In Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's Amasya Tarihi this sheikh turns up under two different names in two different volumes: in the seventh as "Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi-Memi Dedezâde", in the tenth as "Zâhid İbrâhim Efendi-Memî Dedezâde". The sixth volume has a third entry as well, which only refers the reader onward. All three are the same person; Hüsameddin says so explicitly in two places. Yet the entries disagree on his father's name and on whom he received his authorization from. The man in question is İbrâhim Efendi, grandson of the Halveti sheikh Memi Dede, whose tomb stands beside the road to Hacılar Meydanı in Amasya. He was sheikh of the Hızır Pasha dervish lodge and a well-known preacher of the Torumtay Mosque, and died around 1088 (1677); he is known to have used the pen name (mahlas) "Zâhid" in his poems and to have written hymns (ilahi).

The Entry in the Seventh Volume

Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi-Memi Dedezâde Amasyalıdır. Meşâyih-i kirâmdan Memi Dedezâde eş-Şeyh Hâmid Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Amasya meşâyihinden fâzıl-ı meşhûr eş-Şeyh Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi'nin hizmetinde ulûm-i şer'iyye ve me'ârif-i sûfiyyeyi ahzedip hulefâsından oldu. Ba'dehû Hızır Paşa Tekkesi şeyhi olup Torumtay Câmii şerîfinde vâ'iz olarak fevkalâde iştihâr etdi.
1071'de Amasya müftüsü Allâme Hızır Efendi'nin felâketinde azl ü nekbet gördü. 1073'de Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Paşa'nın sadâretinde İstanbul'a gitdi. Orada bir müddet kalıp sadr-ı müşârün-ileyhin lûtf u himâyesini gördü. 1075'de sâniyen Hızır Paşa Tekkesi şeyhi olduğu hâlde avdet edib 1088'de dâr-ı kudse irtihâl etdi. Âlim, şâir, edîb, sâlih, hoş-sohbet bir zât idi. Mevlevî şeyhi Hasan Kudsî Dede ve Amasya müftüsü Hızır Efendi ile mutâyebâtı ve musâhabâtı meşhûrdur.

The footnote attached to the word "şâir" (poet) in the entry reads: "Zâhid lakâbıyle eş'âr ve ilâhiyâtı vardır. Aşağıda Zâhid İbrahim Efendi diye gelir."

Our modern rendering: Amasya was his home. His father was Memi Dedezâde Sheikh Hâmid Efendi, one of the great sheikhs. He acquired the religious sciences and Sufi knowledge in the service of the famous scholar Sheikh Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, one of the sheikhs of Amasya, and became one of his deputies (halife). He then became sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge and won great fame as preacher of the Torumtay Mosque. In 1071, in the calamity of the Amasya mufti, the learned Hızır Efendi, he was removed from office and fell into misfortune. In 1073, during the grand vizierate of Köprülüzâde Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, he went to Istanbul, stayed there for a while and enjoyed the grand vizier's favour and protection. In 1075 he returned as sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge for the second time and died in 1088. He was a scholar, poet, man of letters, a virtuous man and pleasant company. His jesting exchanges and conversations with the Mevlevi sheikh Hasan Kudsî Dede and the Amasya mufti Hızır Efendi are famous. The footnote: He has poems and hymns under the pen name Zâhid; he appears again below as Zâhid İbrâhim Efendi.

The Entry in the Tenth Volume

Zâhid İbrâhim Efendi-Memî Dedezâde Amasyalıdır. Hızır Paşa tekkesi şeyhi Hâmid Efendi bin eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin İbrâhim mahdûmudur. Ceddi "Memî Dede" demekle meşhûrdur. Pederinin hücre-i terbiyyesinde tahsîl-i ilm ü edeb ve tekmîl-i sülûk edib hulefâsından oldu. Buna Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi de denirdi. Pederinin vefâtında Hızır Paşa tekkesi şeyhi olup Torumtay Câmi-i şerîfinde va'z ü tezkîr, nakl-i hadîs ü tefsîr, zâviyesinde zikr u ibâdet ederek 1088 senesi hudûdunda vefât etdi. Âlim, zâhid, şâir idi. Mahdûmu Abdullatîf Efendi'dir. Yukarıda geçti.

And the tenth-volume entry in plain language: A native of Amasya, he was born to Hâmid Efendi, sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge; Hâmid Efendi's own line ran back through Sheikh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi to İbrâhim. His grandfather was known as "Memi Dede". He learned knowledge and manners under his father's training, completed the Sufi path and became one of his deputies. He was also called Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi. On his father's death he became sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge; he preached at the Torumtay Mosque, taught hadith and Qur'anic commentary, devoted himself to remembrance (zikr) and worship in his lodge, and died around 1088. He was a scholar, an ascetic and a poet. His son is Abdüllatîf Efendi, who was described earlier.

His Life

The founder of the family, the Halveti sheikh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Efendi known as "Memi Dede", was the second sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge built in 971 (1563-64) in the Şâmîce quarter. İbrâhim Efendi, who must have been Zâhid's uncle, ran the lodge from 1038 (1628-29) to 1044 (1634-35); on his death he was succeeded by his cousin Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, who served as sheikh until he died at the beginning of Dhu al-Hijja 1053 (February 1644). The two men named as Zâhid's master, his father Hâmid Efendi and Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, were thus successive sheikhs of the same lodge. When Zâhid himself became sheikh is not recorded.

The most shattering event of his life was the trial of the Amasya mufti Fâzıl Hızır Efendi. According to the chronicle in Hüsameddin's fourth volume, villagers incited by the city steward Mumcuoğlu Seyyid Ahmed Ağa stoned the mufti's house; on the third of Ramadan 1070 (May 1660) Kaba Ali Ağa, sword-bearer of the governor of Sivas, arrested the mufti. The court ordered the mufti to pay eight hundred purses of akçe, his property and books were sold, and his two sons and his son-in-law were exiled to Cyprus. Many members of his teaching circle were also imprisoned and punished. Zâhid's "azl ü nekbet", dismissal and misfortune, was part of these events; the entry gives the year as 1071, while the chronicle puts the prosecution in Ramadan 1070 and relates that the disorder ran on into 1071. Zâhid went to Istanbul in 1073, enjoyed the protection of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha, and returned to his lodge in 1075 (1664-65).

The two conversation partners Hüsameddin names show the circle he moved in at Amasya. Hasan Kudsî Dede became sheikh of the Mevlevi lodge in Dhu al-Qa'da 1070 and died in Sha'ban 1091 (1680). The mufti Hızır Efendi, before his exile, was among the best-known scholars of Amasya. "Mutâyebe" means an exchange of witty banter; not one example of these exchanges was recorded.

The State of the Sources

The three entries describe the same person. The footnote in the seventh volume and the entry "İbrâhim Efendi-Memi Dedezâde eş-Şeyh" in the sixth volume both send the reader to the entry "Zâhid İbrâhim Efendi"; the entry in the tenth volume in turn says, "He was also called Burhâneddîn İbrâhim Efendi." The year of death (1088), the lodge, the mosque and the office of preacher agree in all three records. The differences are these:

  • His father's name is "Hâmid Efendi" in the seventh and tenth volumes and "Hamdullah Efendi" in the sixth. The two names share a root; one may be a shortened or miswritten form of the other.
  • The seventh and sixth volumes make the father directly "Memi Dedezâde", the son of Memi Dede; the tenth volume writes "Hâmid Efendi bin eş-Şeyh Muhyiddîn Mehmed Çelebi bin İbrâhim". Since Memi Dede's own name was Muhyiddîn Mehmed son of İbrâhim, the two statements agree.
  • Authorization: according to the seventh volume he was the deputy of Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi, according to the tenth that of his father. Given the order of sheikhs in the lodge, the two statements do not exclude each other, but which of them was his real master is unclear.
  • Succession: the tenth volume says "on his father's death"; the seventh adds that he was dismissed in 1071 and became sheikh "sâniyen", a second time, in 1075.
  • The list of sheikhs of the Hızır Pasha lodge in the first volume names Memi Dede, his son İbrâhim, Hüsâmeddîn and then Mustafa Efendi; neither Hâmid Efendi nor Zâhid appears in it. The list is incomplete; the lodge burned in the fire of 1143 (1730-31).

His brother Âbid İsmâil Efendi was, according to Hüsameddin, likewise a son of Hâmid Efendi, a deputy of Hüsâmeddîn Halvetî and sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge. "Zâhid" and "Âbid", the words added to the two brothers' names, are two complementary epithets, one describing a man who has turned from the world, the other a man devoted to worship; whether Âbid was also a pen name is not stated.

His Connection with Amasya

Leaving aside the two years in Istanbul, his whole life was passed in the lodge where his grandfather had been sheikh and in the pulpit of the Torumtay Mosque. Both entries record him as a native of Amasya.

His Poetry

Both entries call him a poet, and the footnote in the seventh volume adds that he wrote poems and hymns under the pen name "Zâhid". His poems have not come down to us: no text of a hymn or couplet is given, nor is any divan or anthology mentioned. The commonness of the pen name makes the search harder still. Because Zâhid was used by many poets, attributing to him a piece signed "Zâhid" in any known hymn collection would require further evidence.

Chronology

1044 (1634-35): His uncle İbrâhim Efendi dies; Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi succeeds to the Hızır Pasha lodge.

Dhu al-Hijja 1053 (February 1644): Hüsâmeddîn Hüseyin Efendi dies.

Ramadan 1070 (May 1660): The mufti Hızır Efendi is arrested and tried; the entry dates Zâhid's dismissal to 1071.

1073 (1662-63): He goes to Istanbul and enjoys the protection of Fâzıl Ahmed Pasha.

1075 (1664-65): He returns to Amasya as sheikh of the Hızır Pasha lodge for the second time.

Around 1088 (1677): He dies.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources