Abdîzâde Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar
Encyclopedia · History of Amasya, Volume 2, p. 215 • Edited by: Prof. Dr. Mehmet ARSLAN
[2] Fa'âliyet ve hamiyyetin, iktidâr ve meziyyetin bir timsâl-i belîgu'l-beyânı olan evkâf-ı hümâyûn nâzır-ı âlî-şânı Hayri Beyefendimiz hazretlerinin hüsn-i nazar-ı ma'ârif-perverâneleri bu cildin tab'ını teshîl buyurduğu cihetle teveccühât-ı mekârim-gâyât-ı kadr-dânîlerinin tevâlî eden eltâfına arz-ı şükrân eylerim.
Amasya Müverrihi Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn
12 Rebî'u'l-Evvel 1332 [3]
Bismillâhirrahmânirrahîm
I offer my gratitude to His Excellency Hayri Beyefendi, the esteemed Nâzır (Minister) of the Evkâf-ı Hümâyun (Imperial Waqfs), a most eloquent spokesman of diligence and effort, of accomplishment and excellence, for having facilitated the printing of this volume with his gaze that protects learning and education, in return for his generous and appreciative favors that have reached me one after another.
Historian of Amasya, Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn
12 Rebîülevvel 1332 [1914]
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
This short text is a note of thanks placed at the head of the second volume of Amasya Tarihi. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin expresses his gratitude to Hayri Bey, the Minister of Imperial Waqfs, who supported the printing of the volume. The date at the end of the note is 12 Rebîülevvel 1332, which corresponds in the Gregorian calendar to early 1914. According to the encyclopedia entry, the second volume of the work was printed in Istanbul, dated 1329 (rumî) and 1332 (hijri), in 492 pages; the date in the note agrees with this information.
That the thanks are directed to the Ministry of Waqfs is no coincidence. Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin's last post was as translator of old records (kuyûd-ı kadîme) at the Ministry of Waqfs. Together with İbnülemin Mahmud Kemal he also wrote the history of that same ministry, composing its historical section himself. That is, the gratitude is offered to the person at the head of the institution where the author worked.
The "Hayri Beyefendi" in the text is most probably Ürgüplü Mustafa Hayri Efendi. Hayri Efendi was born in 1867; he received a madrasa and legal education, entered the Chamber of Deputies (Meclis-i Mebûsan) as deputy for Niğde, and served in the judiciary and the Council of State (Şûrâ-yı Devlet). On 16 March 1914 he became şeyhülislam, was remembered as the şeyhülislam who issued the fatwa of jihad at the beginning of the First World War, and left that office in 1916. He died in Ürgüp on 7 August 1922. Since Hüsâmeddin's note is dated before March 1914, it is understood that Hayri Efendi was not yet şeyhülislam at that time and was referred to by the title of minister. However, we could not verify from a detailed source between which dates this person served as Minister of Waqfs; the identification therefore remains a probability.
Hüseyin Hüsâmeddin was born in 1869 in the Çeribaşı quarter of Amasya and died in Istanbul on 10 February 1939. After his madrasa education he served as a deputy judge (nâib), working in Vezirköprü, Osmancık, Niksar and Refahiye. He was a member of the Târîh-i Osmânî Encümeni (Ottoman History Society) from its founding. He prepared Amasya Tarihi in twelve volumes, but only four volumes (and the remainder of the fourth volume) could be printed. The fact that the sources are mostly not cited in the work, and that it resorts to excessive etymological analogies on some subjects, has led to hesitations about its scholarly value. On the other hand, the work is considered important for city historiography; the information in the book needs to be read with this in mind.
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