The imamate of the Çeribaşı mosque came to Zihnî Mehmed Efendi of Amasya from his father; after four years in the post he gave it up and took the road of the judiciary. In 1117 (1705-06) he succeeded his father Mustafa Efendi as imam; in 1121 (1709-10) he entered the class of kadis, and after serving as kadi and deputy judge in Köprü, İskilip, Lâdik and Merzifon he became kadi of Çorum. He died out of office in 1148 (1735-36). In its last sentence Hüseyin Hüsâmeddîn Yasar's entry describes him as "âlim, şâir, hattı güzel", a scholar and a poet with a fine hand; there is no sample of his poetry.

Life

On the last page of Hüsameddin's ninth volume four Amasya men bearing the name Zihnî follow one another; Mehmed Efendi's entry is the third of them:

Amasyalıdır. Çeribaşı Mahallesi imâmı Mevlâna Mustafa Efendi'nin mahdûmudur. Meşâhîr-i ulemâdan Mütevellîzâde el-Hâc Ahmed Efendi'den tahsîl-i ulûm edib ders-i âm ve 1117'de pederinin kasr-ı yediyle Çeribaşı Câmi-i şerîfine imâm oldu. 1121'de silk-i kudâta girib imâmetden ferâgat ederek Köprü, İskilib, Lâdik, Merzifon gibi kazâlara sırasıyla kâdı ve nâib oldukdan sonra Çorum kâdısı oldu. 1148'de ma'zûlen vefât etdi. Âlim, şâir, hattı güzel idi.

In translation: A native of Amasya, he was born to Mevlana Mustafa Efendi, imam of the Çeribaşı quarter. Having studied the sciences under Mütevellîzâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi, one of the renowned scholars, he qualified as a ders-i âm, and in 1117, his father withdrawing in his favour, he became imam of the Çeribaşı mosque. In 1121 he entered the class of kadis and gave up the imamate; after serving in turn as kadi and deputy judge in districts such as Köprü, İskilip, Lâdik and Merzifon, he became kadi of Çorum. He died out of office in 1148. He was a scholar and a poet, and his handwriting was fine.

"Kasr-ı yed" means an office-holder's withdrawing from his post and consenting to another's appointment in his place. Mustafa Efendi handed the imamate to his son in this way, and Mehmed Efendi's byname "İmâmzâde", son of the imam, comes from it. Ders-i âm was the rank of a teacher licensed to give public lessons from a mosque lectern; although Zihnî held this rank he did not move to a madrasa, but was content with the imamate of his quarter, and four years later he left that too and joined the kadis. The districts he served are all around Amasya: Köprü is today's Vezirköprü, and Lâdik and Merzifon were neighbouring districts of Amasya. The kadiship of Çorum must have counted as a promotion among them. In which years he held which post, where he died and where he was buried, the entry leaves unsaid.

His Teacher and the Çeribaşı Mosque

Zihnî's teacher, Mütevellîzâde Hacı Ahmed Efendi, belonged to the family that administered the endowment of the Çeribaşı mosque for generations. According to his own entry he studied under Müfessir Hızır Efendi, mufti of Amasya, and under İlyas Efendi, teacher at the Hâtuniye madrasa of Tokat; he became teacher at the Sultaniye of Amasya in 1114, chief notable (baş ayan) in 1119 and mufti of Amasya in 1123. He also built a madrasa east of the Çeribaşı quarter. It is no surprise that the son of the Çeribaşı imam should have been trained in the circle of this great scholar of the quarter.

Hüsameddin's record of the quarter in the first volume gives an event that falls within his years as imam: in 1118 (1706-07) Mütevellîzâde Ahmed Efendi had a pulpit (minber) set up in the Çeribaşı mosque and enlarged its endowments. This was a year after Zihnî began as imam. According to the same record, the house on the corner opposite the mosque was endowed for the use of the imams; Zihnî may well have lived there with his father, but no record says so. The quarter lay on the northern slope of Karakaya, on the site of the old "Sungur Mülkü", and took its name from Çeribaşı Emîneddîn Mehmed Çelebi, who built the mosque. Hüsameddin speaks of Çeribaşı in one place in his book as "our quarter"; and it was the author's father who in 1309 (1891-92) had the leaking dome of the mosque protected under a roof.

Namesakes

On the same page are three more Amasya men bearing the pen name or name Zihnî: Zihnî Ahmed Çelebi, treasurer to Prince Alemşah; Tamgacızâde Zihnî İsmail Efendi, a divan secretary; and Uzun Müftüzâde Zihnî Mustafa Efendi, who served thirty years as deputy judge. Hüsameddin calls none of them a poet. The Zihnî Mehmed Efendi of the Türk Edebiyatı İsimler Sözlüğü (Dictionary of Names in Turkish Literature), on the other hand, is a different person: he was from Istanbul, is presented as the imam, or the son of the imam, of the mosque in the Simkeş quarter, and died in 1157 (1744-45). The overlap of name, pen name and connection with the imamate could lead to the two being confused; their death dates and cities set them apart.

Poetry

Zihnî Mehmed Efendi's verse has not been found. His poetry amounts to a single adjective in Hüsameddin's entry, and where that information came from goes unstated. Metin Hakverdioğlu's list of the ninth volume's poets includes his name; the study adds nothing further about him.

Chronology

1117 (1705-06): His father withdraws in his favour; he becomes imam of the Çeribaşı mosque.

1118 (1706-07): His teacher Mütevellîzâde Ahmed Efendi has a pulpit set up in the Çeribaşı mosque.

1121 (1709-10): He enters the class of kadis and gives up the imamate.

1148 (1735-36): Dies out of office.

Bibliography

Primary sources

Books

Online sources