb Mosque. Mustafa studied in Istanbul, became a professor by examination, worked his way through the madrasa grades up to the rank called "altmışlı", and died in 1172 (1758-59) as one of the public lecturers entitled to grant teaching licences. Of the epithets Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar gives him, "a scholar, a man of merit, a poet", the last, together with the heading of the entry, shows that he wrote verse under the pen name "Sâtı'"; yet no couplet signed with it is known.

Life

Hüsameddin's entry Sâtı' Mustafa Efendi-Sâ'atcizâde reads:

Amasyalıdır. Ahî Receb Câmii imâmı el-Hâc Hâfız Hasan Efendi bin Sâ'atçi Mehmed Çelebi mahdûmudur. Amasya'da mukaddimât-ı ulûmu Çorumlu Hâfız es-Seyyid Mehmed Efendi'den görüp İstanbul'a gitdi. Orada Amasyalı Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl edib ders-i âm ve bi'l-imtihân müderris oldu. Tedrîs-i ulûm etdiği esnâda medâris-i mu'tâdeyi devr ederek altmışlı râddesine kadar geldi. Mucîz dersi-âmlardan olduğu hâlde 1172'de vefât etdi. Âlim, fâzıl, şâir, kibâr-ı müderrisînden bir zât idi. Mahdûmu el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi Amasya'da ikâmet etdi.

Put plainly: A man of Amasya, he was the son of Hacı Hâfız Hasan Efendi, imam of the Ahî Receb Mosque, and the grandson of Saatçi Mehmed Çelebi. He read the elementary sciences in Amasya with Çorumlu Hâfız Seyyid Mehmed Efendi and then went to Istanbul. There he completed his studies with Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, became a public lecturer and, by examination, a madrasa professor. While teaching he passed in turn through the customary madrasas and rose as far as the altmışlı grade. He died in 1172 as one of the lecturers authorised to grant licences. He was a learned and virtuous man, a poet and one of the senior professors. His son Hacı Mehmed Efendi lived in Amasya.

The Madrasa Career

The terms in the entry trace a scholarly career step by step. To become a professor "bi'l-imtihân" meant passing the examination held in Istanbul to test candidates for professorships. Professors advanced through madrasas named after the daily stipend attached to them; "altmışlı", the sixty-akçe grade, is one of these and stands on the upper part of the road leading to the Sahn madrasas. A "mucîz" was a teacher who could issue licences to his students, in other words who was empowered to train new public lecturers. Hüsameddin is therefore justified in counting him among the "senior professors".

His teachers, too, sketch a map inside the entry. He took his first lessons in Amasya from Çorumlu Hâfız Seyyid Mehmed Efendi and finished his studies in Istanbul with Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi, another native of Amasya. Büyük Hâfız Mehmed Efendi appears in other entries of Hüsameddin as well, as the teacher of Amasya students who went to Istanbul to study; Sâtı' is one of the professors trained in that circle. The entry does not state where he died; the separate remark that his son "lived in Amasya" suggests that the father may have spent most of his life in Istanbul.

The Sâ'atçizâdes

In Hüsameddin's book Sâtı's entry is followed by two more members of the same family: the Şa'bânî sheikh Sâ'atî Mehmed Efendi and the founder of the family, Sâ'î Mehmed Çelebi-Sâ'atçi. The Sâ'î entry records that he was Hasan's son from the Ahî Receb quarter, won renown as a clockmaker, kept the hours at the Sultâniyye Mosque, led the prayers at the Ahî Receb Mosque, and died around 1095 (1683-84); among his sons was a Hasan. Since Sâtı's father is "Hasan Efendi bin Sâ'atçi Mehmed Çelebi", Sâ'î was his grandfather. That the pen names of the clock-making, time-keeping grandfather and of the professor grandson both begin with the sound "Sâ" may have been a choice echoing the family name; Hüsameddin says nothing on the point.

The information on his father Hâfız Hasan Efendi appears in the eighth volume, inside another entry: Sâ'atçizâde Hacı Hâfız Hasan Efendi bin Mehmed Çelebi, imam of the Receb quarter, died at the end of 1136 (1724); he was a member of the council of notables, a man of old family and influence, and his sons were Hacı Mehmed and Mustafa Sâtı' Efendi. Another branch of the family can be followed in the eleventh-volume entry Sâlih Efendi-Saatçizâde Hacı. This Sâlih Efendi, son of Sâtı's brother Hacı Mehmed, served as clerk of municipal revenues and of the poll tax, became city steward several times from 1194 (1780) onward, sat on the councils of the pilgrims and the notables, and died after 1212 (1797-98). The same entry notes that his uncle, another of Sâtı's brothers, Hacı Sâlih Efendi bin Hâfız Hasan Efendi, died in Jumada al-Akhira 1166 (April 1753). The family's place in town government is visible as well in the long list of city stewards of Amasya.

On Sâtı's children Hüsameddin's records do not fully agree. His own entry mentions only a son, Hacı Mehmed Efendi. The eighth volume, however, states that "Sâ'atçizâde es-Seyyid el-Hâc Hasan Efendi bin Mustafa Sâtı' Efendi", a member of the pilgrims' council and one of the town's notables, died at the end of 1226 (1811), leaving sons named Seyyid Mustafa and Mehmed. The two records do not exclude each other; Sâtı' may well have had two sons called Mehmed and Hasan, but Hüsameddin never lists them together.

Poetry

Sâtı' Mustafa Efendi's poems have not been found. His standing as a poet rests on Hüsameddin's epithets alone; the entry contains no sample couplet, nor does it say where the information came from. Metin Hakverdioğlu's survey of the poets in the Amasya Tarihi, arranged by volume, also separates grandfather from grandson: Sâ'î appears among the poets of the tenth volume, Sâtı' does not.

Chronology

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

End of 1136 (1724): His father Hâfız Hasan Efendi dies.

Jumada al-Akhira 1166 (April 1753): His brother Hacı Sâlih Efendi dies.

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

1194 (1780): His nephew Hacı Sâlih Efendi becomes city steward for the first time.

End of 1226 (1811): Seyyid Hacı Hasan Efendi, named as his son, dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources