When his turn for a madrasa post never came, Ebussu'ûdzâde Receb Efendi of Merzifon gave up the path of learning, contented himself with serving as imam of the Bezirgân Mosque in Istanbul, and died in 1019 (1610-11); in his poems he used the pen name "Ümîdî". What is known of him rests on two contemporary biographical anthologies, Kâfzâde Fâizî's Zübdetü'l-eş'âr and Riyâzî's Riyâzü'ş-şuarâ; Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar quotes both in Amasya Tarihi. Riyâzî says that the poet's best-known ghazal circulated under the name of another Ümîdî and in fact belonged to this Receb Efendi. Notes on the Bezirgân Mosque and on his teacher Abdülkerîm Çelebi accompany Hüsameddin's entry on the page Ümîdî Receb Efendi-Ebussu'ûdzâde.

Hüsameddin's Account

Merzifonludur. Ulemâ-yı kudâtdan el-Hâc Mehmed Efendi bin Ebussu'ûd Efendi bin Ahmed Efendi bin Bedreddîn Mahmûd Çelebi bin Reîsülküttâb Ahmed Çelebi bin Ahî Toy el-Merzifonî mahdûmudur. Merzifon, Amasya ve İstanbul ulemâsından tahsîl-i ulûm ederek 98l senesinde Süleymaniye müderrisi iken vefât eden Şeyhülislâm Ebussu'ûd Efendizâde Abdülkerîm Çelebi bin Mehmed Meylî Efendi'den mülâzım ve ders-i âm olmuşdu. Mülâzemeti uzadığı halde müderrisliğe nâil olamadığına muğber olarak tarîk-i tedrîsden ferâgat edib İstanbul'da Bezirgân Câmii imâmı oldu. Vazîfe-i imâmete kanâat ve ihtiyâr-ı kûşe-i uzlet edib l0l9'da vefât etdi. Âlim, kânî, şâir idi. Mahdûmu Mehmed Efendi'dir.

In English: He was from Merzifon, the son of Hacı Mehmed Efendi, one of the judge-scholars; his line went back through Ebussu'ûd Efendi, Ahmed Efendi, Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi and the chief secretary Ahmed Çelebi to Ahî Toy of Merzifon. He studied under the scholars of Merzifon, Amasya and Istanbul and became a candidate (mülâzım) and teacher under Abdülkerîm Çelebi, grandson of Şeyhülislâm Ebussuûd Efendi, who died in 981 (1573-74) as professor at the Süleymaniye. Though his candidacy dragged on, he never obtained a professorship; offended at this, he abandoned the teaching career and became imam of the Bezirgân Mosque in Istanbul. Content with the duties of an imam, he chose a corner of seclusion and died in 1019 (1610-11). He was learned, content with little, and a poet. His son was Mehmed Efendi.

Hüsameddin then quotes the two anthologies. Kâfzâde Fâizî introduces Ümîdî as "Receb Çelebi, the imam from Merzifon", says that he died in Istanbul, and gives a chronogram line composed on his death and two of his ghazals. Riyâzî calls him "Ümîdî-i diğer", the other Ümîdî, repeats that after becoming a candidate under Abdülkerîm Çelebi he withdrew from the path and contented himself with the post of imam of the Bezirgân Mosque, and says that "he is one of the poets in the age of our sultan".

His Life

Ümîdî's date of birth is unknown. Since his teacher Abdülkerîm Çelebi died in 981, his candidacy falls before that date, in the last years of Süleyman the Magnificent or the reign of Selim II. A mülâzım was a madrasa graduate waiting his turn for a professorship; the post Ümîdî was waiting for never came, and he took this badly and left his career. Hüsameddin's phrase "ihtiyâr-ı kûşe-i uzlet", he chose to withdraw into a corner, says that the rest of his life passed in the quiet duties of an imam.

Hüsameddin discusses Riyâzî's words "our sultan" in a footnote. Believing that Riyâzî died in 1045, he writes that the phrase would seem to point to Murad IV, but that since Ümîdî died in 1019, Ahmed I must be meant. According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, Riyâzî died in 1054 (1644), wrote his anthology between 1607 and 1610 and dedicated it to Ahmed I. Hüsameddin's conclusion is thus confirmed: when Riyâzî was writing, Ümîdî was either still alive or had only just died.

The chronogram line given by Kâfzâde reads: "Nevmîd gitdi dehr-i fenâdan Ümîdî hây", "Alas, Ümîdî left this transient world without hope". The line sets the poet's pen name, which means "hopeful", against the word "nevmîd", "hopeless". Hüsameddin does not show its numerical (ebced) value. When the words are counted in spellings common in Ottoman script (with "gitdi" written without the letter ye), the whole line adds up to 1019; the calculation is ours. Whose line it is is not known; it is not Ümîdî's own poem.

His Connection with Amasya and His Family

Ümîdî was from Merzifon and did part of his studies in Amasya. Hüsameddin traces his line back to Ahmed Çelebi, son of Ahî Toy of Merzifon and chief secretary in the reign of Mehmed the Conqueror. The same family appears in two further entries of Amasya Tarihi. In the entry on Bedreddin Mahmud Çelebi it is said that "Receb Ümîdî Efendi too was among the poets"; there, however, Ebussu'ûd Efendi is made the direct son of Bedreddin Mahmud, and the generation of Ahmed Efendi in between is skipped. In the entry on Ebu's-Su'ûd Efendi of Merzifon (d. 967/1559-60), his sons are named as Hacı Mehmed and Receb Efendi, followed by the sentence "Hacı Efendizâde Emîrî Receb Efendi meşâhîr-i şu'arâ ve ulemâdan olup İstanbul'da vefât etdi", Emîrî Receb Efendi, son of Hacı Efendi, was one of the famous poets and scholars and died in Istanbul. It is very likely that this Receb, son of Hacı Mehmed Efendi, poet, who died in Istanbul, is Ümîdî. In Arabic script "Ümîdî" and "Emîrî" differ by a single letter (dal and re); the reading "Emîrî" may be an error of reading or typesetting. This is an inference.

According to the same entry, Kazasker Musliheddin Mustafa Efendi, grandson of Ümîdî's uncle Receb Efendi, was the grandfather of Nedîm, the poet of the Tulip Era. The inconsistencies in Hüsameddin's genealogies are discussed separately on the page Nedîm (Ahmed Nedîm). According to Hüsameddin's footnote, Ümîdî's son Mehmed Efendi belonged to the senior ulema; his seal bore the line "Şod bende-i Mehmed Mehmed", and an ownership note dated 1021 (1612-13) in the name of "the humble Muhammed bin Receb el-Merzifonî" was seen on the cover of a book.

His Poetry

No record mentions a divan by Ümîdî. Kâfzâde's anthology gives two ghazal fragments by him: "Tîr-i müjesine dime dil mürgı urulmaz" and "Nice aylar geçer bir gün kadem rencîde kılmazsın". Riyâzî says that a famous ghazal circulating under the name of "Ümîdî-i sâbık", the earlier Ümîdî, actually belonged to this Receb Efendi; Hüsameddin adds, "this ghazal has been written above". Which ghazal is meant is not entirely clear; it is most probably the first one Hüsameddin quotes from Kâfzâde. Who the "earlier Ümîdî" was is not stated either. The two ghazals quoted by Kâfzâde are published separately in the poet's category.

Chronology

967 (1559-60): His grandfather Ebu's-Su'ûd Efendi of Merzifon dies.

981 (1573-74): His teacher Abdülkerîm Çelebi dies as professor at the Süleymaniye.

1607-1610: Riyâzî writes the anthology in which Ümîdî appears.

1019 (1610-11): Ümîdî dies in Istanbul.

1021 (1612-13): Ownership note written in a book by his son Mehmed Efendi.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Academic studies

Online sources