Though his father, Kudsî Hasan Dede, was sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge, Zarîf Ahmed Efendi chose the madrasa over the lodge: he studied with the famous Qur'an commentator Hızır Efendi and became a madrasa teacher and a judge. On retiring from the judgeship of Canik he settled in Amasya and spent his last years in conversation at the city's literary gatherings. He was a witty poet who knew three languages. He died in 1131 (1718-19). The poems of his that Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar had were burned; Zarîf Ahmed Efendi's poems have not reached us.

Hüsameddin's Entry

This entry opens the nineteenth section of volume 11 of the Amasya Tarihi, the section given to the letter "zâ". The next entry is given to Zarîf Mehmed Efendi, who bore the same pen name and died some seventy years later; Hüsameddin draws no family tie between the two Zarîfs.

Amasya Mevlevîhânesi şeyhi Kudsî Hasan Dede'nin mahdûmudur. Amasya müftüsü müfessir Hızır Efendi'den ikmâl-i tahsîl ederek müderris ve bi'l-imtihân kadı olup kasabât ve bilâdı devir etdi. Ba'dehû Canik kazâsından mütekâid olarak Amasya'da oturdu. Meclis-i üdebâda musâhabât-ı edebiyye ederek imrâr-ı hayat edib 1131'de vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, nüktedân, zarîf, üç lisâna âşinâ idi. Eş'ârı yandı.

In plain English: Kudsî Hasan Dede, sheikh of the Amasya Mevlevi lodge, was his father. He completed his studies with the commentator Hızır Efendi, mufti of Amasya, became a madrasa teacher, passed the examination for the judiciary and served in towns and cities. Then, retiring from the district of Canik, he settled in Amasya. He passed his life in literary conversation at the gatherings of men of letters and died in 1131. He was a scholar, a poet, quick with a witty remark, refined, and familiar with three languages. His poems were burned.

For an educated Ottoman, "three languages" meant Arabic, Persian and Turkish. The word "zarîf" appears in the entry both as his pen name and as a quality: in calling him witty and refined, Hüsameddin also implies that the pen name suited the man.

His Teacher and Career

Zarîf Ahmed Efendi's teacher, Hızır Efendi the commentator, was the best-known scholar of seventeenth-century Amasya. Born in 1006 (1597-98) in the city's Hacı İlyas quarter, he served several times as mufti of Amasya, taught hundreds of students in his lessons at the Sultan Bayezid mosque, and died on 8 Zilhicce 1084 (March 1674). Since Zarîf Ahmed completed his studies under him, he must have been trained before 1674 and so have been well advanced in years when he died in 1131. His year of birth is unknown.

Many madrasa teachers, judges and muftis came out of Hızır Efendi's circle. Zarîf Ahmed followed the same course, first teaching in a madrasa and then entering the judiciary by examination. Hüsameddin does not list the places where he served and names only Canik, his last post. Canik was the name of the sanjak that took in present-day Samsun and its surroundings.

His Father Kudsî Hasan Dede

No separate entry for Kudsî Hasan Dede has been found in Hüsameddin; what is known of him can be gathered from the entries of those who grew up in his service. The verse contests between him and the Mesnevî reader of the lodge, Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi, were much talked about, so the sheikh too must have made verse. The hymn leader and poet Tab'î Ahmed Dede died in 1084 (1673-74) during his sheikhdom. Ebû Saîd Ahmed Dede grew up in his service, became hymn leader and received the kunya "Ebû Saîd" from him. Sâbir Ahmed Dede, a Mevlevi poet in Hüsameddin's reckoning, also served Kudsî Hasan Dede together with Şeydâ.

Why the son of a Mevlevi sheikh chose the madrasa over the lodge, Hüsameddin does not explain. Nor does the entry reveal whether Zarîf Ahmed kept up any tie with the Mevlevi order.

His Poetry

None of Zarîf Ahmed Efendi's poems have been found. The last sentence of the entry is two words long, "Eş'ârı yandı", his poems were burned: when Hüsameddin wrote it he held poems by this man, and they were lost afterwards. He leaves a similar note in the entries on Tab'î Ahmed Dede and Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi; all three passed through the same Mevlevi lodge. Their poems were most probably lost together in the one misfortune that struck Hüsameddin's papers. No poem by Zarîf Ahmed Efendi has turned up in the biographical dictionaries or in any other source.

Chronology

1078 (1667-68): Şeydâ Ahmed Çelebi, his father Kudsî Hasan Dede's partner in verse, dies.

1084 (1673-74): While his father is still sheikh, Tab'î Ahmed Dede, hymn leader of the lodge, dies; in Zilhicce of the same year (March 1674) his teacher Hızır Efendi also dies.

1131 (1718-19): Zarîf Ahmed Efendi dies in Amasya, where he had settled after retiring from the judgeship of Canik.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Online sources