Tab'î Ahmed Dede was the zâkirbaşı of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge in the seventeenth century, the dervish who led the hymns sung during the dhikr ceremonies. He learned literature in the service of the lodge's sheikh, Mehmed Ârif Dede, was trained on the Mevlevi path, and died in 1084 (1673-74) as one of the senior figures of the lodge under the sheikhdom of Kudsî Hasan Dede. All that survives of him is a few lines in Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi. Hüsameddin admired his verse, but the poems that reached him were burned; for that reason none of Tab'î's poems have come down to us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

The entry stands in the eighteenth section of volume 11, which gathers names beginning with the letter "tı". The second half of the heading follows Hüsameddin's habit of telling namesakes apart by their occupation and gives the man's post in the lodge: "Tab'î Ahmed Dede-Zâkîrbâşı".

Amasya Mevlevîhânesi şeyhi Mehmed Arif Dede'nin hizmetinde edebiyât öğrendi. Tarîk-i Mevleviyye'den tefeyyüz ederek zikirbaşı olup Hasan Kudsî Dede zamanında Mevlevîhâne rüknü olduğu halde 1084'de vefât etdi. Urefâ-yı Mevleviyye'den, şâir, edîb bir pîr idi. Şiir ve edebi güzeldi. Elde etdiğim eş'ârı yandı.

Translated: He learned literature in the service of Mehmed Ârif Dede, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge. Drawing grace from the Mevlevi order he became head of the dhikr, and he died in 1084 during the time of Hasan Kudsî Dede, while he was one of the pillars of the lodge. He was one of the Mevlevi gnostics, a poet and man of letters, an elder. His poetry and his learning were fine. The poems that came into my hands were burned.

The entry gives neither a birthplace nor a date of birth. Since his whole life seems to have been spent in the lodge at Amasya, it is reasonable to think he was born in the city, but Hüsameddin does not say so. The word "pîr" conveys both old age and seniority in the order; "rükn", a pillar, places him among the senior dervishes around the sheikh.

His Post in the Lodge

The zâkirbaşı is the head of the chanters who sing hymns, na'ts and durak pieces during the dhikr, and he decides which piece is sung as the ceremony moves on. The post requires a large repertoire of hymns known by heart and a good voice. Whether Tab'î's own words were among the hymns he led is not known. When he took up the post, and how long he kept it, the entry does not record.

His teacher, Mehmed Ârif Dede, was the son of Ahmed Dede, a Mevlevi dervish of Amasya. He had been trained under Ankaralı İsmail Dede, sheikh of the Galata lodge, and had become a reader of the Mesnevî; when Bayram Pasha built the new Mevlevi lodge in Amasya, he came to the city as its sheikh. He served for about eleven years, was dismissed because of Hüseyin Pasha, the governor of Amasya who was killed in 1058 (1648), went to Istanbul and died there in 1061 (1651). Hüsameddin describes Ârif Mehmed Dede as a poet versed in Arabic and Persian literature and eloquent in speech. Tab'î's literary training therefore falls in this sheikh's years at Amasya, before 1648.

His Circle in the Lodge

Another lover of letters raised in Ârif Dede's service was the lodge's Mesnevî reader, Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi. Şeydâ died in 1078 (1667-68); his exchanges of verse with Kudsî Hasan Dede were well known. Kudsî Hasan Dede, who headed the lodge in Tab'î's last years, was himself a sheikh who wrote poetry; his son Zarîf Ahmed Efendi is also among those Hüsameddin counts as poets. Ebû Saîd Ahmed Dede, who grew up in Kudsî Hasan Dede's service, also became zâkirbaşı and was appointed sheikh of the lodge in 1096 (1684-85). He may have taken over the post after Tab'î's death; the two entries do not establish that order. The lodge's chief ney player, Hasan Dede, who died around 1067, is another Mevlevi whom Hüsameddin counts among the poets.

His Poetry

None of Tab'î's poems have been found. The last two sentences of the entry set praise beside a report of loss: Hüsameddin found his verse and learning fine and had obtained some of his poems, but they were burned. He notes the same loss for the two ghazals of Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi left in his hands and for the poems of Zarîf Ahmed Efendi. The texts he had gathered from the lodge's circle probably perished together in one fire; the entries give no date for it. No other record of a divan by Tab'î or of his verse in an anthology has been found.

His pen name comes from the Arabic word "tab'", meaning natural disposition and, above all, the gift of making verse; Ottoman poets used it often for a poet's power of expression.

Chronology

1058 (1648): His teacher Mehmed Ârif Dede is removed from the sheikhdom of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge.

1061 (1651): Ârif Dede dies in Istanbul.

1078 (1667-68): Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi, another pupil of Ârif Dede, dies.

1084 (1673-74): Tab'î Ahmed Dede dies during the sheikhdom of Kudsî Hasan Dede.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources