Ümmü Gülsüm Hatun (Gülsün Hatun)

In Modern English

She was the daughter of Pîr Sun'ullah Halvetî, sheikh of the Saraçlar (saddlers') lodge in Amasya, and the wife of Şeyh Zekeriyyâ-yı Halvetî. She was among the virtuous women and well-known devout worshippers, and died around 875 [1470-71]. A learned and pious woman, she is buried in the precinct of the Saraçhane Mosque. Among the people she was called "Gülsün Ana" (Mother Gülsün).

Notes and Research

Old Words in the Text

• fâzılât-ı nisâ: virtuous, learned women
• âbidât: women devoted to worship
• ma'rûfe: well known, renowned
• hudûdunda: around, in the neighborhood of (a date)
• sâliha: pious, upright woman
• harîm: the surroundings of a mosque, its precinct
• medfûne: a woman buried (somewhere)

The Pîr of the Saddlers and Zekeriyya Halvetî

Pîr Sun'ullah, whom Hüsameddin calls the "sheikh of the Saraçlar", is mentioned among the Halvetî sheikhs of Amasya. Amasya is said to be the first center where the Halvetî order took root in Ottoman lands; the line begun by Pîr İlyas Halvetî (d. 833 [1429]) was continued by Zekeriyya Halvetî. In the chain by which the headship of the Yâkub Pasha Lodge passed from hand to hand, which the people of Amasya called the "silsiletü'z-zeheb" (golden chain), "Saraçlar Pîri Sun'ullah Halvetî" and "Pîr Zekeriyyâ Halvetî" are named one after the other. This lodge was built in 1412 [815] by Pazarlıoğlu Yâkub Pasha, beylerbeyi of Ankara.

Gülsün Ana's father and husband stand in the same line of the order. In studies of the lodges, Zekeriyya Halvetî appears as Sun'ullah's successor (halife); Hüsameddin writes that he was married to Sun'ullah's daughter. According to this, Zekeriyya was both successor and son-in-law.

The Saraçhane Mosque and the Graves

In the garden of the Saraçhane Mosque, where Gülsün Ana is buried, the graves of Pîr Sun'ullah and his successor Pîr Zekeriyya Halvetî are located, according to one study. Zekeriyya Halvetî endowed here, for the recitation of a juz of the Quran, the farm he had inherited from his father at Hakala Village, said to be in Yolpınar village, which is attached to Suluova. One of his successors, İğnecizâde Safiyyüddin Mahmud (d. 893 [1487-88]), also taught Quranic commentary and hadith at the Saraçhane Mosque. Hüsameddin's placing Gülsün Ana in the "harîm", that is the precinct, of the mosque agrees with the closeness of these family graves; no determination of the exact place of her grave was found.

An archive record for the Saraçhane Mosque gives the date 1399-1400 [802] and names the emir of Amasya, Şadgeldi Pasha, as its patron. Yet studies state that Şadgeldi Pasha died in 1381 [783]. The two pieces of information do not agree; which of them is wrong or misread could not be established in this study.

No record was found in other sources on Gülsün Ana's life, death date or tomb beyond what Hüsameddin gives. The date 875 [1470-71] does not conflict with the death of her husband's successor İğnecizâde in 893 [1487-88]; this is our inference.

Bibliography

Primary sources

• Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar, Amasya Tarihi, Amasya Belediyesi Kültür Yayınları, 2022, vol. 7, p. 351–351. amasya.bel.tr
• "Saraçhane Camii, Amasya, 1399-1400 (H.802)", Aptullah Kuran Arşivi, Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Dijital Arşiv. https://digitalarchive.library.bogazici.edu.tr/items/35586356-4a53-4eb5-93f9-03f978b688d2/full

Academic studies

• Kadir Özköse, "Amasya'da Bulunan Halvetiyye Tekkeleri", AKADEMİAR Akademik İslam Araştırmaları Dergisi, no. 5, December 2018, p. 91–118. https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/606666
• M. Baha Tanman, "Yâkub Paşa Tekkesi", TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/yakub-pasa-tekkesi
• Mehterhan Furkani, "Siyasî ve İlmî Bir Kişilik: Amasya Emiri Hacı Şadgeldi Paşa ve ed-Dürerü'l-mensûretü fi'l-furûʻ Adlı Eserin Kendisine Nispeti", Uluslararası Amasya Âlimleri Sempozyumu Bildiriler Kitabı I, Amasya Üniversitesi, 2017.