Sun'î Mehmed Efendi memorised the Qur'an in his youth and became famous for the beauty of his voice. In the first half of the eighteenth century his verse and his music won him a place in the gatherings of Amasya's notables. He came of a family that taught the recitation of the Qur'an: his grandfather Sun'ullah Efendi was the first head of the Şeyh Mehmed Ağa school of Qur'anic recitation (dârülkurrâ) in Amasya, and his father Hâfız Hasan Efendi seems to have headed the same institution. By attending the gatherings of Rahtuvan Paşazâde İbrâhim Bey and Ömer Paşazâde Osmân Bey he rose in standing, and at the end of his life, while imam of the Hayreddîn Efendi mosque in the Mehmed Paşa quarter, he died in 1147 (1734-35). His pen name recalls the name Sun'ullah carried by the family. No example of his poetry survives.

What Hüsameddin Tells Us

Sun'î Mehmed Efendi-Sun'ullahzâde. Amasya'da Şeyh Mehmed Ağa Dârülkurrâsı Şeyhi Sun'ullah Efendizâde Hâfız Hasan Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Gençliğinde hıfz-ı Kur'ân ve tahsîl-i irfân ederek sesinin güzelliği ile iştihâr etdi. Şiir ve inşâya heveskâr, mûsikîye âşinâ olduğundan Rahtuvân Paşazâde İbrâhim ve Ömer Paşazâde Osmân Beylerin meclislerine mülâzım olarak ikbâle erdi. Ba'dehû Mehmed Paşa Mahallesi'nde Hayreddîn Efendi Mescidi imâmı olduğu halde 1147'de vefât etdi. Vücûh-i Kur'ân'a âşinâ, şâir, edîb idi.

In today's words: He was the child of Hâfız Hasan Efendi, son of Sun'ullah Efendi, head of the Şeyh Mehmed Ağa school of recitation in Amasya. In his youth he memorised the Qur'an and acquired learning, and became famous for the beauty of his voice. Being eager for poetry and prose and versed in music, he attended the gatherings of İbrâhim Bey, son of Rahtuvan Paşa, and Osmân Bey, son of Ömer Paşa, and so rose in fortune. Later, while imam of the Hayreddîn Efendi mosque in the Mehmed Paşa quarter, he died in 1147. He knew the various readings of the Qur'an and was a poet and man of letters.

A Family of Reciters

The family's story begins with the grandfather. According to Hüsameddin, Sun'ullah Efendi son of Hasan, a native of Amasya, memorised the Qur'an and then went to Istanbul, where he learned the science of the readings from Evliyâ Mehmed Efendi of Amasya, imam to the sultan; on his return he became well known for teaching recitation to hâfızes and Arabic literature to students. Hacı Efendizâde Şeyh Mehmed Ağa, one of the notables, built a dârülkurrâ for him in the lane behind the Mustafa Bey Bath, south of the Mehmed Paşa Mosque, and had him appointed its head. In Hüsameddin's list of the recitation schools the building is dated 1073 (1662-63). Sun'ullah Efendi died in 1081 (1670-71); the same list names "the famous master of recitation Hasan Efendi" among the institution's heads. This Hasan Efendi must be Sun'î's father.

Hüsameddin's records do not agree fully on the order of the heads: one entry says that Hâbilzâde Ehlullah Efendi became head of this school in 1087 on the death of "his master Şeyh Sun'ullâh Efendi", whereas Sun'ullah Efendi's own entry places his death in 1081. Nor is Hasan Efendi's tenure dated anywhere. That Sun'î is described as "vücûh-ı Kur'ân'a âşinâ", familiar with the different ways of reading the Qur'an, follows naturally from his upbringing in this family.

The family had another poet. Hüsameddin describes Sâni'î Mehmed Efendi as the son of Hâfız Sun'ullah Efendi, head of the Şeyh Mehmed Ağa school: a scholar and poet who taught in madrasas, became known as timekeeper of the Sultan Bayezid Mosque, worked on astronomy and died in 1107 (1695-96). If this head of the school was Sun'î's grandfather, Sâni'î must have been his uncle, though Hüsameddin never states the kinship outright. With names and pen names so alike, the two Mehmeds are easily confused. A generation separates them: Sâni'î reckoned the hours of prayer as a timekeeper, while Sun'î was a hâfız whose voice was heard in the notables' mansions.

In the Mansions of the Notables

What carried Sun'î from the circle of a recitation school into the literary life of the city was his voice and his knowledge of music. The two gatherings he frequented belonged to the two foremost notable families of Amasya in the first quarter of the eighteenth century. İlmî İbrâhim Bey was the son of Rahtuvan Hacı Mehmed Paşa; Hüsameddin writes that once a week he gathered the scholars and poets of the city at his house for conversation and gave presents to those who distinguished themselves in speech. Osmân Bey was the son of the vizier Ömer Paşa, a former governor of Anatolia; his mansion beside the Alaca Bath was "most magnificent" and his household "fit for a vizier". In Muharrem 1131 (November 1718) İbrâhim Bey was chosen chief notable while Osmân Bey remained deputy governor. During the inspections that followed, in 1134 (1722), Osmân Bey took offence at the notables, broke up his household and left for Egypt.

These dates roughly fix Sun'î's years in the gatherings: to attend the meetings at Osmân Bey's mansion he must have been there before 1134. Hüsameddin's phrase "ikbâle erdi", he rose in fortune, suggests that these gatherings brought him material support as well as fame; what kind of patronage it was is not stated.

The Hayreddîn Efendi Mosque

Sun'î's last post was a small mosque (mescit) in the Mehmetpaşa neighbourhood. Hüsameddin records that it was built in 987 (1579-80) by Hayreddîn Efendi, one of the judges. In the same quarter, behind the Mustafa Bey Bath, stood the recitation school his grandfather and father had headed; Sun'î ended his life in the same neighbourhood as his family's institution.

Other Men of Amasya with the Same Pen Name

The pen name Sun'î did not belong to this hâfız alone in Amasya. Hüsameddin writes that Pîr Mehmed Çelebi, grandson of Pîr Sun'ullâh-ı Halvetî, sheikh of the tanners, who lived two centuries earlier, also signed his poems "Sun'î"; this poet, a professor and judge, died after 915 (1509-10). Another bearer of the name is Sun'ullah Sun'î Efendi, son of the Amasya mufti Hâbilzâde Mehmed Efendi: a calligrapher who went from serving as divan secretary to Ömer Paşa, governor of Egypt, to the headship of a Celvetî lodge, and died in Bursa in 1095 (1683-84). Both names seem to have circulated in families as a shortened form of the name Sun'ullah. The hâfız of the reciters' family outlived both namesakes, dying in 1147.

His Poetry

Sun'î's poems have not been found. The entry's "a poet and man of letters" is not backed by any example. His gift for music raises the thought that some of his poems may have been set to music and sung in the gatherings; this is no more than a possibility.

Bibliography

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