In a family that gave Amasya muftis for four generations in a row, Tâhir Abdullah Efendi took another road and chose the judgeship over the office of mufti. He was a scholar and poet of the mid-eighteenth century. His father Şeyh Mehmed Efendi and his grandfather Sânî Abdullah Efendi had both been mufti of Amasya; his brother Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi succeeded their father as mufti. He completed his studies in the lessons of Îdîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi, the well-known scholar and poet of Amasya, and after receiving his licence to teach became first a deputy judge and then a judge, dying in 1181 (1767-68). Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar describes him as "one of the learned, a man of letters and a poet"; no example of his poetry is known.

The Record in Amasya Tarihi

Tâhir Abdullah Efendi-Müftîzâde. Amasya müftüsü peder Şeyh Mehmed Efendi bin müftüü Abdullah-ı Sânî Efendi'nin büyük mahdûmu ve müftü Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi'nin birâderidir. Iydîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi'nin dersinde ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek ders-i âm ve ba'dehû nâib ve kadı olup 1181'de vefât etdi. Ulemâdan, edîb, şâir idi.

In today's language: He was the eldest son of Şeyh Mehmed Efendi, mufti of Amasya, and the brother of the mufti Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi; Şeyh Mehmed Efendi was in turn the son of the mufti Sânî Abdullah Efendi. Having completed his education in the lessons of Îdîzâde Hacı Âkif Mustafa Efendi, he received the licence to teach, then became a deputy judge and a judge, and died in 1181. He was one of the learned, a man of letters and a poet.

A Family of Muftis

Tâhir Abdullah's family can be followed generation by generation through other entries in Hüsameddin. His grandfather Sânî Abdullah Efendi was the son of İkinci Ömer Ağa, a Janissary serdar; he had taught in the madrasas of Amasya and at the Dârülhadis in Edirne, became mufti of Amasya at the end of his life and died in 1120 (1708). His father Şeyh Mehmed Efendi appears in Hüsameddin with the nickname "Pederek": he studied first with his own father and then with the mufti Hâfız Seyyid Mehmed Efendi of Çorum, whose son-in-law he became, and after teaching at the Halfet Gazi madrasa moved on to head the Sultan Bayezid soup kitchen (imaret) and to preach in the mosque. This preacher, held in high regard by the people, suffered the enmity of the Fazlızâde family in the affair Hüsameddin calls "the tahsîlât incident" and was exiled to the fortress of Famagusta (Magosa) in 1171 (1757-58), to be released after the scholars intervened. When Âkif Mustafa Efendi died in 1173 he was given the professorship of the Sultan Bayezid madrasa, in Muharrem 1175 (August 1761) he was appointed mufti of Amasya, and he died on 16 Şevval 1176 (April 1763).

After his death the office of mufti and the Sultan Bayezid professorship went to his son Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi. The chain did not break there: Abdurrahman Efendi's son Seyyid Mehmed Efendi also became mufti, in 1214 (1799-1800). The family tree that Hüsameddin gives in the entry on Zühdü Mahmûd Efendi lists four generations, from Sânî Abdullah down to this Seyyid Mehmed, each with the title "mufti". Tâhir Abdullah's uncle Sâdık Ahmed Efendi had also entered the judicial career and died in 1153 (1740-41). Tâhir Abdullah's life as deputy judge and judge resembles this second path, followed by his uncle alongside the family's line of muftis.

His Teacher Âkif Mustafa Efendi

Îdîzâde Âkif Mustafa Efendi, under whom Tâhir Abdullah completed his studies, was one of the best-known scholars of early eighteenth-century Amasya. He served twice as mufti of Amasya, taught for many years in the city's madrasas and wrote poetry under the pen name "Âkif". Hüsameddin's calling Tâhir "a man of letters and a poet" suggests that he too took up poetry in his teacher's circle.

The State of the Sources

Two of Hüsameddin's entries disagree about Tâhir Abdullah's place in the family. In his own entry he is Şeyh Mehmed Efendi's "eldest son". In the father's entry, however, the "eldest son" is Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi; the other sons, to whom the headship of the soup kitchen was given, are named as Abdürrahîm, Mehmed and Mustafa, and the name Tâhir Abdullah does not appear in the list. Since Tâhir lived until 1181, he was alive when his father died; the omission of his name might be explained by the headship of the soup kitchen not being given to a son serving as judge, but the source offers no such explanation. Nor does the entry show whether "Tâhir" was a pen name or part of a double given name.

Another man of the same name appears in the records of Amasya: Tâhir Abdullah Efendi, brother of the librarian-poet Hükmî Mehmed Efendi, with whom Hükmî shared the post at the family library after their father's death in 1213 (1798-99). This namesake from the Emîr İmâmzâde family was still in office at the end of the eighteenth century, more than thirty years after Tâhir Abdullah of the Müftîzâde family had died in 1181; the two cannot be one man.

His Poetry

Tâhir Abdullah Efendi's poems have not been found. The only trace of his verse is the pair of words "man of letters, poet" in his entry; Hakverdioğlu names him "Tâhir Abdullah Efendi-Müftîzâde" in his inventory of the work's poets.

Chronology

1120 (1708): His grandfather, the mufti Sânî Abdullah Efendi, dies.

1171 (1757-58): His father Şeyh Mehmed Efendi is exiled to the fortress of Famagusta.

1173 (1759-60): His teacher Âkif Mustafa Efendi dies; the Sultan Bayezid professorship passes to his father.

16 Şevval 1176 (April 1763): His father dies while mufti of Amasya; the office passes to his brother Hâfız Abdurrahman Efendi.

1181 (1767-68): Tâhir Abdullah Efendi dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources