"Herkesi medh u senâ eder, kimseyi zemm etmez": with these words Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar describes Senâyî İbrâhim Efendi as a man who praised everyone, spoke ill of no one and looked kindly on all things. İbrâhim Efendi was the son of Mahmûd Dede, son-in-law of Şeyh Ârif Mehmed Dede, who had the Amasya Mevlevî lodge (Mevlevîhâne) rebuilt in the seventeenth century; he worked in the lodge as preacher and teacher of the Mesnevî, was appointed trustee of its endowment in 1112 (1700-01), and died a year later, in 1113 (1701-02). In the city he was known as "Çelebi Dede". Of the verse of this man who praised everyone, not a single couplet found its way into the records.

His Life

The entry Senâyî İbrâhim Efendi-Dedezâde in the eighth volume gives its last sentences to the man's character:

Amasyalıdır. Amasya mevlevî-hânesi şeyhi Ârif Mehmed Dede Efendi'nin dâmâdı eş-Şeyh Mahmûd Dede'nin mahdûmudur. Allâme Hızır Efendi'den tahsîl-i ulûm edib bir müddet ders okuttu. Sonra mevlevî-hânede vâ'iz, müzekkir olup mesnevî tedrîsâtıyla iştigâl etdi. 1112'de Mevlevî şeyhi Alâaddîn Dede Efendi'nin irtihâli üzerine mevlevî-hâne vakfına mütevellî olduğu hâlde 1113'de vefât etdi. Âlim, vâ'iz, şâir idi. Herkesi medh u senâ eder, kimseyi zemm etmez, her nesneyi hoş görürdü. "Çelebi Dede" demekle meşhûr idi.

In English the entry reads: He was from Amasya, the son of Şeyh Mahmûd Dede, son-in-law of Ârif Mehmed Dede Efendi, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge. He studied the sciences under Allâme Hızır Efendi and taught for a while. Then he became preacher and admonisher in the Mevlevî lodge and occupied himself with teaching the Mesnevî. In 1112, on the death of the Mevlevî sheikh Alâaddîn Dede Efendi, he became trustee of the lodge's endowment, and died in that office in 1113. He was a scholar, a preacher and a poet. He praised everyone, spoke ill of no one and looked kindly on all things. He was known as "Çelebi Dede".

His pen name Senâyî derives from the Arabic "senâ", praise. The phrase "medh u senâ eder" (he praised and lauded) that Hüsameddin uses for him ties the man's character to the very word of his pen name; whether this match is a deliberate play on words by Hüsameddin or reflects a pen name chosen to suit the man cannot be known. Two other people bore the same pen name and are easily confused with him: the entry immediately before belongs to Senâyî Mehmed Çelebi, secretary of the council and boon companion of Prince Mustafa (Şehzade Mustafa); a Senâyî Mehmed Efendi of Manisa also appears in the sources.

His Family and Place in the Lodge

İbrâhim Efendi's father Mahmûd Dede is the second of the sheikhs listed in the section on the Mevlevî lodge in Hüsameddin's first volume. He took the sheepskin after his father-in-law Ârif Mehmed Dede, who had the lodge, burned in the bandit raid of 1011 (1602-03), rebuilt in 1047 (1637-38) by the former grand vizier Bayram Paşa and served as its sheikh; after Mahmûd the turn came to Abdülkâdir Dede and Alâeddîn Dede. Alâeddîn Dede was the son of Abdülbâkî Dede, son of Ârif Dede. If İbrâhim Efendi's mother was Ârif Dede's daughter, which the entry does not say explicitly, Alâeddîn Dede was his maternal uncle's son, and the two men were grandsons of Ârif Dede through his daughter and his son respectively. When Alâeddîn died in 1112, the administration of the endowment was given to İbrâhim Efendi and the sheikhship to Bilâl Efendi.

Hüsameddin's entry "Sâbir Ahmed Dede-Mevlevîzâde" in the eleventh volume introduces a brother of İbrâhim Efendi as well: Sâbir Ahmed Dede, son of Mahmûd Dede, sheikh of the Mevlevî lodge, was formed in the service of Şeydâ Ahmed and Kudsî Hasan Dede, became Mesnevî reader, became sheikh of the lodge and trustee of its endowment in 1097 (1685-86), and died in Şevval 1102 (July 1691). Hüsameddin describes him too as "pleasant in conversation, versed in literature, a poet". So two poet brothers came from the same house, both administered the lodge's endowment, and both died in office.

The State of the Sources

The record that agrees best with the entry is the section on the lodge in the first volume: "1112'de bunun vefâtıyla 'İbrâhim Çelebi' mütevellî ve 'eş-Şeyh Bilâl Efendi' şeyh olduğu hâlde 1113'de 'eş-Şeyh Bilâl Efendi' mütevellî dahi olmuşdur" (on his death in 1112 İbrâhim Çelebi became trustee and Şeyh Bilâl Efendi sheikh, and in 1113 Şeyh Bilâl Efendi became trustee as well). The İbrâhim Çelebi named here is clearly Senâyî İbrâhim Efendi, known as "Çelebi Dede", who became trustee in 1112; Bilâl's taking over the trusteeship in 1113 fits with İbrâhim Efendi's death in the same year. The dates of his brother Sâbir Dede's sheikhship, however, clash with another record: according to the entry for Ebû Saîd Ahmed Dede, Ebû Saîd became sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevî lodge in 1096 and was removed in 1099. Sâbir Dede's becoming sheikh in 1097 falls within this span; how the two records can be reconciled is unclear. Sâbir Dede's name does not appear in the first volume's list of sheikhs either.

His Poetry

That he worked in the lodge as a preacher and Mesnevî teacher suggests that Senâyî's poetry too may have been spoken within the Mevlevî tradition of conversation; but this is only a guess, for Hüsameddin is content to list him as "a scholar, a preacher, a poet", quotes no couplet of his and names no divan or poem. The poems of Senâyî İbrâhim Efendi have not come down to us. He is among the poets Metin Hakverdioğlu gathered from Amasya Tarihi, alongside the other names found in its eighth volume. The other poet around the Mevlevî lodge in the same years, from Ârif Dede's other branch, was Sâkıb Osman Efendi.

Chronology

1047 (1637-38): His grandfather Ârif Mehmed Dede has the Mevlevî lodge rebuilt with the help of Bayram Paşa.

1097 (1685-86): His brother Sâbir Ahmed Dede becomes sheikh of the lodge.

Şevval 1102 (July 1691): Sâbir Ahmed Dede dies.

1112 (1700-01): On the death of Alâaddîn Dede he becomes trustee of the lodge's endowment.

1113 (1701-02): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources